I spent 2 hours trying to figure out Viper. I failed. I even made a spreadsheet.

[Lugalbanda]

I guess because of the way Viper is presented, with actions replacing each other, there's just nowhere to get a mental grip on most parts of it. I had to log out to get out of the first quest because I couldn't figure out how to get the correct combos, and I refuse to resort to trial and error. I wouldn't learn anything if I did it that way. I have abandoned the quest and deleted the equipment set. Maybe it's a great job, but it needs a real tutorial, for the player, not an NPC teaching the player's character, throwing out names of abilities that don't appear in the tooltips until after you've pressed the right buttons in the right order.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

You'd get to the correct combos if you followed the bee lines around your action icon.

Steel Fang [1] and Dread Fang [2] are starters, those have no impact on your combo, only debuff uptime or damage.

Pressing Hunter's Sting [1] as a second attack will turn [1] into Flanksting Strike and [2] into Flanksbane Fang (both flank finishers).

Pressing Swiftskin's Sting [2] as a second attack will turn [1] into Hindsting Strike and [2] into Hindsbane Fang (both rear finishers).

X11 = Flanksting Strike
X21 = Hindsting Strike
X12 = Flanksbane Fang
X22 = Hindsbane Fang

After pressing a combo completely, the game will now guide you to the next correct combo with bee lines around the icon you should press. The Viper gauge will also glow accordingly which side you should press (assuming Steel Fang is left and Dread Fang is right on your hotbars).

[Barachim]

Start a combo, press whatever button lights up next. Then pay attention to the final color. Is it red? Then you attack from the rear, if it's green, then you attack from the flank. That to me is initially the only complicated aspect of it. The rest of it is Viper goes brrr.

[Yuella]

Follow the dotted line

[Taliriah]

People keep saying "read the tooltips", but there's information that is just not there, namely the fact that the combo steps that make sense to use at any given time will be highlighted. For the basic combo it means the only actual decision you need to make is whether to refresh the debuff on your target or not.

I found the official job guide a lot more useful than the in-game tooltips: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/jobguide/viper/

Because it summarize a lot of things with diagrams.

[Amecoeur]

I was quite confused as well at first but what I've figured out is that from the basic combo the only one you have to pay attention is Dread Fang and the debuff it gives to your target.
Just keep up the debuff it can be extended to 40s, the debuff is also applied by your cooldown Dreadwinder.
So always start your fight with Dread Fang and Dread Maw for aoe. Beside the debuff, just follow the glow button.
Lastly in basic rotation there's this Serpent's Tail at the end of it, don't forget to press it too.

Like always use your cooldowns.
For viper its the 40s charge cooldown Dreadwinder and its aoe variant Pit of Dread. It goes like your basic combo 123, Dreadwinder -> combo 2 -> combo 3
These two have their own version of Serpent's Tail: Twinfang and Twinblood, just press them after each combo. So press Dreadwinder -> combo 2 > Twinfang, Twinblood > combo 3 Twinfang, Twinblood

At level 80 that is all you have.

Lv 82 you get a Uncoiled Fury: ranged charge spender, charge granted by Dreadwinder.
Lv 86 you get a cooldown that gives you a charge of Uncoiled Fury
Lv 90 you get Reawaken, a buff that upgrades your basic buttons increasing their damage. Finishing basic combo increases your gauge to be spent on Reawaken (10 per combo finished and from Dreadwinder combo too). A free reawaken also granted by your Lv 86 cooldown.

Lv 92 your Uncoiled Fury (Lv 82) gets Twinfang Twinblood combo
Lv 96 your Reawaken (Lv 90) can be pressed once more for additional damage. Use this Ouroboros last though as it ends your Reawaken.
Lv 100 gives your Reawaken combos Serpent Tails.

[angienessyo]

The in game tool tips don't do it many favors. If you're having difficulty figuring it out I recommend reading https://www.thebalanceffxiv.com/jobs...r/basic-guide/ It has pictures and clearly shows what becomes what.

[AngaratoSvartberg]

I really dont wanna sound mean but what do you mean you cant figure it out? did you play any of the melee jobs in this game or is your first one? again not saying it to be mean. it literally tells you how to play it.

they named it hind and flank
they colored it red and green
its only 2 buttons.
it gives you a buff 3 steps in advance that litrally looks like the ability your next combo is going to end with
its basicly a more simple version of samurai.
1 combo gives the speed buff
the other gives the damage buff.

find a target dummy. go slow, read the tooltips. just go as slow as you want. then when you get the hang of it speed it up. you'll get it in your muscle memory in no time.

[LynxDubh]

If they would let us break some of the actions away from the condensed combos I would be much happier. I can’t rely on red/green since I’m red/green color weak, so it would be nice if I could assign those positionals to specific parts of my bar so I can distinguish them at a glance.

[Mikey_R]

If they would let us break some of the actions away from the condensed combos I would be much happier. I can’t rely on red/green since I’m red/green color weak, so it would be nice if I could assign those positionals to specific parts of my bar so I can distinguish them at a glance.

Everything that comes off of Hunter's Sting (the damage buff), is Flank, everything coming off of Swiftskin's Sting (speed buff) is Rear. Same logic applies to the 2 actions off of Dreadwinder.