Plus, handy with the Viper and Pictomancer job classes

Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail was announced in July 2023 and was a step in a new direction for Square Enix's gigantic MMORPG. With a nearly decade-long story ending with the Endwalker expansion, Creative Studio III teased a fresh start on the never-ending journey of the Warrior of Light, this time promising players a "summer vacation" of sorts on a continent in the midst of political turmoil as it elects its new leader. And with the new expansion would come further tweaks to the game, along with the introduction of two new job classes and a complete graphics overhaul. Square Enix gave Polygon the opportunity to dive into a portion of Dawntrail, which included a look at both the Viper and Pictomancer job classes and the chance to run through one of the new dungeons.

While attending Fan Fest 2023, I was drawn to the idea of a new job class, mostly because I was tired of the constant Summoner being taken out, the lack of engagement when playing Gunbreaker (or any tank), and the homogenization of most of the healing job classes. So I jumped at the chance to give the Viper a whirl at this recent preview event. Having played them now, Viper and Pictomancer remind me of the more experimental age of Final Fantasy 14 that came with the release of the Heavensward expansion – when the job classes were more interesting and when Creative Studio III was still ironing out the wrinkles on A Kingdom of new.

These two new job classes are both refreshingly complex. On the surface, Viper seems akin to Ninja with its dual blades and skillful animations, but in practice it's a more involved version of Reaper, introduced through Endwalker. Viper is fast and fluid, with your attacks built on devastating sweeps of your twin blades or by combining the blades into a polearm through special attacks and stances to rip and tear through enemies. You constantly switch between stances, apply debilitating debuffs to enemies, and increase your attack speed to interrupt animations to deal as much damage as possible in short bursts. Like Reaper, Viper has a healthy selection of single-target and AoE attacks, meaning you'll be able to reliably build up your Vipersight and Serpent's Ire gauge. Final Fantasy 14 has remained a game about building up your gauges to blast enemies within very specific time windows, and Dawntrail doesn't seem to be deviating from this path.