There is only one way to use nox gas, it's a waste on anything but a boss, EB, or AV/hero. and it does shut them down, but you have to use the goto thingy for you pet send him him 1st thing after you apply the nox gas and you need to use a pet that won't get one shotted, throwing a purple on him will help alot also. Soon as he goes in then attack and debuff. Only problem i have is i'm robot/poison and the robots knockback the mob so i have to keep moving the bot to a new position, also i've noticed since i7 anything purple runs away all the time 
not sure if he's running from the nox gas or just being irritating.
that's my 2-bit-cents :P
Zombies knockback too so it can be a bit of a problem, though with the tentacles and holds they stay in place part of the time. After using NG a bit more, I'm amused by it and I think I'll keep it, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're looking for it to be dramatically useful. Like Faydon said, its mostly good for bosses, and maybe the occasional large mob, but not much else. If you're considering getting something else, get it instead.
I personally don't like to send in my pet alone first thing since they're likely to draw too much aggro. For bosses I'll do my Weaken/Hold combo and get my pets on them first, then cast NG on whichever of my Grave Knights is in better position. For a mob I cast it on a Grave Knight and send them all in the middle, and if that Knight is being stubborn I make them GoTo. I hate using GoTo since it seems like things that have a targeting circle don't click very well half the time.
_Victory_
Character List
I also play a Thug/Poison currently lvl 33. Love the Two sets together I have amazed people with the amout of debuff+dmg the set provides . I was looking forward to Useing the NG on my brute just for Boss/Elite/AV I solo relent alot, anyhow isn't there a macro you can create or set up to tell the Bruiser to follow a certain target? that way IF he sent them flying he still followed them?
Other than that I will, despite the lack luster Trap will pick it up at 35 just because I have to see for myself if its the power that sucks or the tactics in useing it. But would love an answer if such macro could be done =)
Hi Mizz!!! 
Blazara Aura LVL 50 Fire/Psi Dom (with 125% recharge)
Flameboxer Aura LVL 50 SS/Fire Brute
Ice 'Em Aura LVL 50 Ice Tank
Darq Widow Fortune LVL 50 Fortunata (200% rech/Night Widow 192.5% rech)--thanks issue 19!
I have a 48 nec/poison. I find noxious gas to be helpful when i do use it, but it's really situational. I don't use it until the fight is started and going. I look for a knight in the middle of combat, and use it on him. If neither are, i'll throw it on a zombie and try to keep him alive with heals. The gas seems to draw aggro to them though, because when throwing it on the one with the most health it usually ends up dying faster than those with less health, unless a heal is repeatedly tossed his way. Boss/EB/AV/Hero fights seem best to use it in.
I wouldn't recommend it for robots or mercs though, because none of their pets are suited for melee.
Liberty
My 50s:
Hero: Armor Assassin (scrapper), Cross Dresser (scrapper), Surly Seaman (blaster), Defensive End (Tank), Rad Rhino (Cont)
Villain: Beast Infection (Corr), Sweet Zombie Jesus (MM), Milk Weasel (Stalker), Orgullo (MM), Agent Eris (Crab)
[ QUOTE ]
I almost always lead with breath, followed by envenom on my attack target.
[/ QUOTE ]
I have a level 38 bots/poison, and I've noticed that when I lead off with NB, I tend to take the alpha strike, plus the next couple of attacks, before my bots can do enough to grab their aggro. (NOTE: Being the squishiest of the squishies, that is a BAD thing!)
Sure, NB slows baddies' recharge, but until they use up their attack chain, they attack like normal.
What I usually do is set my pets to attacking first, and then throw off my debuffs (envenom, then weaken and NB, or if its a particularly nasty baddie, envenom, then paralytic poison). That way, they take the aggro from the mob, and I can still debuff the heck out of 'em without (much) fear of drawing aggro.
I throw envenom on first in almost any fight (after the bots attack, of course), even before the hold, so that the bots get just that little bit of extra -RES time to do more damage. Doing it in this order, I can take out a purple lieutenant (most of the time...some are more resistant to lasers than others...) before the hold wears off.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
4) Neurotoxic Breath: [...] The cone is immense-, easily the broadest Ive ever seen, at a good 60 degrees.
[/ QUOTE ]
Actually, Terrify probably has the largest cone in the game, seeing as how you can hit enemies you can't even see with it...
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes.
