Choking Cloud worth the end cost??

With .83/sec endurance and only a mag 1 is it even worth getting? Why not up the mag to say 3 like more other sets. I don't see anything else with a mag of 1. Most minions are 1 shotted anyway. lol.

Choking Cloud is kind of a complicated subject. Pulses happen every 5 seconds. For each pulse, there is an 80% chance of a Mag 1 hold, and a 50% chance of a Mag 2 hold, and the two holds stack. That means that on each pulse you have:

10% of no hold
40% of Mag 1 (mostly worthless, unless you can stack it with another hold)
10% of Mag 2 (holds Minions)
40% of Mag 3 (holds Minions and Lieutenants)

My Illusion/Radiation guide discusses the mechanics of the power. It needs max slotting for Hold to extend the Hold past 2 more pulses and increase your chance or extending the hold. Then it needs max or near max slotting for EndRdx. If you can fit it in, the Lockdown +2 Mag proc makes a big difference since it further stacks mag. One nice thing about CC is that since there is such a high chance of having at least a Mag 1 hold apply, you can usually hold bosses with one application of a single-target hold that stacks a Mag 3 hold with the one-or-more mag of CC.

Personally, I think Choking Cloud is great if you can stack it with another PB AoE power like Hot Feet, Arctic Air or Conductive Aura. It also needs some kind of initial AoE control to give time for the pulses to hit. But for the right characters, it turns characters with stacked control into a walking continual control circle. I think it works great for Fire/Rad, Ice/Rad and Electric/Rad controllers.

But for characters who can't stack something with CC, it is not worth the endurance cost.

Love it to death on my fire/rad.


YMMV.

Choking Cloud seems to be underrated for what it does. Frankenslotting is what this power craves. I don't understand what thinking got into rad emission players that close, melee range is evil. The safest place for the rad emission player is next to his radiation infection toggle anchor running his choking cloud <period>. Slot end cost reduction. Slot hold duration. Slot the lockdown proc for mag hold. Slot the holds with the psy damage procs. This power rocks!

If you think it's still a puny hold, then try 'softening up' the spawn with a little EM Pulse and see how many bosses you can handle. On a defender you should have a stun, like cosmic burst. On controllers, you have single target holds to stack with the choking cloud. This power dominates your foes like few others. Six slot and enjoy!!

Saist's not always wrong. He's not in this case, either. He makes a valid point that likely fits well with his favored playstyle and experience with the game.

He IS giving out his personal preferences as if it were undisputed fact, but that's just the way some people are. Especially people on the internet. (You can't tell me you haven't seen a dozen people who talk that way on every forum you've ever visited?)

And come on, there are worse ways to slot Choking Cloud than as a mule for the Basilisk's Gaze set.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

I for one don't care whether je saist is right or wrong ... on HIS toon.

He's definitely wrong about mine.

My Rad/Elec Defender's hands down, safest spot, is next to his nicely Rad
Infected, Ennervating Fielded, Tesla Caged, within a Choking Cloud,
anchored foe.

That mob, and anybody else with him are out of the fight - period.

Anybody outside the "goop" is the priority target I'm shooting at first.

I agree 100% with Local Man and Psylenz on Choking Cloud, and yes, that
includes the Lockdown proc - a beautiful thing.


Regards,
4

PS> That doesn't even take into consideration Short Circuit, and Power
Sink, which completely End drains any non-EB or AV within that PBAoE
range with a single application of both.

Very interesting thread. Thanks for the info guys. I wasn't aware of the pulse and stacking with single target holds.

As far as playstyle, mine varies per toon. My fire/kin loves melee range. How else would my heal and end return hit me? My plant/fire Dom on the other hand is mostly ranged. Especially with rain of fire AND fireball. It's lovely. (hero epics)

Thanks je for your opinion. But it's not very accurate to determine how people play their toons. There's never a right or wrong on this game. I've seen a /rad pull a floor of mobs better than some tanks. Go figure... lol.

Oh yea. Pardon my manners je. You said you had a headache and i forgot to offer you some ibuprofen. Sorry about that..

PBAoE means melee range right? I mean the PB means Point Blank. And others have pointed out that there are a lot of PBAoE's out there on characters that are a little on the dainty side of the health bar.

As for choking cloud. Yes it's worth the end cost. It's also a great place for Lockdown: Chance for +2 Mag Hold.

The team could be divided into two positions. Those in melee and those that are ranged. You may be in a position where your ranged damage mitigation powers are aiding those in melee and your melee damage mitigation are aiding yourself and the rest of the ranged section of the team incase any runners get passed the melee group to your group.

Is it worth having? What is the primary? If this power can stack to either another of your powers or someone elses then yes otherwise its a maybe. It's certainly not needed.

Yeah, ditto on the ignore thing, it's just way too funny to read his lunatic rants. Plus if I didn't see his posts I wouldn't be able to tell exactly what he's wrong about this time and thus refute it, although it seems there's enough people doing so that I hardly need to bother.