Viper PvP Guide for FFXIV

Dawntrail has brought us a new melee DPS to the scene, Viper. Though Viper lacks in heavy hitting abilities and crowd control, it does offer a fast combat style that require high uptime while fighting. Your skills allow you to charge your Limit Break faster while also ignoring Guard on your oGCDs! Combined with a strong survivability move, you are able to pressure the team with fast single target and AoE attacks.

This document will mainly focus on the 5v5 Crystalline Conflict mode, so while portions of it may apply to other PvP game modes, it is intended to apply to Crystalline Conflict.

Strengths

• High AoE burst damage with limit break
• All oGCDs ignore Guard allowing you to finish off weak enemies trying to survive
• Fast LB generation due to how the oGCDs charges it
• Great at stalling the Crystal with its defensive skill

Weaknesses

• Needs consistent melee uptime to build Limit Break faster
• Fragile without Snake Scales
• Lack of sustain
• Only source of Crowd Control locked behind its Limit Break
• Lacks burst outside of Limit Break

4.

Skill Selection

Recuperate Standard-issue Elixir Guard Purify Sprint

Every job has access to a few common actions, but some will have additional info for you.

3.1.

Recuperate

Recuperate – This is your most important healing ability. MP in PVP is only used for this ability. With a max of 10,000 MP, recup will consume 2,500 and heals you for 15,000 HP. The amount of healing received can be increased and reduced by healing up or down status effects, such as Summon Seraph to increase or Biolysis to decrease. You gain 500 MP per 3 seconds passively, something to keep in mind!

Every job has access to a few common actions, but some will have additional info for you.

3.2.

Standard-issue Elixir

Standard-issue Elixir – This is your second-most important healing ability. Elixir allows you to gain back all your HP and MP, resetting yourself for the next fight! The listed cast time is 4.5 seconds, which means the cast is actually snapshotted as complete after 4 seconds, after which you can move and opponents can no longer cancel your Elixir. You'll see moments where you get hit, and the position will still finish.

When not under pressure, make sure to top up your resources for the next fight. As with the animations counted in the death timer, you will be out for 20~ seconds instead vs a 4 second Elixir!

Every job has access to a few common actions, but some will have additional info for you.

3.3.

Guard

Guard – Grants 90% damage reduction and immunity to most crowd-control debuffs for up to 5 seconds. Using another action cancels this guard early. Damage over Time effects that have been applied before Guard will always tick for the full amount and wont be negated with Guard!

Per Patch 7.1, there have been multiple abilities added that work against Guarded targets. Where Shield Smite and Chain Stratagem half the defensive bonus of Guard (90% → 45%), there are also abilities that simply ignore guard when dealing damage; Drill, Assassinate, Enchanted Riposte, Disesteem, Wreath of Fire, Serpent's Tail and Chaotic Spring

Damage per ability is now tight to animations, compared to pre-7.1 where the damage would register when pressed. This means Guard is more reactive than it has been before, but it's also possible now to start ability animations that will hit the moment your Guard ends. Beware of your surroundings and what the enemy is doing!

With Viper, your Serpent's Tail ignores the Guard status of the enemy. This is a big part of your kit, as you are able to pressure the enemy at all times.

A Viper trick to escape after your Guard runs out is to use Slither on a far away enemy or friendly target to quickly dash out of danger.

Every job has access to a few common actions, but some will have additional info for you.

3.4.

Purify

Purify – Cleanses all common crowd-control debuffs and provides a 3-second immunity to further crowd control, draw in and knockback effects. Use this to prevent yourself from getting CC-chained to death.

With the amount of crowd-control abilities, try not to be trigger-happy when using Purify. Taking a stun with no follow up from the enemy team, doesn't bring you in danger! If you have no defensives ready against a crowd-control heavy enemy team, it's recommended to play defensively before making another engage.

Every job has access to a few common actions, but some will have additional info for you.

3.5.

Sprint

Sprint – Toggle for increased movement speed. This is a GCD and using any other action cancels the buff, so be smart in using it. Sage is a fragile job, as it has the lowest HP out of any job. If you are using off-global abilities repeatedly while running away or chasing, you should try to late-weave them if you can afford to, to avoid canceling too much of the Sprint duration.

