[Frame Concept] Araknys, The "vam-Pyder" (Concept Art Needed!)

[Galactix]

"Our world is filled with war, an ongoing battle between cat and mouse, owl and squirrel, fox and rabbit, spider and insect, hunter and the hunted. But which hunter is best? The most adaptive? The more cunning? No, there is only one answer: those of the night. Born and bathed in darkness, their sight taken away from them by the black veil. But it has sharpened them - turned them into sleek, surreptitious machines of death, only to be fueled from the crimson, hot blood of their prey. To most it is a means of survival, but to those few, the cat and mouse chase is but a mere game. And like all games, one will rise...and one will fall - only here, in the dead silence of the night, you pay with your life..."

 

 

So as you could have guessed from reading the lore tid-bit above, Araknys is the "night huntress" of the Lotus. She is frowned upon by the other frames due to treating missions as "a hunter's game" and neglecting easier missions because she states she will not "enjoy the hunt." However, everyone recognizes that she is a force to be reckoned with, and is a great asset to the Tenno. Between her web stunning/rooting capabilities, high mobility, and her health-vamp (or life stealing) skills, Araknys can fill either the utility role or the offensive role in any party, while still making her a challenge to play for even experienced Warframe players.

 

For a little background information on Araknys, the concept came to me, ironically, after I got bit by a spider. I couldn't fathom how such a small creature could do so much damage, and that got me thinking about Damage 2.0, so then I put two and two together. Now obviously that's the abbreviated version, because it took a lot more time to come up with the lore, her skills, and how I could tune her to be noteworthy or even considered for DE's drawing board from the get-go. However, with the new air-borne frame coming out in Update 12 (hinted in the previous livestream), I'm afraid that this thread will find its way creeping to the back-pages and will never be seen by anyone in a couple weeks, so please post your constructive criticism here to keep the thread alive! Sad to say, I am a terrible artist, like TERRIBLE! Therefore I skipped out on the concept art, and was hoping some bored artists would design something aesthetically pleasing that can capture all of Araknys' female "vam-pyder" aspects with still keeping her "Warframe-y." So, if anyone is interested in turning this idea into a masterpiece, then please message me so that I can link your art in this post and give you credit!

 

 

 

SKILL CONCEPTS: Notice that I thought of these myself and made rough sketches of what they might look like (which I hope someone can sketch much better than I can). I'm 100% open to other ideas for abilities, so don't be afraid to post your own!

 

Hemoplague

Skill name: Hemoplague

Type: Single Target

Araknys shoots a web bullet at a target, immobilizing it in a cocoon, and siphoning a percentage of its health per second until the cocoon effect wears off. While the cocoon effect is active, Araknys can still move and act normally. The ability is only a one-handed action, so it can be activated while reloading. The ability does no impact damage but is merely used as a utility and a way to regen health. Only one target can be cocooned at a time.

 

Hunter's Thrill

Skill name: Hunter's Thrill

Type: Activated Buff/Mode

Araknys gets excited by the thrill of the hunt, which causes her and the rest of her teammates to enter a sharpened senses state. During this, affected allies can sense all nearby enemies, even through walls and obstacles. Range and duration can be affected by mods and the skill mod's level.

 

Stalking Stance

Skill name: Stalking Stance

Type: Targeted Area/Single Target

Araknys shoots out a webline that can have two different effects. If attached to any large surface, Araknys will zip towards the surface and stick to it, waiting for her prey to pass by. Araknys will stay in this state for as long as the ability key is pressed down (she will de-tatch off the wall once the key is let up). If attached to an enemy target, the web will deal initial puncture damage and splatter, expanding into several smaller web spikes from within the initial target, dealing additional damage to any enemies around the initial target (imagine how a spear pierces through a body). The range of the skill and the smaller spikes are directly affected by the skill mod's level and other range mods.

