Gunvolt Beats Viper Without Using His Gun
12Viper is commonly heralded as GV1’s most troublesome boss, so I decided that it’d be a stellar idea to fight him in the most illogical way possible, turning the battle into a survival challenge of sorts.
In the past, I’ve fought Viper numerous times using normal tactics. I’ve also completed a challenge where I restricted Gunvolt to using only Dullahan. This time, I’m doing the exact opposite: the task at hand is to win using only Flashfield contact damage. Naturally, due to how weak this option is, I equipped Gunvolt with two Dilation Reticle+ lenses to avoid having the battle last over 10 minutes. Even with proper gear, it’s still nearly a 4-minute waltz.
The primary concern when fighting Viper is the speed and unpredictability of his attacks, not so much the pace at which he flows between them. Knowing that, the usual strategy is to keep your distance and bait him into attacking in the wrong direction by leaping over him whenever necessary. However, being chained to Flashfield contact as your only offense means that you necessarily loiter unreasonably close to the smoldering Adept.
As usual, phase 1 is a non-issue, presumably because Viper forgot that he can move along the y-axis. The Flashfield’s coverage is just large enough to detonate Viper’s bombs safely while still dealing damage to him. Viper can slide a maximum of two times after firing, so some preemptive jumping is all that’s required to stay safe. That all goes out the window during phase 2, where Viper regains his motor functions and remembers how his legs work.
Now, I wish I could tell you that I devised some grand strategy to hold Viper within the Flashfield’s grasp as he darts across the arena after phase 1, but the fact is, I got incredibly lucky. I succeeded in defeating Viper under these restrictions on my third attempt, and I don’t mean my third attempt after hours of practice; I mean my third attempt total. It was wholly unexpected; I figured that I’d end up wasting hours upon hours mulling over optimization, only to be graced with a gift from the Gunvolt gods, and I wasn’t about to throw that away.
The consequence of such stratospheric fortune is that this battle is most certainly not as quick or graceful as it could be. It’s plain to see that I become more defensive as Viper’s health dwindles. Even with almost no R&D time, I can say this: the greatest degree of risk is trying to keep your DPS going while Viper is adjacent to a flame pillar. From this position, you can’t jump behind him until he moves, so you need to be particularly incisive with the timing and positioning of your jumps.
As far as optimal DPS is concerned, the guesswork involved is substantial. At times, you’ll see me sprint away from Viper in anticipation of a jump kick. Sometimes I’m rewarded with extra damage ticks, and other times I simply expend EP meaninglessly, forcing extra recharges. Viper’s expanded repertoire unequivocally shuts down the option of standing in his face to detonate his ground bombs. Doing so would be pure gambling, and there’s little chance of reacting to the shots in time if Gunvolt is far away, hence why I jump over some of the bombs normally—the last thing you need is to deny yourself workable space by bursting the bombs in the middle of the arena.
That about covers everything. Sunshine Nova differs in no way, so there’s nothing to discuss there. While this challenge serves no pragmatic purpose, it is nonetheless an exceptionally good way to practice timing your movement against Viper, which inevitably assists during any S+ attempts of any stage he happens to inhabit.
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