Updated guide to /poison, by Michel Frost
By
JusticeisServed,
Posted on: 2009-03-10 14:01 in Player Guides
What exactly has changed about poisons since I7?
I know I didn't roll my poison until like I9, but I still had the same concept of how the powers worked as are laid out here..
Also what would you slot into powers? What about IO sets? what would you consider to be a standard SO/IO slotting?
50s:
White Valkyrie - BS/Regen Scrap
Fear of Silence - Ninja/Dark MM
Corporate Zombie - Necro/Poison MM
Ardent Cataclysm - Stone/Fire Tank
Angelic Heart - Peacebringer
Maelstrom - Elec/Elec Brute
Novastar - Energy/Fire Blaster
Thank you for the guide. It is good to see what is instore for me. I have a zombie/poison MM that is my main villain. His name is Death. Venom . He is lvl 29 right now. I picked the power sets based on what name I could come up with and what backstory made sense in my imagination. I wish now that I could have pain domination, but I rolled him before PD came out. So I am making the best of it and trying to use the powers to best benefit of any team I'm on. Your guide certainly will help in selction and future teaming. Thanx!
SN0WJ0B: 50 ice/ice Blaster, InvulnerBull: 50 inv/ss Tanker, Death.Venom: 50 nec/poison MM
Check out my slideshow
While nothing has changed about poisons, the, um, invention system and player economy was implemented, which makes slotting far less clear-cut. I also aged several years, which changes my perspective.. If you notice in the introduction, I made a point of saying that I would no longer be giving advice on slotting. This is because this is not a guide to a build, but a guide to a secondary. While mm's share obvious similarities in their primaries, there are certain differences that make slotting subjective. If you want a thug/poison guide (the best pairing) I suggest PoisonPill's excellent guide.
Haha, wasn't snowjob one of the GI Joes? I always got a kick out of the name.
[ QUOTE ]
While nothing has changed about poisons, the, um, invention system and player economy was implemented, which makes slotting far less clear-cut. I also aged several years, which changes my perspective.. If you notice in the introduction, I made a point of saying that I would no longer be giving advice on slotting. This is because this is not a guide to a build, but a guide to a secondary. While mm's share obvious similarities in their primaries, there are certain differences that make slotting subjective. If you want a thug/poison guide (the best pairing) I suggest PoisonPill's excellent guide.
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Yeah but without any type of info on how you might recommend slotting it really doesn't offer much over reading the power description.
Moreso, looking at your old guide, aside from some sentence changes, I don't seem to see too much information that's changed that really made this guide superior to the previous one.
I don't mean to sound like a jerk or anything, but when I saw, "A lot has changed since I6" I started looking close to say, "Ok what have I missed on my /poison." And it turns out nothing.
It still has a small heal, it still does decent ST debuff, it still has a crappy poison trap, etc.
I don't think slotting of the secondary is terribly subjective when it comes to poison. You don't have +def/res aura's or anything. Your goal is to debuff mostly.. How would you slot it, what procs might add a special trick, etc, etc.
Examples: Envenom.. tossing 3 def-debuggs takes it from 22% def debuff to 36% Removing the 3rd def-debuff puts us back at 35.6 but leaves room to put the chance for res debuff (relatively cheap proc) which gives a 20% chance of a 20% res debuff. That turns the power into a potentialy 35% defense debuff with roughly 1 in every 5 uses granting a 50% resistance (to EVERYTHING) debuff..
That's huge..
50s:
White Valkyrie - BS/Regen Scrap
Fear of Silence - Ninja/Dark MM
Corporate Zombie - Necro/Poison MM
Ardent Cataclysm - Stone/Fire Tank
Angelic Heart - Peacebringer
Maelstrom - Elec/Elec Brute
Novastar - Energy/Fire Blaster
Similarly..
Antidote can be more useful than it appears.. If you play with an /electric Armor brute they'll love you if you 3 slot it for resistance as you'll grant them a 23% resistance to toxic damage, something their armors sorely miss.
50s:
White Valkyrie - BS/Regen Scrap
Fear of Silence - Ninja/Dark MM
Corporate Zombie - Necro/Poison MM
Ardent Cataclysm - Stone/Fire Tank
Angelic Heart - Peacebringer
Maelstrom - Elec/Elec Brute
Novastar - Energy/Fire Blaster
[ QUOTE ]
Haha, wasn't snowjob one of the GI Joes? I always got a kick out of the name.
[/ QUOTE ]
YEP! That's where I got the name. Not many get that. Good show!
SN0WJ0B: 50 ice/ice Blaster, InvulnerBull: 50 inv/ss Tanker, Death.Venom: 50 nec/poison MM
Check out my slideshow
Michel Frosts Guide to /Poison
Hi Folks. This is the long awaited (by me) update to my I7 guide to the poison secondary for masterminds. A lot has changed since then, and I hope to reflect these changes as sucinctly and accurately as possible. Please PM me if there are any issues. I am no longer giving ratings or slotting advice for powers.
