I like playing viper. A lot. Her kit is really useful for both offensive and defensive plays, but it definitely has its problems in higher up play. I think each of her abilities it incredibly strong, but still each one has its drawbacks. I’ve been talking to my friends and these are some buffs we think viper deserves.

im not saying all of these buffs is what viper needs, but some would be nice

Poison/Toxic Meter This is the only part of her kit that I feel like is perfectly balanced right now. She starts off with 100, the bars consumption and recharge is reasonable. Nothing to change here except maybe changing the “100” on the bar to an amount of seconds, but that’s really not needed if you get a feel for how long the smokes last.

Toxin Screen This ability is why I think viper is such a great character. The ability to wall off practically the entire map (or at the very least massive parts of it) can be incredibly strong. Even if the decay damage it deals on going through it is minimal, being able to move around your wall is a valuable skill that can get you a lot of kills. That being said, it has one big counter: “lol just move away from it”. Take ascent for example: a wall that I usually use goes from covering the doorway from b main, to covering mid bottom and then finally a link. It’s great at denying access to B, but like I said, it’s hard counter is to just not go b. It’s stationary. If you can predict where the enemy goes, it’s great. Otherwise, it’s a wasted ability. Something I think would be great is a one-time use retract on her wall. Now, this could be an additional thing you buy at the beginning of the round, or it could just be part of her kit. This would make her much more viable to rotates and sight retakes than just using her toxic cloud. Speaking of...

Toxic Cloud This ability is amazing. It’s any viper’s best friend. Whether you use it to deny sight to the enemy, your own personal mini-ult, a one way, and even weakening the enemy post-plant, it’s used cannot be understated. It’s very mobile, unlike the wall, and that can be used to great effect as well. I’m perfectly ok with the amount of cool down the pick up, it feels not too long, but it’s definitely not too short to be broken. Anyways, let’s get onto some things I think would be good for it (even though personally I think it’s fine where it is). There are three main buffs that come to mind- one, you could make her the true one-way king and make the orb sticky. I’ve heard this a lot from others, but personally I don’t like it. It’d ruin a lot of lineups, and a one ways are easily countered after just waiting the orb to stop or by rotating away. Speaking of lineups, another buff (the one I want) would be to make lineups easier. Essentially, on the minimap it would show where the orb would land, plus it’s effective area, even if you were looking up. Omen and brim both have incredibly precise smokes, but viper has a throwable. If they were to give her precision on par with those two with her orb, she would be even better. Omen and brim also have more than one smoke. Now yes, you can pick it up, but if you use it as a sight blocker or use it for a lineup it’s often out of reach. A potential buff it a recall, not a pickup. This would allow her to use her orb more generously. Now for the last ability,

Snake Bite This is the perfect mulley. Mondo damage. Weakening effect. Two charges. IMO it’s the best mulley, but for a lot of viper player, it’s not the best. What I’m talking about are the post-plant lineups. There is no process that is more tedious than having to learn a bunch of viper lineups. It hurts. And even then, you’re limited to having to go to one spot, line it up, and shoot. It’s a slow and vulnerable process that has huge payoffs. What I’m saying is, why not make lineups irrelevant? I think that if you ignore every other buff I said here and only put in the following, viper would be balanced. The buff is simple, much like the poison orb, you can see where it will land on the minimap as you aim it. This would be broken, no doubt. Some ways you could balance it is to remove a snake bite, lower it’s damage, or lower it’s throw velocity. I think this would make the ease of playing viper go waaayyyy up, and have her be far more appealing to the casual player who don’t want to learn the tedious lineups.

Vipers pit God I love this ability. Throwing your wall and orb down, and on top of the already confusing and damaging toxic maze, you throw this massive pit? It’s so nice. This is one of the best ults in the game, if you know how to use it correctly. I think it’s perfectly fine where it is. If I were to buff any part of it (which I wouldn’t) the only thing I don’t like is how slow it deploys. But that only limits the amount of aggressive plays you can Make with it, the defense Potential is still outstanding.