[Chroma needs a rework]

[Ignore this comment. Might edit later.]

[Chroma needs a rework]

Snipped from my Fan Concepts thread:

CHROMA: THE DRAGON KING — A THREE-TIER REWORK CONCEPT

UPDATE CHANGES

Spoiler

UPDATE 11/5/2018:

• Added balancing addendum to Tier III Elemental Ward mechanics: Specifically, that multiple different Elemental Wards cannot be combined with repeated castings; each new casting overwrites the last.

UPDATE 11/4/2018:

• Added Ruinous Effigy concept art. See CONCEPT ART, VISUAL AIDS, & OTHER IDEAS section below.

UPDATE 11/1/2018:

• Specified details for Tier I Furious Roar augment mod effects.

UPDATE 10/31/2018:

• Added Proud Roar concept art. See CONCEPT ART, VISUAL AIDS, & OTHER IDEAS section below.

UPDATE 10/24/2018: 

• Updated Tier II Elemental Ward changes, including multiplier changes to be multiplicative instead of additive, so Chroma can keep up with current scaling.
• Also updated Tier I and Tier II Effigy changes on the specific benefits Effigy would derive from Elemental Ward, including the new Tier II Elemental Ward changes.
• Added additional alternate camouflage mechanic to Tier II Elemental Ward based on a percentage detection chance regardless of alert status.
• Specified rank stats for Tier II Heat Elemental Ward's Health regeneration and Cold Elemental Ward's slowing effect.

Update details can be found by searching for the *.

TIER I: BANDAID
The most basic changes necessary to assuage the concerns of a large part of the Chroma player base. PRIMARY CONCERNS ADDRESSED: 1) Chroma's Spectral Scream and Effigy are both weak, which leave Chroma as just a "passive ability" warframe. 2) The nerfs to Vex Armor hurt Chroma's survivability too drastically.

REVISED SPECTRAL SCREAM v1: Make Spectral Scream function similar to the "Afterburn" augmented variation by default: For 25 energy, exhale a single-shot 150/275/400/525-damage explosive elemental projectile rather than a weak continuous breath attack. Casting animation doesn't interrupt mobility. It would benefit from Vex Armor's Fury multiplier (multiplicative, calculated after factoring in any power strength boost to the base damage). High status chance, affected by power strength.

• Reasoning: If a warframe's primary ability is weaker, shorter-ranged, and less useful than a single firearm shot and also prevents you from using melee or ranged weapons, players simply aren't going to use it.

REVISED "AFTERBURN" ABILITY AUGMENT: Rebuilt as "FURIOUS ROAR." No visual change from Spectral Scream/Proud Roar* (* see Tier III: The Dragon King), but adds a guaranteed secondary effect and secondary damage type (the damage will be divided into 50% original element, 50% secondary damage types) to all Spectral Scream variations. *High status chance for secondary damage types, affected by power strength: 

• Heat Furious Roar deals Heat + Blast damage and ragdolls enemies with tremendous explosive knockback *(15/25/35/50m knockback, affected by power strength; possible additional Impact damage dealt by long falls and high-speed collision with level geometry, perhaps a level-based set amount of additional Impact damage dealt upon landing).
• Cold Furious Roar deals Cold + Puncture/Slash damage and freezes enemies solid *(3/5/6/8 seconds, duration affected by power duration).
• Toxin Furious Roar deals Toxin + Corrosive damage and slows enemies and reduces their damage *(40/50/60/70% slowdown, -40/50/60/70% damage, 5/7/10/12 seconds, duration affected by power duration).
• Electric Furious Roar deals Electric + Magnetic damage and ragdolls enemies with paralysis *(vulnerable to Ground Finishers, 3/5/6/8 seconds, duration affected by power duration).
• *Thoughts: The initial durations for secondary effects may be overlong and need to be adjusted. Won't know unless tested in-engine. Keep in mind that even getting these secondary effects requires sacrificing a vital mod slot, so there should be a reasonable benefit.

REVISED VEX ARMOR: Two-part revision.

1. Weapon modification (Serration, High Caliber, Split Chamber, &c.) takes effect first before Vex Armor's Fury weapon multiplier is calculated (Vex Armor changed back to being multiplicative rather than additive), but correct the multi-weapon-element multiplication (the so-called "double/triple-dipping") that was skewing the Fury multiplier into absurd numbers, which is what led to the drastic nerf that adversely affected both his survivability and damage.
2. Armor modification (Steel Fiber, Cold Elemental Ward, &c.) takes effect first before Vex Armor's Scorn Armor multiplier is calculated; first Armor and mod multipliers, then multiplied by Cold Elemental Ward as applicable, and finally multiplied by Scorn.

• Suggested Armor Calculation: VEX ARMOR Final Armor Value = ([base Armor x mod multipliers] x [Cold Elemental Ward multiplier x power strength]) x [Scorn multiplier x power strength]
• Reasoning: A necessary step to address survivability and damage concerns ever since the massive Vex Armor nerf. The damage nerf was bad enough; losing so much tankiness was just a kick in the teeth. *If needed, reduce the base multiplier slightly for balance purposes if the results are too excessive, but change all of Chroma's attribute boosts to be multiplicative. Additive bonuses just don't scale in Warframe's current state, not the way they need to in order to keep Chroma up to date.

REVISED EFFIGY v1: Whenever Chroma uses Elemental Ward or Vex Armor, the Effigy becomes a source and beneficiary of the aura as well, allowing those who remain near the Effigy to gain the benefit of the abilities without needing to stay near a mobile Chroma.

