A sniper rifle hit to atheons critical point actually deals more damage to him then the golden gun and nova bomb. Titans should probably not be using fist of favoc on atheon (needles risk when it is just as powerful if not more so, to snipe him), and hunters should not use blade dancer on him, which might be the only super that might end up doing more damage then a sniper (due to how fast you can attack, however it again comes with a needles risk that a sniper rifle doesnt have). Perhaps if you are shooting atheon with an auto rifle then you arent dealing as much damage, however a smart team will likely all have sniper rifles for this section (or at least scout rifles for quick critical hits). If the golden gun was ever able to do critical hits then that would be the only viable super to use on atheon instead of a gun.