Good read! I’ve been thinking of changing Viper/Strange/Doom to Viper/Strider/Doom or Viper/Doom/Strider. Strider’s assist is really too hard to pass up - I was just derping it out the other night during a session with a couple buddies and it worked REALLY well, lol. I didn’t even know his moves or anything though, haha. I always thought Strider was kind of a derp character but he couldn’t be further from it. He’s so fast, technical and requires high execution - I’ve been missing out on this fun this whole time!
So, I’ve been using a new tactic with my team. When I get 3 bars (or closes to), use any excuse to bring Strider in. It works wonders.
I have been playing viper for a while just now getting into the community. Can anybody give me any tips on which team would be better and more efficient Viper/Spencer/Ammy or Viper\Spencer\Hawkeye i know the cold star gives unblockables but hawkeye gives horizontal cover. Any suggestions would be helpful
Also doom is still a maybe but doesn’t give unblockables
I used to play Viper/Spencer/Hawkeye, and even though I liked it, I really struggled against runaway/zoning teams, especially those who can stay at super jump height. Runaway Wesker, Dorm, Trish, and Magneto gave me a lot of trouble considering Spencer and Hawkeye assists don’t really provide lockdown or anti-air help. If anything, Viper/Spencer/Ammy seems better because there’s at least a lockdown assist that can provide help on mix-ups and unblockables. Hope this helps.
And btw, lately I’ve been looking at characters like Dante, Trish, Doom, and Strider to back up Viper, and even though I don’t really want to play him, it seems Strider assist may be too good to pass up. Does anyone have experience using Viper/Spencer/Strider? If it’s not a good team, I might go Viper/Dante/Strider because I know that should work out.
On your Mag+Drones list laser actually charges during the firing time of laser, you can rapid fire them if you want and when paired with Vajra it’s pretty viable to, are you using plasma beam as your Doom assist? If so it’s doubly useful. I normally haven’t had issues getting laser set up against Mag+ drones, but I also have tons of Magneto experience so that may impact it.
For Zero/Vergil Stinger BC teleport + strider is a monstrous tactic that works wonders as it’s safe and strong.
As for how to deal with Firebrand, luckily nobody is playing that character right yet to my knowledge, that said it’s your number one priority to get him blocking ASAP. When he’s blocking Viper’s BS he’s the same as any other character except lacks the invulnerability to blow through it as readily. I am willing to burn X-factor to get rid of this character if the need arises, he’s that much of a potential problem. I make sure to pressure him to the best of my ability, but a good Firebrand is really hard to pin down to start doing so. It’s true that Strider does jack when being pressured, Strider is mainly there to control the air, I can’t support using him as an anti pressure assist with how low his life is. >.< As for dealing with zoning I feel it depends on the team, it deals with all the elements of zoning that Viper doesn’t blow up as quickly her self.
Firebrand’s weakness is that he can’t go invincible. Every other one of his weaknesses is fairly superfluous and he has ways around it, I’m starting to think all of the match ups that I thought were bad for him are actually in his favor. In a match up based tier chart he may end up tied with Viper instead of below her, but his tools IMO aren’t as good since he has a real hole in his plan which is invincibility to get out of BS.
Just sayin, thank you to everybody in this thread, because your q’s and a’s have answered alot of my problems that I was thinking about, as I am thinking really tempted to run my Spider/Viper/Strider team again
Just curious what assists and also i dont have much spiderman experience but I dont think that would be the best team to put him on. I played spiderman for a month or so and hes good at getting in. Hes very mobile and with the new ability to cancel his web ball and other specials into the zipline it makes him very strong. The thing is I think he likes having an assist that pins the opponent down. Strider does lock down really well vertically but I think you are going to have a difficult time against characters who control the ground insanely well. I think the best assists for your team though might either be doom missiles or sentinel drones. Im not a spiderman main so I dont know too much about him but I don’t think Viper/Spiderman is a strong duo. Another think to mention is you have to be really creative for using viper or spidey assists.