• Effigy's Armor is increased by Vex Armor's Scorn multiplier—the Effigy and Chroma work symbiotically, it only makes sense that the Effigy would be able to benefit just as much from Vex Armor as Chroma himself.
• Effigy's breath damage is increased by Vex Armor's Fury multiplier—just as Chroma's Spectral Scream currently benefits from Fury, the Effigy's own breath should similarly benefit.
• Scorn and Fury multipliers are determined by Chroma's active Vex Armor—the Effigy acts as a "remote conduit" for Chroma's Elemental Ward and Vex Armor auras, and so the multipliers of Chroma's active auras should similarly function on the Effigy, rather than it having to build up its own Vex Armor multipliers; after all, the Effigy has no shields* (see Elemental Ward benefits below), so it couldn't build Scorn multiplier itself.
• *Effigy would derive its own benefits from Elemental Ward, in addition to the normal elemental AOE effect:
• *Heat Elemental Ward grants Effigy proportionately increased Health, just as Chroma receives.
• *Cold Elemental Ward grants Effigy bullet reflection and increased Armor (ultimately giving it Armor equal to Chroma).
• *Toxin Elemental Ward grants Effigy faster breath fire rate and attack animations (knockback slam, stunning roar).
• *Electric Elemental Ward grants Effigy Shields equal to a portion of Effigy's total Health (modified by power strength), which allow it to counter attacks with arc discharge.
• *All these derived benefits are exclusive to Effigy. Effigy's Elemental Ward bestows on allies the same benefits Chroma's normal Elemental Ward does.
• Effigy's 50% Armor reduction should be removed entirely—See below for a lore justification that would allow Chroma to keep all his Armor.
• *EFFIGY LORE CONTEXT: To explain Chroma not losing Armor when activating Effigy—In terms of Chroma's backstory and lore, one could argue Chroma himself was always at his full Armor value, while the "pelt" seemingly obtained later was a source of power (that is, the conduit for Chroma's otherwise-sealed Effigy ability), not a source of protection/armor. Valkyr has a higher base Armor, and that's after being stripped by Corpus experimentation. Both Chroma and Chroma Prime could be said to have their full Armor before and after the ritual bonding/assimilation of their "pelt"; the "pelt" merely acts as a conduit for their ultimate ability. View it this way: Chroma himself (sans pelt) is simultaneously armored dragonslayer and dragon, donning the skin of a slain foe of similar draconic nature; he receives his protection not from the Sentient cloak, but from his own armor and his own nature. The weight of it still burdens him when worn (thus his Speed attribute increasing when Effigy is active and separate), but the "pelt" isn't actually related to his own Armor.
• Reasoning: Effigy has long been lamented as too punishing and too weak to justify its exorbitant energy-drain cost. What other Warframe suffers so much loss of survivability for using their ultimate ability as Chroma, who loses half his total Armor when Effigy is active? This would simultaneously increase its woefully low damage in higher-level play, its personal survivability, and it would increase its utility for other players—in particular, it would actually make the ability description that it "strengthens nearby allies" true. As far as the Effigy Armor reduction removal/adjustment, Chroma players should not be unduly punished for actually wanting to use what should become Chroma's capstone ability.

TIER II: THE GREEDY DRAGON
Further functionality tweaks to deepen the satisfaction one receives from playing Chroma and answer the remaining concerns of the Chroma player base. SECONDARY CONCERNS ADDRESSED: 1) Chroma needs a "real" passive, 2) Elemental Ward is too much of a one-trick pony: everyone uses Heat or Cold; "fun" is currently viewed as secondary to survivability because the other element types are too weak in comparison.

REVISED PASSIVE: "GREED"

• CURRENT PASSIVE: "Chosen Energy color dictates the type of Elemental damage dealt by abilities."
• SECONDARY PASSIVE (GREED): "Credit stacks reward an amount of health and energy to Chroma relative to their size." Minimum of 5 health/energy for the single credit drops, maximum of 50 health/energy for the larger bundles.
• "GREED" ALTERNATIVE MECHANIC: "Chroma temporarily grows more powerful with every credit stack he picks up." Temporary power strength increase after picking up credits, 5% per credit stack and accumulating to a maximum of 25%, but the buff resets after 30 seconds without a credit pickup.
• Reasoning: Dragons are legendarily greedy and love to hoard treasure. Effigy already increases the chance and size of credit drops; now, Chroma can actually benefit mechanically from such increased drops rather than just increasing his credit pool.

SPECTRAL SCREAM: No additional changes from Tier I.

REVISED ELEMENTAL WARD v1: Elemental Ward keeps its primary effects (aura radius, continuous elemental AOE damage, Heat's Health increase; Cold's Armor increase and damage reflection; Toxin's reload speed increase; Electric's Shields increase and arc discharge), but also:

• Heat Elemental Ward additionally confers regeneration of *1.0/1.5/2.0/2.5% of total Health per second, modified by power strength, to allies within the aura. *Health increase changed to be multiplicative of total modified Health.
• Cold Elemental Ward additionally slows enemies by *40/50/60/70%, modified by power strength (cap of 90%), while within the aura. *Armor increase changed to be multiplicative of total modified Armor* (* before Vex Armor; Vex Armor multiplies the post-Cold Elemental Ward total).
• Toxin Elemental Ward reduces Chroma and allies' visibility to enemies (not invisibility; camouflage), silences firearms, and increases melee attack speed instead of holster rate (especially important with the coming Melee 3.0 changes where holster rate is effectively nonexistent). In theory, the camouflage would make Chroma and allies within the aura undetectable to unalerted enemies. However, if enemies are alerted, the camouflage is less effective (not hidden from alerted enemies within a certain radius, maybe 5m).
  • Alternate Camouflage Mechanic v1: Always undetectable when stationary regardless of alert status (firing silenced weapon would not break camouflage), but always detectable while moving within a short range of enemy line of sight.
  • *Alternate Camouflage Mechanic v2: Within each enemy's line of sight, detection chance for that enemy is 50/40/30/20% regardless of alert status, with detection chance being modified by power strength; each additional point of power strength above 100% reduces detection chance by 0.5% of the base detection chance (at power strength 200%, detection chance would be 25/20/15/10%; at power strength 300%, it would hit the minimum detection chance cap of 0.5%). Being detected by that enemy does not reveal Chroma or ally's presence to other enemies, only to the detecting enemy (though that enemy's attacks/weapons fire may draw enemy attention to where Chroma or ally is, risking further detection).
• Electric Elemental Ward has a default arc discharge range of 50m, unaffected by power range; arc discharge confers a portion of the dealt damage (*10/15/20/25%) as overshields. *Shield increase changed to be multiplicative of total modified Shields.
• Reasoning: Thematic dragon archetypes that also boost the usefulness of otherwise underwhelming element types. Heat as the purifying fire dragon, burning away weakness; Cold as the freezing ice dragon, guardian of its arctic demesne; Toxin as the stealthy swamp dragon, hunting prey as it moves unseen amongst the green; Electric as the vengeful storm dragon, imperiously smiting its enemies with lightning strikes. *As far as changing the relevant attribute multipliers to multiplicative rather than additive, Chroma needs the buff in order to keep up with current scaling. The base multiplier itself may be slightly lowered if necessary for balance purposes, but it should ultimately give more benefit than currently received by multiplying the total modified attribute.

