[Warframe Concept] Atabai And Fang - A Pet-Based Warframe

[NaharaEriclea]

Atabai and Fang

Lotus Overview

"This is Atabai, the wild and feral hunter.

Atabai stalks his enemies with his trusted companion, Fang, the two working in tandem to take down any foe. Atabai's abilities are focused around providing tactical directions to Fang while also supporting each other.

• 
  Pack Leader commands Fang to focus its attacks on his current target. If used while undetected, Fang will attempt to stealth attack the enemy. If no enemy is targeted, Fang will return to Atabai's side.
• 
  Call of the Hunt grants Fang a damage increase; Atabai can also benefit from this damage increase if he attacks Fang's current target.
• 
  Hunter's Bond grants Atabai and Fang bonus movement speed and damage reduction the closer they are together, and if used while Atabai is downed, Fang will attempt to revive him.
• 
  Feral Aspect causes Atabai and Fang to merge into an avatar of the hunt, granting him increased defenses and adjusting his abilities.

While merged, Pack Leader will cause Atabai to dash foward and attack all targets in his path, Call of the Hunt will grant an increase to attack damage and attack speed, and Hunter's Bond will grant an increase to movement speed and damage reduction.

The addition of mods will allow Atabai and Fang to take down even deadlier quarry. Call of the Hunt, Hunter's Bond, and Feral Aspect benefit from both Power Strength and Power Duration, while Power Range benefits Pack Leader, Hunter's Bond, and Feral Aspect.

The prey is afoot and Fang has caught its scent, Tenno. Will you join the hunt?"


Mechanical Overview

Hidden Passive – Atabai can see the special indicators pointing in the direction of Synthesis targets without the need to see through a Synthesis Scanner. These indicators also appear for Capture targets and the correct cell holding Rescue targets.

Pack Leader – “Commands Fang to attack a target or heel to your side. Feral Aspect – Dash forward and damage all enemies hit.”
Fang will attack the currently targeted enemy and will switch to a new target if the ability is used again before the first target dies. Using the ability while no target is selected will call Fang back to your side.

Call of the Hunt – “Increases Fang's damage and Atabai's damage if attacking Fang's current target. Feral Aspect – Increases attack damage and attack speed.”
Increases Fang's attack damage for a short time. If Atabai attacks Fang's current target, Atabai receives 25%/50%/75%/100% of the damage increase as well.

Hunter's Bond – “Gain movement speed and damage reduction, more the closer the two are together. Feral Aspect – Gain movement speed and damage reduction.”
Hunter's Bond grants both Atabai and Fang bonus movement speed and damage reduction, increasing depending on the distance between the two; the closer together they are, the greater the bonus. Can be used while downed in order to immediately call Fang to Atabai's said and Fang will start to revive Atabai.

Feral Aspect – “Atabai and Fang merge, gaining stronger defenses and altering Atabai's abilities.”
Can only be used if both Fang and Atabai are up and within range of each other. Fang's character model attaches to the back of Atabai's character model, similar to how Chroma's Effigy attaches to his back as a “pelt”. Character animations and camera perspective shift to reflect that the player is, essentially, controlling Fang now. Atabai's attachments and clan/alliance emblems are hidden during Feral Aspect to avoid clipping.

Atabai's damage in this form is based on Fang's damage and Atabai's melee weapon damage (plus any mods that increase Atabai's melee weapon damage) and Atabai's defenses are increased by a percentage of Fang's current health, shields, and armor at the time of activation. Atabai's other abilities are changed as follows:
Pack Leader - Dash forward a distance and deal Slashing damage to all targets caught in the area of effect, while the last target is also dealt Piercing and Impact damage.
Call of the Hunt – Atabai gains the full damage benefit, regardless of target.
Hunter's Bond – Atabai gains a portion of the maximum bonus movement speed and damage reduction.


Ability Augments

Taste of Blood – Pack Leader Augment
Fang jumps to an enemy within 6/9/12/15m if the current Pack Leader target instantly dies. Feral Aspect – The last enemy hit by the charge has a 25/50/75/100% chance of suffering from a slashing proc.

