#I don't know if the action names and such qualify as spoilers but they're under a cut so click at your own risk I guess

[mmorpg-escapism]

I was gonna put down a "viper review" post for tonight since that's literally all I did today (leveled to 90 for DT analysis tomorrow) but this gives me an excuse to do it AND be helpful. Spoilery stuff below the cut, spoiler-free review first:

Viper feels extremely smooth to play, with fancy animations and a surprisingly intuitive rotation as long as you're able to see and poke the shiny combo indicated buttons. I knew the minute I saw the preview that I wanted to take it through Dawntrail, and I was NOT disappointed in the slightest by how good it felt to pick up and play for the first time.

And now the detailed Long Post about it for @stardustdiver - I hope this helps somewhat, even if it's just the TL;DR at the end. I hyperfixated a little in my sleepiness... 🙃

TL;DR: Start with oGCD rotation, then into regular ST or AoE rotation emphasizing keeping your Noxious Gnash debuff on your target(s) as first priority, then maintaining your own buffs second. If the action name contains "Dread", it applies the "take more damage" debuff, "Hunter" for the damage buff, and "Swiftskin" for the action speed buff. Combo indicators will do the heavy lifting for getting you to the right combo finisher to do the most damage.

Now for the "long": I'll break down single target, then AoE, then oGCDs. It's a lot of the same stuff in different shapes, really.

Viper's starting rotation is pretty neat. Basically, your 1-2-3 combo is actually a 6 button combo that they've mashed into two. As far as I can tell, the job gauge is just a visual indicator. Steel Fangs corresponds to the left blade on the gauge, and Dread Fangs corresponds to the right blade. I set them to 1 and 2 on my hotbar, respectively, so it's easy to match them up to the gauge.

They each become buttons with other effects on them. Steel becomes Hunter's Sting which gives you Hunter's Instinct, a 40s damage buff (10%), and Dread becomes Swiftskin's Sting which gives you Swiftscaled, a 40s recast/cast/auto attack speed buff (15%). After those are cast, you get one of two choices: a pair of Flank- attacks, or Hind- attacks, based on if you hit Swiftskin or Hunter for combo part 2

When the ST rotation starts, open with Dread Fangs. It applies a Noxious Gnash debuff to your target, not unlike Reaper's mark, that lasts for 20s and can stack up to 40s. It's important to keep this up however you can - the oGCD rotation hits it as well, and that's also what you should open with for some burst. From there, I prefer Swiftkin's Sting, which speeds up the rest of your rotation, and then the finisher choice only matters in that it grants a 40s buff that determines what your next 3rd button has to be by buffing its' potency by 100.

The combo indicators guide you to the right one for your buff, so you don't really have to think about it. But I like to, so... in my practical 1-2 keybind example, I'm pressing 2-2-2 (rear), then 2-1-1 (flank), then 1-2-1 (rear), then 1-1-1 (flank), then looping that until my oGCDs are available for a burst. Basically, the starting button doesn't matter, the second button gives you a buff and determines which positional you're getting, and the third button determines your next positional. Hunter's Sting will always give you flank positionals, and Swiftskin's Sting will always give you rear positionals.

Similarly, for the AoE rotation, the start doesn't matter except for making sure Noxious Gnash is applied (Steel Maw doesn't, Dread Maw does), the second button gives you the Swiftscaled or Hunter's Instinct Buffs, and the last button improves the other AoE combo. The combo indicators on the bar guide you here, too.

At the end of any 3-button run through ST or AoE, Serpent's Tail will change to Death Rattle (ST) or Last Lash (AoE) for an oGCD hit you can press before starting anew.

oGCDs are slightly more complicated, but follow the same pattern for both styles so I'll condense it a little. Press the button that has two charges (Dreadwinder for ST or Pit of Dread for AoE), press one of the newly lit up buttons (Coil options for ST, Den options for AoE), press the transformed Twinfang and Twinblood buttons (Bite for ST, Thresh for AoE) as they light up, press the other Coil or Den button, press the Twinfang/Twinblood buttons as they light up, and you're done. You get the two 40s buffs AND a single application of Noxious Gnash out of this rotation, and can do it twice. Open with at least one round of this before jumping into the "regular" combo.

At 82, you get Uncoiled Fury which is a massive ST hit with reduced damage for nearby targets that you can activate after each press of Dreadwinder or Pit of Dread. I prefer to use it at the end of the oGCD burst to cap it off and remind myself to press the other buttons, but I have no idea how optimal that is. At 86 you'll get a button that gives you a free charge of Uncoiled Fury.

I've not really played with the stuff unlocked at 90 yet, but there's more button transformation stuff coming and I'm excited to figure it out.

vague viper stuff

if anyone been playing viper has some tips for like, rotations (mainly the 123 because theres so many paths they could go and the buffs they give, not so much the ocgd combo) and also what the blue and the yellow and the left half and the right half of the gauge means? i figured out the red gems part of the gauge

im lvl 83 currently