/Poison: An Overview
The poison secondary is unsurprisingly focused on debuffs. most of the abilities require significant key-surfing to use effectively, as there are NO toggles or useful buffs of any kind. If you want to level while watching TV, try /FF, not poison. Like all of the mastermind secondaries, poison does offer some non-debuff related support in the form of a gimpy single-target heal (alkaloid). It boasts 3 single target debuffs (envenom, weaken, paralytic poison), a debuff trap (poison trap), a cone debuff (neurotoxic breath), and a minion-based AoE debuff (Noxious Gas), a mutate resurrect (elixir of life), and a status effect cure/resist buff (antidote). Thats six debuffs and 3 support powers. Now, on to the powers.
Poison Powers
1) Alkaloid: This is the required 1st level power, and not a bad one. Alkaloid heals for a rather small sum, but it has a fast recharge, costs a moderate ammount and gives a boost to toxic resistance for a while. I use this power both in groups and solo. I wouldve taken it even if Id had a choice.
2) Envenom: A single target debuff, envenom debuffs damage resistance, defense, regen rate, and the lucky recipient will be healed for less. Its relatively inexpensive (13 power), with a longish reload time (12 seconds), but it lasts for 30 seconds This power will noticeably increase the rate at which a mob dies. Its -regen stacks from the same player, but the other debuffs don't. Chain it on bosses, AV's, etc.
3) Weaken: Weaken debuffs one lucky mobs damage output, accuracy, and secondary effects, meaning holds, sleeps, disorients, slows, etc. All of these effects will last 1/4 as long when fired from a Weakened mob, and instant effects (heals, knockbacks, etc) will be less effective. This is the best power in the set. It really shines on hard-hitting purple bosses, elites, and AVs/Heroes. Reload and cost are identical to envenom.
4) Neurotoxic Breath: A good 60 degrees cone that slows movement and rech by 50% for 20 seconds, with a 30-second reload. This is shiver with a chance for a very brief hold. The hold is a bit strange. Basically, if you fire it and watch your combat spam, you'll see that besides the original effect, whose accuracy is modified by enhancements, buffs, etc, there are 2 static 25% to hit chances. If one of these hits, the mob is subject to a mag2 hold. If both hit, it's mag 3. The hold is about 4 seconds (that choking/convulsing animation).
5) Elixir of Life: Elixir is similar to /rads Mutation power. Its a combat resurrect with a high cost and very short range, but the resurrected player will have increased accuracy, damage, attack speed, and endurance recovery. This is a brutes best friend. When it wears off, it will cause a brief hold effect as the resurrected vomits up the potion. This cannot be used on your pets, and is therefore skippable if you solo a lot.
6) Antidote: This power will remove status effects and leave the recipient resistant to such effects. This has some use in groups, but I cant recommend it.
7) Paralytic Poison: A single target hold. Holds are always welcome.
8) Poison Trap: The stinker of the set. This ability drops a trip mine-like trap that, upon detonation, releases a cloud of noxious vapors that causes a sleep state in all surrounding enemies (they stand there puking their guts up). It also drains some endurance, and has a chance to hold the mob that triggers the trap. This suffers from 2 detriments. 1) Sleep is not useful if you use AoE-oriented henchmen. 2) Mines are notoriously bad at going off on anything but a totally flat surface. If you plant this on an incline, good luck getting a mob to trigger it
9) Noxious Gas: An amazing power. To use, target a minion and click. That henchman will release a 10 radius cloud that debuffs Acc, Dam, Def, and Res, while carrying a small chance to cause a brief hold (about 1% every half-second) for 45 seconds. The debuffs cannot be enhanced, but are modified by the rank of the henchman the power is used upon. Minions modify the effect by 0.75, lieu's by 1.0, and your boss by 1.25. The downsides are: 1) If you dont have pets that engage in melee, it is unlikely that you will have the opportunity to use this power. So robo/merc MMs will get very little play out of this, unless you want to send a hench into the midst of your foes. 2) Its expensive, about a quarter of your power bar 3) it has a long reload, on the order of 5 minutes. This is the reason you see so many thug/poison mm's running around. With a little nudging, the bruiser is the best candidate for this power. Oni is the only other reasonable choice, but ninjas suck. Sorry. Necro can also get some play out of poison with its Grave Nights, but there are much better pairings for Necro out there (/Dark springs to mind).
Final Thoughts
Poison is a highly offensive, single target-oriented debuffing secondary with a cone-debuff gem in Neurotoxic Breath and a killer (although primary-dependent) final power in Noxious Gas. It is a useful power set both solo and in groups fighting lots of bosses, since its single target nature means it really shines when killing bosses/elites/AVs. Solo it greatly increases the rate at which you can kill minions, and can turn that purple CoT mage at the missions end into a blind kitten with no legs. Poison is weak in that it doesnt boast many defensive perks other than a heal and a rez. If you prefer an active play-style and like the challenge of soloing AV's and EB's, poison comes in very strong.