Viper Strike

The thieves guilds of Oriath teach a wicked skill to all initiates - the feared Viper Strike. Employing the skill, a claw, dagger or sword user coats their weapon with deadly venom, a concoction so virulent it permanently marks any weapon it contacts. Once the toxin is applied, the weapon will poison any it strikes, burning deep into their veins, causing wracking, crippling pain. Additional hits will increase the concentration of the toxin, stacking it up to lethal levels quickly. Few have survived an assault of Viper Strike and those who have never forget the agony.

Description on the official Path of Exile website

Viper Strike is an attack that hits the enemy with chaos damage and applies poison.

Skill functions and interactions

Viper Strike applies Poison with an 4-second duration on hit. Viper Strike specifically overrides the base poison duration with its own base skill duration.

Some beneficial curses for Viper Strike include DespairDespairSpell, AoE, Duration, Chaos, Curse, Hex
Level: (1-20)
Cost: (16-33) Mana
Cast Time: 0.50 sec
AoE Radius: 22Requires Level 24Curses all targets in an area, lowering their chaos resistance.Base duration is (8.00-11.80) seconds
+(0-1) metre to radius
Cursed enemies have -(15-30)% to Chaos Resistance

Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
(0.5-10)% increased Effect of CursePlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. and Temporal ChainsTemporal ChainsSpell, AoE, Duration, Curse, Hex
Level: (1-20)
Cost: (16-33) Mana
Cast Time: 0.50 secRequires Level 24Curses all enemies in an area, lowering their action speed and making other effects on them expire more slowly.Base duration is (5.00-8.80) seconds
+(0-1) metre to radius
50% less Effect of Curse against Players
Cursed Normal and Magic Enemies have (15-29)% less Action Speed
Other effects on Cursed enemies expire 25% slower
Cursed Rare and Unique Enemies have (9-18)% less Action Speed

Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
(1-20)% increased Curse DurationPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket..

• Multistrike SupportMultistrike SupportAttack, Melee, Support
  Icon: 3
  Level: (1-20)
  Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 150%Requires Level 38Supports melee attack skills, making them repeat twice when used, targeting a random enemy each time. Cannot support Vaal skills, channelling skills or triggered skills.Supported Skills Repeat 2 additional times
  Supported Skills have (35-44)% more Melee Attack Speed
  Supported Skills deal (30-20)% less Attack Damage
  First Repeat of Supported Skills deals 22% more Damage
  Second Repeat of Supported Skills deals 44% more Damage
  
  Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
  Supported Skills deal (0.5-10)% increased Melee DamageThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. allows Viper Strike to automatically target nearby enemies for the two additional strikes and applies poison for each hit.
  • Note that even though each hit's damage is reduced, Poison does not scale on Attack Damage, so each hit's applied poison still has the same damage, but is applied twice as often for an overall doubled DoT dps.

• Melee Splash SupportMelee Splash SupportSupport, Melee, Attack, Strike, AoE
  Icon: S
  Level: (1-20)
  Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 130%
  AoE Radius: 14Requires Level 8Supports melee strike skills, causing their melee strike to deal splash damage around each target hit.Supported Skills deal Splash Damage to surrounding targets
  Supported Skills deal 40% less Splash Damage to surrounding targets
  Supported Skills have (0-57)% more Melee Splash Area of Effect
  
  Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
  Supported Skills have (0.5-10)% increased Area of EffectThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. causes Viper Strike to hit enemies near the target, poisoning each.

• Increased Duration SupportIncreased Duration SupportSupport, Duration
  Icon: D
  Level: (1-20)
  Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 130%Requires Level 31Supports any skill with a duration.Supported Skills have (45-64)% increased Skill Effect Duration
  
  Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
  Supported Skills have (0.5-10)% increased Skill Effect DurationThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket., Less Duration SupportLess Duration SupportSupport, Duration
  Icon: d
  Level: (1-20)
  Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 130%Requires Level 31Supports any skill that has a duration.Supported Skills deal (10-19)% more Damage
  Supported Skills have (40-49)% less Skill Effect Duration
  
  Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
  Supported Skills have (0.5-10)% less Skill Effect DurationThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket., and Swift Affliction SupportSwift Affliction SupportSupport, Duration
  Icon: r
  Level: (1-20)
  Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 140%Requires Level 31Supports any skill that has a duration, or can hit enemies to inflict ailments on them.Supported Skills deal (25-39)% more Damage over Time
  25% less Duration of Supported Skills and Damaging Ailments they inflict
  
  Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
  Supported Skills deal (0.5-10)% increased Damage over TimeThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. all affect the duration of the poison.

