I was thinking of making a thread about this a long time ago.
Anyway I am the proud owner of a plague needle, having farmed krogmo way more than I would have liked to get my pretty green needle. However, upon seeing other people's blitz numbers I'm starting to feel that the plague is kind of underpowered in comparison. I did make a suggestions thread which called for a buff to the plague needle because it's damage was 33% less than the blitz (pre gun damage boost patch).
However, after the patch, I am not sure of the damage differences. This is what I know, and would appreciate it if the community helps me to fill in more numbers or correct any errors.
All numbers are per charged needle.
From my own plague needle(damage +low), in D27:
Trojans take 205 and 219 damage clean/poisoned respectively.
=> 191 and 199 damage with no boost.
From FSC videos, max damage, blitz:
344 on trojans, means base 242 damage with no boost.
Damage difference = 242/191 = 1.26 = 26% damage difference.
Vanaduke Body:
From my own plague needle (damage +low)
135, 164 clean/poison.
=>126 without boost.
From FSC videos, max damage
289 clean.
=> 203 without boost.
Damage difference = 203/126 = 1.61 = 61% damage difference
Vanaduke Mask:
From own plague needle:
98/110 clean/poison.
=> 91 without boost
From Thread, max damage:
239
=> 168 without boost.
Damage difference = 168/91 = 1.84 = 84% damage difference.
Also note that before the patch, the damage difference was even more apparent as the blitz did 33% more damage than the plague (no poison) on trojans. The difference was mitigated somewhat due to the overall gun patch due to the way damage mechanics work.
Questions: How come the difference that poison makes to vana is more significant than the difference that poison makes to trojans?
Anyway, for people who are being put off by getting a plague needle, it is not really the case. Having read other plague needle threads (and a user of one myself) I know that the plague shines at fighting gremlin menders or wings or spreading mass poison.
What they missed out, however, is the plague needle's ability to poison Vanaduke's mask. After I have poisoned vanaduke's mask, its projectiles do a puny 1.5 bars of damage to me, (Vog cub coat, seerus mask) which greatly improves my survivability especially due to my terrible ping.
Anyway, would appreciate it very much if anyone could help me substantiate this thread. Thanks! :D
References:
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/44220
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/53300
If it's any help to you, I'm working on the tables to update the wiki.
Take a look in my wiki editors thread for the link to my tables if you'd like, though they are not complete yet.
I'm not gathering poisoned data, but if there's any particular information you desire, I can see what I can do to provide it.
Depending what information you need regarding strong or neutral damage, I have two Plague Needles, one with fiend high and one with gremlin VH.
This is particularly because of the observations you mentioned about about where the plague excels in combating healers (I have cleared tier 3 deconstructions zones, constructs and all JUST with a Blight Needle at least a few times.)
So if you need information regarding max damage bonuses (or ultra VS Fiends) I may be able to help.