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How to Play Viper in FFXIV Dawntrail (Viper Job Guide)

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

viper job in ffxiv

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.

TypeRotation
Single-target with haste buffDread Fangs -> Swiftskin’s Sting -> Hindsbane Fang or Hindsting Strike
Single-target with damage buffSteel Fangs -> Hunter’s Sting -> Flanksting Strike or Flanksbane Fang
AoE with haste buffDread Maw -> Swiftskin’s Bite -> Jagged Maw or Bloodied Maw
AoE with damage buffSteel 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.

TypeRotation
HasteDreadwinder -> Swiftskin’s Coil -> Twinfang Bite
DamageDreadwinder -> 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.


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Author
Image of Zhiqing Wan
Zhiqing Wan
Zhiqing is a History undergrad from the National University of Singapore. She started playing video games in 1996 when her dad introduced her to Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, and Resident Evil -- and the rest, as they say, is history. When she's not obsessing over Elden Ring and Dark Souls lore theories, you can find her singing along loudly and badly to Taylor Swift's latest bops. Formerly the Reviews Editor at Twinfinite, she joined the Escapist team in 2024. You can reach her at [email protected].