NB seems to be quite a wide cone, but also quite short...I don't know if I'd say 60 degrees, but definitely not a line, either 
Terrify does seem to be the widest cone in the game, personal experience putting it very close to 180 degrees, but it is, like NB, quite short.
"I've played with Pur. Pur is truth." - MarvelatMee
"Pur is hardcore yo." - Swansu
"You're a weirdo, but I guess you're our weirdo now :P" - Aisynia
"...it's possible to go from 1 to 50 in about 1.5 weeks if you're ... Pur." - TopDoc
THANK YOU.
I need to respec, as I made the world's stupidest choices, and this will help.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I almost always lead with breath, followed by envenom on my attack target.
[/ QUOTE ]
I have a level 38 bots/poison, and I've noticed that when I lead off with NB, I tend to take the alpha strike, plus the next couple of attacks, before my bots can do enough to grab their aggro. (NOTE: Being the squishiest of the squishies, that is a BAD thing!)
Sure, NB slows baddies' recharge, but until they use up their attack chain, they attack like normal.
What I usually do is set my pets to attacking first, and then throw off my debuffs (envenom, then weaken and NB, or if its a particularly nasty baddie, envenom, then paralytic poison). That way, they take the aggro from the mob, and I can still debuff the heck out of 'em without (much) fear of drawing aggro.
I throw envenom on first in almost any fight (after the bots attack, of course), even before the hold, so that the bots get just that little bit of extra -RES time to do more damage. Doing it in this order, I can take out a purple lieutenant (most of the time...some are more resistant to lasers than others...) before the hold wears off.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
4) Neurotoxic Breath: [...] The cone is immense-, easily the broadest Ive ever seen, at a good 60 degrees.
[/ QUOTE ]
Actually, Terrify probably has the largest cone in the game, seeing as how you can hit enemies you can't even see with it...
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes.
NB seems to be quite a wide cone, but also quite short...I don't know if I'd say 60 degrees, but definitely not a line, either
Terrify does seem to be the widest cone in the game, personal experience putting it very close to 180 degrees, but it is, like NB, quite short.
[/ QUOTE ]
Why would you lead off with NB? that is suicide, what i do is target the biggest baddy in the mob and hit em with weaken which often causes them to miss me even if they do get an attack off before i jump outta site. this brings one to all of them at me and i instruct my ninja crew to "attack my target", which totally hammers the baddy who runs after me. If more than one come at me i hit NB (after my initial weaken pull and attack target instruction) and make sure i cone most of em, while at the same time casting envenom on someone else and reaplying weaken or hitting someone else with it (on for example 6 aggroed minions) the Key is that when my pets are instructed to attack my target they usually take all the agro after my initial weaken pull. I find that sending in your pets without debuffing is a recipe for death and dmg of your pets and consiquently you will be healing and using a bunch of end. If one was to do what i just said but also add a poinson trap as security in case you do agro a huge mob, Im sure it would solidify the technique although i dont have PT yet as my ninjas/poison is level 33.
I would suggest to you all that crushing field in the dom/troller grav primaries could easily give terrify a cone width run for its money and i have/used both powers as well.
Question: Does anyone know anything about the changes to poison trap which took place after this review was written? My mm (ninjas/poison) is level 33 and I think PT and NG would be great additions to my melee oriented pets, which are much more suited to NG especially.
So, just came back to CoV after a long hiatus. How does Poison stack up now in relation to Pain Domination? Poison was once extolled for having the only single-target heal, but from reading PD's powerset, it seems to handily trump li'l ol' Alkaloid. And the various poison debuffs to foes seem to be outmatched by PD's buffs to allies--all other things being equal, buffing an ally is stronger than debuffing a villain (first, because the debuff can miss, and second because the debuff goes down when the debuffee goes down).
But again, I'm rusty to the point of being newbish. Does Poison offer anything over PD that I'm missing?
Man, this guide needs work. First off, no recommended IO slotting, which pretty much precludes high-end value of your guide. Instead of suggesting exact slotting, I suggest recommending rough enhancement values, such as 90% heal or whatever.
1: Alkaloid - it's 13 end per click, base. It's extremely end-hoggish, and will suck you dry fast. It's a decent power but it's kind of gimp on the levels of single target heals. o2 is strictly better (end drain resistance, disorient protection, perception) for the same cost.
2: Envenom doesn't stack with itself other than the -regen component which does. It also costs a lot of endurance per click. It's not a very good power, kind of like a single target acid arrow - other powers in other sets are considerably better than this.