Also if you dont mind me asking is there a good spiderman/viper team I tried it out but culd not get this duo to work. The assists I tried out are hidden missiles, tatsu, and sentinel drones
I’ve been noodling with my team some more, mostly because I was really enjoying Strider in the second slot as he’s borderline unstoppable with an assist backing him up, and what I’ve arrived at is either:
Viper/Strider/Sentinel
or
Viper/Strider/Ammaterasu
I’m leaning more towards Sentinel because I like his tools better and the additional range on Drones helps with Strider, but Cold star is faster, and you could make a case that Ammy is a better anchor than Sent (I think they’re about even, but Sent can one touch without XF).
This advice really helped me. Thanks Ive been catching him more and trying to just read what magneto will do. I also tend to stay in the air more. granted Im not in an area where Viper is at her best but at the same time magneto is not a his best if I constantly stay in the air. Well depending on the assist. It then comes down to whose able to touch who. Usually I win here thanks to vjara though lol.
I agree with you on this. against magneto and teleport characters I am way more careful about my chaining seismos as if I misplace more seismo its hard for me to get back into the match.
Also there are a few things Ive been having trouble with and was wondering if you any advice can help me. One is people who mash cr. l. I play against two magnetos who just constantly mash cr. l to add pressure and I try to punish by advance guarding and then ex seismo but sometimes I screw up and get destroyed. Anyone got a better idea on how to beat cr. l pressure without wasting a bar
What do you guys think about Viper / Firebrand (Missile M) / Skrull (Tenderizer)?
Chrisis explained the Firebrand use a few pages ago but what do you think about Skrull? I wanna put him there for the Firebrand Loop, but is Tenderizer assist as good as a lockdown assist as Cold Star or Jam Session for Viper?
I tried using Skrull when I was testing out a Viper/Mags/Skrull team. Tenderizer is extremely good at locking down incoming opponents like after you’ve gotten a kill or a snap back, but it’s much harder to use otherwise. Those other assists cover better areas like cold star - in front Jam Session vertical, in front. Tenderizer covers upwards in front which is a much harder place to catch someone, and you can wind up getting happy birthdayed . Of course if you are staring them right in the face the assist hits too, but good luck getting getting the assist out at that range without getting tagged. And in blockstring ppl will push you out so it went hit then either. When I played I tried to use Mags’ gravitation move to pull ppl into the assist, which worked more than you’d expect, but I went away from that team… Anyway I don’t think it’s as good as those others you mentioned, but it gives your team unblockables so maybe you should go for it.
My team assists are Spidey-web ball/Viper-burn kick/Strider-Vajra. as for assists like doom missiles, missiles are still good, but can sometimes be hard to combo from. same with drones. But they are still the best assists for him, though drones are a little less useful, damage-wise in this game. My biggest problem is that I’m just plain not good with Doom or Sent yet, as they are totally not my style
ALERT - Spider-man essay ahead.
[details=Spoiler]Well honestly, as a Spider-Man player whose mained him exclusively since Vanilla came out, the biggest problem with the team I mentioned is Spider-Man. As a matter of fact, as a Spider-Man main, just finding a ‘good team’ with him has always been a problem (though, in vanilla, just dropping in Tron/Haggar assist, drones, missiles, otg, or Phoenix made him super scary), and even with his buffs, I think it’s gotten worse in Ultimate, as hitscaling has negatively affect Spidey badly as a character, and reliable assists have been nerfed. So no matter which team you have, it seems that you have to work hard (sometimes unreasonably so), which is why (if what I heard is true) even Evil Rahsaan has dropped him.