VEX ARMOR: No additional changes from Tier I.

REVISED EFFIGY v2: In addition to Tier I changes:

• Effigy mimics Chroma's Spectral Scream/Proud Roar immediately after Chroma casts it, aiming for the same enemy or impact point that he struck with the ability. The damage would be equal to Chroma's own Spectral Scream/Proud Roar (including Tier III charged effects, see below).
• *Effigy derives additional benefits from Elemental Ward in keeping with Tier II changes to Elemental Ward:
• *Heat Elemental Ward grants Effigy Health regeneration.
• *Cold Elemental Ward grants Effigy slowing effect on enemies within its aura.
• *Toxin Elemental Ward grants Effigy modified camouflage—undetectable while passive, but fully visible to all enemies during its breath attacks.
• *Electric Elemental Ward grants Effigy increased arc discharge range and overshields as a result.
• Reasoning: Chroma and his "pelt" function symbiotically. It's the entire reason the pelt can separate and become a powerful stationary turret: Chroma and the Effigy work together, in harmony. What finer example of this than to have them simultaneously blast the same target with their deadly breath?

TIER III: THE DRAGON KING
This final tier of rework requires a great deal more time and effort investment, as there would be a significant visual overhaul to Spectral Scream and Effigy in addition to new coding and functionality. This tier is less necessary than the changes in the Tier II rework, and is more a list of "Wouldn't it be cool if..." ideas for Chroma's abilities, to make each one more worthwhile and enjoyable to use.

REVISED PASSIVE: "PRIDE" 

My personal favorite passive concept, and which I'm basing the rebuilt Spectral Scream (Proud Roar) around. Pride would replace Greed; Chroma would not have both passive mechanics.

• PRIDE PASSIVE: "Every kill Chroma makes bolsters his pride and power." Whenever Chroma kills an enemy, he adds one stack to his Pride gauge (+0.25% multiplicative power strength and power duration per kill, to a maximum of +25% (at 100 Pride)).
• At 50+ Pride, Chroma's wings flare out to full visibility when jumping, wall-latching, dive kicking, aim-gliding, or bullet jumping. The wings are rendered invisible or selectively-transparent to the player when attempting to zoom in/aim so as not to obscure vision, but other players see the wings during all these maneuvers. (The wings may increase jump height, bullet jump velocity, or aim glide air time, but it's not strictly necessary. This is more for the eye candy, maintaining consistency with his winged-but-not-separate appearance in the Chroma Prime Codex entry. The actual beneficial mechanics of Pride are found in the ability augmentation, the self-resurrection, and the Proud Roar damage multiplier mechanic to keep up with high-level enemies.)
• Upon entering a dying state with more than 50 Pride stacks, Chroma immediately resurrects at full health after a radial elemental explosion/knockback AOE; Chroma's current Pride stacks are reduced by half, and he receives a 15-second Wounded Pride status effect that treats his Pride stacks as if they're at zero; until the Wounded Pride debuff goes away, he cannot build more Pride stacks.
• ALTERNATE PRIDE STACK SOURCES: Instead of kills—Credit pickups (for Effigy synergy), amount of (ability?) damage dealt, amount of damage received/absorbed, amount of Warframe energy used, number of abilities used. Note: Important to keep in mind that it should be possible to build Pride stacks even as an unranked Chroma, so it can't be locked into higher-level ability usage such as Vex Armor, Elemental Ward, or Effigy. It needs to be something Chroma can immediately start building so that Proud Roar can spend and benefit from Pride. Kills seem the most obvious, as displays of power are something a dragon would be proud of, alongside its treasure hoard.
• Thoughts: "Pride" passive too similar to Nidus? Or should more Warframes have a similar passive mechanic boosting their abilities to make them endgame-viable? Nidus is the finest proof of just what a passive can be capable of, compared to the extremely simple passives other Warframes use. *The self-resurrection mechanic isn't strictly necessary, not as much as the visible wings (to justify the Codex appearance), the power strength/duration buff, or the Proud Roar mechanic enhancement.
• Further Thoughts: Also, Pride stack calculation may need to be adjusted. 100 kills may be too "easy" to achieve for such a significant passive boost. Might need anywhere from two to five kills per Pride stack (still a maximum of 100 Pride). At the higher end of that possibility, 250 kills (five per stack) seems awfully high in order to unlock the visual effect of Chroma's wings, and 500 might be unreasonable for getting the maximum power strength/duration bonus in a normal mission, but it may simultaneously be more reasonable in order to justify Proud Roar's damage. If it is a high number of kills per Pride stack, Chroma's wings would need to be adjusted to be available lower, perhaps as soon as 15-25 Pride stacks, in order to provide the player a decent chance to see Chroma in his full (visual) glory in any normal mission (excepting perhaps Spy missions, where players are generally not expected to kill loads of enemies).

REVISED SPECTRAL SCREAM v2: Rebuilt as "PROUD ROAR," Chroma's singular attack ability now has more unique mechanics dependent on the active elemental alignment. Each variant is instant or charged cast (see below in Tap/Hold Functionality), doesn't affect mobility when cast, and has a high status chance, affected by power strength. See CONCEPT ART, VISUAL AIDS, & OTHER IDEAS section below for Proud Roar concept art.

