Viper (Treasure)
Snakes are ultimately scary, especially when you know they can be venomous like vipers usually are. However, there are some people that seem to be able to charm snakes... and are commonly known as Snake Charmers. In Nikke, there is only one known 'Viper Charmer', and he is commonly known as the Commander! Viper, while initially a unit that wasn't well received in the meta, has been a fan favorite for a long long time due to her personality and role in the main storyline. With her newly gained 'Sustained Damage' skills due to her love for her 'Honey' in this new Favorite Item system (which was released along with her 60$ Gacha Skin, duh), can she push through and become relevant? Let's fine out!
Can you give a brief summary about this unit?
Viper's Favorite Item improves her Base Damage by a lot. With high uptime and good value Hit Rate buffs, she is able to deal core hits with more efficiency than before. Alongside this, she gains the ability to deal DoT with her Sustained Damage ability in Burst Skill, and buffs sustained damage in her Skill 1. This improves her previously mediocre base damage by a decent margin, but comes with it's own problem that will be discussed below. On top of all of this, she also gains a 'Re-Enter Burst Stage II' skill in Phase 3, which can be a good thing and a bad thing for her. This allows her to be a pair alongside key Burst II units which may want to be paired with Viper like Leona and S.Rosanna, which are the the 2 B2s you will probably see alongside Viper.
Now, while her Kit has indeed improved her damage, how does she compare in damage dealt to other DPS? In PvE, You can think of Viper as a Guilty but for Water Element. The answer is quite disappointing in retrospect for a unit that was given a Favorite Item. We think that the key factor missing in Viper's kit is the ability to buff her own shotgun's damage with high uptime and value ATK/Attack damage buffs, etc. which is something present in all other top DPS kits. It would help Viper gain a better footing in the current meta. While Tove is an amazing buffer for shotguns, and can make Viper relevant on some scenarios, in general Viper's performance will be more or less the same as one would expect Guilty's to be if she was a water code unit. Viper is definitely the weakest of all treasure units as of yet. In PvP, Viper still displays similar performance as her normal version does.
Should I get the Favorite Item for this unit?
Before we get into this, it is recommended to upgrade other Favorite Items before getting Viper's treasure. However, you can definitely think of use-case scenarios for which Viper can be a choice to upgrade. This comes down to a simple question. Are you competitive in Raids and PvP? Viper has a chance of being used against Water Weak Solo Bosses, and will fit in teams just like Guilty fits in teams against Wind Weak Solo Raid bosses occasionally. Another use case is definitely in PvP. If you are using her somewhere, especially in PVP as a Burst Gen filler unit, then upgrading her can be a choice as she will still do whatever she's supposed to do, but deal more damage thanks to Favorite Item.
One thing to note is the fact that her Re-Enter Burst Stage II skill is a good thing for PvE, but a bad thing for PvP. In PvE, you would rather prefer to Burst with someone else alongside Viper since Viper's Burst Skill is a very selfish skill, whereas meta B2s tend to buff the teams damage. Hence, for PvE content, you would want Phase 3 Favorite Item.
However, in some team comps in PvP, Viper is used as a solo Burst 2 unit, and in those cases you DO NOT want to upgrade her Favorite Item to Phase 3 since it will break team composition. Viper is also used as a sacrifice in some strats, for example in teams alongside xAnne and/or Rosanna, where there are two caveats: Firstly, Viper bursting would delay the Burst speed of the team. Secondly, Viper not dying due to the extra tankiness provided by SR dolls can lead to the whole team comp not working anyways. Re-Enter Burst Stage units are not considered as ideal units in PvP.
Kit Analysis
Phase 1 - Skill 1
■ Activates when the target appears. Affects all allies.
ATK ▲ 25.98% for 10 sec.
Hit Rate ▲ 11.13% for 10 sec.
■ Only activates when attacking in Vamp status. Affects self.
Sustained Damage ▲ 4.4%, stacks up to 10 time(s) and lasts for 10 sec.
Hit Rate ▲ 1.84%, stacks up to 10 time(s) and lasts for 10 sec.
This phase changes Viper's Skill 1. It is unlocked once you have Viper's bond at lv 30, SR Doll SG version lv 15 equipped on her and you finish some very doki doki missions to unlock Viper Favorite version. Let's summarize the upgrade:
- Good effect which lasts 10s only in a fight => Remain useless.
- S1 now gives herself Hit Rate and DoT damage up when she's in Full Burst.
Hit Rate is always welcome on any SG, because the more hit rate, the less spread of SG shot. Problem is this effect requires 10 shot to reach max potential, and let's be honest, the effect itself is not even meaningful. Even a 90% Hit Rate SG (which means 100% core shot) is mid these days without self steroids. Look at B.Soda and Maid Privaty, the 2 strongest Shotgun currently, you will notice that not only they have Hit Rate buff, but also more damage modifier/ATK buff some ways.