Pack Hunters – Call of the Hunt Augment
20/40/60/80% of the shared damage bonus is granted to all squad members. Feral Aspect - Squad members attacking Atabai's target receive 40/60/80/100% of the damage bonus.

Violent Transformation – Feral Aspect Augment
Enemies within 5/10/15/20m are knocked down when turning Feral Aspect on or off. Enemies within 0/0/5/5m are rag-dolled backwards.


Obtaining Atabai and Fang

Atabai Blueprints: Atabai Helmet, Atabai Chassis, Atabai Systems, Kubrow Egg
Atabai Helmet Blueprints: Alloy Plate, Neural Sensors, Polymer Bundle, Circuits
Atabai Chassis Blueprints: Control Module, Morphics, Ferrite, Plastids
Atabai Systems Blueprints: Gallium, Neurodes, Polymer Bundle, Rubedo

Players must purchase “The Hunt Begins”, a quest start item, from the market. Ordis will mention that the item appears to be a data cache concerning the last known location of a Warframe known as Atabai, whom has been missing since before the fall of the Orokin Empire. The Lotus explains that Atabai was the best hunter/tracker Warframe, but preferred working with beasts rather than other Tenno, and went missing while hunting one of his targets. The Lotus urges the player to complete the item so they might discover what had become of the lone Tenno.

Completing the item will unlock a mission on Earth with the unique “Tracking” objective. Players are tasked with finding a hidden data cache in the environment, which can be lead to by following environmental markers (such as footprints or broken foliage), which can be disturbed or destroyed by the player and enemies if too much combat takes place in an area with a marker. These environmental markers are outlined visually if the player uses a Codex or Synthesis Scanner (though cannot actually be scanned).

Accessing the first cache grants the player a message from Atabai stating that he is surprised someone found one of his data drops and is glad that the Lotus is still watching over the other Tenno. He relays that he is doing well and still on the hunt. As a reward for finding the cache, he rewards the player with the Helmet Blueprints, which also contain more coordinate data as to the location of another cache.

The second mission rewards the player with the Chassis Blueprints and another message from Atabai claiming that he is pleasantly surprised the player found another data cache. The third rewards the player with the Systems Blueprint and a message from Atabai encouraging them to continue to hone their skills in the art of tracking and hunting.

The final cache contains the final blueprints and a message from Atabai that changes depending on whether or not the player used a Codex or Synthesis Scanner to view an environmental marker at any point during the missions. If the player does not already have a Kubrow Egg in their inventory, an extra Tracking mission with a significantly larger map is unlocked that will lead the player to a special “Hand Picked Kubrow Egg” item designed specifically to take the place of a normal Kubrow Egg during the crafting of the Atabai Warframe.


Customizing Fang

Fang takes the place of the player's currently selected Sentinel or Kubrow; Kubrows currently out of storage are treated as in storage, suffering no decrease in DNA stabilization, so long as Atabai is the currently active Warframe. Compared to other Kubrow, Fang has greater default health, shield capacity, armor, and damage, and does not require the use of DNA stabilizers in order to receive the bonus health, but does not gain the bonus health from stabilized DNA that a normal Kubrow would have.

Fang's character model and size cannot be adjusted outside of any potential skins in order to prevent any conflicts with character model placement during Feral Aspect. Fang's colors can be adjusted like any normal Warframe, including a Primary and Secondary color, two tint colors, and an energy color. Fang can also be customized using any of the player's currently owned Kubrow armor and accessories, as well as the Kavasa Prime Collar.

Fang can be enhanced with mods like any Kubrow or Sentinel, possessing 10 mod slots with the four on the sides possessing the Penjaga (Y) polarity. Fang's mod capacity increases along with Atabai's if an Orokin Reactor is used and using a Forma to adjust the polarity of one of Atabai's mod slots will also ask the player if they wish to adjust the polarity of one of Fang's mod slots at no additional cost (this can be denied if a player is satisfied with Fang's current mod slot polarities).

