Zooming Guide

This guide is solely intended to teach people when to zoom and when not to, times that you may not know to zoom, but you should.

First off, zooming is the same as aiming, scoping, etc. so don't get confused.

When to zoom
All of the following are instances of when to zoom with a gun. There are exceptions which will be attended to in the section entitled "When not to zoom."​

1. Zoom when sniping. Always. Snipers have terrible accuracy when unscoped, and so you should always zoom with them unless you are in a situation described below (I will get to those in the "When to not zoom" category)
2. Also zoom when using automatic guns or burst weapons (Soon, SMGs will be in this category as well.) This is because the scatter from the weapons may confuse the enemy, but only to the fact that someone is shooting at them with a gun that has terrible accuracy. You may hit them once or twice, but especially with guns like Famas or AK-47, the spread will prove too large in long-range combat.
3. Zoom when using a pistol. Always. Because most pistols (Desert Eagle, Python, M9, etc.) all have medium-small spread, but are used mainly when your primary is reloading or in a sniping situation with a shotgun/auto as a primary. You really don't want to miss then.
4. Zoom finally when you need a closer look. This tactic is used with guns like raygun or rarely shotguns if you need to see an enemy that is far away up close (Or closer).

When NOT to zoom
​

Finally, these are instances of when you SHOULD NOT zoom. There are mostly no exceptions to these, and if I come across any, I will regard them to the "Exceptions" category of this thread.

1. Never zoom with a shotgun. Shotguns are used in close-quarters combat, even ones like spas-24, which have generally long range for a shotgun, but even those have short range compared to almost every other gun. Shotguns are not meant to be scoped with, that will only slow you down as the scatter of shots does not decrease with a zoom.
2. Point Blank. Some people do not know what Point Blank means, so I will explain it to you here. Point blank is where you shoot at someone with a shotgun. Up close. Personal. Close range. This generally means at about 5-10 blocks, depending on the gun you are using. Automatic/burst weapons can be used no-scope at about 10 blocks, maybe 15. Snipers and pistols are usually bout 5 blocks away, if you are lucky, snipers can point-blank from 7 or so blocks away. Pistols can usually hit this far away. Even with snipers (Which you need to sneak up on an enemy or catch them by surprise to actually no-scope them) you can hit at point blank. I have, yesterday, used an ISO on someone who was camping a flight of stairs. I used no scope tactics, and he died. I took no damage. Pistols also are good at point blank, as many of them have small scatter, so up close almost all your shots will hit them.
3. Do not scope with donor guns. Ray-gun has perfect aim, and you only need to scope with it to see an enemy up close. And you can use OptiFine for that. If you don't have it, install it. Minigun, Flamethrower, Ray-gun, and Crossbow all need no zoom for all the accuracy they'll get.
4. Finally, don't scope with Desert Eagle. Tested and tried, it does not shoot any better zoomed or unzoomed. Use its zoom only to get closer looks.

There are no exceptions.
If this guide proved useful, please post below and use them ingame! Thank you for your time.

-ehvahn​

 

Zooming with a shotgun literally does nothing but slow you down. The bullet spread is the exact same. I've tested with this before.

 

Thank you, adding that.

 

I did...
Oh wait do you mean like the approximate range to no-scope at?
Added, thank you.

 

Aren't point blank and close range the same thing?

 

Ah. I see. I consider point blank as enough to kill an enemy with the gun you are using without a scope, and it neve exceeds 10 blocks. So for me, it varies.