I

Extra Spirit

FYI: Vyper's movement speed scales with spirit power.

II

Enchanter's Emblem

Overstatted item. Spirit resist, spirit power, regen, cooldown reduction, AND a bit of extra health from early vitality investment. Good early priority in most lanes, especially against spirit nukers.

I

Mystic Burst

You need to hit two daggers to trigger this now, or trigger it on a decent Venom pop, but it still helps a LOT in lane with your poke. Get early in most lanes.

II

Improved Spirit

It's more spirit power. The extra bit of regen is nice, too.

II

Opening Rounds

I like this in rough lanes or vs close quarters heroes; your goal in lane is to keep your enemies at or below half health so Venom is scary, this helps with that. Also good for farming.

II

Mystic Shot

More spirit burst, on your already-good gun. The more aggressive option here. Good in winning lanes or against long-ranged characters who you can poke with this, and/or if you're hunting for kills.

II

Imbue [E]

Quicksilver Reload

More venom damage and a nice fast reload for farming and fights - empty clip, apply venom, empty another clip, and the thing you are shooting is (hopefully) dead.

III

Tankbuster

Still hugely helpful with big Venom pops (or Bolas), even if it's hard to trigger on dagger now. If you're farming and not ganking or hunting for kills, get after Tesla.

II

Active

Spirit Sap

Builds into Silence Wave, and the resist and spirit power shreds are super nice for early game fights - get if you're getting active early, otherwise skip.

III

Tesla Bullets

Big farm accelerator and buying it now makes Vyper's gun significantly better earlier to make up for the damage we lost on dagger. You're gonna be shooting more early, and this helps.

II

Enduring Speed

Movespeed good on slippery snake lady, and god do I hate slows. Get early in e.g. a Kelvin lane (may the devil curse his name).

I

Extra Regen

Consistent, good, reliable, friend. I get it most games. Builds into Healing Tempo if you're going the Radiant Regeneration route.

I

Mystic Regeneration

If, and only if, you can consistently hit daggers (or Mystic Shots) this is a quite a good lane sustain option, and it builds into Radiant Regeneration (if you want that item, get it early!)

I

Extra Health

Get if you're planning on going into Fortitude. Not worth if you're Veil Walker-ing or Rad Regen-ing.

I

Rebuttal

Vs Viscous (Puddle Punch is parryable!) or otherwise very punchhappy laners. Looking at you, Billy and Abrams.

I

Active

Healing Rite

If you have 800 souls and your options are buying healing rite or backing to heal, buy healing rite. You REALLY don't want to miss early waves if you can help it.

II

Spirit Shielding

Can save your hide in an obnoxious spirit burst heavy lane (e.g. Mina + GT) if Emblem isn't enough, and huge help in the midgame vs. almost any lineup.

II

Reactive Barrier

Good against Lash, Haze, Abrams, Doorman, GT (triggers on Spirit Snare!) etc. in lane. Can be an extremely valuable early pickup into CC heavy enemy lineups.

II

Suppressor

Pretty solid if you need to shut down a gun carry early into the game, but late game I'd rather have Juggernaut. Rusted Barrel is an option too.

III

Fortitude

More consistent than VW and makes you tankier. Get in a slower-paced, farm-heavy game where you're trying to scale into gun damage faster.

III

Veil Walker

Good god, they nerfed it. Still good as an aggressive, assassin-ish option for sneaking up on squishies with your bola, and the sustain is still solid. Get if early-game aggression is on the menu.

III

Radiant Regeneration

I used to be a non-believer, and then I tried it. It's the greediest, squishiest option (don't buy in a rough game!), but the healing can do work and it enables Healing Tempo. Get it early if you do!

III

Active

Silence Wave

AoE silence is incredibly useful to turn fights, and the minus spirit res is really nice too w/ Merc. Easy to apply after a group bola; good vs pretty much everybody!

IV

Imbue [E]

Mercurial Magnum

Crazy, crazy good item. High priority after Boundless. Basically doubles your gun damage AND gives fire rate. Make sure it's always active when you're shooting - spam daggers!

III

Burst Fire

Gaben personally designed this item for Vyper. My dad works at Valve and he told me that. Makes your slides 200% more silly and slippery. Priority, except if you have Rad Regen (see Healing Tempo)

IV

Boundless Spirit

High priority, even if you're itching for more gun-oriented items. Movespeed, scaling for tesla bullets and merc magnum (not to mention your abilities), and did I mention the movement speed?

