Hell, WW and Venom (Assassin questions)

First question: I was doing a bit of searching on the net about how Venom works with WW.

After a bit of searching I found a site that said that in Hell difficulty the poison length of Venom is doubled together with it's dmg so not 0.4 seconds (10 Frames) but twice that so 0.8 seconds. (20 frames)

Doesn't that lower the amount of poison damage my Venom does if I do 4 frame attacks?

The site claimed you actually do more dmg with Venom in hell difficulty but unfortunately the link to it's calculation didn't work anymore.

I usually go through the packs in a circle so I don't constantly hit the same mob but still this kind of scared me.

Second question. I don't really like that because of the double poison application bug I'm sort of forced to use Trang Oul gloves for maximum damage so I was wondering. Is there a point where perfect Steelrends (60%ed and 10% crushing blow) start to become a viable alternative to Trang Ouls (I have lvl 38-40 Venom, lvl 35 Claw mastery and a Might Merc with Infinity in my perfect gear)

If there is no better alternative to Trang Oul's does that also mean that the best Gem damage wise to use in my helm is a perfect poison facet?|||I'm pretty sure what you read focussed on duelling other players. The difficulty level penalties which apply to player (and hireling) resistance (including poison length reduction) do not apply to monsters, so there is normally no doubling of poison damage or length in Hell: they are only doubled against players (and hirelings) if no Poison Resist +% or Poison Length Reduced by % counters the -100% penalty, or if Lower Resist and -% Enemy Poison Resistance result in PR -100% and PLR -100% (LR only applies PR -%, -% EPR effectively applies PR -% and PLR -% when not Immune to Poison).

Even when equipping -100% EPR doubles poison length against monsters, this doubles the total poison damage applied but it is still applied at the same rate: five consecutive 4 frame attacks normally apply the same total poison damage as one 20 frame attack. If -% EPR only increased poison length it might not be worth it in this case, but it also reduces PR % and thus increases damage.

There are too many variables to answer your second question: what is your Chaos claw's physical damage? How much + Min/Maximum Damage is equipped? How much Strength do you have if Steelrend Ogre Gauntlets (185 Strength required, +15-20 Strength) aren't equipped? What is your chance of doubling physical damage (Claw Mastery, Critical Strike and Deadly Strike)? Are Decrepify or Amplify Damage being cast? How much +% Poison Skill Damage is equipped? How much -% EPR? Is Lower Resist being cast?|||Chaos Claw: 94-173

No +Min/max dmg equipped

185 strength without the Steelrends

Claw Mastery: 25% Crit, 30% deadly Strike

No curses being cast

No +% poison skill besides the one on trang ouls

No -% EPR

No Lower Resists

Infinity Merc will ofcourse add the aura lowering max resits but thats it|||Level 40 Venom adds 1,075-1,095 poison damage over 0.4 seconds, or 430-438 every 4 frames (per Whirlwind attack, assuming consecutive attacks are successful): +25% Poison Skill Damage increases this to 671.875-684.375, an increase of 241.875-246.375.

Steelrend Ogre Gauntlets add 60% Enhanced Damage, and +15-20 Strength adds 11-15% ED when attacking with a claw (1 Strength = 0.75% ED), for 71-75% ED in total: when applied to 94-173 weapon damage, this adds ~(67-71)-(123-130) physical damage. 25% critical chance from Claw Mastery and 30% Deadly Strike results in 47.5% chance of double damage, resulting in ~(98-104)-(181-191) physical damage being added on average.

The impact of 10% Chance of Crushing Blow is more difficult to quantify, but assuming 30% DS is being supplied by Guillaume's Face Winged Helm and Gore Rider War Boots, you already have 50% CB.

There's also the issue of resistance: Trang-Oul's Claws Heavy Bracers are always going to be better against Immune to Physical monsters and Steelrend are always going to be better against Immune to Poison monsters, and between those two there are many combinations of PR % and DR %.|||Extremely good read thanks for explanation. Prety happy that the calculations proove to be so easy with my equipment.

I was surprised to see that even with lvl 40 Venom I can relatively easy get to a breakpoint where without counting the extra 10% crushing blow I can break even with the added poison dmg.

For a build which focusses on crushing blow I like how wearing Steelrends wil not cripple me in high end gear. But might even prove superior in the areas I hunt.|||I hope its okay if I borrow this thread a bit, couse I'm confused!

My questions is for pvp only!

-Does everyone start with -100% Psn length in hell, making venom affect them for .8 seconds, doing double damage? (not considering resis)

-If I wear an item that has 75 Psn length reduce, does that lower the damage with .75/2 = 37.5%? (Taking damage for .5 secs instead of .8 secs..)

-Psn facets, do they affect the length of poisoning vs players?

Thx!|||Yes, players without any Poison Length Reduction equipped will have PLR -100% in Hell, doubling poison length and thus doubling total poison damage (rate or damage per second remains the same, although without any Poison Resist +%, players will also have PR -100% in Hell which will double rate or damage per second).

PLR 75% would result in PLR -25% in Hell (-100+75), which would multiply poison length by 1.25 and thus result in 12 [10*1.25] frame or 0.48 second poison length.

-% Enemy Poison Resistance counters PLR %: -25% EPR would reduce a player with PLR 75% equipped in Hell to PLR -50% (-100+75-25), resulting in 15 frame [10*1.5] or 0.6 second poison length.