Talk:Dread/@comment-46.151.136.15-20130710191741/@comment-71.108.136.198-20130712005144

I'm having the same problems as well. It's a very, very hard choice:

Dread - 150 innate armor piercing damage (bonus slashing damage), collateral kills, 1.2 second reload and 1 arrow per "clip", 200% critical damage when a crit is proc'd (20% chance), silent, ability to use Thunderbolt, and travel time

Snipetron Vandal - 125 innate armor piercing damage, higher effective rate of fire, 2.0 second reload and 6 bullets per clip, 150% critical damage when a crit is proc'd (20% chance), less silent, ability to use Primed Chamber, and hitscan

From my observations, the Dread deals more burst damage and collateral kills, meaning you will kill heavy units in the later levels as well as saving sniping ammo in the lighter units. Plus, you can use the Dread for stealth in comparison to the Snipetron Vandal. If Thunderbolt were to become more effective, Dread can be used for crowd control while dealing high amounts of damage on weak spots, a niche usually not touched by the sniping weapons.

Still, I cannot deny the absolute ease of use of the Snipetron Vandal. The higher ROF and recoil together mean that you can still aim at weakspots constantly and at a pace outstripping the other sniper rifles/bows. Having more bullets in a clip and the fast reload means that this sniper can actually keep up with the other weapon types in this fast-paced game. Primed Chamber also massive boosts the power of the first shot in each new clip, which beats out the Dread's higher crit damage.

Overall, it depends on whether or not Primed Chamber can be snatched from farming. If it's possible, Snipetron is the better sniping weapon. If not, Dread is probably better.