IV

Active

Capacitor

The active is great against Billy (bye Blasted), Viscous (bye Cube), Paige (bye shields), Kelvin (bye Ice Path), etc. Turns off a LOT. Get early if you're being owned by buff-reliant heroes.

IV

Frenzy

VERY underrated both offensively and defensively. Probably the best late game item here for my money, especially into heavy Spirit damage late game.

IV

Spiritual Overflow

Worthwhile pickup in the very late game; another fire rate + spirit power steroid pairs nicely with Merc Mag. If only the buildup was faster on Vyper.

IV

Ricochet

It's VERY fun, and can shred teamfights if you happen to catch them all clumped up (and not die in the process). Only pick up in very late game.

IV

Active

Curse

I HATE this guy and want them to SUFFER. Comboing this after Bola can remove an enemy from fighting for an obscene amount of time. If the enemy is being carried by one person, get and spam on them.

IV

Glass Cannon

It is a LOT of gun damage. The minus max health is tough, but if it falls on your shoulders to be the gun carry in hyper late game, here it is. Goes nicely with the resist shred on Dagger.

IV

Crippling Headshot

Lowest priority luxury item, but the resist shreds are nice, and it can replace Healbane if you trust yourself (or Vyper's erratic spread) to hit heads.

IV

Leech

Big healing. I prefer it over Vampiric Burst since a big chunk of our damage is spirit. Bullet / Spirit Lifesteal builds into this - get those if you have enough for them and are building into Leech.

IV

Healing Tempo

ONLY IF YOU HAVE RAD REGEN! Basically permanent Burst Fire. A huge fire rate and movespeed buff as well as a nice healing boost - throw daggers constantly to proc Rad Regen and keep the buff going!

III

Spirit Resilience

More and more necessary in today's goofy spirit meta. Get if purple characters are terrorizing you.

III

Escalating Resilience

Honestly, this is just a better bullet resilience for Vyper. Get this and/or Juggernaut if orange characters are terrorizing you.

IV

Juggernaut

Shuts down gun carries and upgrades Enduring Speed. Good slot-efficient (albeit expensive) item. I prefer this (+ Escalating) for dealing with heavy gun lineups late game.

III

Weighted Shots

This is here for the spirit and debuff resistance. Note that this + Debuff Remover gives you time to parry an Abrams' heavy melee after Charge (if they have no duration up).

III

Counterspell

Great item. Shuts down Lash ults, Abrams ults, Yamato slashes, GT birds / shots, etc. Basically any ability that you can see coming and don't want to get hit by.

III

Active

Debuff Remover

Incredibly important against heroes reliant on debuffs to do damage (Infernus, Haze, Mirage), or if you keep getting disarm / silence / knockdown / etc. spammed on you.

III

Active

Warp Stone

Really nice mobility item and a HUGE amount of bullet res after blinking. Great into heavy gun lineups.

IV

Spellbreaker

Pretty good into obnoxious spirit burst (e.g. Lash, Pocket, GT, Calico, Yamato), but only in that situation - otherwise Spirit Res is more consistent and cheaper.

IV

Active

Unstoppable

Can be game winning late game vs CC heavy lineups; I wouldn't get early. For midgame, Reactive Barrier + Counterspell / Debuff Remover is better.

II

Healbane

Somebody (probably multiple somebodies) need this in almost every game. If your team isn't buying it, get it! Shuts down Mo, Abrams, etc. in lane.

II

Active

Slowing Hex

Shuts down heroes with slippery movement abilities in the early / mid game; Calico (it turns off everything but her 1!), Mina, Wraith, Pocket, etc.

III

Active

Knockdown

Often a necessity against dominant fliers. If they buy debuff remover, ask somebody on your team to buy it too and apply it after the first is removed; Vindicta, GT, Lash, Bebop ult, etc.

IV

Active

Phantom Strike

Can be game winning vs a dominant gun carry and/or flier. Get on top of them, drag them down, and disarm them too. Helps if REALLY struggling to stay on them, or if they're in the skybox.

IV

Active

Divine Barrier

I very occasionally buy this if I've had an extremely rough game and am accepting the fact that I'm more useful supporting than dealing damage. It happens, and it's a great item for your team.

III

Active

Rescue Beam

Same as Divine Barrier - if you're so far behind that your damage doesn't really exist, better to itemize into helping the people on your team who do deal damage.

IV

Inhibitor

Maaaybe with Ricochet. The outgoing damage reduction is huge, and the healing reduction makes it a decent Healbane replacement in late game, but it's hard to apply consistently (except on bola'd ppl).

II

Active

Fleetfoot

The extra slide distance is nice, and if you're slidemaxxing, well here you go.