A serious problem she has in her kit is that she will lose those effect immediately when she loses Vamp effect, which is either by being hit or Full Burst ends. The reason they make her kit like due to the change in Phase 3 that we will explain later below.
Her DoT damage up is ehhh because she has no DoT at this point... What were they cooking with this kit?
Phase 2 - Burst Skill
■ Affects 1 designated enemy unit(s).
Deals 1029.6% of final ATK as damage.
■ Activates when the designated enemy unit(s) include the stage target. Affects the same enemy unit(s).
DEF ▼ 19.83% for x sec.
Deals 105.3% of final ATK as sustained damage every 1 sec for 10 sec.
The change in Phase 2 applies to her Burst. This change will increase her burst damage by 5 times!
- Burst initial damage is increased by 2 times.
- Viper now deals DoT damage on enemy, which is also increased by S1 buff.
Now you know where her DoT is. You are forced to spend 50 Old Phone Charger to upgrade her Favorite to Phase 2 to unlock her full potential. Now the damage is not so bad considering Viper is an Attacker. Problem is, Viper as a B2 won't have Full Burst bonus, and most of the B3/Full Burst buffs too, so her damage won't be that impressive.
Not to mention, if the one is hit by this skill is not stage target (Solo Boss, or End stage enemy), then she won't deal DoT (aka PVP). Oopsie moment.
Phase 3 - Skill 2
■ Affects self.
Hit Rate ▲ 21.96% continuously.
■ Activates when entering Full Burst. Affects self.
Vamp: Prevents self from being the target of single-target attacks continuously. Loses effect when the caster takes damage.
Invulnerable for 1 sec.
■ Activates when using Burst Skill. Affects all allies.
Re-enter Burst Skill Stage 2.
The most expensive phase, also the most controversial change.
- Her Vamp now lasts forever instead of 10s.
- If you use her burst, she will cause Re-Enter Burst 2.
- She gains a tremendous amount of Hit Rate.
The Hit Rate is also nice here. If you combine both her S1 and S2, she will now have 40% Hit Rate self buff already. With 50% more Hit Rate from OL, she can shoot core easily like any MG. But as we stated above on her Phase 1, Viper's Shotgun herself doesn't deal good enough damage to consider meta due to lack of self buffs.
The Vamp lasting forever makes her S1 complete, because her S1 will no longer expire right after burst ends. We guess you can also abuse some niche cases like Vamp vs single target attack of Boss. (Remember when putting Rosanna in the middle so Chatterbox never spawned Missiles?)
Now the final change, Re-Enter B2. This means if (and only if) you use her Burst, you are forced to use another B2 or you will never be able to use any Burst 3. You are now forced to use B1 - B2 - Viper - B3 - B3 comp, with the B2 being a 20 second cooldown.
Problem is, this comp competes directly with standard B1 - B2 - B3 - B3 - B3 with the last B3 is off burst DPS. Or B1 - B2 - B3 - B3 - Flex with the Flex spot is non burst healer, protector, buffer etc.
By using Viper Favorite Phase 3, you lose 1 slot of either Healer, Buffer or Flex DPS. Since Viper doesn't "buff" or "heal" anything except your soul, she now competes with Flex DPS. And sadly, she loses to every single meta non burst DPS on neutral grounds, like Guillotine and Scarlet. At least if boss/enemy has core, she's better than Guilty.
Tier List
Campaign (LD) - B | Campaign (HD) - B
Due to the Hit Rate buff, Viper can deal pretty great damage against most normal mobs because core exists. She should be at least on par, if not better than Guilty here. However, shotguns are still not entirely viable in campaign due to various units like Red Hood, Modernia, the two Scarlets and Alice just raising the bar too high for DPS units to be able to compete with them. Crown, Naga, Blanc, and S.Rosanna also have created a big gap between the meta and non meta units, of which Viper does not even come close to since she does not buff her allies.
Boss (Solo) - S | Boss (Adds) -B
The water Guilty, just waiting for a close range Water Weak boss which can allow her to be run with no healers. Otherwise, it might be tough to add in Viper to the team... Tove is her best friend. Tove can allow Viper to outDPS Scarlet against Water Weak Bosses, but the ultimate factor remains to be that Viper can only fit in if the damage dealt by the boss can be split between B.Soda and Maid Privaty in the shotgun comp of: Tove ViperPhase3 M.Priv B.Soda Leona, allowing the team to live 3 minutes. Otherwise, Viper can find it difficult to fit in. She does not fit in well in the True Damage comp as there are units that deal higher damage that can use those slots alongside S.Rosanna.
