Finding /poison at level 36 to be...

meh at this time.

I'm playing a Ninja/Poison mm at level 36 so far. I'm feeling uninspired to continue this mm due to the Ninja's dying all the time. And poison just doesn't seem to be helping. I realize that Noxious Gas will help at lvl 38. But I keep wondering if perhaps I should have went with /Thermal instead for the aoe heals.

Personally, I can't recall at level 50, ever teaming up with another poison mm when doing task force's.

Question is this...how valued is poison by other team members when joining a team to fight av's?

Ninja/Poison should be a good combo against single targets, because ninjas do strong single target damage, and poison specializes at single target debuffs. Against large groups, you will find yourself pulling your hair out at times probably. Ninja are one of, if not the squishiest primaries, and poison is not strong on group debuffing. You will want at least 4 slots in alkaloid if you haven't already figured that out on your own. It is a good candidate for frankenslotting to max heal/rech/end.

It should be a very welcome combo for AV teams, though keep in mind that AVs have strong resistance to debuffs.

Poison's strength is not in AoE heals or Debuffing (though a well slotted Neurotoxic breath can do some wonderful things) but in single target debuffing.

I have a 50 Bots/Poison MM and the only complaint I've had is that his rez makes you puke; the animation roots you, so I warn people.

To put it another way, /poison is not a great set for taking out large groups, it's good for taking out small numbers of more powerful foes. Especially if slot it up.

A /poison working in concert with a rad and/or kin can accomplish some great things.

I did an ITF once with a rad/rad corr who'd slotted their attacks for debuffing and a /kin controller. The rest of the team was scrappers and brutes. We fought our way through all the mobs, and steamrollered everything, including Rommie. We finished in well under an hour and had one death (me, due to a TP mishap - to close to TP my pets with, close enough that I got aggro without being bodyguarded).

Ninja/Poison probably isn't the best because, as said, they be squishy.

/Poison itself is great for TFs though. I held Rommie all by my lonesome and the debuffs are amazing.

I recommend a good self sustaining primary like... well, anything but Ninjas, sadly.

I will say this though: Poison is better than Trick Arrow for Ninjas, if only a little.

Honestly, the fact is the /Poison quite weak. Its very special purpose, and its complete lack of anything defensive seems to get you into trouble with little way out. You can play at a fairly high +1 mob level, but numbers are going to spell trouble. Small groups you can do pretty well.

/Poison shows itself very well when your in a group, though, where there are other people around to take the inevitable agro. It looks like the set will really benefit from the enhanced debuff incarnate slot.

The problem (as I see it) is that Ninja/Poison combines one of the weaker Primaries with a very specialized secondary..without a lot of synergy between the two.

Thugs/Poison would probably be a better overall choice. You get defense from the pets, damage, and the Bruiser is the best anchor you could possibly get for Noxious Gas. Thugs/Poison actually starts getting darned powerful as you level up.

Bots/Poison isn't bad either for many of the same reasons. Plus the -regen, defense, etc..from the bots are synergistic with poison.

I'm not sure of any way of making your life easier as a Ninja/Poison mm.....leadership might be useful if you don't have it..and grabbing the medicine pool (or maybe stealth for def..and phase) might help out.....

There was Ninja/Poison guide out there but I'm not sure how good it was...

My first mm and first mm to 40 (when that was the cap) was nin/pois. I never played him past 40. After spending lots of time with other combinations well... I found nin/pois to be the most intensely demanding mm combo out there (and I've tried most of them). That was the only mm I felt I ever really *needed* to set up tons of complicated binds for - individual move & target orders (especially for the end heavy, weak single target heal that we know and love as Alkaloid...), etc.

On no other combo - including other /pois or other nin/ have I felt that a full bind & macro setup was so necessary. I suspect that nec/pois will be close, but fractionally better due to the pets' self heals and the lich's control.

What I'm saying here is... you're pretty familiar with how it's going to be by now, so if that's not your thing it's probably in your best interest to roll up a new MM.

I have a Demon Summoner/Poison.

I find it very effective, but I prolly would not pair it with ninjas.

I personally love my poison build because in teams I go straight for the bosses. Envenom, and Weaken, combined with Neurotoxic breath really can change the battle field, and If I throw in Paralytic poison...(I literally hot key in that order) I find I can take down a ton of things.

I absolutely adore Antidote and since I have been fighting on teams taking on freakshow or the Pantheon I find myself really usefull to the team.

Personally, I love this set...other than the fact that my demons seem squishy, and because of that I find myself fighting with my whips a lot on groups because the pets just cannot take AOE damage...at all. But I still am usefull in allowing others to decimate the opponents.

my first villian was a necro/poison, and i definitely found that /poison is not group friendly, but can steamroll +2,3/x1. small mobs and bosses/EB/AVs are definitely /poisons specialty and i found him very effective that way.

re: demons/pain: Yes, I have one of these as well (two?) and it works much, much better. This is because demons are strictly stronger than ninja imho. Almost no situation where ninja will do more damage/survivability/anything.

re: single targets: definitely. As a nec or nin /pois you are doubly a single target specialist and indeed will excel there. Of course, if you are fighting things with large pbaoes or aoes, the ranged pet sets will probably outdo you, depending on how well you control the environment and pet movement. When I play my nin/pois I do run at ++/0 as well.

Poison for me though smacks of PVP.

I could be wrong here, but it seems that ninjas/poison or Demons/Poison or anything poison would really screw up tanks, scrappers and anything else really.

Again, I could be wrong, but it just feels that way to me