Sniper Elite 3: Complete Guide

This guide covers Sniper Elite 3's sniping mechanics, stealth systems, all eight campaign missions plus the Save Churchill and Hunt the Grey Wolf DLC, collectibles, difficulty settings, and achievement hunting.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the final PC patch (1 October 2019, with follow-up fixes that month, brought over from the Switch Ultimate Edition). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

• Sound masking is the core mechanic. An unmasked rifle shot tells the whole area roughly where you are. When the sound-masking icon shows on your HUD (from artillery fire, planes flying over, sabotaged generators, and so on), time your shots with that noise and nobody can pinpoint you.
• Relocate after loud shots. An unmasked shot leaves a ghost silhouette where you fired from, and enemies search that spot. Move away from it. The game rewards this and it's how the "Oscar Mike" achievement (relocate 100 times) happens without you trying.
• Tag everything with binoculars first. Tagged enemies stay marked through walls and show their state. The first minute of every area should go to scouting.
• Hold your breath before every long shot. Holding breath slows time and steadies the scope. Sprinting raises your heart rate, which adds scope sway, so let it settle before you take a hard shot.
• Use your pistol and silenced options up close. A suppressed pistol and melee takedowns are quiet, and a rifle shot never is.
• Missions are sandboxes. Main and optional objectives can be done in any order. Optional objectives add a lot of XP and several achievements need them.
• Pick up war diaries, collectible cards, and sniper nests as you go. Each mission has a set of them, and you can replay missions from the menu if you miss some.
• Learn to stack traps. Mines, trip-mines, and dynamite on patrol routes or on bodies you've set as bait handle groups without firing a shot.

Controls and Core Systems

The PC build supports keyboard and mouse or a controller, and you can rebind everything in the options. Here's what the systems do rather than the default keys:

Action | What it does | Tip

Scope in | Switches to the rifle scope and zoom levels | Scope zoom depends on your rifle's scope part

Hold breath (Empty Lung) | Slows time and steadies aim for a short window | Your heart rate decides how steady you are

Binoculars | Tag enemies, vehicles, and objects | Tagged targets stay visible through cover

Crouch / prone | Lower profile, quieter movement | Prone in tall grass is close to invisible at range

Takedown | Silent melee kill from behind or the side | Hide bodies afterward. Patrols notice them

Throw rock / flint | Distraction | Pulls a guard toward the noise and away from the group

Pick up / drag body | Moves corpses out of sight | Wells, buildings, and bushes all work

Ballistics

Sniper Elite 3 models bullet drop over distance, wind (on higher difficulties), and your heart rate. On easier difficulties the game shows a red aiming indicator in the scope when you hold your breath, marking where the bullet will actually land. On the harder settings that indicator is gone, so you have to account for drop yourself. Aim above distant targets, and the farther they are, the higher you aim.

X-Ray Kill Cam

Good shots (long range, headshots, organ shots, vehicle weak-points) trigger the X-ray kill cam, which shows the bullet going through muscle, organs, and bone. Engines, fuel tanks, and ammo racks on vehicles have X-ray weak-point cams too. You can make it rarer or turn it off in the options, which is worth doing on long replays or speedruns.

Detection

• The detection indicator fills and changes color as enemies notice you, escalating from suspicious to fully alerted and hunting.
• Enemies track last known position. Once you relocate, they search the old spot.
• Enemy snipers show a scope glint. Kill them before they settle in. The "Through the looking glass" achievement wants 10 snipers killed before they see or shoot you.

Progression, Rifles, and Loadouts

• XP comes from kills (more for long-range and skill shots), objectives, and collectibles. Levelling up unlocks rifles, parts, and gear.
• Rifles are modular: you can swap the barrel, stock, and scope, and each part changes handling. That's why "This is my rifle..." (customize one rifle) and "Prepared for any eventuality" (save four loadouts) are early achievements.
• A loadout is a rifle, a secondary (SMG or similar), a pistol, and your explosives, traps, and healing items.
• Rank 11 is Sergeant and rank 31 is Second Lieutenant (both are achievements). XP carries across campaign, co-op, and multiplayer.

Difficulty Settings

Difficulty | What changes | Achievement

Cadet | Reduced bullet physics, generous AI, aim assists | Time to reload

Marksman | Standard experience with some assists | Regular soldier

Sniper Elite | Full ballistics including wind, tougher AI, fewer HUD aids | Hard as nails

Authentic | Toughest preset with the fewest aids | True sniper

Custom | Mix and match ballistics, AI, and HUD settings | None

Tip: for the difficulty achievements, finish your first playthrough on Marksman to learn the maps, then replay for Sniper Elite and Authentic. On Authentic, collectibles and optional objectives just add risk, so tick them off in an earlier run.