II

Intensifying Magazine

See Split Shot. I don't like this item early as it rewards drawn out engagements (which Vyper is weak at), and late game there's just higher value options.

II

Kinetic Dash

If you dash jump a lot and need an economy gun upgrade, sure. Good item but not incredible.

II

Active

Split Shot

It's really good on gun Vyper, and not bad on hybrid either, but it's not priority for me. It can help make Vyper's spray more consistent in chaotic fights, and great with e.g. Billy ult.

III

Active

Alchemical Fire

Spirit power, gun investment and a good active. Throw it on the ground right after Bola to let it ramp up before they awake. Not priority, but if you do pick it up, pick it up early.

III

Active

Blood Tribute

Quite a good item for a more gun-focused Vyper IF you can manage the health drain (wouldn't recommend for inexperienced players!). If you want fury trance, get this instead. Trust me.

III

Active

Cultist Sacrifice

Builds out of Monster Rounds if you enjoy that, and the stats are actually quite good, although I find it a bit greedy for a hybrid Vyper that wants to get active early- you farm plenty fast w/ Tesla.

III

Hunter's Aura

Pretty good. Close to being core; another minus fire rate item for 1v1s against other gun carries.

III

Toxic Bullets

In theory a tank shredder, but I've always found this item to be a bit underwhelming. Would rather have Tesla Bullets + Healbane, unless you're going against Victor + MnK + Abrams + Billy + Shiv.

IV

Armor Piercing Rounds

Yes, it lets half of your bullets go through Petrify, but as fun as that sounds it's not THAT good. That said, this IS good if you're getting owned by plated armor or really high bullet resist heroes.

IV

Lucky Shot

I'd rather have Glass Cannon, but this is a lower risk, lower reward option.

IV

Active

Shadow Weave

For a funny assassin-ish build. More map mobility, and the ambush bonuses are quite good.

IV

Silencer

Your gun shoots real fast, this can be decent, but again nothing special. Maybe if they're ALL spirit - outgoing damage reduction is quite nice.

IV

Spellslinger

Effect is pretty weak for a tier 4 in my humble opinion, but 60% fire rate and a bit of CD reduction is far from nothing. If you need the reload speed, you're doing something wrong.

I

Imbue [E]

Mystic Expansion

If they're running away too fast before you get the girl juice on them.

II

Bullet Resist Shredder

Better now with the Dagger changes making it easier to proc, and stacks nicely with t2 dagger. Underrated, but a bit of a detour imo. Crippling Headshot is more worthwhile.

III

Greater Expansion

A bit overkill, but if you're out of things to upgrade and have Mystic Expansion. Does make your bolas bigger, that's fun.

III

Rapid Recharge

I REALLY wouldn't get this with the current state of Screwjab Dagger - I don't think the price is worth what you get. Still, if you're desperate for the true dagger-slinging experience, here ya go.

III

Superior Cooldown

Feels a bit overkill, cooldowns aren't really a problem outside of bola, but another reasonable upgrade path w/ Transcendent.

III

Imbue [E]

Surge of Power

It's solid, but Merc Magnum and Boundless are just higher priority and if we fill up all the slots with purple there's no room for the orange and green, yknow?

IV

Transcendent Cooldown

Only if you have a bunch of actives.

IV

Siphon Bullets

It's alright. Rewards drawn out engagements, which is where Vyper is the weakest - Leech (or Rad Regen) is just better as a defensive healing option on hybrid Vy.

III

Sharpshooter

VYPER RHYMES WITH SNIPER FOR A REASON DON'T LET YOUR CRAZY INACCURATE GUN HOLD YOU BACK FROM YOUR DREAMS

III

Active

Majestic Leap

flying snake. yes.

III

Stamina Mastery

flying snake part 2. descend on your enemies from above. with 8 stamina.

III

Trophy Collector

DO NOT BUY THIS. the face the little guy is making is the face i make when people buy this item on vyper. just get cult sac instead.

III

Spirit Snatch

lol dude what if we punched statues

III

Torment Pulse

this is stupid, and you'd be stupid for buying it

IV

Active

Arctic Blast

actually probably okay, but like, buy literally anything else. except trophy collector this is better than that

IV

Lightning Scroll

ugh, fine. here's lightning scroll. it's probably the best item in this category, but that's saying absolutely nothing. if you have any duration up it doesn't work lol

IV

Active

Focus Lens

do NOT bring this item up in #vyper.

IV

Active

Magic Carpet

flying snake part 3. make dreams come true and get reported for griefing.

IV

Active

Scourge

holy cow that snake is toxic get away from her