Aim assist is a very confusing subject for many people, and even those that think they understand may not fully know what they are saying. I am here to clear this up. Aim assist on primary weapons is very much different than that of sniper rifles; the aim assist on primary weapons slows the sight as it travels over an enemy and drags the bullet slightly towards center mass. Have you ever noticed how when shooting a phalanx with your primary weapon you will hit the shield when your reticle is clearly over the hand that is poking out? Ever tried switching to a sniper to solve the problem? That leads me to my next point: snipers [b]DO NOT[/b] drag a bullet towards center mass, they only slow the reticle down, nothing else. Having higher aim assist makes drag scopes easier, but not much else. A lot of people in this community complain about the aim assist on sniper rifles and how they make sniping super easy, but that is not the case. It isn't how it works, if you want to see a planet destiny video on how aim assist works that is pretty much summarized by my post click [url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1WIVLXxfPFM]here[/url] and/or [url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DtkK9OagUnY]here[/url]. I haven't watched the second one yet but I will update my post if it changes my views on the subject. Thank you for hearing my two cents. For those of you who want a more in depth explanation here is a great point made by CopicX FireA Gun: [spoiler][quote]I will try to explain aim assist from 'my' experiences and research. Remember this is only my experience and it is not 100% correct. However I do believe it is very accurate. First of all let's get two things straight. 1. There are different types of Aim Assist. 2. Range=Aim Assist=Bullet Magnetism=Accuracy The higher these stats, the better the weapon is. Why was Thorn OP? Why was Hawkmoon so easy to get Headshots before the patch? Because of Send it/Hammer Forged. (Increases RANGE and ACCURACY) Basically it increased Range which made headshotting from a distance possible AND easier, it also increased Accuracy (Bullet Magnetism/Aim assist). Weapons have something called Bullet Magnetism. Which is most noticable on primaries. What this is is basically how 'forgiving' the game is when you miss the head by a little bit. This is why Thorn was a headshot Machine! The Hand Canon blanket nerf that everyone thinks is overkill for example. What Bungie did was reduce the accuracy of Hand Canons OVERALL.... Have you noticed point blank shots completely missing? Or shots that would've hit before not hitting at all, or bodyshots registering as headshots?! This is what is happening, hand canons now have reduced accuracy and the 'bullet magnetism' is less forgiving. Rapidly firing a Hand Canon further reduces accuracy. Making them only ideal in very close range situations. Now to Snipers. To me snipers have very little Magnetism but have significantly higher 'Crosshair Slowdown'. This when you hover your reticle over an enemy and it 'sticks' onto them. Primaries have this too, but at a much weaker extent. Hidden Hand FURTHER increases this 'stick' by an unknown amount. The better the range of a sniper, the better this 'stick' will be from range. Do you notice how sometimes your aim is pulled by another player jumping across another? To explain this, you need to understand the concept of HOW your crosshair slowdown pulls it. There is an area of an enemy I like to call 'hit detection area' (my own weird personal language). Basically when you hover over an enemy, your crosshair will slow down. Try it on the Spider Tank/Goliath Tank for maximum effect. If you shoot anywhere in this area, the target will be damaged. The game purposely slows down your aim in this area. Now go to patrol and scope in on head level. Do not move your scope and do not shoot, just ADS perfectly still. Wait for a Dreg to strafe past your center and you will see the 'stick' happen. If your sniper has High Aim Assist, it will stick so hard onto that Dreg that your screen will move slightly as your crosshair passes his 'hit detection area' even though you are standing perfectly still. Now imagine in crucible, you are aimed at someone. You hover over an enemy head and it sticks, it's perfect, he's not moving, he doesn't notice you, poor bastard is AFK. You are about to make the shot, however an enemy player jumps over him, making the hit detection area OVERLAP with your target, one is standing still, however one is moving quickly just like that Dreg was on Patrol. And the mobile targer 'pulls' your crosshair. IMPORTANT: People are confusing this for Auto aim. It is NOT auto aim. It feels like Auto aim, but it's not. This is the exact reason why 1000-Yard stare feels so smooth. (Note how I don't say easy) Base Aim assist of 56+15 from Shortgaze makes it's natural aim assist very high. Combined with Rifled Barrel which increases Range, your Crosshair is guaranteed to 'stick' onto enemies very well. This doesn't make it a headshot machine, or some magical noob sniper. It simply makes guiding your reticle over the enemy heads 'stickier'. Snipers like kjhovey and realkrafty take full advantage of this and sweep scope. Hope this cleared things up.[/quote][/spoiler]