In addition to having access to the full list of Kubrow mods, Fang also has access to a select number of Sentinel mods as well: Vacuum, Vaporize, Arc Coil, Electro Pulse, Fatal Attraction, Investigator, Detect Vulnerability, Ghost, and Crowd Dispersion.

However, mods with the Penjaga (Y) polarity cannot be freely used. Using one such mod exclusive to a certain type of Kubrow or Sentinel will exclude them from using mods exclusive to any other type of Kubrow or Sentinel. For example, if a player equips Fang with the Sahasa's Dig mod and the Helios's Investigator mod, the player cannot equip any other Penjaga (Y) polarity mod except the Sahasa's Ferocity and the Helios's Detect Vulnerability.


Balancing and Power Budget

Atabai's power budget is focused into his exclusive, and restricted, access to the Fang companion. Fang is sturdier than normal Companions, deals greater damage, and is more versatile and customizable through the use of mods than any other Kubrow or Sentinel.

As a trade-off, Atabai himself has access to no abilities without the presence of Fang and has little defensive capabilities, with health, shields, and armor on a level comparable to Equinox or Hydroid. In addition, players must also collect and upgrade a whole second set of mods for use with Fang.

Only needing a single Orokin Reactor and having one Forma able to modify the polarity of a mod slot for both Atabai and Fang is given as compensation for the fact that no other Warframe requires a second Orokin Reactor or twice as many Forma in order to properly modify them to the player's preference.


Other Comments

Not everything has values associated with it, and the lack of values in some areas are intentional, as I'm not really the kind of person who can theory-craft what values might work with a given kit and what would not.

If anyone would like to try drawing out Atabai and Fang, I will gladly share what insight I have about how they might look.

Fun Fact: Ah Tabai is the Mayan deity of the hunt and a protector of animals.

[EDIT] Updated 11/27/2015 with new mechanics: 1) Sic has been replaced with Pack Leader, taking the heel command from Hunter's Bond. 2) Hunter's Bond has also been adjusted to provide it's movement speed and damage bonus depending upon how close Atabai and Fang are together. Some of the edits have been integrated into the explanations themselves, mods have been adjusted or rewored to better reflect the changes to abilities, and a new section detailing my perspective on the Warframe's state of balance and power budget has been added. Edited November 29, 2015 by NaharaEriclea

[BaIthazar]

I assume Fang will not require the use of DNA stabilizers?

and while I really like the idea, I am against his Feral Aspect skill since it feels incredibly lore-unfriendly

 

Also, how will you address the issue of different bodytypes?

fur patterns and colours can be customized if one has the items.

but once a regular kubrow is born, people will be stuck with it's bodytype unless they just breed a new one.

which would be impossible with Fang.

Will Fang always have a fixed Bodytype exclusive to them? or would we be able to freely customize their bodytype?

[(PSN)Abyss_Raider]

I just want to say, I love this idea. One of my favorite classes in gaming is those that employ a character/hunter and their pet (I've always used Rangers as my main in both installations of Guild Wars.) The abilities are very well thought-out, as well as the mechanics and means of acquisition. I really don't have any critique for this frame idea, and think it would be lovely to see something like this in-game.

 

I was curious of some things. First off, would the final ability, Feral Aspect, cause the frame to visually change completely as a "mix" of the two (like how Equinox does when she's in Liset/Relay.) 

Warframes seem to have certain weapons that relate to them (or so I've seen some sort of connection when playing), so Atabai having some kind of bonus when using the 'Fang' daggers would be interesting.

Kubrow wearing a Warframe. No argument. That'd be awesome.

Would Fang's customization options be closer to that of a Kubrow, Sentinel, or Warframe?

 

I'm sorry if I ask too much, I just really love this idea. Fantastic work, Nahara!

 

and while I really like the idea, I am against his Feral Aspect skill since it feels incredibly lore-unfriendly

It would be tough to keep it coinciding with the lore, which is sad, because I like the idea of the ability.