Before we are going to move into the GCD skills of Viper, we talk about Serpent's Tail ability. Serpant's Tail is at first a non-clickable button, but will be your main oGCD button under many conditions! The following GCDs will change your Serpant's Tail.

1. Barbarous Bite and Ravenous Bite → Death Rattle
2. Bloodcoil → Twinfang Bite
3. Sanguine Feast → Twinblood Bite
4. Uncoiled Fury → Uncoiled Twinfang into Uncoiled Twinblood
5. Note; During World-swallower, every GCD will change your Serpant!

Serpant Abilities are oGCD's that can be used instantly, ignoring the Guard status and adds 3 seconds to your Limit Break charge. You can hold Serpant abilities up to 15 seconds. When there is another skill that changes Serpent's Tail, the previous ability is lost. Where Death Rattle, Twinfang Bite and Bloodfang Bite are single target hits, the other Serpant abilities are Area of Effect with a radius of 5 yalms!

Viper's gameplay is focused around keeping uptime on your abilities to gain your Limit Break faster and pressure the enemy team. The Dual Fang combo will start your standard GCD rotation, where you will go through six skills, where the damage range is between 5,000 and 7,000 potency. Using any other skill will not break the GCD of your basic combo.

Once you hit the enemy with a Barbarous Bite or Ravenous Bite, it will grant you the usage of a Death Rattle, that will replace Serpent's Tail.

Starting with Bloodcoil, you will deal moderate single target damage to the target and will gain access to Twinfang Bite as an oGCD replacing your Serpent's Tail. When dealing damage, you will heal for the amount Bloodcoil deals to the enemy. This means that if the enemy has a shield or less HP than the potency you dealing, you will be healing less or maybe nothing at all.

Followed up by Bloodcoil, it will change to Sanguine Feast. You gain the same effects as Bloodcoil and upon usage you will gain Twinblood Bite as an oGCD replacing your Serpent's Tail.

For both Bloodcoil and Sanguine Feast, it takes 1.2 seconds for the animation to finish on your target. If you have a Death Rattle from your basic combo, you can use this while quickly using Bloodcoil and Twinfang Bite. This makes the damage of all three abilities hit around the same time, dealing 16,000 potency on the same frame, where 8,000 of this damage ignores Guard!

Uncoiled Fury is your only ranged attack that you have on Viper. You have 2 charges both on a moderate cooldown of 20 seconds. It deals low damage as an AoE, but the potency doubles when you hit a target that is alone.

Once you use Uncoiled Fury, you gain access to Uncoiled Twinfang as an oGCD replacing your Serpent's Tail. This oGCD is also a ranged attack and ignoring guard while dealing AoE damage around the target! After the use of Uncoiled Twinfang, Serpant will change to Uncoiled Twinblood, meaning you will have 2 fast oGCDs after each other that deal AoE damage.

Uncoiled is often used to poke enemies from a distance and charge up your LB faster, as you gain two Serpant abilities that both raise your gauge by 3 seconds. On a solo target, just like with Bloodcoil, it can deal up 12,000 to 16,000 damage within 3 seconds. As you have 2 charges of UncoiledFury and are able to get a free charge through Rattling Coil, you can unleash a multitude of ranged attacks in rapid succession, 8,000 potency is ignoring Guard and is AoE damage per Fury.

Viper also has a survivability ability named Snake Scales. Being a decently long cooldown on 30 seconds, the usage of this skill requires reaction time to counter big damage coming from the enemy team or stage effects. Fun fact, you can survive the Yojimbo slice on Clockwork Castle with this ability.

As Snake Scales has a long description, this can look like a rather complex ability. So lets break it down in order.

You gain the Hardened Scales and Armored Scales buff. While under the Hardened Scales effect, you are unable to move and your Snake Scales will be changed to Backlash. Damage taken is reduced by 50% and you are immune to everything you can Purify. Though the description doesnt say it, you are also immune to Miracle of Nature.

While under the Armored Scales effect, you create a barrier around yourself for 4,000 potency. Once this shield has depleted, you gain the effect of Snake's Bane.

After 4 seconds or by pressing Backlash which becomes usable after 2.4 seconds using Snake Scales, you deal 8,000 potency to all enemies 5 yalms away from you. If you are under the effect of Snake's Bane, the range increases to 15 yalms and the potency is doubled.