Pretty much everything you mentioned is dead on about the character. Spidey is really good in this game. He is a genuine threat and his tools are all really good. The problem is all his tools also have glaring weaknesses, even simple/basic ones. For example, something simple as a magic series. Just doing basic LMH still causes M to miss more than it hits. H by itself has been nerfed badly as HSD tends to spike. Capcom also had the bright idea of making Spidey unique, as when hitting a character with H or S, the character hit floats in a weird manner to where many of his specials can’t continue a combo much, or just flat-out won’t hit. Just hitting standing opponents with a s.S causes opponents to fly backwards unlike any other character in the game, and it causes all kinds of problems IMO.
Web zip is GREAT for getting in, but Spidey has pretty much NO tools to open a character up once he does. On top of that, like you mentioned, characters have to be grounded, which they aren’t the majority of the time, even characters like Haggar like to stay in the air. Web zip sucks for air opponents, and Vajra assist DESTROYS web zip. Web ball is useful, but it would be GREAT tool, if it didn’t succumb HSD. It already does, like, only 10k damage anyway, which also really hurts combo damage ablility, so they should have made it like Impact palm, where it ALWAYS has does 32f hit stun, but it doesn’t, limiting its usefullness on top of the bad recovery. I can go on and on, but you get my point about weaknesses in his tools. I’m not even going to go into the pitiful damge he does, since that singlehandedly tarnishes what made him so scary to begin with.
I might sound like I’m venting or something, but going against a herp derp Wesker or Wolverine, doing things like landing a jumping H, and missing the magic series because I used s.M, which whiffs, can turn things from my advantage and immediately flip it into a dead Spidey and lost member of my team. These are just ideas I’m laying out to understand the mentality you have to be on while playing Spidey on a high level[/details]
'That’s great ‘n all, but what does that have to do with Viper’?
Well it starts with Strider. Vajra assist does wonders for Spidey, addressing most of his big weaknesses. My single biggest goal with Spidey is to keep you grounded, and preferably cornered. Vajra does 90% of the work for me, which allows me to focus on other strategies. Of course it doesn’t take care of everything – example, It doesn’t help much with zoning or teleport teams. But I find the allure of having Spidey’s worse matchups (Zero, Trish, Firebrand, etc) swing more toward my favor greater than the (serious) threat of dealing with being chipped out, and Spidey’s aerial movement beats out teleporters. Plus, I can do a full combo on you if it hits you in the air.
Viper also benefits for pretty much the same reasons. You all already detailed why Viper/Strider synergy is so good already.
As for Spider/Viper, I think they are a really good team in certain ways. They DHC surprisingly well, and burn kick assist creates unblockables for Spidey, especially in the corner. That alone addresses another big Spidey problem. While Spidey’s assist don’t really help her much, with possible exception of web ball, she is still really good, even on her own. Their big problem together is that they both have the nearly same weaknesses and bad matchups.
So all ‘n all, my search for a good Spidey team has lead me to here again in the Viper forums. I believe Spider/Viper/Strider to be a good team. But unlike a great team, like some of the high level players’ teams, they have problematic matchups that can dismantle them. But I look at, for example, Chrisis’ team (Firebrand/Viper/Strider), and he confronts nearly the same problems as I, though his team is arguably better. Reading things like the last 10 or so posts on this thread pretty much directly addresses the things and problems I had on my mind, making me believe that I may have finally found a reasonably tournament-viable Spidey team. 
But then again, I’m really getting to a point where I’m just tired of dealing with these annoying/unnecessary issues – so I’m thinking about switching to a Viper-centric team, even after spending 10+ months focusing on Spidey. What would you guys recommend for a purely Viper-focused team in Ultimate?
I tried both and I kinda preferred Sentinel over the reasons you just mentioned. Also Viper has some really cool combos with drones. You can use it to extend her ground series or go for a relaunch. I thinks its pretty difficult to do this with ammy assist. Also Strider/Sentinel seems pretty beast right now.
