Sniper Elite 5 offers a variety of difficulty settings, and each option is quite detailed. The game has preset difficulties ranging from Civilian (very easy) to Authentic (hardest), and the options are modified depending on what difficulty you select. You can change the difficulty in the Difficulty menu, and you can create your own difficulty if you wish. Below, we explain what each option means, how it changes based on your difficulty choice, and how you can customize it.
What each difficulty option means in Sniper Elite 5
Below is a list of all of the difficulty options available with each setting, along with what they mean:
- Friendly Fire: Controls whether you deal damage to friendly players and whether that damage is reduced.Co-op Respawning: When enabled, dead players in co-op in the campaign can Respawn. When disabled, campaign co-op games will end when one player dies. Even when this is disabled, you always respawn at the end of a wave in Survival or a round of Axis Invasion.Health Regeneration: Controls how much of your health will regenerate and how fast.Revival: Controls how much health you have after Revival. On Authentic, you need a Med Kit to Revive another player.Ammo and Searching: Controls how many items and how much ammo you find when searching.Automatic Swapping: When enabled, you automatically switch weapons or items when empty.Throw Away Clip: When enabled, ammo remaining in your clip is discarded when you reload.Player Resilience: Controls how resilient you are to damage, including bleeding wounds.Enemy Resilience: Controls the resilience of enemies.Enemy Aggression: Controls the aggression with which enemies search for and attack you.Enemy Accuracy: Controls the accuracy with which enemies shoot.Enemy Skill: Controls the intelligence of enemies.Enemy Sniper Skill: Controls the intelligence and accuracy of enemy snipers.Enemy Perceptiveness: Controls the hearing and vision of enemies.Enemy Responsiveness: Controls the speed with which enemies spot and respond to you.Damage Ends Empty Lung: When enabled, taking damage forces you out of Empty Lung.Damage Ends Focus: When enabled, taking damage forces you out of Focus.Focus: When enabled, you can use the Focus ability to highlight unseen enemies.Bullet Drop: When enabled, bullet trajectories will be affected by gravity.Active Reloading: Controls how large the window is for Active Reloading and Active Rechambering.Wind: When enabled, bullet trajectories will be affected by the wind.Empty Lung Assists: When enabled, Empty Lung zooms in, slows down time, and displays a marker for when your shot will hit.HUD: Controls how much of the HUD is displayed. When set to Reduced, Heartrate, Health, Ammo, Objectives, and Indicators are all hidden.Radar: Controls how much information is displayed on your Radar.Tagging: Controls how long tagged enemies remain tagged. On harder settings, tags are only visible through binoculars or on the Radar.Authentic Zoom: When enabled, you Control Zoom when aiming down your scope.Extra Information: Controls the additional information that may be shown on the HUD. This includes highlights for interactable objects and icons for the Alarm.Defusal Radius: Controls how large the region for defusing a placed explosive is.Awareness Audio: When enabled, plays audio cues as enemies become aware of you.
How each difficulty works
Below are the difficulty settings and how they affect the options.