Campaign Walkthrough Outline

The story follows OSS sniper Karl Fairburne through North Africa in 1942 as he tracks General Franz Vahlen and his secret super-tank project, the Ratte.

# | Mission | Setting | Key notes

1 | Siege of Tobruk | Gazala / Tobruk | Tutorial-ish. Learn sound masking with the artillery

2 | Gaberoun | Libyan oasis town | Officers to assassinate. "Well, well, well" means hiding a body in each well

3 | Halfaya Pass | Mountain pass with Flak 88s | Destroy the 88s. The visiting General is a hidden kill ("End of the 'lein'")

4 | Fort Rifugio | POW camp | Rescue the informant. "I Fort this would be difficult" means reaching him unseen

5 | Siwa Oasis | Western Egypt | Infiltrate Vahlen's command. "I Siwa you did there" means making the target's death look like an accident

6 | Kasserine Pass | Canyon roads and armor | Vehicle-heavy. "Double tap" means disabling two vehicles within 5 seconds

7 | Pont du Fahs Airfield | Airfield assault | Large map with AA guns and bomb dumps

8 | Ratte Factory | Midès canyon | Final push against the Ratte program. "Long way down" means throwing an enemy off a bridge

Mission-by-mission tips

• Siege of Tobruk: Treat it as a lesson in the artillery sound-masking rhythm. Clear the mountain pass without alerting anyone for "Ghost of Tobruk".
• Gaberoun: Rooftops give long sightlines. There are generators you can sabotage for extra masking, and patrols are dense in the market streets.
• Halfaya Pass: Set explosives on the 88s and pick off crews from high ground. Search the wider map for the General and the optional objectives.
• Fort Rifugio: This is the classic stealth test. Go slowly, use the fences and huts, and use rocks to pull guards apart.
• Siwa Oasis: Accident kills are the fun part. Look for unstable objects and explosives near the target.
• Kasserine Pass: Tanks go down by shooting weak points (engine grilles, fuel) or with mines on their routes. Tag every vehicle before you engage.
• Pont du Fahs: "Three birds, one stone" wants all three bomb dumps destroyed at once. Set charges and chain them.
• Ratte Factory: Tight, vertical, and full of enemies. Use traps at chokepoints and don't get caught crossing open bridges.

DLC Missions

DLC | Missions | Notes

Hunt the Grey Wolf | One mission: assassinate Hitler | Standalone assassination. Kill the target 7 different ways across replays for "... And stay dead!"

Save Churchill | Part 1 In Shadows, Part 2 Belly of the Beast, Part 3 Confrontation | A trilogy. Confrontation has "Blood and thunder" (Teufelsfeuer soldiers in the coliseum)

Weapon and camo packs | Various | Extra rifles and skins. Cosmetic or sidegrade

The Ultimate Edition bundles most of the DLC. If you bought the base game, check your Steam DLC list to see what you own.

Collectibles and Optional Content

• War diaries: "Casual Reader" at half, "Archivist" for all of them.
• Collectible cards: "The gathering".
• Sniper nests: Elevated perches in each map. "Nesting instinct" for finding them all, "Advantage: Sniper" for 30 kills from nests.
• Long shots: Specific long-range targets per mission. "A shot in the dark" for all of them.
• Optional objectives: "Nothing is optional" for completing all of them.
• Challenge missions and Shooting Range: "The Everyman" (all challenge missions), "Specialist" (gold on all ranges), "Shoot to thrill" (hit all range targets), and "Explosive Hunter" (find and shoot the 10 hidden explosives on the Shooting Range).
• Full completion: "Dedicated soldier" asks for 100% of the campaign on any difficulty, so it effectively bundles all the collectibles, long shots, and optional objectives above.

Since the October 2019 patch, loading a mid-level save puts you back at the start of that mission. Grab collectibles and finish the mission in one go instead of quitting halfway.

Co-op and Multiplayer

• Campaign co-op: The whole story can be played with two players ("Sniping with friends").
• Overwatch: One player spots with binoculars while the other snipes. Great for learning bullet drop.
• Survival: Hold out against waves together.
• Competitive modes: Team Deathmatch, Deathmatch, Distance King (only long kills count), No Cross (teams split by an uncrossable zone), and Capture the Flag.