Water Weak Solo Boss, all 10/10/10, 2 ATK. Viper has 2 ele as well.
As you can see, Viper can perform exceptionally well against Water Weak bosses, outdamaging the likes of B.Soda even! Hence, she can definitely be a choice in your roster against Water weak bosses. The major problem might just be healing, but that depends on how Shift Up design the boss.
PVP - S
Beware of the Re-Enter Burst Stage II mechanic as it can complicate things for Viper. While we do note recommend getting Phase 3, she does appreciate Phase 2. Phase 2 benefits her single target nuke, which can deal an astonishing 1029.6% of final ATK, which can be buffed or assisted by a Burst 1 unit. If one understands how targeting works well, Viper can assist Rosanna in cleaning up an opponent in a fast enough team. Hence, Viper can be used to deal Single Target Nuke DPS as well now, which is something her old self did not have. but it comes at the expense of being the weakest element you can be in PvP: Water. This is due to the fact that most good DPS in PvP are Electric, with the top 2 DPS being Scarlet and S.Anis. Scarlet especially is a big barrier for SG units to come across, and being water SG unit just makes it harder.
Investments
Gear Investments
Notes
Because Viper has a lot of Hit Rate already, OL Hit Rate will help her reach 90% breakpoint easier and make her deal damage like a MG unit. ATK and Ele are standard for any DPS.
Skill Investments
- Skill 1: 4/7/10
- Low impact, skill effects are fixed or too weak even at max level. However, her sustained damage buff is present in this skill. To max out her DPS, this is the skill you need to upgrade.
- Skill 2: 4
- Low impact, skill effects are fixed or too weak even at max level. Upgrade it to higher levels only if you care about hitrate.
- Burst Skill: 4/7/10
- Low impact, skill effects are fixed or too strong even at low level. However, her nuke and Sustained Damage are present in this skills. To max out her DPS, this is the skill you need to upgrade
Suggested Progression Path
Cube Investments
For general DPS, you can slap Bastion on her so she reloads less during the entire fight.
PvE Team Compositions
Team #1: The Shotgun Team
The standard Shotgun team. Depends on your Viper's Favorite progression, you can burst with her or not. Ideally, Viper is Phase 3 and you burst with her.
Team #2: The DoT Team
This team is worse for viper than the sg team, since Tove is just a better buffer for SGs, and Viper does not deal all thst much DoT for S.Rosanna to make a big difference. This team makes the most out of Damage over time buff from S.Rosanna, featuring S.Sakura and ViperTr. To run this team, your Viper Favorite progression MUST REACH Phase 3, because there's no reason you should use Viper burst over S.Rosanna burst.
Team #3: insert Genji saying I need healing
Phase 3 Viper needed. If you need healing, this is the way to go probably. Definitely an option one can think about for against Water Weak bosses.
Team #4: Crown the GOAT
If the SG team is extremely relevant, they might be able to fit in the Crown team, where Viper can take advantage of the fact that she can use Crown's buffs to units that burst every round of burst, and gain double the amount of buffs from Crown as compared to her ally SGs. This helps her deal immense DPS which can come close to what B.Soda and M.Priv are dishing out!
PvP Team Compositions
Funneling Rosanna
Assumes Phase 2 or Phase 3 Viper. You just sacrifice Viper so she triggers Rosanna S2, which allows your team to reach Burst 1 immediately at 2 RL. Note that by Favorite Viper, you also give her 17% damage reduction, which can lead to her not dying in time.
SG Mayhem
This team puts a lot of pressure on P1/P5 (depend on if it's an attack/defense team). If you can put SR lv 15 dolls on all 5, they should kill anything (except Defender with Biscuit or Makima or Scarlet with Jackal's link.) by 2 RL.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Unique Re-Enter Burst Stage II trait.
- Gains a lot of advantage than other SG against bosses with core due to self Hit Rate buffs.
- DoT DPS with self Sustained Damage buffs.
- High value single target nuke when bursting, good for PvP.
Cons
- Skill 1 ATK buff still has very low uptime. No innate ATK buffs apart from the first 15 seconds.
- Expensive. Favorite Item needs to be Phase 3 for PvE.
- Phase 3 breaks most of the PvP Team Comps due to Re-Enter Burst Stage II skill.
- Split decision to choose Phase 2 for PvP or Phase 3 for PvE. Once you go to Phase 3, you cannot revert back to Phase 2.
- Highly situational unit, strict use in Water-Weak Solo Raid Bosses, in which there are situations where she may not be used anyways.
- The gain is horrible compared to the cost since she is still a mid tier DPS.
- You're forced to run a 1-2-2 formation due to her Re-Enter Burst Stage II skill.