 

Edit: Sorry, I didn't see the explanation of revival. So Fang has a separate Shield/Health bar?

Edited November 10, 2015 by (PS4)Abyss_Raider

[NaharaEriclea]

I assume Fang will not require the use of DNA stabilizers?

and while I really like the idea, I am against his Feral Aspect skill since it feels incredibly lore-unfriendly

 

Also, how will you address the issue of different bodytypes?

fur patterns and colours can be customized if one has the items.

but once a regular kubrow is born, people will be stuck with it's bodytype unless they just breed a new one.

which would be impossible with Fang.

Will Fang always have a fixed Bodytype exclusive to them? or would we be able to freely customize their bodytype?

Fang would have a static size and shape exclusive to it (as it's basically a warframe in the shape of a Kubrow) and its color customizable as normal for a warframe. It would not require the periodic upkeep of DNA Stabilizers, either.

 

As for Feral Aspect, it's not an actual merging of the two physical entities, but something more akin to how Chroma wears his Efigy as a "pelt" over his body. Fang would connect to Atabai's back, connecting the two of them together so the player is now, essentially, in control of Fang as it runs around on all fours (though slightly bigger than Fang, since the two character models are combined). The vocabulary I chose to use doesn't properly convey that, in hindsight, but I hope this helps you understand how it's intended to be presented.

[NaharaEriclea]

I just want to say, I love this idea. One of my favorite classes in gaming is those that employ a character/hunter and their pet (I've always used Rangers as my main in both installations of Guild Wars.) The abilities are very well thought-out, as well as the mechanics and means of acquisition. I really don't have any critique for this frame idea, and think it would be lovely to see something like this in-game.

 

I was curious of some things. First off, would the final ability, Feral Aspect, cause the frame to visually change completely as a "mix" of the two (like how Equinox does when she's in Liset/Relay.) 

How exactly would Fang revive Atabai? Would he/she sort of do a "Call for help" when you hit one of your ability buttons while bleeding out? Would it consume energy? 

Warframes seem to have certain weapons that relate to them (or so I've seen some sort of connection when playing), so Atabai having some kind of bonus when using the 'Fang' daggers would be interesting.

Kubrow wearing a Warframe. No argument. That'd be awesome.

Would Fang's customization options be closer to that of a Kubrow, Sentinel, or Warframe?

 

I'm sorry if I ask too much, I just really love this idea. Fantastic work, Nahara!

 

It would be tough to keep it coinciding with the lore, which is sad, because I like the idea of the ability.

 

As stated above, Feral Aspect works more along the lines of how Chroma is both Chroma and his Efigy in one physical model until the ability is used that splits them apart into two unique entities on the battlefield. Feral Aspect works like that in reverse: Atabai and Fang are two unique entities on the battlefield, but connect together in order to form the Aspect while Feral Aspect is toggled on.

 

Fang would revive Atabai in the same manner as any player. He rushes towards Atabai and begins to channel the revive stream. Hunter's Bond gives Fang increased movement speed when moving towards Atabai (which he will do autmatically) and increased damage reduction to protect himself from enemy attacks, as he is more fragile than a typical player and doesn't have the option of stopping the channel in order to kill nearby enemies for some additional time.

 

Also as stated above, Fang's color customization options are similar to a normal warframe, being able to change a Primary and Secondary color, two additional colors, and his energy color. His size would not be adjustable, as it would need to fit with the Atabai model for when they combined for Feral Aspect.

[(PSN)Abyss_Raider]

As stated above, Feral Aspect works more along the lines of how Chroma is both Chroma and his Efigy in one physical model until the ability is used that splits them apart into two unique entities on the battlefield. Feral Aspect works like that in reverse: Atabai and Fang are two unique entities on the battlefield, but connect together in order to form the Aspect while Feral Aspect is toggled on.

 

Fang would revive Atabai in the same manner as any player. He rushes towards Atabai and begins to channel the revive stream. Hunter's Bond gives Fang increased movement speed when moving towards Atabai (which he will do autmatically) and increased damage reduction to protect himself from enemy attacks, as he is more fragile than a typical player and doesn't have the option of stopping the channel in order to kill nearby enemies for some additional time.

