[Viper Suggestion/Discussion] Other ways to spend Rattling Coils?

the #1 thing on my wishlist for viper since dawntrail's release has been to have more meaningful decisions to make, and i think adding things you can spend rattling coils on other than uncoiled fury would be the best way to add this. my suggestion would be to add a single target melee version of uncoiled fury that offers a slight dps gain against a single target! maybe it could look something like this:

Uncoiled Ripjaws
3.5s gcd, 3y range
Cost: 1 Rattling Coil
800 potency

Uncoiled Snap (Replaces Serpent's Tail following Uncoiled Ripjaws)
ability, 5y range
450 potency

in this example, the single target spender deals 1250 potency, which is a relatively small increase over the 1020 potency from uncoiled fury and the uncoiled ogcds, but still enough that you'd want to use the single target version over uncoiled fury as much as possible. this could lead to having to decide whether to lose potential damage to stay at a safe distance or risk staying in melee range for extra damage. i think having to balance risk and reward like this is one of the most interesting parts of games like ffxiv, and something i feel that the current iteration of most jobs don't make you do enough.

i'm interested to know what you think of my idea for an alternate rattling coil spender and also hearing what you'd like to see :]

Since jobs are generally balanced around their ceiling, this would be an indirect nerf that eliminates the "selfish utility" that Viper has over other melee, being able to disengage for a significant time with no damage penalty.

UF usage is quite interesting when you get into it, because it's your highest potency attack outside of the RA sequence, so the trade-off is built into the action itself. Because the opener is asymmetric, you'll want to offload three UF under initial party buffs. Most fights have an early disconnect, though, so your ability to do so ends up being fight specific (and in some cases sequence specific, like in M2S).

There's also the question about UF placement under potion windows, or how you manage a disconnect or split window such that you don't let Ouroboros land outside of buffs (i.e. Immediate vs. Standard DRA). It just depends on whether you're looking critically at what you're doing or not.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lyth

UF usage is quite interesting when you get into it, because it's your highest potency attack outside of the RA sequence, so the trade-off is built into the action itself. Because the opener is asymmetric, you'll want to offload three UF under initial party buffs. Most fights have an early disconnect, though, so your ability to do so ends up being fight specific (and in some cases sequence specific, like in M2S).

There's also the question about UF placement under potion windows, or how you manage a disconnect or split window such that you don't let Ouroboros land outside of buffs (i.e. Immediate vs. Standard DRA). It just depends on whether you're looking critically at what you're doing or not.

---

I agree. Moving UF around to maintain uptime seems pretty interesting to me. Another great example is M4(S) where she gets the cannon out and destroys the platform. You need 4 UFs to cover the downtime and if you plan it right to get that 4th via Serpent's Ire it feels pretty amazing.

I do see what you're trying to do. The problem is the decision to use Uncoiled Fury in melee or at range is already baked into the ability. The DPS loss for not having a Rattling Coil available during disengage is so unbelievably massive that you already have to consider whether you can use one in melee or save it. Increasing the potency of using it in melee by a little won't change that.

I do agree that Viper (along with many jobs) could do with more meaningful decisions. Viper specifically kind of feels like it was taken out of the oven before it was ready. Probably could have done well with one more expansion cycle to really get it right.