3: Weaken is poison's set-defining power. It's tohit debuff is mediocre but the -special effect is simply overpowering against single powerful enemies. The best slotting for this power is hamios or accurate tohit debuff sets.
4: NtB's cone is average size compared to most cone attacks. It's narrower than throw spines/seeds of confusion and wider than soul tentacles, but pretty much equal to most other powers. 30 degree cone is par for the course. It's a less potent Shiver (shiver's recharge debuff is huge) but with a 25% chance for mag 2 hold. It's essential for any poison.
5: rez is a rez, nuff said there
6: Antidote is awesome if you team. You have to be proactive about using it, but even robots can be easily held and only have mag 2 stun protection, meaning they can get stunned easily and often. You can also slot resistance sets in here due to the cold and toxic resistance, which means you can slot a res/def or -kb IO. Antidote is probably one of the best mez protection clicks in the game, up there with thaw (slow protection) and ID (smashing resistance, kb protection !)
7: PP is not very good. It's literally petrifying gaze but the animation is much cooler. It has no secondary effect at all. It's decent, and I have it in my build, but it's totally a skippable power, especially if you team a lot. It is nice when paired with a patron hold to two-shot hold bosses, and can hold a PvP hold set, which is awesome. Overall nowhere near a 10/10 power especially when ice arrow does everything it does better.
8: poison trap's sleep also has a bad proc chance, meh. Horrible power.
9: BEST. POWER. EVER. If you use pet micro to put your pets in the fray, NG is absolutely crippling. Its pulsing MAG 1000 HOLD can shut down even GMs, and it has debuffs of literally every color of the rainbow. If you have problems with this power, you are not using goto commands enough. When fighting AVs, my team can tell when this power is active because of how much faster the AV dies and how the AV doesn't do anything while it's up. This power is even useful for wrecking large spawns, as its pulsing effects stick for a very long time, assuming your pet doesn't die. This is absolutely, positively, the best hold power in the game. No other power delivers 1000 hold magnitude with a near-perma sticky debuff. Having to micro a pet to use it is a very minor price to pay.
Yep, it's a really old guide, so no surprise some things could be updated. Still, not a bad one.
1. Alkaloid - yep, it's end-hoggish as heals go, but it's a heal. Good to have at your disposal I figure. I have Stamina in my build, so the end is more manageable.
2. Envenom - I actually like envenom. Debuff defense AND resistance? That means I'm hitting more often and for more damage. It's a somewhat weaker single-target version of Freezing Rain I figure (and I love Freezing Rain), with -Regen -Heal instead of slow. Good enough for me. Six-slotting it with Shield Breaker.
3. Weaken - yep, really good power.
4. NtB - I disagree with a couple of the posts above. Yes, if you lead out with it you take the alpha strike. But I play in Bodyguard mode - I WANT to take the alpha strike!
5. Elixir of Life - I solo, so I have no use for this. Others will.
6. Antidote - again...solo. If my mercs become stunned, that's largely their problem. Or the Medic's.
7. Paralytic Poison - I personally like having a hold. Hard hitting Lt? Throw out the hold. Longbow Flamethrower (those things TEAR through my Mercs, who are too stupid to run from fire)? Hold it. I'm working on six-slotting mine with Lockdown for the Defense bonuses.
8. Poison Trap - yeah...I'm not taking it either.
9. Noxious Gas - I'll be taking this thanks in part to Auspice's assessment (had it slated for 41, but was starting to be on the fence). I figure I'll use it situationally for bosses and EBs (coupled with Serum, possibly).
Suggestions:
Super Packs Done Right
Influence Sink: IO Level Mod/Recrafting
Random Merit Rolls: Scale cost by Toon Level
Oh hey...looks like it *has* been updated. 
http://boards.cityofvillains.com/showfla...=0#Post13170970
Suggestions:
Super Packs Done Right
Influence Sink: IO Level Mod/Recrafting
Random Merit Rolls: Scale cost by Toon Level
I was also going to add, despite my complaints about Noxious Gas, I still like the Poison set a lot. It may not have the AoEs of Dark, but I can easily take down weakened bosses. My hold stacks with my Lich's powers so I often have them held most of the battle as well. I think the Ghost has a hold in addition so its possible for him and the Lich to do it alone though I havn't seen it happen.
_Victory_
Character List