 

Also as stated above, Fang's color customization options are similar to a normal warframe, being able to change a Primary and Secondary color, two additional colors, and his energy color. His size would not be adjustable, as it would need to fit with the Atabai model for when they combined for Feral Aspect.

 

Ah! I could definitely see this all working very well. Thank you for the details!

[Xamerzan]

• Hunter's Bond calls Fang to his side; if Fang is downed, Atabai gains movement speed and damage reduction while trying to revive Fang, and Fang will receive the same bonuses while trying to revive Atabai.

Hunter's Bond – “Commands Fang to heel. Both gain movement speed and damage reduction when trying to revive the other. Feral Aspect – Gain movement speed and damage reduction.”

Hunter's Bond has three core parts: 1) Fang breaks from any previous task and will return to Atabai's side with minimal energy cost. 2) If Fang is downed, for a greater energy cost, Atabai gains bonus movement speed and damage reduction when moving towards Fang and trying to revive him. 3) If Atabai is downed, Fang will break from any previous task and move towards Atabai with increased movement speed and damage reduction and attempt to revive him at no energy cost.

I personally have a problem with this ability... I'm all for the idea of self-revival, but I personally think that Fang reviving Atabai needs to either have some sort of cooldown or consequence for having this occur. While it makes for nice solo-play, I could potentially see that becoming very overpowerd very quickly. Here's an example that I see: Atabai is downed; a nearby Loki or Saryn places a decoy near (but not on top of) your body; enemies ignore Fang as he gets you up automatically without issue (presuming you can use this ability while the Frame is downed). You could argue that would still be doable in that situation, just with the other Frames there not having to get you up... which could also be dangerous if Fang isn't around and your teammates assume you're fine.

 

Other than that though, I like the idea of this Frame as a whole. Nice work!

[NaharaEriclea]

I personally have a problem with this ability... I'm all for the idea of self-revival, but I personally think that Fang reviving Atabai needs to either have some sort of cooldown or consequence for having this occur. While it makes for nice solo-play, I could potentially see that becoming very overpowerd very quickly. Here's an example that I see: Atabai is downed; a nearby Loki or Saryn places a decoy near (but not on top of) your body; enemies ignore Fang as he gets you up automatically without issue (presuming you can use this ability while the Frame is downed). You could argue that would still be doable in that situation, just with the other Frames there not having to get you up... which could also be dangerous if Fang isn't around and your teammates assume you're fine.

 

Other than that though, I like the idea of this Frame as a whole. Nice work!

 

Originally, Hunter's Bond was simply an ability that called Fang back to your side, but that felt like it'd be too lack-luster for an ability. Having Fang be able to resurrect Atabai (on top of granting bonuses to you geared towards trying to revive Fang) felt like a good additional effect to this ability and one that made it more worthwhile.

 

While a cooldown on the ability for Fang to revive you does seem reasonable, it already has a significant drawback to it: Fang, more than likely to be run by the simple AI code used for existing Kubrow companions, doesn't have the capacity to judge whether or not it can safely revive Atabai, or if it needs to stop channeling the revive in order to dispatch a high-priority target or avoid environmental damage or what-have-you. If Atabai is downed, the code would probably have Fang simply rush to your side and begins reviving. Fang's survivability is already somewhat limited by a Kubrow companion's relative fragility compared to a player (and being unable to quickly react to a bad situation), but even with the damage reduction granted by the ability and maybe the Shelter mod, I don't think Fang would be surviving very long against focused fire.

[SelsunRed]

This sounds amazing. Love the idea of two seperate "beings" in one frame.   would like to see some art for this.

[Synpai]

I assume Fang will not require the use of DNA stabilizers?

and while I really like the idea, I am against his Feral Aspect skill since it feels incredibly lore-unfriendly

 

Also, how will you address the issue of different bodytypes?

fur patterns and colours can be customized if one has the items.

but once a regular kubrow is born, people will be stuck with it's bodytype unless they just breed a new one.

which would be impossible with Fang.