Civilian (very easy)
- Friendly Fire: OffCo-op Respawning: OnHealth Regeneration: Fast (Full Health)Revival: Greatly IncreasedAmmo and Searching: Very EasyAutomatic Swapping: OnThrow Away Clip: OffPlayer Resilience: Greatly IcreasedEnemy Resilience: ReducedEnemy Aggression: ReducedEnemy Accuracy: Greatly ReducedEnemy Skill: ReducedEnemy Sniper Skill: Greatly ReducedEnemy Perceptiveness: ReducedEnemy Responsiveness: ReducedDamage Ends Empty Lung: OffDamage Ends Focus: OffFocus: OnBullet Drop: OffActive Reloading: Greatly IncreasedWind: OffEmpty Lung Assists: OnHUD: NormalRadar: IncreasedTagging: Very EasyAuthentic Zoom: OffExtra Information: NormalDefusal Radius: EasyAwareness Audio: On
Cadet (easy)
- Friendly Fire: OffCo-op Respawning: OffHealth Regeneration: Fast (One Bar)Revival: IncreasedAmmo and Searching: EasyAutomatic Swapping: OnThrow Away Clip: OffPlayer Resilience: IncreasedEnemy Resilience: NormalEnemy Aggression: ReducedEnemy Accuracy: ReducedEnemy Skill: ReducedEnemy Sniper Skill: ReducedEnemy Perceptiveness: NormalEnemy Responsiveness: ReducedDamage Ends Empty Lung: OffDamage Ends Focus: OffFocus: OnBullet Drop: OnActive Reloading: IncreasedWind: OffEmpty Lung Assists: OnHUD: NormalRadar: NormalTagging: EasyAuthentic Zoom: OffExtra Information: ReducedDefusal Radius: EasyAwareness Audio: On
Sharpshooter (medium)
- Friendly Fire: OffCo-op Respawning: OffHealth Regeneration: Normal (One Bar)Revival: NormalAmmo and Searching: MediumAutomatic Swapping: OnThrow Away Clip: OffPlayer Resilience: NormalEnemy Resilience: NormalEnemy Aggression: NormalEnemy Accuracy: NormalEnemy Skill: NormalEnemy Sniper Skill: NormalEnemy Perceptiveness: NormalEnemy Responsiveness: NormalDamage Ends Empty Lung: OnDamage Ends Focus: OnFocus: OnBullet Drop: OnActive Reloading: NormalWind: OnEmpty Lung Assists: OnHUD: NormalRadar: NormalTagging: NormalAuthentic Zoom: OffExtra Information: ReducedDefusal Radius: NormalAwareness Audio: On
Sniper Elite (hard)
- Friendly Fire: Reduced DamageCo-op Respawning: OffHealth Regeneration: Slow (One Bar)Revival: HardAmmo and Searching: HardAutomatic Swapping: OnThrow Away Clip: OffPlayer Resilience: ReducedEnemy Resilience: NormalEnemy Aggression: IncreasedEnemy Accuracy: IncreasedEnemy Skill: IncreasedEnemy Sniper Skill: IncreasedEnemy Perceptiveness: NormalEnemy Responsiveness: IncreasedDamage Ends Empty Lung: OnDamage Ends Focus: OnFocus: OnBullet Drop: ReducedActive Reloading: ReducedWind: OnEmpty Lung Assists: OnHUD: NormalRadar: ReducedTagging: HardAuthentic Zoom: OffExtra Information: ReducedDefusal Radius: HardAwareness Audio: On
Authentic (hardest)
- Friendly Fire: Full DamageCo-op Respawning: OffHealth Regeneration: DisabledRevival: AuthenticAmmo and Searching: AuthenticAutomatic Swapping: OffThrow Away Clip: OnPlayer Resilience: Greatly ReducedEnemy Resilience: NormalEnemy Aggression: IncreasedEnemy Accuracy: IncreasedEnemy Skill: Greatly IncreasedEnemy Sniper Skill: Greatly IncreasedEnemy Perceptiveness: NormalEnemy Responsiveness: IncreasedDamage Ends Empty Lung: OnDamage Ends Focus: OnFocus: OffBullet Drop: OnActive Reloading: ReducedWind: OnEmpty Lung Assists: OffHUD: ReducedRadar: DisabledTagging: AuthenticAuthentic Zoom: OnExtra Information: NoneDefusal Radius: HardAwareness Audio: Off
How to customize your difficulty in Sniper Elite 5
You can adjust individual settings and create your own difficulty. Go to Difficulty from the menu, and instead of adjusting anything, you can press X (Xbox) or Square (PlayStation). A new menu will pop up showing you every option in detail. Go to the setting you want to modify and change it to how you want to play the game. Remember that none of these affect the other player’s abilities in Axis Invasion. Enemy players will be as good as they normally are.
For more on Sniper Elite 5, check out How many missions are there in Sniper Elite 5? Complete Mission List or Sniper Elite 5 Tips: 5 Essential things to know before playing here on Pro Game Guides!