• Heat Proud Roar exhales a massive Heat damage fireball; explosion radius affected by power range, infinite projectile distance.
• Cold Proud Roar spews a freezing cone of Cold damage air and ice shards; angle of cone width affected by power range, 30m cone length unaffected by power range.
• Toxin Proud Roar spits a spherical glob of Toxic damage acid that leaves a temporary damaging puddle where it impacts; glob is affected by gravity as if shooting a mortar; puddle and splash radius affected by power range, 50m projectile distance unaffected by power range (longer projectile distance possible by aiming higher to increase length of projectile arc).
• Electric Proud Roar fires a wide, straight infinite-range Electric damage bolt; electric arcs travel from target/impact to nearby enemies, length of secondary arcs affected by power range (number of secondary arcs increased with each level).
• PRIDE MULTIPLIER: Pride stacks from the "Pride" Tier III passive greatly amplify Proud Roar, but Proud Roar would also reduce Pride stacks by 3 with each casting (it doesn't require Pride stacks to activate, just 25 energy, but will still reduce Pride stacks to a minimum of 0). Proud Roar damage would be calculated as...
  • PROUD ROAR Final Damage Value = (base damage x ([1 + Pride stacks] x power strength)) x [Fury multiplier x power strength] (if Vex Armor is active)
• TAP/HOLD FUNCTIONALITY: If Proud Roar is taken further to allow for more flexibility—Proud Roar, when tapped, will not consume Pride Stacks, but will also not use the Pride multiplier. However, if you hold the ability key to charge up for half a second or more (which will also briefly reveal Chroma's wings), it will double energy cost, use the Pride multiplier, double the attack's visual size/particle intensity and affectable radius (explosion radius for Heat, cone angle for Cold, splash/puddle size for Toxin, secondary arc length for Electric) and consume the aforementioned Pride stacks. Think of Godzilla charging his nuclear ray breath.
• Reasoning: Proud Roar is what I see as needed to bring Chroma to the next level, to make his singular attack ability truly endgame-viable. The damage calculation is modest, even humble, at a mission's start, but truly epic late into endgame/endless missions when combined with the Pride passive and an excess of power strength and full-strength Vex Armor. Appropriate for an ancient lord of ruin.

AFTERBURN/FURIOUS ROAR ABILITY AUGMENT: No additional changes from tier I. The additional damage type and secondary effects would just be added to the new Spectral Scream/Proud Roar instead. (Proud Roar changes into Furious Roar with the augment.)

REVISED ELEMENTAL WARD v2: In addition to Tier II changes, Chroma can now alter his elemental alignment at will. Hold the ability button to rotate elemental choice, tap to activate Elemental Ward and complete the switch. With the addition of the Pride passive, the original "energy color as elemental alignment" passive will instead be folded into Elemental Ward's mechanics. By default, when Elemental Ward is locked or Unranked, Chroma can only use Heat, as that is his core element—it was the focus of his initial reveal trailer, and it's the element used by his Prime Access banner. As Elemental Ward increases in level, so too do Chroma's options. Like Vex Armor, Elemental Ward is now recastable at any time (otherwise Chroma would be stuck in each elemental alignment until Elemental Ward's duration was spent, even if he needed to change in a hurry). *ADDENDUM: Whenever Elemental Ward is activated, the new buff overwrites the old Elemental Ward buff—multiple Elemental Ward auras (such as Heat's Health multiplier and Cold's Armor multiplier) cannot be combined. It would simply be too unbalanced and too visually chaotic.

• Unranked: Chroma can activate Elemental Ward. Heat remains default elemental alignment.
• Level 1: Chroma can shift between Heat and Cold when activating Elemental Ward.
• Level 2: Chroma can shift between Heat, Cold, and Toxin when activating Elemental Ward.
• Level 3: Chroma can shift between Heat, Cold, Toxin, and Electric when activating Elemental Ward.
• *Scaling Thoughts: Because Cold, Toxin, and Electric elemental alignments would not be available from the start, the leveled benefits would obviously have to be higher for them when they're unlocked. Cold elemental alignment would receive level 1 Elemental Ward benefits upon unlocking, Toxin would receive level 2 Elemental Ward benefits upon unlocking, and Electric would only have level 3 Elemental Ward benefits upon unlocking, because it wouldn't be possible to use the Electric elemental alignment before the final level of Elemental Ward.
• Mechanical Thoughts: These mechanical alterations will streamline Chroma's elemental functions for the rework. He will still be able to determine his initial elemental alignment with his elemental loadout, he'll just need to unlock the desired elements by ranking up Elemental Ward first. See CONCEPT ART, VISUAL AIDS, & OTHER IDEAS section below for Multi-Element Energy Mockup and Elemental Loadout Mockup concepts.

REVISED VEX ARMOR v2: Additional effects granted to those within the aura when maximum Scorn and Fury multipliers are achieved.

• MAXIMUM SCORN: Knockdown and stagger immunity.
• MAXIMUM FURY: Gain +1.0 punchthrough on firearms and +50% melee weapon range, augmented by power strength.
• MAXIMUM FURY ALTERNATIVE: Instead of punchthrough on the firearms, gain an AOE effect on all weapon fire, causing bullets to act like miniature explosive rockets or a beam to continuously radiate damage at the impact point. Explosive radius augmented by power strength, but would still be significantly lower than traditional explosive weapons like rocket and grenade launchers, for balance purposes.
• Reasoning: Dragons shouldn't be so easily knocked over, and Fury doesn't pass on any benefit to allies' abilities, only raw damage to their weapons, so why not make their weapons a little mechanically better as well? Make Fury something enemies fear.
• Thoughts: Giving all firearms AOE damage may be far too strong, such as on traditionally very-high-damage single-target weapons, like sniper rifles. Punchthrough bonus may be the best-balanced option, but turning any weapon into explosive ordnance at maximum Fury does suit Chroma's "maximum overkill" style. Perhaps the explosive damage could be balanced by adding a divisor relative to the weapon's fire rate.

REVISED EFFIGY v3: Renamed and rebuilt as "RUINOUS EFFIGY" in keeping with Chroma's "lord of ruin" theme. Time to make Lotus's statement about "when all the land is in ruins, only Chroma will remain" thematically appropriate. See CONCEPT ART, VISUAL AIDS, & OTHER IDEAS section below for Ruinous Effigy concept art. It retains the changes from Tier I and Tier II, but additionally...

The Effigy becomes a modifiable weapon entity like Ivara's Artemis Bow [primary], Mesa's Regulators [secondary], Wukong's Iron Staff [melee] or Khora's Venari [kavat companion].