While you are about to do the Backlash, you can use your Slither to jump to a target while the animation is going off. This way, the 5 or 15 yalms attack will be centered around you, while being on the target! This also works with the gapcloser of World-swallower, but more on that in the Burst chapter!

When using Rattling Coil, you will reset the cooldown of Snake Scales, making you able to chain your defensive ability twice in a row, followed by a potential Guard. This allows you to hold the Crystal for a longer period of time and endure a lot of damage. However when you don't have Scales, it makes you a fragile melee, so be careful when you want to commit into a fight!

Viper has two stacks of it's gapcloser, Slither. Dashing towards a team member or enemy, you gain 25% movement speed for 4 seconds.

Because Viper is a melee-heavy job, its important to be careful with its usage. This can be your gapcloser to an enemy you want to attack, but it can also be a tool for your escape. With only two charges, try not to overuse it when you are chasing someone and they press sprint, and use Uncoiled Fury instead if they start to get away from you.

Also as mentioned in our basic skills section, you can use Slither to jump to a friendly or far-away enemy when you are about to drop the Guard status, making an escape with movement speed when you are in a rough position. As enemies tend to expect this, be sure to have Snake Scales or Purify at the ready!

Rattling Coil is rather straight forward and mentioned for usage in its sections above. Uncoiled Fury AND Snake Scales recasts times will be reset upon use. With a high cooldown of 45 seconds, it comes with the additional feature that the cooldown is reduced by 15 seconds whenever you earn a kill or assist.

Being involved in teamfights is of the essence to gain assists and kills to get more uses of Rattling Coil. This will grant you more damage, more defensive stances and makes you able to help your team snowball the enemy!

Viper's Limit Break is World-swallower. You dash towards your target and hit everyone in a 5 yalm around them, applying the Noxious Gnash debuff on them together with a Heavy debuff.

Additonally, you are granted the Reawakened buff, increasing your movementspeed by 25% while changing your Dual Fang combo to First Generation and your recast becomes 1.5 seconds. Your Bloodcoil will also change to Ouroboros, which will be the finisher of your combo.

Just like your GCDs with Serpent's Tail, every time you use a Generation attack, you will gain a Legacy attack on your Serpant's tail, which is an oGCD, instant AoE that ignores Guard.

this is how your entire Limit Break would look like, as it works the same as the Serpant's Tail, but way faster;

1. First Generation → First Legacy
2. Second Generation → Second Legacy
3. Third Generation → Third Legacy
4. Fourth Generation → Fourth Legacy
5. Ouroboros

To Recap, after every GCD, you gain an oGCD to use till you end up with Ouroboros. Every hit you are dealing is AoE and deals 15,000 per 1.5 seconds. Buffing this with other jobs can make Viper shred through enemy defenses who are stacked up.

When it comes to Ouroboros, do not rely on it taking kills, as the animation takes 2.5 seconds before it hits the target for 12,000 damage and healing 50% of your dealt damage. Its not very reliable, but it is still a great finisher for AoE Damage.

Outside of its Limit Break, Viper does not have a high burst; Viper instead excels at applying pressure to the opposing team. However we did mention before the combo you can do with Death Rattle outside of your Limit Break. For example:

1. Death Rattle
2. Bloodcoil
3. Twinfang Bite

When it comes to some actual burst that Viper can do, we are looking at Snake Scales and your Limit Break, World-swallower. As your shield is being broken in Snake Scales, right as your Backlash will go off, you press World Swallower on a target, increasing the damage they take by 25% while they take both your Limit Break damage and Scales damage, all in AoE damage.

1. Snake Scales
2. World-swallower
3. Backlash (will go off automatically)
4. First Generation
5. Generations and Legacy's from here

Though once the enemy knows of this trick, it becomes predictable. However, when you unleash the World Swallower like this, you will deal 30,000 damage from the scales and LB together, followed up buy your Generation and Legacy strikes which deal 15,000 damage per 1.5 second under Noxious Gnash.

While you are bursting, keep a look at your HP and Recuperate when needed. It might be more difficult to weave everything in on such a fast recast, but staying alive is more important! If you are in real danger, you can use a Rattling Coil and regain a Snake Scales for a defensive stance, blasting the enemy again for 20,000 potency under Noxious Gnash , healing you at the same time.