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Just as the question lists, they don't seem too bad. Is it because there are just so many better options?

Pretty much outclassed is all. For 80 points you can take FW Hornets with 2 Pulse Lasers, which is criminally underpriced.

When you have some of the best options a codex can have, why bother taking something that's only 'okay'? There's just better ways to take Starcannons, Shuriken Cannons and Scatter Lasers.

This Codex made them cheaper which is a step in the right direction. Also making Starcannons cheaper for them than any other unit was a nice nod to an old playstyle/fluff. Unfortunately any build of Vyper you can think of can be done better by another unit. You want Shuricannons or Scatter lasers? Take WIndriders. You want BLs, take WWs or Falcons. You want Star cannons or EMLs? You must play in a weird area where those options are viable.

Back in 4th & 5th ed, I always fielded 2 Vypers with Scatters for fluff reasons (I play a Corsair band (not FW) that split off from Saim-Hann). I am glad that the Core formations for the Warhost require a Vyper unit as it is a decent tax. Vypers are decent units and fluffy, but overall not competitive

 Galef wrote:
This Codex made them cheaper which is a step in the right direction. Also making Starcannons cheaper for them than any other unit was a nice nod to an old playstyle/fluff. Unfortunately any build of Vyper you can think of can be done better by another unit. You want Shuricannons or Scatter lasers? Take WIndriders. You want BLs, take WWs or Falcons. You want Star cannons or EMLs? You must play in a weird area where those options are viable.

Back in 4th & 5th ed, I always fielded 2 Vypers with Scatters for fluff reasons (I play a Corsair band (not FW) that split off from Saim-Hann). I am glad that the Core formations for the Warhost require a Vyper unit as it is a decent tax. Vypers are decent units and fluffy, but overall not competitive

yea which is the issue war walkers have. one of the few walkers that is still playable

Because they are Landspeeders that can't double up anything but a ShuriCannon, and get Open Topped to boot.

They are pretty good, very cheap, very easy to kill with a surprising amount of firepower but they compete for a very sought after FA slot...

Vypers are pretty phenomenal. In any other army they'd be a top pick. However, due to the overall strength of so many of the Eldar army's options, they rarely see play outside of the Eldar Decurion. Speaking as a Harlequin player who plays with two of our version of these (so far, I have plans for more), even the most basic version can deal a surprising amount of damage, and the Eldar version can come with even greater firepower.

But, as stated, they don't appear too much. In fluffy builds, players often want to use FA-slot Wave Serpents and Swooping Hawks, and many players like the Eldar Flyers. Competitively, you're looking at Scatbikes (bit better from jump-shoot-jump, and better targets for beneficial psychic powers) and the Hornet's dual pulse-lasers are redonkulous in terms of combat efficiency and efficacy.

marcman wrote:
Just as the question lists, they don't seem too bad. Is it because there are just so many better options?

You could grab 2 bikes with the same armament for nearly the same price and have them be troops, faster, and more durable. That's the reason why.

If Vypers had AV12 on the front, or something that made them even slightly more attractive, they would be taken, but now they are just overpriced compared to other options in the codex.

"In any other army" you don't see Land Speeders spammed in the half the army of the game they're in.

"In any other army" Pirhanas are spammed only with the formation that Vypers don't have.

"In any other army" Venoms and Raiders are spammed.

Vypers can be a lot of fun. But they don't do anything other factions don't have.

They aren't bad they are just the 2nd worst unit you can pick for FA in the Eldar codex. Warp Spiders are better, Crimson Hunter is better, Wave Serpent is better, even swooping hawks are better. The only thing that the Vyper is better than is the Shining Spears. Again the Vyper isn't bad, it's just as good as the other options that it competes against.

I do however like the way that Vypers look.

If Windriders could only take 1 heavy weapon per 3 instead of each, Vypers would still be viable..

As it stands a Unit of windriders is similarly priced and has so many more strengths across all the phases.

As usual bad is a relative term. Compared to your other choices the vyper isn't the most optimized, but it's still a strong unit compared to most other armies.

Corsairs vypers on the other hand have outflank which I think makes them rather good. Still not as good as the hornet or nightwing but outflank on them is great.

They are not bad. They are just not played very often.
They are good filling gaps in the shooty gun line.
If you put pressure on the enemy, it will hardly have a chance to shoot the Vypers, since they will be low on the target priority schedule.

I get the feeling they're like the White Lions from the old High Elves book; would be awesome in any other context, but compete with choices that completely blows them out of the water.