• Effigy Modification: Effigy is modified as if applying weapon mods to an Ignis or similar limited-range elemental primary firearm. Roughly 30m elemental breath length, 5m impact radius/cone width at far edge, unaffected by power range, but affected by mods like Sinister Reach and Firestorm. Very high status chance. Unlimited "ammo," no reload time; elemental breath is only interrupted to execute knockback slam or stunning roar. Base damage is modified by weapon mods first, then amplified by power strength (as augmented by Pride), and finally multiplied by Vex Armor's Fury multiplier.
• Resolving Mixed Elemental Damage: When applying elemental damage mods, Effigy always deals base elemental alignment damage type first, then the elemental mod damage types after—i.e. if your elemental alignment is Toxin and you mod it with Electric damage mods, the Effigy's breath would deal Toxin + Electric damage without affecting base Toxin damage amount; if you mod it with Electric and Toxin damage mods, it would deal boosted Toxin + Corrosive damage. Damage-boosting mods like Serration would increase overall power of any and all damage types, including base element damage, as normal.
• Movement Immunity: The Effigy should either be immune to pulls, knockbacks, and staggers that would jostle it out of position, or it should perform a special elemental AOE explosion and teleport back to its original position at the center of the ruined landscape after being so moved. Obviously, the former would be the easiest to code.

When activated, Ruinous Effigy generates a "ruined landscape" around itself that reflects its elemental alignment, which deals continuous elemental damage to enemies within its domain. *The ruined landscape has a 10m initial radius (unaffected by power range), expanding out from the Effigy, which grows to 20m over 50/40/30/20 seconds; continuous elemental damage is affected by power strength. When Chroma activates Elemental Ward while Ruinous Effigy is active, the Effigy performs a stunning roar and instantly changes its own elemental alignment and ruined landscape to match Chroma's current elemental alignment (if it changed). *The ruined landscape elemental damage would have no Status Chance associated with it, only raw elemental damage. To have Status Chance associated with its elemental damage, Elemental Ward would need to be active, which would add further elemental damage and an actual Status Chance alongside the Special Effect chance.

Instead of normal elemental status effects, there would be Special Effect mechanics limited to the range of the landscape, which would have a chance of occurring every tick on individual enemies (special effect chance determined on a per-enemy basis, not all enemies at once):

• Heat Ruinous Effigy summons volcanic terrain that deals continuous Heat damage. *SPECIAL EFFECT: Eruption, deals large burst of Heat/Blast damage and knocks down enemy temporarily.
• Cold Ruinous Effigy summons arctic terrain that deals continuous Cold damage. *SPECIAL EFFECT: Frostbite, deals moderate burst of Cold damage and freezes enemy temporarily (independent of slowing effect from Cold Elemental Ward).
• Toxin Ruinous Effigy summons swampy/poisonous terrain that deals continuous Toxin damage. *SPECIAL EFFECT: Dissolution, deals large burst of Toxin/Corrosive damage and strips enemy of 20/30/40/50% of their current Ferrite/Alloy Armor (diminishing returns on subsequent Dissolutions).
• Electric Ruinous Effigy summons lightning-blasted black sand terrain that deals continuous Electric damage. *SPECIAL EFFECT: Thunderstruck, deals moderate burst of Electric damage and blinds enemy temporarily.
• Thoughts: While the Effigy is producing the Elemental Ward or Vex Armor auras per Tier I rework, its aura radius should be tied to the ruined landscape radius, so that other players aren't confused about where its aura "reach" ends. All they have to do is stand on the ruined landscape to be under its aural influence. Chroma's personal Elemental Ward/Vex Armor aura radius should still be affected by power range.

Alternate names for the revised fourth ability—Lord of Ruin, Master of Ruin, Ruinous Power, Ruinous Domain. I just see it as important to have "Ruin" in the name to reflect the repeated taglines that make up his theme: "when all the land is in ruins" from the original Chroma trailer; "the lord of ruin" from Prime Access banner; "the master of ruin" from the Prime Access page itself.

Possible names for the Effigy modifiable weapon entity: Effigy [Prime], Pelt [Prime], Drake [Prime], Dracolyst [Prime]/Dominus Dracolyst (if the "pelt" is indeed a Sentient creature that Chroma has bonded with/assimilated).

CONCEPT ART, VISUAL AIDS, & OTHER IDEAS

*PROUD ROAR CONCEPT ART (ALL VARIANTS)

Spoiler

*RUINOUS EFFIGY CONCEPT ART (ALL VARIANTS)

Spoiler

All the elemental alignments would follow roughly the same idea: A simple landscape that matches the element (swamp/bog for Toxin, volcanic rock for Heat, snow/ice-covered rock for Cold, and black crystallised sand/rock for Electric) where the borders of the landscape are marked by a number of short elemental "towers" spouting elemental energy like in the above image; Chroma Prime's landscape would obviously have additional complexities and details to differentiate it from Chroma's. Heat would spew energy color-matching fire/lava particle effects, Toxin would emit poisonous smoke particle effects, Cold would spout freezing air and snow particle effects, and Electric would emit arcs of electricity/lightning strikes. As with similar landscape-generating Warframes (like Nidus or Oberon), anybody could freely move through the terrain; the towers would not be solid, so you could clip right through them (in order to prevent buggy terrain interactions).

MULTI-ELEMENT ENERGY COLOR MOCK-UP

Spoiler

If the ability to switch elements mid-mission is indeed implemented, this could be a way of allowing Chroma players to select the appearance of each element's color without being restricted to the original "this color always means this element" passive. Because, as we all know, Fashionframe is Warframe's true endgame, and it currently restricts Chroma too much in that regard.

ELEMENTAL LOADOUT MOCK-UP

Spoiler

Instead of three standard A/B/C appearance loadouts, Chroma gets four appearance loadouts, labeled for each element (i.e. a fire-symbol A, an ice-symbol B, a toxin-symbol C, and an electric-symbol D). They would each have the four elemental energy colors for you to choose (for when you switch elements mid-mission), but they would start with whatever elemental alignment is tied to the loadout elemental label. We know it's already possible to have different loadout configuration setups for different Warframes, because Zephyr has her own A/B/C/"Z" loadout that links to her minigame.

Chroma would start with just the one Heat loadout, but as his Elemental Ward level increased and he unlocked more elements, it would add the other loadout choices. If you had already filled out the other loadout options, but had reset your Chroma's level with a Forma and so "lost" the appearance loadouts, it would just "reload" those loadout appearances from your profile (from DE's servers or client-side, whichever is appropriate) without you having to do it all from scratch again.

By necessity, the elemental energy color choices would also need to be selectable on accessories, syandana, and regalia as well. Can't very well have energy colors mismatching, can we?