Um I think if you are really good with those characters and have a strong neutral game with Viper this team can work well but you are just going to have to work harder as I think Chrisis has to with his team. Granted they are both decent teams, but the difference is I feel Firebrand is alot stronger than Spiderman. And the purpose of Firebrand for him is to counter Viper’s bad matchups. Im not sure about how his team operates though so yea. As for your question about Viper-centric team thats your decision to make. If you enjoy these characters you can get them to work together then go for it. =). I think people play better if they play characters they like
Thanks for your advice, man. Looks like I’m just gonna have to make a decision and accept the good and the bad. I still don’t know for sure who to use, but I’m gonna experiment
So I’m stuck on Nova and Viper as a team. I like Viper’s Burn Kick assist, but Hammer is what has helped Nova the most by extending combos off ground bounce. Now, I use Frank and Chris and switch between them as the Secondary character for my teams (where Nova is Point and Viper anchor). Now, who should I stick with in the end for a solid team build? Chris or Frank?
Probably Frank with his Shopping cart. Shopping cart is a good lockdown assist and helps viper control the ground, which is important since you don’t have a beam assist. I also believe Viper has some decent DHC’s into him that allow for camera level-up stuff, but she doesn’t exactly build a miraculous amount of hits in her combos, so it won’t be anything special. Dat nova ball should do the trick though.
Nova/Frank are really good together from what ive seem but I dont think this is a team Viper fits well on. She sorts of seems out of place. Im gonna be honest with you in that I dont feel either Chris or Frank go well with this team if you want to use Viper/Nova. I think you need another character that locks them down. Frank West assist does this but there are other characters who are better and can provide better opportunities for you team. Try using Amaterasu or Sentinel. I asked earlier about Viper/Frank compatibility and tried of stuff on my own but could not find much. If you happen to find anything please do share as I like both characters. Also I think Viper(Seismo)/Nova(Centurian Rush) might be a better order as Nova goes well in any position and Viper can be any position but is best on point with two assists.
Thanks for the advice guys. I’m solid with Nova and Viper (with Frank and Chris too), and I’m going to keep trying but you guys are right in your assumptions. Frank got more from Viper than she got from him, and same for Chris. I’ll keep experimenting with them (I wish Chris’ gun shot more per round), but thanks for the character suggestions. My main problem with them is that I’m nowhere near as good with Ammy or Sentinel (and in all honesty the two don’t appeal to me as much), but I’ll keep that third spot open. I’ll definitely switch it up though, making Nova the secondary.
well Viper does get alot from Frank. I could not figure out how to level him up with Viper besides TACs which I dont want to rely on since they are pretty random. Also just to help you out its important to realize that sometimes you may have to play a third character that you do not really want to play. I remember hearing this from a Maximilion vid. But you should at least pick two character you like which you did(Viper/Nova) and the third character you pick should tie the team together. So yea you might not like either of them but you should still give them a chance or find another character that would work.
Here are some characters that could work: Strider, Dr. Doom. Magneto, Sentinel, Hawkeye, Taskmaster. You can try and find some other characters. And if you do like Frank:
Try Nova(Centurian Rush)/Frank West(Shopping Cart)/Viper(Burn Kick). And heres how you could go about playing this team. Try to level up Frank as quickly as possible and then tag him out and somehow get it so the order becomes Viper/Frank/Nova. Nova is a decent anchor so yea and shopping cart helps Viper. And now you have a decent anchor, a leveled up Frank, and Viper with two awesome assists. Im not sure how this will work out but its worth a try.
As for Chris the problem with him is that he has a huge blindspot in the air thats hard for him to cover without assists and those two characters besides maybe Viper’s thunderknuckle assist do not do much for him.
But if you find a way to level frank up with Viper PLZ LET ME KNOW BECAUSE I REALLY WANT THESE TWO TO WORK WELL TOGETHER. lol
hope this helps
sup… im having trouble against my friends team nemesis/ghost rider/super skrull or sometimes he plays ghost rider on point, im playing viper/dante/strider and i dont know how i should play with viper against nemesis and ghost rider… can i get some advices plz ?