Your view on /Poison

Yikes. The Mastermind heritage is showing here, end usage didn't cripple my ninja/poison because the pets do damage while I clicky clicky debuff.

If you want to like poison it seems to suck least on MM. And few would question that poison and TA are the bottom of the barrel of MM secondaries.

Same here. My second 50 was a Necro/Poison and towards the end, even after IOs, the set never really felt like it was enough to do anything with decent function. I mostly just enjoyed the character, not so much the powers.

I've since deleted the Mastermind and am slowly working on a Water/Poison, but it's hard knowing how much I dislike the set (even after the buffs). Even if they just gave the debuffs the ability to stack a bit, I would enjoy it more. I would love to see them increase the AoE potential (...again) of the debuffs but I'd rather have the ability to stack them first... or even increase the numbers on the debuffs. I would be okay if Poison was actually good at single-target debuffing with strong debuffs and minimal AoE debuffing potential, but as of right now it's not really good at much.

This is the only set right now that I genuinely struggle to enjoy playing.


While this is true of all MM combinations, I don't think it necessarily works well on them because it lacks the tools to keep their pets alive to maintain that damage output. If anything, Poison works best on Controllers that can effectively eliminate incoming damage via their primary. I definitely agree that it's at the bottom of the barrel for Masterminds, though.

I hadn't considered poison on a 'troller but you're probably right. Something like plant/poison would be decent. Of course some of the other plant/ pairings are hilariously OP...

For MMs I found opening with the slow cone, spamming the ST hold, and obsessive use of the ST heal would often keep the pets alive.

I did a ninja/poison before the /poison changes as a challenge. I kind of found a rhythm and it is surprisingly viable against small groups.

Once I got T4 Barrier it went from ""fun concept toon" to "unstoppable steamroller".

..Seriously? A potent aoe mez? I am sure I read a thread about this power..saying it is the only aoe debuff in the game, that has a HIGHER chance to do nothing at all..than to apply any of its effects.
I put the lockdown proc in there, and while it helps..it HAS to help, cause the power is so rubbish otherwise.
Compared to the PT in traps..well..you cant compare.

Actually the Poison version of Poison Trap is better than Traps version.

In Traps version you can only slot The Hold Procs.

In the Poison Version you can slot End Mod Procs, Hold Procs, PBaoe Dmg Procs, The ATO Proc and the Overwhelming Force Proc.

So in all the poison version is better. Other than That Traps wins by default.

/Poison Trap is amazing on a /Poison toon though...it just kills EVERYTHING.

So only better if you want to proc it out. Other than that, traps version is better? Is it just me, or is that not really better?

If all it takes to improve the power is throw some of my play money at it, then yeah that's just plain better.

To each his own. I would rather throw that play money at a traps toon.

As a set I much prefer /traps to /poison.

I'm not addressing the larger comparison between sets, just making the point that if IO slotting flexibility improves poison's Trap beyond what you can do with the same power in Traps, that makes it a better power.

I haven't done the math, so I may be way off base, but I prefer the massive and permable regen debuff and a couple procs going off to a massive recovery debuff(I assume it is permable, but don't have access to mids atm) and a few procs going off...

Again, I could be wrong, but I don't feel like poison has that much a leg up here...

Which seems to agree that yes, it is better if you 'proc it out'.

A power that can be made more powerful than another through IOs is just better.

Are you..insane? Not being rude, but..Id give up half the poison set for the traps PT. Sure, maybe it takes more procs, but does everyone USE procs? Is that teh only judge of a power for some reason?
Without procs..you know..just the power itself..again, it has MORE chance to do nothing, than actually to do what it 'can' do.
Maybe it is great with procs..it really needs to be, cause the set has jack all aoe otherwise. Not including NG, which is like a band aid fix.

Dude...calm down lol.

I was just only replying to an earlier fellow poster and I was only talking about comparing both Poison Traps against each other normal wise and proc wise.

Traps beats Poison hands down no doubt about that.

Well the Traps Version is good for -Regen and holding foes.

The Poison version does -Recov and hold foes.

So I guess it depends on what you want out of your toon..but if you were going /poison you should of known what you were getting into anyway lol.

The Poison version is excellent for Farming since you can easily stack them. ( The Traps version is 90 seconds and the Poison version is 60 seconds.)

Both last for roughly 30 seconds I believe and I think it has a chance to proc 3 times so with procs you can add extra -Resistance from the Fury of the Glad proc and multiple purple procs.

To each their own though . I have my one poison toon and let me tell you one is enough lol.

Well, as I pm'ed Goat last night there are 4 damage procs available in the hold sets, plus the lockdown proc which is a no brainer. That gives poison a single proc advantage over traps. Yes you can slot the -res proc there, but poison has no shortage of -res as it is.

I agree that it is nice to be able to stack poisons pgt, as opposed to just having permanent pgt with traps.

I will say that I always value -regen over -recovery.

I don't understand why they are different to begin with.

Well the Poison Version can be slotted with two purple procs and 1 ATO Purple proc. (Has access to 9 dmg procs) Those 3 purple procs fire for 107.1 each. Also it can be slotted with the non purple hold set procs. There's also a Stun End mod proc that can be used in the power if you want to get more control than damage out of it. (Also you can slot the Fury of the Glad for more -Res). More -Res is not a bad thing I think. It's just that you have to think; are you willing to buy a PVP proc for a lacking set : /.


The Poison version also has a base recharge of 60 seconds so even on SO's it's not rare to get out 2 during a battle (solo). Once you add in perma hasten level recharge you can put out some hurt getting 2-4 out during a battle and each Poison Trap will proc 3 times, so seeing a LT or minion get hit twice or more from procs is commonplace.

Where as the Trap version can be slotted for 1 purple damage/Hold proc that deals 107.1 damage and the rest of the procs deal 71.75 each. The Traps version can only be slotted with hold procs. The Traps version has a base recharge of 90 seconds but it's still possible to be able to get 2 out during a longer battle. The Traps version does not deal as much damage as the Poison version BUT it has -Regen and the rest of the Traps set is amazing outside of PT...Unlike poison.

I think if you compare both poison traps against each other the Poison version deals more damage which is good for PVE and Farming...but when it comes to fighting AVs Traps pulls ahead due to the -Regen which really helps with super tough AVs and GMs...Also Traps has Acid Mortar which can debuff res, can Hold with procs, proc for dmg (it has access to 4 dmg procs) and "Tank" for you.

I personally don't fight a lot of AVs or GMs solo so I felt that /Poison was right for me...also because of the fact that I leveled the toon out of sentimental value. My First Redside toon was a Merc/Poison that I eventually deleted. I promised myself to get one to 50 just say that I did it.

Oh and yes...I have no idea why the Devs made both Poison Traps so different but gave them the same name when they created both sets but the current Poison version is a breath of fresh air compared to the old one.

The old one had only a Mag 2 chance for sleep I believe? It also would have issues setting off even if the mob is right near it. Also once your break the sleep you are screwed lol.

TL;DR

Roll Traps and only roll poison if you want to pull your hair out or like me have a thing for Snakes, or any set that has poison/Toxic damage in it.

There's quite a few thread discussing some changes that the set needs. Maybe it will get another looking at when it's proliferated to Defenders?

Oh God I sure hope so.

I sincerely hope so. A poison/anything defender would have two secondaries.

I mean, it needs some buffing and fine tuning the same way many single-target buffs became aoe buffs (bubbles, speed boost, etc).