OPERATOR SUIT CONCEPT ART

Spoiler

"UMBRA PATH" OPERATOR FOCUS SCHOOL

Spoiler

UMBRA PATH
Functionally always active, uses existing Focus pool capacity, doesn't have to activate waybounds because it's a "core" path rather than a school of study (it would be positioned on the wheel at the center between all the schools); Umbra and your chosen school are both active at all times. Must activate waybounds with chosen school rather than Umbra. CLARIFICATION: All Umbra path nodes affect only the Operator. Warframes do not gain the benefits of reduced energy costs, extra/higher jumps, increased damage vs Sentients, or anything else. This is meant as a way for allowing people to augment their Operator experience and give them a way to do Operator-only runs even in high-level play, when combined with waybounds or their chosen school.

NEW EQUIPMENT: "ARC"

• Crafted three-part Amp-like bracer for left arm
• Generates a blade made out of Void energy the Operator can use in melee; never runs out of "ammo"
• ARC COMPONENTS:
  • CRYSTAL determines weapon type/Stance options and base stats (attack speed, damage, critical chance, &c.)
  • HILT determines bonus critical damage/status chance/damage balance; each Hilt carries two bonuses and one penalty (i.e. +critical damage/base damage, -status chance)
  • CORD determines bonus attack speed/critical chance/status chance balance; each Cord carries one bonus and one penalty (i.e. +attack speed, -critical chance)
• WEAPON TYPES: T1 crystal creates Dagger, T2 crystal creates Sword, T3 crystal creates Heavy Blade, T4 crystal creates Nikana
• DAMAGE SPREAD: Light Impact, Moderate Puncture/Slash, heavy Void
• ARCANE MODIFICATION: "Valiance" arcane; can potentially increase melee range, attack speed, damage, critical chance, critical damage, or status chance
• STANCE: Operator chooses fighting Stance for equipped Arc from all available and appropriate Stances; mod capacity/level is irrelevant, it's purely to determine attack animations and combos
• IMPORTANT NOTE: Because the Arc is worn on the left arm, all Stance animations would need to be mirrored for a left-handed user, for consistency.

ARC CONCEPT ROUGH ART

Spoiler

 
PATH OF POWER

A path of training that increases the Operator's command over the Void and all the powers it grants, as well as developing the Operator's skill with the Arc blade.

• VOID MASTERY: Press 1 to use Void Blast (unlocked by default); increases Void Blast radius by 2/4/6m
• Reasoning: This is a necessary functional change, because E is otherwise used for Void Blast, when it will be needed for meleeing with the new Arc. The normal Warframe ability functions of 1, 2, 3, and 4 are otherwise unused by the Operator.
  • VOID SLASH: Press 2 to fling an infinite-range wave of Void energy with a slash of your Arc; width of wave is 300/500/700/900/1,200% of Arc melee reach, deals 200/400/600/800/1,000% of Arc base damage, penetrates 2/4/6/8/10m cover (10 energy)
    • VOID CRUSH: Press 3 to ragdoll all surrounding enemies in 10/12/15/17/20m and pull them into a concentrated point in front of the Operator for 2,000/4,000/6,000/8,000/10,000 Void damage (50 energy)
      • VOID SPECTER: Press 4 to create a cloaked Specter of the Operator, lasts for 30/45/60/75/90 seconds (100 energy)
        • Uses Void Blast, Void Slash, Void's Edge, and Void Dash abilities (Void Mode if Operator is also using Void Mode)
        • Wields copies of Operator's Amp and Operator's Arc
        • Benefits from Operator's Umbra path, chosen school, active waybounds, and active Arcanes
        • Uses Arc and Void Blasts on close-range enemies, uses Amp and Void Slashes on distant enemies
        • Says "Hey, Kiddo" upon first appearing
  • FREEZE LIKE ICE: Slow enemies struck by Arc by 15/30/45/60%
  • BURN LIKE FIRE: Increases Arc damage by 15/25/35/50%
  • FLOW LIKE WATER: Increases Arc attack speed by 10/20/30/40%
  • STRIKE LIKE LIGHTNING: Increases Arc critical chance by 15/30/45/60% (multiplicative of the base chance)

PATH OF AGILITY

A path of training that increases the Operator's natural agility, developing their Void control in order to defy gravity, cling to surfaces, and move through the Void more swiftly and smoothly.

• VOID DRIFT: Increases movement speed by 15/25/35/45/60% (also increases sprint and Void Mode speed by the same amount)
  • KESTREL'S WING: Gives the ability to double/triple/quadruple/quintuple-jump (visually, a shower of Void sparks/particles with every jump after the first, as if leaping off an invisible platform)
    • HUMMINGBIRD'S HOVER: Gives the ability to hover when aiming in midair for 5/3/2/1 energy/s
  • FROG'S LEAP: Gives the ability to wall jump; increases jump height by 1/2/3/4m (combined with Kestrel's Wing, Operator can get serious height without Void Dashing)
    • WATCHFUL MONKEY: Gives the ability to wall-latch for 5/10/15/20 seconds
      • HIDDEN SPIDER: Activates Void Mode when wall-latching for 5/4/3/1 energy/s
  • TIGER'S HUNT: Increases Void Mode movement speed by 50/100/150/200/250% (at 250%, animation becomes a stealthy ninja run and the fastest non-Void-Dash movement mode)

PATH OF SUBTLETY

A path of training devoted to the Operator's mastery over Void ability usage, as well as his power while within the Void itself. The Operator who has thoroughly trained in this Path will find himself to be a potent adversary for all Sentients, and for all unwary enemies.

• VOID CONTROL: Reduces energy cost of all Void abilities by 10/20/30/40/50% (includes school-only Operator abilities)
  • WAY OF SHADOW: Arc slashes do not interrupt Void Mode invisibility, but each slash costs 10/9/8/7/5 energy
  • BLADE MASTERY: Increases Arc/Amp damage against Sentients by 40/80/120/160/200%
    • BLADE BULWARK: Blocking with Arc prevents all frontal damage for 2 energy/s; blocking with Arc reflects 30/60/90% incoming damage back onto attacker (reflected damage takes the form of Void lightning arcing off the blade)
  • VOID'S EDGE: Context-sensitive silent Finisher, possible when meleeing from behind unaware/stunned enemy while in Void Mode; increases Finisher damage by 100/200/300/400%
    • VOID'S CALL: When performing Void's Edge, creates 1/2/3/4 "Void Specter" clones of the Operator that also execute Void's Edge on nearby enemies before disappearing

Unrelated to Chroma directly, but it was something I came up with in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep, a way to "fully" outfit and define an Operator's potential.