Player counts on a game this old are low. For co-op achievements, bring a friend rather than relying on matchmaking.

Achievement Hunting Tips

• Charlie's Challenge / Herr Charles: Testicle shots, one from over 100 m and one on the officer at the meeting. Aim low and hold your breath.
• Conserving oxygen: Hold your breath for a cumulative hour. It builds up naturally over a full playthrough.
• Double the distance: Cumulative sniping distance of a double marathon. It also comes naturally with long-range play.
• Wait for it... / An ode to Rube Goldberg / Make it go boom: Flint-triggered detonations, chain-reaction explosive kills, and shooting explosives. Kasserine and Pont du Fahs are good farms.
• Indestructible / Nothing to lose: Finish a mission after losing a lot of health, and finish one without healing items. Pick a short mission on Cadet.
• Hidden and dangerous: Finish a campaign mission without being seen. Tobruk doesn't count, so use another small, well-learned map.
• Tagged / Tactical distractor / The Hunter: Tag 100 enemies or vehicles, distract 20 enemies with flint or rocks, and stealth-takedown an enemy sniper. All come naturally if you play the stealth loop in this guide.
• A few of my favourite things: Get a kill with each offensive item. Cycle your explosives and traps deliberately on an easy mission.
• "Kill the target" achievements: The list includes several one-off target-kill methods ("Saved by the bell" with a bell, "Grenadier" with a grenade, "Convenience is key" with explosive barrels, "In the middle" with a chain reaction, "Fast-moving target" in his car, "No escape" via the vehicle's weak spot). Check each achievement's mission in-game; working through them in one assassination mission also progresses Hunt the Grey Wolf's "... And stay dead!" (7 different kill methods).
• Highly decorated: Earn every competitive ribbon in multiplayer. This one depends on finding lobbies, so plan a session with friends.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Firing unmasked shots over and over from one spot. Two or three and the whole base is on you. Shoot, relocate, reset.
• Leaving bodies in the open. Patrols find them and the area goes to alert.
• Ignoring enemy snipers. They do heavy damage at range. Scan for scope glint when you arrive somewhere new.
• Sprinting into a long shot. High heart rate means big sway. Crouch and breathe first.
• Rushing tanks head-on. Look for weak points in the scope, or mine the route.
• Skipping optional objectives in the first run. They give a lot of XP and unlock achievements. Clean them up on your easy run, not on Authentic.
• Quitting mid-mission. Mid-level saves restart the mission since the 2019 patch.

Advanced Tips

• Use enemy sound too. Their MG fire, vehicles, and alarms all create noise. Rebellion's design lets you hide shots in the chaos you create.
• Fight at trap chokepoints. Set a trip-mine on the only path to your position before an unmasked shot. The responders walk into it.
• Use bodies as bait. Rig a corpse with explosives. Enemies who investigate set it off.
• Change rifle parts per mission. A high-zoom scope for open maps like Halfaya and Kasserine, faster handling for the factory interiors.
• Replay missions. Clearing a map is faster the second time, and XP and unlocks carry over. Farm your weak achievements in the missions that suit them.
• Customize difficulty to practice. Turn on full ballistics with generous AI and learn holdover before trying Authentic.

FAQ

How long is Sniper Elite 3? The eight missions typically take somewhere in the mid-teens of hours if you explore. A focused run is much shorter, and 100% with DLC takes considerably longer.

Can I play the whole campaign in co-op? Yes. The full story supports two-player online co-op, and Overwatch and Survival are separate co-op modes.

Which DLC is worth it? The Save Churchill trilogy (In Shadows, Belly of the Beast, Confrontation) is the meatiest story add-on. Hunt the Grey Wolf is a standalone assassination mission. The weapon and camo packs are optional.

Do I need to play V2 first? No. Sniper Elite 3 is set in North Africa in 1942, before V2's Berlin story, and stands on its own.

Why did my mid-mission save reset? The October 2019 PC patch (brought over from the Switch Ultimate Edition) changed saves so mid-level saves load at the start of the level. Nothing else was lost.

What difficulty should I start on? Marksman for your first run. Move to Sniper Elite once you understand bullet drop and relocating, and save Authentic for last.

Sources

• Sniper Elite 3 on Steam
• Sniper Elite 3 Steam achievements
• Sniper Elite III on Wikipedia
• Sniper Elite 3 patch notes, 1 October 2019 (Steam News)