Gem level progression

Level			Damage Effectiveness	Attack Damage	Exp.	Total Exp.
1	1	0	90%	90%	0	0
2	2	0	93%	93.4%	70	70
3	4	16	97%	96.7%	308	378
4	7	22	100%	100.1%	1554	1932
5	11	31	103%	103.5%	6667	8599
6	16	41	107%	106.8%	26047	34646
7	20	50	110%	110.2%	49725	84371
8	24	58	114%	113.6%	95714	180085
9	28	67	117%	116.9%	169595	349680
10	32	75	120%	120.3%	283759	633439
11	36	83	124%	123.7%	453996	1087435
12	40	92	127%	127.1%	703128	1790563
13	44	100	130%	130.4%	1061223	2851786
14	48	109	134%	133.8%	2065870	4917656
15	52	117	137%	137.2%	2507110	7424766
16	56	125	141%	140.5%	5798936	13223702
17	60	134	144%	143.9%	15083919	28307621
18	64	142	147%	147.3%	27792735	56100356
19	67	148	151%	150.6%	43869739	99970095
20	70	155	154%	154%	242081556	342051651
21	72	159	157%	157.4%	N/A	N/A
22	74	N/A	161%	160.7%	N/A	N/A
23	76	N/A	164%	164.1%	N/A	N/A
24	78	N/A	167%	167.5%	N/A	N/A
25	80	N/A	171%	170.8%	N/A	N/A
26	82	N/A	174%	174.2%	N/A	N/A
27	84	N/A	178%	177.6%	N/A	N/A
28	86	N/A	181%	180.9%	N/A	N/A
29	88	N/A	184%	184.3%	N/A	N/A
30	90	N/A	188%	187.7%	N/A	N/A
31	91	N/A	189%	189.4%	N/A	N/A
32	92	N/A	191%	191.1%	N/A	N/A
33	93	N/A	193%	192.7%	N/A	N/A
34	94	N/A	194%	194.4%	N/A	N/A
35	95	N/A	196%	196.1%	N/A	N/A
36	96	N/A	198%	197.8%	N/A	N/A
37	97	N/A	199%	199.5%	N/A	N/A
38	98	N/A	201%	201.2%	N/A	N/A
39	99	N/A	203%	202.8%	N/A	N/A
40	100	N/A	205%	204.5%	N/A	N/A

Threshold jewels

The following threshold jewels augment Viper Strike:

Note that the jewels may be drop disabled and only be found in the permanent leagues as legacy items.

Item	Limit	Radius	Stats	Drop Enabled
Growing AgonyGrowing Agony Viridian JewelLimited to: 1 Radius: Medium(8-12)% increased Damage over Time With at least 40 Dexterity in Radius, Viper Strike deals 2% increased Damage with Hits and Poison for each Poison on the Enemy With at least 40 Dexterity in Radius, Viper Strike has a 10% chance per Poison on Enemy to grant Unholy Might for 4 seconds on HitMaligaro understood that devotion to science, Means devotion to trial and error. For Maligaro's errors, death was slow, And very painful.Place into an allocated Jewel Socket on the Passive Skill Tree. Right click to remove from the Socket.	1	Medium	(8-12)% increased Damage over Time With at least 40 Dexterity in Radius, Viper Strike deals 2% increased Damage with Hits and Poison for each Poison on the Enemy With at least 40 Dexterity in Radius, Viper Strike has a 10% chance per Poison on Enemy to grant Unholy Might for 4 seconds on Hit	0

Related helmet enchantments

The following helmet enchantments affect Viper Strike.

Note that helmet enchantments are no longer obtainable since version 3.23.0 and can only be obtained in permanent leagues as already enchanted items from before this patch.

Name		Labyrinth	Stats	Spawn Weighting
Enchantment Viper Strike Critical Strike Chance 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	60% increased Viper Strike Critical Strike Chance	helmet 100
Enchantment Viper Strike Critical Strike Chance 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	90% increased Viper Strike Critical Strike Chance	helmet 100
Enchantment Viper Strike Damage 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	25% increased Viper Strike Damage	helmet 100
Enchantment Viper Strike Damage 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	40% increased Viper Strike Damage	helmet 100
Enchantment Viper Strike Poison Duration 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	20% increased Viper Strike Duration	helmet 100
Enchantment Viper Strike Poison Duration 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	30% increased Viper Strike Duration	helmet 100

Version history

Version	Changes
2.4.0	11% more damage at gem level 20.
2.1.0	Attack skills that have their damage based on the wielded weapon have their mana costs fixed in place from level 1 onwards. Viper Strike now applies poison on hit and has a 100% chance to do so. Viper Strike now has 25% of its physical damage converted to chaos (instead of 10% physical added as chaos). Poisons applied by Viper Strike have a base duration of 8 seconds (up from 7 seconds). The Base Damage of Viper Strike has been increased from 100% to 130% at level 1, and from 122.8% to 160.4% at level 20.
1.2.0	This skill now adds 10% of physical damage as Chaos Damage and has a 50% chance to deal 175% of the attack's damage as chaos damage over seven seconds. The effect duration won't be refreshed by new attacks, but there is no limit to how many Viper Strike debuffs an enemy can have.
1.0.3	Damage progression has been increased. It is now around 15% better at level 15 than it was in 1.0.2.
1.0.2b	Fixed a bug where area damage bonuses would not benefit Viper Strike when supported by .
1.0.2	Generic modifiers to damage dealt will now apply to damage over time that your character causes. Damage over time is not spell damage, nor attack damage, so modifiers specific to those types will not apply. Non-specific "increased damage" modifiers will apply to damage over time. Type-specific modifiers will apply as well. For example, "increased fire damage" modifiers will apply to fire damage over time. Viper Strike can be supported by , now that the damage penalty also applies.
0.9.13	Viper Strike is now 38% better at level 1 and 3% better at level 15.
0.9.12qq	From 0.35% attack speed per quality point to 0.5%.
0.9.12d	Fixed a server crash that could occur with Viper Strike.
0.9.5	Fixed Viper Strike so that damage from the degeneration is scaled properly for PvP.
0.9.4	Increased the damage.
0.9.2	Viper Strike does more damage at higher levels than before. Reduced maximum number of charges to 4.
0.9.1	Reduced Viper Strike duration at lower levels.
0.8.7	Viper Strike added to the game.