Viper is one of the two new jobs added in Final Fantasy XIV‘s Dawntrail expansion. It can look pretty daunting and overwhelming at first but we’re here to help you out. Here’s how to play Viper in FFXIV.
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FFXIV Viper Overview
The Viper job in FFXIV allows you to manage two types of buffs in combat: damage and haste. Maintaining both is the key to doing well in a fight, and how your rotation works will largely depend on which buff you need to refresh.
You also have access to single and dual blade actions; one will deal more raw damage, but the other will apply a buff. So again, your rotation and decision on which to use will depend on what you need more in any given situation.
FFXIV Viper Rotation Guide
First, let’s go over the basic rotations and combos for Viper.
| Type | Rotation |
|---|---|
| Single-target with haste buff | Dread Fangs -> Swiftskin’s Sting -> Hindsbane Fang or Hindsting Strike |
| Single-target with damage buff | Steel Fangs -> Hunter’s Sting -> Flanksting Strike or Flanksbane Fang |
| AoE with haste buff | Dread Maw -> Swiftskin’s Bite -> Jagged Maw or Bloodied Maw |
| AoE with damage buff | Steel Maw -> Hunter’s Bite -> Jagged Maw or Bloodied Maw |
When starting with the Dread Fangs combo, you’ll be granted a haste buff, with Hindsbane Fang and Hindsting Strike as your combo finishers. Keep in mind that these are rear attacks, which means that you’ll want to hit your enemies from behind for maximum damage. Conversely, the Steel Fangs combo ends with Flanksting Strike and Flanksbane Fang, both of which are flank attacks, so hit your enemies from the side with these.
Generally speaking, you’ll want to swap between these two combos to keep both buffs up. Similarly, the AoE combo also works in the same way. The Dread Maw combo gives you haste, while the Steel Maw combo gives you damage. The Maw attacks will buff each other, so rotate between both finishers as you do your combo.
Next, let’s go over the Dreadwinder combo, which is also a single-target rotation that deals quite a bit of damage.
| Type | Rotation |
|---|---|
| Haste | Dreadwinder -> Swiftskin’s Coil -> Twinfang Bite |
| Damage | Dreadwinder -> Hunter’s Coil -> Twinblood Bite |
Just like with the Dread Fangs and Steel Fangs combo, you’ll want to do one rotation after the other to get your buffs up. Dreadwinder has two charges and a cooldown, so after doing your Dreadwinder combo, you’ll want to go back to either your regular single-target or AoE rotation depending on the situation.
There’s a lot more to the Viper job in FFXIV, including job gauges and the final level 100 skill, which we’ll get into once we’ve had the chance to explore more of the job. In the meantime, this should serve as a good starter guide to help you get into the rotation and learn how it works.
And that does it for our Viper rotation guide in FFXIV for now. Be sure to search up The Escapist for more tips and information on the game, including how the AFK timer works.
