Hard Aim Assist Numbers for Sniper Scopes and How I Got Them

Pre- TL;DR. How I got these numbers will be below this.

Sniper Scopes Aim Assist:

EagleEye SLR20 - 9X Zoom (20-30)

TacSys SLS15 - 6X Zoom (15)

Ambush SLH25 - 4.5X Zoom (-10)

LongView SLR10 - 5X Zoom (30)

HawkEye SLR15 - 6X Zoom (20)

SightSys SLS20 - 8X Zoom (35)

ShortGaze SLH10 - 4.5X Zoom (20)

LongView SLR20 - 7X Zoom (No Data?)

Explanation: Alright, so, a couple months back u/Pwadigy posted a Sniper Rifle reforging guide in which he discussed the Aim Assist values of the different scopes. He mentioned that his method for determining this involved going into the Database, and comparing the Minimum and Maximum Aim Assist values for both snipers with pre-selected scopes (Black Hammer, Eye of Sol, Shadow of Veils, and Praedyth's Revenge) and snipers that could randomly roll any scope (LDR 5001, The Chosen, etc).

Now, I didn't doubt his numbers, but his explanation was slightly vague, so I decided to go back into the Database, and see what I could find for myself. Basically, all this did was to prove his theory correct, but a couple of the numbers changed, and I want to put a detailed explanation of how I did this out there so others can do it, both to check our work and also to crowd-source any other possibilities.

My Process: I started by taking at look at the minimum and maximum aim assist values of legendary snipers that had randomly selected perks, pre-HoW. The reason I did pre-HoW was that I did not want the introduction of the Hidden Hand perk to affect my AA values. No matter which sniper I looked at however, they all had the same range of values. Every legendary sniper started off at a certain AA, which we will refer to as X. The range of the AA then varied from X-10 to X+30, and this was true on every legendary sniper I looked at (LDR 5001, The Chosen, Epitaph, LongBow Synthesis, etc). Since there was nothing else on a sniper that could affect AA besides the scopes, I determined to assume that the most a scope could drop the AA by was 10, and the most it could raise it by was 30. This was my initial hypothesis, and I moved on from there. The first legendary sniper with pre-selected scopes I looked at was Praedyth's Revenge. This sniper has a base AA of 20, a minimum of -5, and a maximum of 35. Well, if a scope can only take down a sniper's AA by 10, how is it possible that Praedyth's can be taken down by 25? One possibility is that Praedyth's has a special AA modifier, but if that was the case then I would never be able to figure out the actual numbers for AA on any scopes. So I, like u/Pwadigy, made the assumption that the base AA on snipers with pre-selected scopes takes into account the first scope that the rifle comes with by default. I know this is two big assumptions to make this early on in the process, but I couldn't see a way around it that would still give me concrete answers.

If we assume that the most a scope can drop AA from the base without a scope is 10, and the minimum for Praedyth's Revenge is -5, then the base with no scope on must be 5. If the base with no scope is 5, and the base with TacSys is 20 (TacSys is the first scope with is used by default on Praedyth's) then the AA for TacSys must be 15. So I had my first AA number for a scope, but where to go from here?

We have two scopes left on the Praedyth's that we have to find out numbers for, the Longview SLR10 and the Ambush. One of these two scopes brings Praedyth's from is base with no scope AA of 5 to -5, and the other brings it up 30 to 35. Using the other pre-selected scope snipers for comparison, I made the observation that, because Black Hammer has Ambush as the first scope selected, if Ambush were the scope to bring the AA up by 30, then, with TacSys as the next scope (AA 15) the minimum numbers wouldn't match up with those listed in the database. So, Ambush is thus eliminated at the scope that adds 30 AA, and becomes the scope that takes away 10.

At this point, we now have:

TacSys SLS15 (15)

Ambush SLH25 (-10)

LongView SLR10 (30)

With these AA values in hand, we can begin to look at the other three pre-selected scope snipers. Starting with Black Hand, which has Ambush in it's first slot, we can surmise that the base no scope AA is 10 higher than its current 14, or 24. If the base is 24, and we already know TacSys only adds 15, then the final scope on the list must add 20 in order for BH to reach its max AA of 44. In this case, HawkEye SLR15, which we can add to our list.

Our next targets are the Shadow of Veils and Eye of Sol snipers, both have a base scope of ShortGaze, with a second scope of LongView SLR10. Here we also run into our first and only issue with one of the previous assumptions. The problem stems from the fact that the minimum AA of Eye of Sol is 61 with ShortGaze, and the maximum is 10 higher than that, at 71. We made the assumption earlier that 30 was the most a scope could increase the AA by, so then it stands to reason that since LongView, with its added AA value of 30, is the next scope, that brings it up to the maximum. Ok, you say, I see no issue. If the AA value of EoS with ShortGaze is 10 less than it is with LongView, then the AA of Shortgaze must be 20, and the AA of the EagleEye scope is somewhere between 20-30. Makes sense.

Until we get to Shadow of Veils. Now, the base AA with ShortGaze is 69, and the max AA is 84. That's an increase of 15, when, since LongView and its added AA value of 30 (the perceived maximum increase) are next, it should only be 10. And that means that either all of our previous work is incorrect, or that the sight below LongView, the SightSys SLS20, is an outlier with an added AA value of 35, which can bring Shadow of Veils up to its max AA. If we let that outlier slide, and just figure it's correct, then all the numbers make sense, except the fact that one scope has a bit of extra AA that is useless on all but one sniper.

For my final numbers for each scope, see the table at the top.

If you've read with me all the way up to this point, congratulations. You have probably found several holes with my method, but that's exactly what I'm posting. I want y'all to break down this info with me, and tell me where I have gone wrong, or solve it yourselves. If you can't, well, after the work I put in I honestly think these numbers are pretty close to right, or at least the gist of which scopes have higher and lower AA is correct, so don't be scared about using the numbers I have given to help select a scope.

Tl;DR Round 2 - Numbers much too confusing, Bungie plz nerf