NEW MISSION TYPES CONCEPTS

Spoiler

A number of new challenge-based mission types in order to give fresh challenges compared to what players are used to. They might be implemented as a daily or weekly challenge, maybe even specifically a solo challenge like Maroo's Ayatan treasure hunts or Clem's Survival missions.

KUVA DISRUPTION:

• BREAKDOWN: In this mission type, the Operators themselves are sent in, because the Lotus (or whoever) has become aware of some sort of faction attempt to block Warframe transference links to their Operators. The goal of the mission would be to find the source of the disruption, destroy it, and get out. Enemy level would be 50+, maybe 80+. If the Operator dies even once, the mission is failed. The mission would reward high credit, Kuva and Endo rewards, along with one random Operator/Amp/Arc arcane if you complete special circumstances. There are four versions:
• INFESTED: An Orokin-era Ancient is partially merged with a Control Scepter (part of its "head"). Destroy the Scepter (Void Dash to stun Ancient and strip its eldritch barrier, then Void Blast to destroy the Scepter) and you can extract, Warframe returning to the Operator at extraction. An Operator arcane would be awarded if you actually slay the Ancient, which would have boss-level Health/defenses, damage, and unusual abilities, like being able to force any surrounding Operators out of Void Mode by disrupting localized Void.
• CORPUS: A particularly elaborate Bursa has a modified Control Scepter mounted into its frame. Destroy the Scepter (same as with Ancient), then you can extract. As with Infested type, if you destroy the Bursa, you'd get the Operator arcane at extraction.
• GRINEER: An oversized, almost-completely-cybernetic and heavy-armored Kuva Guardian wields a Control Scepter simulacrum. Destroy the Scepter (as usual) and you can extract. Kill the Guardian, and you get the Operator arcane at extraction. 
• ANY: Control Scepter has actually been broken down and implemented into part of a larger reactor core ("Control Core") that any of the factions are testing out as defense against Warframes (in Infested's case, it's because they took over one of the Grineer/Corpus test ships). The Operator needs to break through the ship defenses, expose the core, then destroy it. Operator can immediately head for extraction after destroying Control Core, but... two (maybe three?) dormant backups exist on the ship. New defenses (lasers, radiation traps, mines, machines/robots) activate with each backup Control Core's destruction. Destroying all of them grants the Operator arcane at extraction.

KUVA DISRUPTION EXTREME?—In this version, the mission could only be done solo. However, it would be repeatable for high credits, Kuva, and Endo. Or maybe the mission type should be solo-only from the start, increasing the challenge, and making the player focus on their own skill and efforts rather than another player joining and inadvertently doing all the work.

A similar mission for Warframes only:

VOID DISRUPTION:

• BREAKDOWN: This mission requires you to have a melee weapon, in addition to any other weapons you choose to bring. The moment you arrive in this mission type, your Warframe malfunctions again... but this time, you can't transfer out of it. You're stuck in it. You hear "Hey, Kiddo. Let's play a game." And it only gets worse from there.
• NO MODS—All your mods and arcanes have stopped functioning. Warframe is unmodded, weapons are unmodded.
• NO DROPS—There are no health, ammo, or energy drops. Resources (Endo, affinity, crafting resources) drop, but nothing that actually helps you in combat.
• NO TRANSFERENCE—The Operator can't transfer out of the Warframe or use Operator Void abilities in anyway.
• NO WARFRAME POWER—No Warframe powers function.
• LIMITED DEFENSE—Your Warframe only has 100 Shields and 100 Health. Its default Armor, Sprint Speed, and other mobility traits are unaffected. (Possibly Armor would be reduced too to prevent some sort of "Valkyr-only" meta.)
• ONLY ONE MAGAZINE—Your firearms only have the amount of ammo they could carry in one unmodded magazine's worth. (Remember, no ammo drops.)
• ONLY ONE LIFE TO LIVE—If your Warframe dies even once, the mission fails. However, you can be revived from dying state by your squadmates.
• DIFFERENT SUBMISSIONS—Spy, Rescue, Capture, Deception, Exterminate (smaller-scale, perhaps targeting a specific group of enemies with a unique leader, like a commander; all enemies would still have the same "lethal" vulnerabilities to covert attacks).
• MISSION REWARDS—High credits, Endo, one of a new list of nightmare mods.
• Basically, you have to play the mission like a true ninja: avoid attention, kill from stealth or with silent weapons like bows or throwing knives (or risk loud gunfire and alerting the area). Avoiding damage is the priority, because you'd go down so easily.

VOID DISRUPTION EXTREME?—In this version, the mission can only be done solo, so if you go down, you die. Mission failed. However, it would be repeatable, for high credits/Endo. Again, maybe Void Disruption should be solo only from the start, like the Ayatan sculpture hunts or Clem Survival missions, to increase challenge and make for a more satisfying experience, in terms of the player realizing their own skill.

Alternatively to Void Disruption:

COVERT OPERATION:

• BREAKDOWN: This mission would operate much like Void Disruption, except you can't bring any weapons. Instead, Metal Gear Solid-style, you have to either find weapons (single magazine only included) in weapons lockers and armories, or pick up enemy's dropped weapons, which would have a limited number of rounds. While unarmed, you can use basic hand-to-hand fighting in order to perform neck-snap actions from stealth (it's not recommended to try to fight an enemy unarmed if they're aware of you).
• WEAPON SWAPPING would be possible by context-sensitive interaction with dropped weapons, letting you exchange your current weapon (empty or otherwise) with the dropped weapon.
• STEALTH FINISHERS and HEADSHOTS would be lethal by default, but fighting alerted enemies would be extraordinarily risky and they'd have much higher body defenses compared to their head.

BROADER WARFRAME REWORK THEORY

Spoiler

REWORK VISION: Passives shouldn't just be minor bonuses for some Warframes (like Zephyr's moderately enhanced air control) and major, core mechanics for others (like Nidus's Mutation, granting: self-resurrection, rank-up stat bonuses, rapidly increasing ability damage, and aesthetic evolution). My goal in examining each Warframe in need of review would be in giving them a beefed-up passive that could stand alongside other such "core" passives, along with retuning underwhelming abilities.