Will Fang always have a fixed Bodytype exclusive to them? or would we be able to freely customize their bodytype?

I think it would be best for Fang to have a fixed body type but possibly utilize kubrow cosmetics as developing too dynamic a frame would probably be quite the task. 

 

I'm not sure about making so many changes to the system i.e:

-Fang taking the place of the active kubrow.

-Fang having a separate mod menu it should innately have the things that kubrows have, to some extent, such as link health, shields, armor and the amount being based on Power Strength or something. (While not making kubrows  more obsolete than they already are by having everything and then some).

 

Appearance could be similar to the Equinox UI where Form 1 would be Atabai , Form 2 would be Fang and Form 3 would be the combination

 

Also look at some of your abilities for example, you're bullet jumping and sprinting all over the place does Fang have to run from where ever he may be if you command him to sic? Is Sic affected by power range? Perhaps sic could damage and grapple the enemy. Just giving more to think about, I look forward to the development ^-^

 

PS: I think a nice Hunter's Bond Augment would be to gain the elemental effect from weapons.

[NaharaEriclea]

I think it would be best for Fang to have a fixed body type but possibly utilize kubrow cosmetics as developing too dynamic a frame would probably be quite the task. 

 

I'm not sure about making so many changes to the system i.e:

-Fang taking the place of the active kubrow.

-Fang having a separate mod menu it should innately have the things that kubrows have, to some extent, such as link health, shields, armor and the amount being based on Power Strength or something. (While not making kubrows  more obsolete than they already are by having everything and then some).

 

Appearance could be similar to the Equinox UI where Form 1 would be Atabai , Form 2 would be Fang and Form 3 would be the combination

 

Also look at some of your abilities for example, you're bullet jumping and sprinting all over the place does Fang have to run from where ever he may be if you command him to sic? Is Sic affected by power range? Perhaps sic could damage and grapple the enemy. Just giving more to think about, I look forward to the development ^-^

 

PS: I think a nice Hunter's Bond Augment would be to gain the elemental effect from weapons.

 

The intended trade-off to having Fang be so strong was that you cannot use him with any other warframe besides Atabai. That may sound kind of obvious, but I feel like the importance of it should be clear. Atabai is a fairly week warframe, my envisioning of it having only decent health, shields, and armor. Atabai's strength come from being able to direct (indirectly via abilities or directly via Feral Aspect) a very powerful Kubrow-like ally. Kubrows and Sentinels should still retain their current value, as they can be used with any frame, not just one.

 

As for players being hyper mobile with bullet jumping and sprinting, one way a player might circumvent that issue (so Fang isn't left behind by how fast you can dash and sprint around a map) would be to enter Feral Aspect so that you take both characters along for the ride as you make a break for wherever you need to go. However, that's a player behavior thing and not something you can always count on, so Fang would probably need a stronger leashing program than typical Kubrows so they could keep up with you (or just teleport to you) if you got far enough away from them.

 

Sic is affected by Power Range, with more Power Range increasing the distance that a target can be away from you before it's eligible for being selected as a target. Sic could also grapple a target if Fang was equipped with the Sunika's Unleashed mod.

Edited November 12, 2015 by NaharaEriclea

[NaharaEriclea]

The opening post has been edited. As a brief "patch notes":

 

- Sic has been replaced with Pack Leader, taking the "heel" command from Hunter's Bond.

- Hunter's Bond has also been adjusted to provide it's movement speed and damage bonus depending upon how close Atabai and Fang are together.

- Some of the original edits have been integrated into the explanations themselves.

- Mods have been adjusted or reworded to better reflect the changes to abilities.

- A new section has been added detailing my perspective on the frame's state of balance and power budget (aka how Atabai pays for the power he possesses).

 

As usual, any feedback on this idea is greatly appreciated.

[xRaigii]

This sounds cool. Also, nice closer for Lotus.