Viper Strike

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Quality viper strike skill gems used to also increase the duration of the dot alongside the attack speed %. Now it is just the attack speed %, making it one of the shittiest quality skill gems in existence now.

It is unclear still whether or not Inc. Duration would be beneficial for this skill. It has been worded 2 ways. Paraphrasing a bit:

1) 25% degen that lasts for 7sec
2) 175% damage over 7sec

In the first instance you would be extending the 25% degen for a longer period, in no way increasing the dps/stack. This coincides with our old understanding of VS. In the second instances it would be spreading the 175% out more, decreasing dps/stack.

Increased Duration 20/20 = 0.74 inc

7 * 1.74 = 12.18 sec

1a) 175 / 7 * 12.18 = 304% damage still 25%/sec
2a) 175 / 12.18 = 175% damage but 14.5%/sec

If the mechanic is the second, then a decreased duration would be preferable, as it increases dps at the cost of overall duration. You get to the 7 sec ~175% effectiveness sooner, say after ~3sec.

Reduced Duration 20/20 = 0.54 decreased

7 * (1 - 0.54) = 3.22 sec

1b) 175 / 7 * 3.22 = 80.5% damage but still 25%/sec
2b) 175 / 3.22 = 175% damage but 54.3%/sec

For comparison, Heavy Strike has a 150% damage effectiveness. Example 2b exceeds that (with continuous attacking over 3 sec) without even the 10% of damage added as chaos.

I have no way to test this unfortunately, and it is just as likely that GGG has coded the skill mechanic in the first way, but it is food for thought. It'd allow VS to exceed HS dps faster (<3sec) and out damage HS cumulative sooner (<5sec)

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mysrt wrote:

Quality viper strike skill gems used to also increase the duration of the dot alongside the attack speed %. Now it is just the attack speed %, making it one of the shittiest quality skill gems in existence now.

TBH I can't remember incr. duration as a quality bonus, though I've had several VS chars before patch. Maybe I'm wrong and didn't remember, or it wasn't in gem's description. My memories say it was always IAS bonus.
BTW IAS quality bonus is not bad. Having in mind that we have to treat the new VS almost as a common H&S skill, instead of "hit and run", IAS is same as the quality of DS or reave.

It was both increased attack speed and increased skill duration previously.

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auraforlaura wrote:

So to clarify . In no way does it like "double dip" to take the chaos nodes on the tree ? I just figured that somehow the aplied chaos dot would be a new "base damage" that would be increased. therefor makin it somewhat multiplicable compared to just gettin more regular increased %

There will be some double-dipping: chaos damage nodes will boost the chaos damage of the initial hit, and it will also boost the DOT effect. Could be interesting if you use quality Added Chaos Damage support.

SO far I have changed to mirror sword:



Viper appears to be the same with this sword or slightly weaker than when I was using:



back in 1.1

This seems like Viper has been massively nerfed IMO

EDIT: In PvP Vipers degen appears to do maybe 1/10 what it used to do. Not sure if it's working correctly TBH

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trav_dawg wrote:

SO far I have changed to mirror sword:

Viper appears to be the same with this sword or slightly weaker than when I was using:

back in 1.1

This seems like Viper has been massively nerfed IMO

EDIT: In PvP Vipers degen appears to do maybe 1/10 what it used to do. Not sure if it's working correctly TBH

With those wepons yah it would be like 1/10th of what it used to do. Need more damage per hit.

No sorry maybe I didn't explain well. With the Carrion bite, my Viper damage is 10 times less than it was with the jeweled foil in 1.1

Viper looks absolutely pointless now.
I loved the hit and run style it facilitated, and that's just not there anymore.
Why would I use Viper Strike in favour of any of the other, more interesting melee skills out there?
Yeah, fine, for chaos damage. I don't see the difference to applying fire or bleeding, except maybe that the latter will deal more damage.
R.I.P. Viper Strike. :(

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Seicar wrote:

It is unclear still whether or not Inc.

Yes, the longer the buff, the greater the damage, but it will be more in a longer time.
You can get a 300% DPS after 13 seconds. (that is pointless)
Similar skill - Summon Raging Spirit, but in this case the attack speed does not matter.

The new Viper Strike has a disgustingly high damage potential in a boss fight.

An element of hit-and-run can still work - monsters you've reduced to about half health are basically dead men walking - but you have to get the dose right. Actually the biggest annoyance for me is the unreliability of the debuff. Why not make it 100% chance to cause a 12.5%/s DOT?