 

The Feast or The Harvest

Skill name: "The Feast" or "The Harvest" (haven't decided which one fits better)

Type: Non-targeted Ultimate

Araknys lets out a shriek which wakes up and signals her nano-spider children to feed upon all nearby enemies. Each nano-spider will be released from somewhere on Araknys' body in all directions, and will target the closest enemy. After latching onto its target, each nano-spider will leech massive amounts of health from its host each second to regen health for all of Araknys' allies in the area. After 5 seconds of health-vamping, all the nano-spiders will explode on their hosts dealing large explosive area damage. Araknys may re-activate the skill earlier than the time limit to explode her children before the full 5 seconds are up. Each individual spider does take time to find its target, so do not expect instantaneous results - therefore, each spider is on its own life-stealing time and may blow up at different times than one another. Activating the skill a second time will only instantaneously blow up the spiders that are still life-stealing at that time. Time of the health-vamp period is not increased by duration mods, but the explosion damage can be increased by strength mods and the nano-spider targeting range can be increased through range mods.

 

 

 

Like I said up above, I'm in need of some serious artwork for this incredible idea, so if you've made something then message me and I'll feature it here for you. I really do think Araknys has a good shot to be put on the DE drawing board due to her uniqueness and contrasting difference from the other elemental-type frames.She's the first of her kind, and would be a great frame to play solo and with friends, something that some other frames lack. So, if you have any comments, praise, criticism, anything, don't be a stranger and post a reply - let's keep this thread alive!

Edited January 25, 2014 by Galactix

[Barda1]

Sounds to "magicy" for me. Also spider/vampire-warframe? XD Well, didn't see that comming.

 

The first skill seems ok. Utility wise it could work.

 

The second is close to sonar (banshee) without damage buff. Also feels "odd" in warframe -feel the enemy isn't very techonlogical.

 

Third seems like ripline with a td of splash damage. Not so exhiting.

 

Fourth...a cross of M-Prime and Blessing/Renewal/well of life? Blessing + M prime sounds rather OP. And the "nano spiders" + "her children" is really off putting/ not warframy for me.

[Galactix]

Sounds to "magicy" for me. Also spider/vampire-warframe? XD Well, didn't see that comming.

 

The first skill seems ok. Utility wise it could work.

 

The second is close to sonar (banshee) without damage buff. Also feels "odd" in warframe -feel the enemy isn't very techonlogical.

 

Third seems like ripline with a td of splash damage. Not so exhiting.

 

Fourth...a cross of M-Prime and Blessing/Renewal/well of life? Blessing + M prime sounds rather OP. And the "nano spiders" + "her children" is really off putting/ not warframy for me.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean for her abilities to reflect other previous frames :/ (i actually thought I was being pretty original) but I will take the changes into consideration. As for the nano-spider thing, I imagined the "children" to kind of work like the Grineer Latchers (those little rolling sticky grenades that the Grineer Seekers throw). "Nano" and "children" are merely words I used to describe the smaller units she releases. I thought it would be a fun way to bring out her Queen Spider aspect, but I do understand that this isn't really "Warframe-y," but really what ability is? :p

[Siubijeni]

I'm going to have to second most of Barda's points.

 

-Hemoplague seems like a Well of Life that operates somewhat like Energy Vampire in that you don't have to attack the target.

-Hunter's Thrill is Sonar without the damage boost, so I'm assuming it has better range and duration... but that's still not very original or exciting.

-Stalking Stance is Ripline with some extra AoE and a slightly interesting gimmick built in to bump it up from being a first ability. But when you really think about it, it's not going to be that useful. Sure, you could shoot at people from the wall... but you really have to stay mobile most of the time, especially at higher levels. You're a sitting duck. Might be a useful PvP surprise, but the AI won't be fooled much.

-The Harvest is both a radial destruction and massive healing ultimate? Not ok. It might not be a guaranteed full heal, but five instances of "massive" health leeching really might as well be. And five subsequent instances of "large explosive area damage" is arguably better than Blessings invincibility duration.

 

All of that aside, there are already two health frames in Trinity and Oberon. Warframes with healing abilities are supposed to be rare, according to DE and the lore. Araknys as she stands just intrudes too much upon that niche to be a viable addition to the game.

[-Oatgod-]

i like this

[(PSN)Todday919]

So kind of like the stalker I'm guessing?