Poison Explosion

Cast on the corpse of a slain monster, toxic gas is released that poisons nearby monsters.

Poison Explosion is a level 18 Necromancer spell (Poison and Bone tree, requires Poison Dagger and Corpse Explosion; it unlocks Poison Nova). It consumes a corpse and releases a cloud of poison missiles that poison everything they touch: 25–75 over 2 seconds at level 1, 1,170–1,410 over 9.6 seconds at level 20. The mana is a flat 8 at every level, and the Basin gives the cloud's radius as 2 yards around the corpse. Two things decide it: the poison rate, which climbs in five brackets, and the poison length, which adds 0.4 seconds a level; the total damage is the product of the two.

The numbers

• Poison damage is the table's poison rate multiplied by the length and divided by 256. The rate starts at EMin 8 and EMax 24 and rises by the same five brackets for both: +2 a level to level 8, +4 to 16, +6 to 22, +8 to 28 and +10 past that (EMinLev1–5 and EMaxLev1–5). Because the length also grows, the total climbs faster than either factor: 25–75 at level 1, 262–402 at level 10, 1,170–1,410 at level 20, 3,357–3,697 at level 30. The Basin's tables give the per-second figure: 121–146 a second at level 20.
• Poison length is ELen 50 frames plus 10 a level (ELevLen1–3 are all 10), at 25 frames a second: 2 seconds at level 1, +0.4 a level, 9.6 at level 20, 13.6 at level 30.
• Mana is 8 (mana 8, lvlmana 0). It never changes, so the column only confirms it.
• Radius: the Basin's stat table lists 2 yards. The table's range calc has no Param to drive it, so the radius does not change with level.

The damage and the length read the full skill level, so +skills count. The synergy reads hard points only (blvl).

How it works

Poison Explosion is cast on a corpse and does not roll against attack rating; the Basin classes it as a radial missile cast. The corpse is consumed and clouds are released within the radius. The Basin notes that a target does not have to be centred inside that radius to be poisoned: any part of it that collides with one of the cloud's missiles within the radius is poisoned.

The damage is poison (EType "pois"), so it is read against the target's poison resistance (Dealing Elemental Damage, Resistances and Immunities) and ticks over the length as poison does (Poison Damage): the figures in the table are the total over the whole length, not a hit. A poison immune takes nothing from it. The Basin's page lists the skill as not usable in town, with no cast delay, no weapon damage and no leech.

The cloud needs a corpse. Like Corpse Explosion, the first kill in a pack has to come from something else.

Synergies and +skills

The synergy is EDmgSymPerCalc (Poison Dagger.blvl + Poison Nova.blvl) × par8, Param8 15, which the tooltip prints as two lines:

• Poison Dagger: +15% Poison Damage per Level
• Poison Nova: +15% Poison Damage per Level

Both read blvl, hard points only, so +skills from items do not feed them. The bonus is a percentage of the poison damage, so it scales the total over the same length. Poison Explosion in turn feeds Poison Dagger and Poison Nova, as their pages show. The Basin's older value for this synergy is also 15% a level, so the table and the wiki agree. Items that give +% Poison Skill Damage apply as the stat page describes.

Against players

A player's hit on another player is cut to 17% of its value (difficultylevels.txt PlayerDamagePercentVSPlayer) before anything else; the poison is then read against the player's poison resistance and ticks over the same length. The Basin's page records no other player-versus-player rule for this skill. See Player versus Player.

Build notes

• The level 20 cloud is 1,170–1,410 over 9.6 seconds for 8 mana; a level 30 one, reached with +10 skills, is 3,357–3,697 over 13.6 seconds for the same 8 mana.
• A hard point and a +skill are worth the same here, since both the rate and the length read lvl; the synergies are where hard points differ, at 15% per point of Poison Dagger and Poison Nova.
• The radius is 2 yards and does not grow, so the cloud covers the pack standing on the corpse, not the one across the room.