Viper PvP Guide for FFXIV

Patch 7.0 has released, and with it we have receieved PvP kits for the new jobs. This includes Viper, Dawntrail's new melee job. Equipped with heavy AoE damage, the ability to accelerate it's Limit Break regeneration, and a strong survivability move, Viper is quite versatile in all modes of PvP.

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 work in PvP
• Excellent survivability thanks to Snake Scales and 3 charges of Slither

Weaknesses

• Viper is a melee job, so you will be in the middle of fights constantly
• If Snake Scales is on cooldown, you don't have much survivability beyond the standard abilities

Viper's gameplay is focused on fast attacks that proc an oGCD to use for extra damage. The damage and haste buffs from PvE make an appearance on PvP Viper, and upkeep on these is very important as they make you much stronger. Hunter's Snap applies your damage buff (Hunter's Instinct) for 15 seconds, and follows up into Swiftskin's Coil, which applies your haste buff (Swiftscaled) for 15 seconds. Hunter's Snap has 2 charges, and using these abilities while your buffs are already applied will increase the timers by 15 seconds, up to a maximum of 30 seconds. The combo actions Hunter's Sting and Swiftskin's Sting additionally apply these buffs, just like in PvE.

Also like PvE, Barbarous Bite, Ravenous Bite, Hunter's Snap, Swiftskin's Coil, and Uncoiled Fury proc an oGCD ability, usable from the Serpent's Tail button. These oGCDs only do a small amount of damage, but they ignore guard and lower the cooldown of your Limit Break, World-swallower by 3 seconds. This accelerates your Limit Breaks charge rate, allowing you to have LB up for most team fights. Your single strongest attack is Uncoiled Fury, so it is important to use it as often as possible while not wasting it.

Viper has access to all the standard utility that all PvP jobs have ( Guard, Purify, Recuperate, and Standard-issue Elixir). In addition to this, Viper also has a survivability ability named Snake Scales. This ability applies a buff called Hardened Scales. While under the effect of Hardened Scales, the damage you take will be reduced by 50% and provides immunity to all forms of cleansable CC for 4 seconds. It additionally applies Armored Scales, which gives you a 6,000 potency barrier. This barrier will give you a buff called Snake's Bane When you press the button again or wait the full 4 seconds for the buff to expire, you will execute Backlash, a 5y 6,000 potency AoE attack that heals you for 50% of the damage dealt. While under the effect of Snake's Bane, the range of Backlash is increased by 15y and the potency is doubled.

Viper also has 3 stacks of it's gapcloser, Slither. In PvP, it can target both allies and enemies, and upon using it you will gain a buff that boosts the damage of your next weaponskill by 25%. Rattling Coil resets the cooldown on your Uncoiled Fury and Snake Scales, but can only be used once a minute. It's important to use this as soon as possible, because more uses of Uncoiled Fury gives you more uses of an oGCD that lowers your Limit Break cooldown.

Like the other jobs, Viper has it's own unique PvP Limit Break. This is called World-swallower. It it is similar to Reaper's Limit Break in that it allows your to enter your high APM burst phase, Reawakened. The main interaction of Viper's PvP kit with it's Limit Break is that every use of your job's oGCDs reduces the cooldown of your next World-swallower by 3 seconds. Like PvE Viper, the Reawakened buff allows you to execute your Reawakening combo, which is just as devestating in PvP as it is in PvE. In addition, World-swallower also applies Noxious Gash to all enemies hit by the initial cast. Noxious Gash increases the damage taken by 20% and applies a 75% Heavy.

The Reawakening combo in PvP works much like it does in PvE, with 4 fast GCDs followed up with an oGCD finished off with Ouroboros. Every action in the Reawakening combo is AoE with no fall off, for a damage potential of 52,000 per person in under 10 seconds, not including the 20% bonus from Noxious Gash or the bonus from Hunter's Instinct. The oGCDs are usable with Serpent's Tail like the rest of Viper's oGCDs and also work similarly to the other oGCDs, dealing a small amount of damage that ignores Guard effects and reducing the cooldown of your next LB cast by 3 seconds. This means you will always leave your LB burst phase with a chunk of your LB guard already filled from your oGCD casts, making the cooldown much shorter than the 90 seconds the ability states. In addition to all of this, Ouroboros will also add 15 seconds to your Hunter's Instinct and Swiftscaled buffs.

Now that we have covered all of Viper's abilities, we can create an example burst rotation to put as much damage as possible on an enemy without your Limit Break. If Limit Break is ready, it would be better to burst with that.

1. Hunter's Snap
2. Serpent's Tail
3. Slither
4. Swiftskin's Coil
5. Serpent's Tail
6. Slither
7. Uncoiled Fury
8. Serpent's Tail
9. Slither
10. Uncoiled Fury
11. Serpent's Tail

If your Limit Break is ready, you should burst with it instead. It deals heavy damage in a short amount of time, and using it accelerates you to your next usage of Limit Break. If bursting with Limit Break, you can clip your GCD with Slither right before using Ouroboros to boost it's damage dealt.