I have it, it's not a great bomb. Do it only if you already have all other useful haze bombs (VT, Ash, Shiver) and really want one more for those niches :

- do a run with other haze bombs users, so that you can have one more status (pretty rare, but I guess it depends of your friends)

- have a good combo with VT or shiver during FSC runs (primary bomb is VT for all FSC but Vana, Shiver for the boss, of course, and Venom Veiler as second status). I did not know poison could prevent summoning, but that's great too.

- use in T3 arena to counter gremlins AoE heal (that makes a damaging AoE instead). These are a genuine reason to get VV, because it severly shorten the fight.

- train noobs who can actually benefit from the damage reduction

The approximative numbers are : mobs receive 10% more damage (which is really not worth a weapon slot and the time to charge the bomb by itself) and mobs deal 50% less damage (which is not worth it except the last scenario, because experienced players barely get hit already).

Also, if you poison Vanaduke, he can't use his summoning moves which is really helpful.

Does it really? I've only seen VV used at Vana about 3 times, but I've never noticed this.

The actual damage increase is negligible, makes my charged Blitz shots go from 194 to 211 damage.

Sometimes Vana just doesn't summon. I've had games where the first thing he does when the shadow fire drops is a mace smash... right in my face.

One thing you should consider is that if you're on shiver duty you can alternate SB and VV and keep both mists down at the same time (assuming you have max CTR).

Dropping a VV when the slags are climbing out of the ground in the shooting gallery room, then switching to swords to clean out the wave can speed things along and is a lot more useful than dropping a shiver.

Keep in mind that the only weapons you really need for an optimized FSC experience is a non-shadow sword and gun. That leaves two slots to fill with whatever other guff you like.

VV isn't useful in RJP, compared to VT and AoA. You're much better off using the latter to keep the minis cleared off the field, if you're using any status bombs at all.

The VV can make a nice "neutral" bomb for the last wave of arenas. Doesn't knock things back like the Nitronome, doesn't cause gremlin bombers to spaz out like the VT, AoA or SB, doesn't suffer from ineffective damage against certain monster classes like the DBB.

In my opinion, the Toxic Vapor Lines (which end in 5* Venom Veiler) are a "hit and miss" "acquired taste."

In my case, I find that the Venom Veiler is something that I don't normally lug along for normal clockworks combat, but I do lug it along if I know a place is healer intensive. Eg: Arenas, RJP Boss Room, etc.

In a party, the damage boost is not negligible, but generally speaking, a vortexed enemy group can be more easily damaged for a greater output.

Damage reduction is not really applicable, you should not be getting hit in the first place man.

However, if you use it for its true purpose, which is to block healing and create a damage waste out of menders.

Then Venom Veiler truly excels at its duty.

The weapon is not a general purpose weapon.

It's a niche weapon.

But if you use it for its niche (mender block and DMG boosts), it performs exceptionally well.

@Renpartycat You don't have a point to your post, you're just saying poison > no poison, which is quite obvious. Sure, it's a 9% increase in damage, but you have to consider that you're filling a weapon slot and taking time to drop the bomb. Vana only stays poisoned long enough to fire one charge, maybe two. 255 damage is quite insignificant when each charge does nearly 3k. In the end, the only difference VV makes is that it saves you a single Blitz charge. Which is, you know, negligible. Not useless, but it really doesn't make the fight noticeably easier or faster. You're not on a strict timeline when it comes to killing Vana and if you're going to min-max to the extreme you would probably be better off having your Shivermist bomber Blitz as well. In fact, forget Shiver, and just freeze with vials.

VV certainly has its uses and I'm not going to argue about that but I definitely don't think that the bonus damage from Poison is one of its strong points.

Are you addressing me or Ren? All I'm saying is that the poison's damage amplification doesn't make a huge difference.

A better question is, why are you making the Venom Veiler sound useless, when you've never even used it?

Stop being a bunch of elitists, the entire game isn't based on "MAX DPS VANADUKE FINAL DESTINATION" and you need to realize this. We all know that once King Trinkinzar gets released, he'll be the new T3 Boss, and you T3 Guilds will start crying because your weapons are useless there, and instead of building a nice, fun, original or hybrid set, you're only built for vanaduke and you know that you'll fail everywhere else.

Bombs are support weapons. Not general purpose weapons. If you want DPS, use a sword. If you want range, use a gun. If you want AoE, use a bomb. Swords are for offense, Guns are for defense, Bombs are for support. This is the weapon triangle of Spiral Knights. And yes, I'm aware that there are weapons designed to defy the triangle and work differently.

The point is, you don't have the rights to talk about a weapon until you've used it, and until you completely understand not only how to use it, but how it's useful. I've picked up many underused weapons, and I've seen their true power. But if you're going to bash on a weapon that's not good against Vanaduke, get out of the Arsenal because elitism is the cancer killing this game. Sorry, but it's the truth.

You wanna find good weapons? Talk to a Veteran, a Hybrid, or an Impostocube. Not an elitist. You don't HAVE to use the Venom Veiler, but I'd appreciate it if you don't bash on weapons you've never used before.

Can we cut the flaming out and just give the OP a direct answer?

My response to OP: It's not a general purpose weapon, but it does its niche jobs exceptionally well. Use it to debuff enemy damage, bolster your damage, and to render menders null.

Wow, ad hominem attacks and now passive-aggressiveness just because you don't agree with some people on the internet?

venom veiler used to be really good on deconstruction zones before the gremlin nerf. now the gremlins are too easy that you just slash them so quickly.