Sniper troops, also referred to as stormtrooper snipers, were specialized stormtroopers who utilized sniper rifles. Certain troopers were specialists taken from the scout troopers and were known as Imperial sharpshooters.
In the initial years of the Galactic Empire, stormtrooper snipers consisted of clone sharpshooters, but eventually, regular human recruits replaced clone troopers. The Empire also employed a shoretrooper variant of stormtrooper snipers.
If a specific mission required it, a standard stormtrooper could be assigned to sniping duties. In 5 ABY, stormtrooper snipers were stationed at Chinook Station during the mission of Rebels Iden Versio and Del Meeko to apprehend Inferno Squad Commander Gideon Hask; many were killed during the resulting battle. They were also present on Jakku during the Battle of Jakku, where a large number of them also perished.
The First Order, which succeeded the Galactic Empire, incorporated their own version of stormtrooper snipers into their military structure.
Stormtrooper snipers wore standard Stormtrooper armor, distinguished by a blue pauldron on their shoulder and a visor attached to their helmets. They also used a black bandolier across their chest plate. Another type of sharpshooter was trained to utilize the E-11s sniper rifle and wore gray scout trooper armor, although some used standard scout trooper armor and primarily used the DLT-19x targeting blaster. These sharpshooters could also use IQA-11 Blaster Rifles, A280 blaster rifles, NT-242s, and Cycler rifles.