One of the biggest highlights of Final Fantasy XIV’s Fanfest event in London so far is, without a doubt, the official announcement of the first new job in the upcoming Dawntrail expansion. Of course, impassioned director Naoki Yoshida showed up in full garb for the occasion, just as he did for the Reaper class before Endwalker. Newly added jobs are often one of the key selling points of a new expansion in FFXIV, and from the firsthand look at its official gameplay, Viper may very well prove to be an exciting and fun addition to the ever-growing job roster. While we’ll undoubtedly find out even more at the Japan Fanfest event early next year, here is everything we know so far about the Viper job in FFXIV.
What to Expect With the Viper Job in FFXIV
Viper is set to be the latest dual-wielding melee DPS job added to FFXIV and the first of at least two new jobs to expect in the upcoming Dawntrail expansion. First shown in the latest extended teaser for Dawntrail and then in its own gameplay segment, Viper brandishes two swords and is promising some unique physical damage abilities for players to try out. Director Yoshida also noted that this job is a “Final Fantasy 14 original”, meaning that it’s not derived from jobs used in other, earlier installments in the Final Fantasy franchise (e.g., Dragoon, Monk, Paladin, White Mage, etc.) Some players, however, are still calling it a possible homage to Zidane from Final Fantasy 9.
Yoshida describes Viper as “specifically for Dawntrail” and a “dual-wielding job that is different from Ninja” to cater to those players who have been wanting an alternative. However, it will still use dexterity-based DPS, as Ninja does. Like other more recently released jobs, there will not be a specific pre-requisite job required to unlock and use Viper. You will simply need to have the Dawntrail expansion purchased and downloaded and have at least one combat class of your choosing at Level 80 or higher. Also, the starting quest for the job will be in Ul’dah, so you don’t need to have reached one of the new areas found in Dawntrail to access the job.
Further description of the job’s battle concept reveals that Viper brandishes a “close-ranged fighting style passed down by Turali hunters” and “uses two one-handed blades that can be combined into a single, two-handed weapon.” Furthermore, “the Viper alternates between pressuring enemies with swift strikes by their twin blades and dealing mighty blows with their joined weapon.” Finally, the job harnesses even greater power “by calling on the memories of ancient hunters contained within their soul crystal,” and “the Viper can imbue their body with additional power for a brief time.”
Yoshida further indicates that Viper is a “technically demanding yet highly stylish melee job” that will allow players to maximize ability uptime with a constant weave of quick and more devastating attacks. Whether that requires “positionals” and various combo preparations similar to Ninja, Monk, or Samurai remains to be seen, but with both dual-wielding and two-handed attacks in its arsenal, it’s probably safe to say there will be something similar, or at least a gauge of some kind that could build up to the job’s most powerful moves.
The player base has already been jumping at well-evidenced rumors that the other class, a magical DPS class, could be Green Mage. However, director Yoshida did announce during the keynote presentation that a second new “limited class” (e.g., Blue Mage) would be coming as well. So, while we’ve since taken our own guess at what to expect, we’ll simply have to wait for the next surprising twist at Japan Fanfest in January.
That concludes our guide for everything we know so far about the Viper job in FFXIV. We hope you found this helpful, and let us know your thoughts about it so far. Are you excited for it or skeptical, or is it not your cup of Eorzean tea?
Be sure to check out all of our other guides for FFXIV, such as the best jobs to start with in the game.
