Viper Laser Rifle

The Viper Laser Rifle is a weapon in Saints Row: The Third.
==Overview==
A highly-advanced weapon, it is a laser rifle, and serves as the primary assault weapon of STAG. As such, it can aquired by killing or disarming them with the Human Shield. By default, the Viper fires somewhat sluggishly, but deals reasonable damage; It has better accuracy than the K-8 Krukov and deals more damage as well (though it is less damaging and less accurate than the AR-55. As an energy weapon, the Viper has no need for magazines and can continue firing as long as there is ammunition for it, though it's necessary to carefully control the firing rate to avoid excessive heat buildup. If the weapon overheats, it is rendered inoperative until it fully cools down.
The Viper gets considerably better with upgrades, which improve its accuracy and dramatically improves its fire rate. Fully upgraded, the Viper strikes a perfect balance between the speed of the K-8 Krukov and power of the AR-55, making it an excellent weapon for most combat situations, though it loses out to the other rifles on some category or another: The K-8 fires quicker and can rack damage up quicker as a result, the AR-55 and TOGO-13 do more damage and have better accuracy, and all of the above weapons are magazine-fed, which makes them much quicker to get back into the fight after spending a magazine than the Viper does after overheating.
==Analysis==
;Pros
* Balanced overall performance when fully-upgraded; good general-use rifle
* Can fire without need for reloading
* Good accuracy for a weapon with automatic firing
* Better effective range than the K-8 and can fire a lot of shots before overheating
;Cons
* Somewhat underpowered until upgraded (due to low fire rate)
* Expensive to upgrade
* Only available from STAG
* Takes a bit longer than a normal reload to cool it down if it overheats
* Even with the "Instant Reload Rifles" upgrade the Viper must cool down when overheated, while the K-8 is still able to fire non-stop.
==Weapon Upgrades==
:Main article: Weapon Upgrades.
Image	Level	Price 	Upgrade
 	1 	$20,000	
 	2 	$20,000	
 	3 	$40,000	
 	4 	$80,000	
==Trivia==
*Jenny Jaros carries a Viper Laser Rifle as a homie. If the Gangstas in Space (DLC) is completed before the STAG arc of the storyline, it might be possible to acquire the Viper early by calling Jenny up, killing her, and taking the weapon from her corpse.
*The Viper is the only weapon featured in the mission "Gangstas in Space". During the mission, it is fully upgraded, though it loses the upgrades after the mission is complete.
*The Viper is similar in appearance to the Nerf Longstrike, a dart blaster. They feature a similar straight-panel barrel and thumbhole stock.
*Kia uses a Viper against Playa during "Three Way".
*The unlimited clip cheat doesn't work with the Viper Laser Rifle, due to it being an energy weapon. Therefore, it doesn't utilize usage of clips (magazines), but instead, the heat system serving as the replacement.
*Despite using a laser technology, the damage-bullet 4 upgrade protects against it, the same goes with the s3x shotgun.
*The 4th upgrade level still says that the barrel is extended, but in the in-game model, it doesn't happen. Instead, the two black railings are extended.
==Gallery==
 
Category:Weapons in Saints Row: The Third