Viper Build Advice?

[SerosterPrime]

Hey all,

Which amongst these would you choose for a maxed out Viper? ("A different pistol" does not qualify as an answer :D )

I have a lot of room left, about 15 points. Currently equipped with:

Fire, electrical damage +45%

Base damage +60%

Crit damage +40%

Armor pen +15%

Multishot +40%

Reload speed +32%

Ammo max +45%

I also have:

Fire Rate (which I think is a BAD idea!)

Pistol Gambit +10% (and I was wondering, if I'm going to boost crit damage, should I include this somehow?)

Puncture

Magazine Capacity

Stun

Would you throw fusion cores at improving any of these, and if so which? Multishot?

Edited April 3, 2013 by Kempner

[Vanguard_Sentinel]

I would do magazine cap , and multi shot imo.

[shoudra]

Yep. Mag cap and multishot would be my two picks to add as well.

[Battleseed]

Yep. Mag cap and multishot would be my two picks to add as well.

+1 and swap the electric damage for cold.

[Darzk]

+1 and swap the electric damage for cold.

+1, and swap the electric damage for cold on Infested, but swap the fire for cold on Corpus.

Or if you're too lazy just ditch the elemental and use RoF/Crit rate

[WupwupTCR]

Hey all,

Which amongst these would you choose for a maxed out Viper? ("A different pistol" does not qualify as an answer :D )

I have a lot of room left, about 15 points. Currently equipped with:

Fire, electrical damage +45%

Base damage +60%

Crit damage +40%

Armor pen +15%

Multishot +40%

Reload speed +32%

Ammo max +45%

Would you throw fusion cores at improving any of these, and if so which? Multishot?

Crit Chance for everything is bugged right now and is based off of (Base Weapon Crit Rate) x (Mod Crit Rate), so let's say the Pistol has a 5% Crit rate and you slap a 10% Crit rate mod on it; that's only 5.5% Crit chance total. It's supposed to be (Base Weapon Crit Rate) + (Mod Crit Rate) but I suppose something was changed in the wrong way.

You don't need Ammo max, use some of those Pistol ammo boxes that you've probably gotten or buy some; super cheap. Armor Penetration's damage bonus isn't high enough to be of any real use but if you find yourself to have an extra mod slot then go right ahead. The Viper's base crit isn't high enough to warrant Crit Damage, but it's not the worst you could do. Save the energy/slot for something else. You don't need Fire Rate, it's speedy enough. Magazine isn't worth the energy either; 9 Energy for what would be 4 extra bullets? Uhh, no. Reload speed has got you covered enough in that respect. Puncture is very very near absolute worthlessness, at max it's 0.35 meters of punction. That's uh. Just barely enough to punch through a Grineer's shield and won't hit anything behind the Grineer holding the shield.

Onto what you should keep/buff up, in this preferred order: Multishot (at least up to 100% before moving on. Taking it to 120% is your choice), Damage (preferably at least, again, 100% before moving on and coming back later), Freeze Damage, Elec Damage, Fire Damage, Reload speed OR Armor Piercing. If you really find yourself hurting for ammo, Ammo Max once everything else is done. And the Viper isn't horribly inaccurate, go for the headshots if you can.

[SerosterPrime]

Crit Chance for everything is bugged right now and is based off of (Base Weapon Crit Rate) x (Mod Crit Rate), so let's say the Pistol has a 5% Crit rate and you slap a 10% Crit rate mod on it; that's only 5.5% Crit chance total. It's supposed to be (Base Weapon Crit Rate) + (Mod Crit Rate) but I suppose something was changed in the wrong way.

Oh wow, that's TERRIBLE. Thanks!

You don't need Ammo max, use some of those Pistol ammo boxes that you've probably gotten or buy some; super cheap. Armor Penetration's damage bonus isn't high enough to be of any real use but if you find yourself to have an extra mod slot then go right ahead. The Viper's base crit isn't high enough to warrant Crit Damage, but it's not the worst you could do. Save the energy/slot for something else. You don't need Fire Rate, it's speedy enough. Magazine isn't worth the energy either; 9 Energy for what would be 4 extra bullets? Uhh, no. Reload speed has got you covered enough in that respect. Puncture is very very near absolute worthlessness, at max it's 0.35 meters of punction. That's uh. Just barely enough to punch through a Grineer's shield and won't hit anything behind the Grineer holding the shield.

Onto what you should keep/buff up, in this preferred order: Multishot (at least up to 100% before moving on. Taking it to 120% is your choice), Damage (preferably at least, again, 100% before moving on and coming back later), Freeze Damage, Elec Damage, Fire Damage, Reload speed OR Armor Piercing. If you really find yourself hurting for ammo, Ammo Max once everything else is done. And the Viper isn't horribly inaccurate, go for the headshots if you can.

Awesome analysis, thank you very much. Going to review everything on my Viper tonight.

Edited April 3, 2013 by Kempner

[AttackKitty]

After focusing on pistols up to max level, and trying a variety of mod combos, I'm going to agree with Wupwup.

multishot > increased damage > freeze damage > electric/fire > reload speed/armor piercing > max ammo (not magazine) > crit / crit dmg / magazine / fire rate > puncture/stun

Personally, having aklato's as my 'best' weapon (yes I know akbolto is slightly better, i'm new, I'll get there), I actually use the max ammo (+75%). It helps me be able to use it almost all of the time. When I have progressed some, and have a great rifle as well, then max ammo will become much less valuable.

- multishot increases everything. it's just "free extra bullets" really, and effectively works like increased fire rate, but without costing you more ammo. I'd max it. it multiplies all of your damage bonuses on the weapon.

- pistol damage is the biggest damage source. So buff it. I'd max this as well.

- cold damage slows mobs. regardless of whether it does damage which they are sensitive to, I find the slowing effect to be worth it against all mob types.

- fire/electric, hey, more damage, and more chances to do a damage type which a mob is especially sensitive to. the more damage you stack in the more potent multishot is.

- reload speed or armor piercing. Reload speed, well, you know what that's for, and why it's desirable, because sometimes you gotta reload to kill more things which are angry at you. Armor piercing is probably better than reload speed against really hard targets, like bosses (or grineer), or anytime you can take cover easily between magazines.

personally I really like max ammo as well, but again, mostly because my rifle is not as well upgraded. And also partly because I have more mod slots than credit for high-end mod upgrades (for now), so there's an 8th empty mod slot and some points with nothing better to do (for now). 75% isn't that expensive for max ammo, and I get to run around with 360 rounds of pistol ammo (so I get to use pistols almost all of the time).

I noticed crit wasn't helping damage much, so I assumed it was behaving just like Wupwup described. fire rate gives you benefits no larger than +damage or multishot, but costs you ammo, so it's less desirable (but it could possibly help in a harsh dps-race like a defend mission). magazine size is measured in really small gains vs. the cost of it, basically it's a badly balanced mod (though it could be helpful if they "significantly" increased the percent of benefit in it). stun is inferior to cold. puncture is totally worthless.