Poison...yeah sure. Zombie/Pain

Ok first off. I made a Poison Zombie build because I thought that necromancy and poison just seemed like it would jive. I mean I was playing a voodoo woman and well it just seemed more appropriate.

No. No No no non! Nyet! Nill!

Poison is utterly awefull for Zombies. It's horrid, except when soloing and then I see the benefits. But Zombies are like tissue paper, but less absorbant, and frankly, when your only defense after their dead is neurotoxic breath and RUN! Then there are some issues.

Envenom, Weaken...Excellent. In PVP they must rock as a tank breaker or making a squishy pretty much as tissue papery as my zombies. I could see a ranged pet set getting some use out of it, but not the zombies.

Plus, then I went through the power list. Just to see what I was getting into. Lots of single target mega debuffs, but Poison could only really bloom later it seems. It's not user friendly at all!

Now I didn't mind it on my demons as much. Why I am not sure. But zombies definately not so much.

My question. How can I amp my zombies defense? I have taken leadership pool. right now just the defense but Ill have the others. I klnow Force Fields would work or even Thermal, but I rolled up pain instead, and in hind sight I should have done thermal for more resistant pets.

I was actually even thinking about speccing the little zombies with to to hit accuracy debuff. Like 2 Damage, 1 Accuracy and 3 -to hit debuffs. Just because I am not sure how else to get them to stop dying in a larger battle.

You can slot all 4 of the pet IOs that boost pet resists or def. That'll help... some.

Things improve (like with all MM's) past L32 when you get your final pet upgrade.

Your Lich gets Fearsome Stare and Petrifying Gaze which helps cut down on incoming damage plus all other henchmen get Siphon Life so they can self-heal a little.

My Necro/Poison is currently on hold at L33 but I recall things feeling better post 32, then it did immediately before.

I have a Zombie/Thermal. He is pretty solid. The fire shields do a LOT for protecting the undead pets. As stated in a previous post, life gets a lot easier when your Lich gets is second upgrade. He is a lot more like a dark/dark corruptor after that.

I find that the Lich helps a lot even before 32; he's a good alpha eater, being both hard to kill and debuffing his attackers. Plus if he dies you get a high quality ghost. My Necro/Poison was much better after getting him.

I find it odd that the only power they want to "buff" is /Dark. /Dark healing radius is now 20' instead of 8'.

I think /Poison needs the most help of all. They might as well "correct" Poison Trap to match Trap's Poison Trap.


Yeah, Necro/Poison and Ninja/Poison are pretty terrible. You'll feel the pain when you start fighting high level Longbows. They'll wipe out your pets faster than you can debuff them.

I have a lvl 47 Necro/Poison & I'm happy to share the xp with all.

First and foremost until you get the Lich you will not handle large number of enemies well.

Always use Weaken first to help your Grave Knights take the alpha.

I will say at around lvl 35 I wasn't able to take a even level Malta Titan EB on my own. I had to recruit some help.

Bottom line is Bots, Thugs and Demons will offer better performance when paired up with Poison than Necro will.

I went Necro with my Poison because I already had a Thug/Dark and a Bot/Dark and Demon/Dark.

I'm mostly a performance>concept player but I made an exception on this occasion because I didn't want to roll another Thug, Bot or Demon.

I just know my lvl 50 Merc/Storm out performs my lvl 50 Merc/Poison in almost every way.

I do feel /Poison is better for PvP but pvp in this game... ugh. I'll not go there.

Now my main...money maker that is. Not something I enjoy is a 50 Emp Psi, and I took pain because I did well with Emp. Now, not the same beast I know, but it's like when the zombies go boom, I still offer something to the team.

When I was playing poison, I realized that when they went boom, I was just a poor version of a rad debuffer only eith stronger debuffs, but not AOE Style. At least with pain I feel I am offering a service beyond my DPS abilities.

Now I love zombies. Their cuddly, cute, quiet and well franky great conversationalists.

I just feel that poison had/has potential, but the upper tiers seem like something has gone terribly wrong. The hold is awesome. I love it, but after that it's like something went wrong.

If somehow some dev somewhere reads this. Weaken weaken, and make it a cone. Or something. Because, while I enjoy spitting, it just seems so endurance draining fo the benefits of what you get.

Again...Poison must rock PVP. My main thought is that poisons powers PVP style would obliterate. It has to, I looked a the numbers, and well against a single target PVE my zombies have a full lunchen. So PVP must be it's answer, because PVE it seems as though it' pairings are sooooo limited. Bots, Thugs, Demons, Mercs. Perhaps because they do a ton of range, but when I think poison thematicaly, I think Ninjas and Zombies. Just based on personal attacks and heck even ninjas get a bow. It just seems like the other sets thematicaly go better with things other than poison, when the two things that should really don't benefit as much from it as they should.

Personal oppinion though.

It's funny; I just rolled up a Necro/Poison. While I can't mow down anything more than x1 at this point, I can solo +2 at level 17 with no problems. Envenom/Weaken will both shred a boss. Neurotoxic Breath is a gem, and the single-target focus of Necromancy (for the most part at my level) really combines well with Poison. I myself am having a blast with the combo; YMMV.

Of course, his concept is also amazingly fun for me. He's an energy drink entrepreneur; he designed and formulated an energy drink called Orange Venom. With the right changes to the vitamins and acids, it goes from an energy drink that can boost your overall attitude (Alkaloid) to a deadly liquid that can destroy your immune system and bring your five senses to a grinding halt (Envenom, Weaken, Neurotoxic Breath). Reformulated again, and it can bring people back from the dead (Elixir of Life). A third reformulation causes it to enhance your nervous system's synapse bridges (Antidote). Another change and it will seize your muscles (Paralytic Poison) and, should this change be heated and evaporated, it will cause leprosy, decomposition and brain damage (Noxious Gas).

... sorry, I just REALLY love his concept.

I witched my toon to Zombies Thermal. They last a lot longer now. That makes me happy