How do you feel about Viper?

[Mikey_R]

As for the positionals, the amount of misinformation I've seen on this topic just reinforce my idea it needs to be better communicated.
Since the positionals are tied on the buff you'll need to refresh, have the buff on the job bar, above left and right blade so that you can mentally map that smaller number left will mean flank, smaller number right will mean back.

The way you have worded this makes it seem the last combo hit is determined by the damage/speed buff, this is false.

How it works qt a basic level is, once you do a finisher, it buffs another one. It always alternates Flank > Rear > Flank etc. The finisher buffs are also known as 'venom' buffs. These do not stack with each other, so you can only have 1 up at a time.

The Viper Sight gauge then just tells you how to get to the buffed finisher, regardless of your damage/speed buffs. You can prove this yourself by manipulating the buff timers. Press Steel gangs > Hunter's Sting > Flanksting Strike > Dreadwinder > Hunter's Coil > Swiftskin's Coil > Steel Fangs. At this point, you will notice Swiftskin's Sting is lit up, despite the damage buff having a lower timer. However, Swiftskin's Sting is the button you need to press to get to the rear positionals and consequentially the finisher that is buffed by Flanksting Strike. The reason it seems it tracks the lower buff between the damage and the speed is that is just how the combat flows. It is worth knowing this though if you happen to use the Dreadwinder follow ups in a different order based on positionals, which can mess with the thought process.

TL:DR, Viper sight gauge only tells you how to get to the next finisher buffed by venom and has nothing to do with the damage/speed buffs.

[CKNovel]

TLR, Viper sight gauge only tells you how to get to the next finisher buffed by venom and has nothing to do with the damage/speed buffs.

Oh yeah, you're actually correct!
For some reason I never paid attention to that buff and focused myself on the second GCD, but you can indeed use the buff granted by the final GCD.

That's very helpful information, thanks!