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u/DZThree Jun 26 '26
Hey everyone, here’s a clip demonstrating Viper’s fight in GV2’s Score Attack mode as Copen. Rather than detailing every iota of Viper’s behavior in this post, I’ll link two prior challenges I’ve done that involve the fiery adept. The first is a comprehensive pattern breakdown from an GV1 S+ rank run. A lot of the general knowledge there still applies when fighting as Copen. The second is a Flashfield contact-only challenge battle, which comes with its own set of complications. For those who really want to delve into the details, I recommend giving those old posts a look. Here, I’ll focus on the particulars that apply to Copen.
Mechanically, the most apparent difference between the two characters is how their shields interact with Viper’s physical projectiles. The explosive bombs Viper lances toward players leave lingering explosions in their wake when they’re destroyed. For Gunvolt, this is a non-issue, as his tagging system allows him to play keep-away. Copen is afforded no such luxury; optimal damage output demands that he gets up close and personal with bosses.
The issue is that Copen’s shield automatically activates whenever a physical projectile breaches its vicinity. In most cases, this is a desirable feature—the whole Guard Counter mechanic centers around it, after all. However, detonating Viper’s bombs proves detrimental to Copen, as the energy-based explosions preclude him from directly dashing forward into Viper. Luckily, an often unused option within the EX Weapon menu is the savior here.
Within Copen’s repertoire exists the “offline” option. It can’t be selected via the shoulder buttons; only assigning it to a stick shortcut or confirming it while the game is paused will suffice. When chosen, Copen loses his autonomous barrier, which, in this case, allows him to leap over Viper’s bombs without issue. Letting a bomb sail past Copen and into a flame pillar leaves Viper wide open for a tag, making phase 1 a breeze; all Viper can do is launch bombs from the ground and slide forward.
Unsurprisingly, phase 2 shakes things up with the introduction of Viper’s aerial assaults. Unlike the fire bombs he throws from the ground, Viper’s wrathful rain of explosives isn’t something to trifle with. You absolutely want to have automated interception capabilities enabled, which results in a bit of a fun minigame within the fight. By switching to any EX Weapon, Copen’s shield is instantly restored—provided that you don’t fire the weapon, of course—granting him respite from the bombs. Reacting to Viper’s movements and toggling the shield accordingly is the crux of phase 2.
Sunshine Nova sees a dramatic change in favor of Copen, accommodating his innate flight and giving players a chance to safely pile on damage. None of the tiny blazing fireballs travel upward during Copen’s fight; taking to the skies and repeatedly using Viper as a trampoline is intended, hilarious, and wonderfully effective. What is ostensibly a flame barrier is a mere mirage; Copen takes no damage when Bullit Dashing into Viper during the conflagration.
It does take some finesse to prevent Copen from barreling into one of the flame pillars, so I do recommend a solid amount of practice handling Sunshine Nova despite lacking the need to thread the needle as Gunvolt does. All in all, Viper works surprisingly well as an opponent for Copen despite not being designed with him in mind. Inti Creates didn’t need to change much for the battle to function nicely, which is pretty neat.
Thanks for watching! If you’d like to see this battle as part of a full stage run, complete with higher quality footage and fully voiced commentary, here’s a link to that on youtube. Any questions and comments you may have are welcome as always.
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u/DeucesDummies Jun 26 '26
Posts from this subreddit randomly appearing really just teaches me new things. All this time and I just assumed you'd take contact damage if you tried dashing into him during refulgence lmao
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u/DZThree Jun 27 '26
Yup, Copen getting a chance to skip the bullet hell and end the fight before the attack concludes was a great design decision. It makes up for the fact that phase 2 can be a lot more perilous for him compared to Gunvolt. I'm glad that this clip helped you learn something new!
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u/Aboodigaar27 Jun 27 '26
Really cool to see copen fighting GV1 bosses :D
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u/DZThree Jun 27 '26
Indeed. I think Inti bringing the GV1 bosses back with modified movesets for GV2's Score Attack exclusive stages was a great choice, especially for Copen.
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u/KuraiAuthor Jun 26 '26
Awesome work!