PASSIVE REDESIGN: More broadly, and for the sake of consistency, I think "the Passive," as a mechanic, should be renamed and rebuilt. They would be called THEMES, and would have three components that are consistently applied across all Warframes:

• SCALING TRAIT: A scaling mechanic, usually in terms of increasing the warframe's utility or power against increasing enemy level. It wouldn't scale infinitely, but it would allow every Warframe to function in high-level scenarios so people don't have to deal with a "cutoff" where only some Warframes are viable. It could scale how they damage with weapons , their ability to resist damage, the range of damageless abilities, the power or duration of buffs, the size and damage of damaging abilities, on and on. In Chroma's rework concept above, it'd be the Pride scaling power strength/duration buff he gets from kills (or whatever other "resource") that multiplies the damage of his Proud Roar. For Nidus, it's his Mutation, multiplying the damage of his Virulence and his Ravenous abilities.
• THEMATIC TRAIT: Theme-oriented traits that aren't necessarily scaling, but suit the Warframe's conceptual theme. This would be something like Zephyr's air control or, in my Chroma rework above, Chroma's visible wings and elemental-shifting nature. For Nidus, it's the rank-up bonuses he gets independent of standard Warframe ranking bonuses, and the visible armor pieces that appear as his Mutation grows.
• SUSTAINING TRAIT: A way to survive in increasingly difficult situations, especially important for squishier Warframes that could die in just a couple of hits from higher-level foes. These would not be as strong as Ironskin or Vex Armor, for example, nor would they be "panic button" defenses, but they would give some form of recovery or healing, possibly in exchange for reduction in the scaling trait. For Chroma and Nidus, it would be the ability to self-resurrect by "spending" their scaling trait stacks—I would see most tanks as gaining some form of self-resurrection or recovery from incapacitation, because they're the ones expecting to be standing out in the middle of the firefight, but it would of course come at a cost.

EMBER

• THEME: Melting Point/Fire-Eater/Overheat/Fired Up—Ember's passive is a decent idea in theory, but relying on self-damage in order to get the power gain is a bit absurd. Needs a way to gain scaling power over time another way, if you choose to be more evasive of enemy damage. Maybe the more enemies that die by Heat damage or that panic/catch fire as a result of Heat Status Chance gradually increases her overall Heat damage/power strength and power range. Alternatively, maybe some sort of relationship between repeated ability use, and enemy Armor melts away when within a certain radius of her, or perhaps she ignores a climbing amount of enemy Armor with her abilities. Or maybe both. Maybe some sort of "increasing temperature" gauge to represent Ember's growing power. Possibly she regenerates health while standing in patches of fire she's created (as well as in exploding ship fire patches).
  • SCALING TRAIT: Wildfire—Some form of permanent scaling power strength gain over the course of a mission. As a pure caster/ability striker Warframe, power strength is her most vital asset. Perhaps up to a +50% or even +100% multiplicative power gain, along with a "stacks" system to multiply the damage of her primary attack ability (Fireball/Detonate).
  • THEMATIC TRAIT: Firestarter—Patches of roiling flame (of various size) are generated from all of Ember's abilities. Limited duration of 15-30 seconds, unaffected by power duration. It deals steady Heat damage to any enemies, and moderate Status Chance (not guaranteed).
  • SUSTAINING TRAIT: Overheat—When either on fire as from Heat status effect or standing in one of her patches of flame, Ember steadily regenerates Energy and Health. She wouldn't regenerate 10/sec like her current passive (patches of flame too easily generated for such a quick gain), but she would have a more reliable way to regain the energy. Maybe 2.5 to 5/sec. However, if standing in multiple layered patches of flame, the regeneration would be multiplied/accelerated.
• ABILITY 1: Detonate—Rebuilt/renamed from "Fireball." Instead of a projectile, Ember snaps the fingers of one hand, and wherever she's currently pointing her reticle, that specific enemy/location explodes in a spherical conflagration. Initial major Heat/Blast damage for primary target, surrounding enemies suffer lesser Heat/Blast damage, and the ability leaves behind a large patch of continuous roiling flame, equal to the size of the explosion radius. Charged: In exchange for double energy cost and a longer cast time, Ember snaps the fingers of both hands and sets off a rapid chain of explosions, chain-exploding any enemies within the radius of initial target (the more enemies there are, the more stacking explosions, the more the damage). A patch of flame is left by each exploding enemy. Affected by: Power strength, power range.
• ABILITY 2: Ignition—Rebuilt/renamed from "Accelerant." Not changed too heavily: Still stuns surrounding enemies, but rather than increasing damage versus the stunned enemies, Ember becomes Ignited, wreathed in flame; gains a Heat damage aura with short fixed radius but very high Status Chance (very easily sets nearby enemies on fire/panicking); any Heat/Blast damage she deals, whether from abilities or weapons, is multiplied significantly. Possibly takes on a "heat haze" appearance alongside the fire aura that grants her a native "dodge chance" for incoming attacks. Possibly absorbs Heat and Heat-derived damage (such as Blast) as Health while Ignited? Affected by: Power strength, power duration, power range (for stun radius).
• ABILITY 3: Fire Blast
  • CURRENT: Slam the ground to create a wave of plasma that incinerates nearby enemies and forms a persistent ring of fire. Add heat damage to weapons by firing them through the ring. 15m explosion radius, 4m ring radius, grants a non-scaling +50% Heat damage, but the rings can stack so you can shoot through multiple rings for more damage. However, it's a 75-energy base-cost ability, so that's pricy for that kind of non-scaling gain.
  • REVISION: Think "Arson Eximus" explosion. This would be Ember's "panic button" defense. The blast wave would move significantly faster than an Arson Eximus's, however. The explosion radius would be far larger than Fire Blast, and any enemy it hits would be shoved back either into a wall or until the very edge of the explosion radius, which could be as high as 40-50m, and then they would be knocked down. 
• ABILITY 4: World on Fire—No thoughts just yet.

VAUBAN

• PASSIVE: Right now, Vauban's current passive is that he deals 25% extra damage to enemies that are incapacitated and unable to move, such as by his own abilities. It's thematic, obviously it could be so much more in order to meet the "Theme" criteria. Currently, it would only meet the "Thematic Trait" rather than scaling or survivability.
• PURPOSE: A hard look is needed at Vauban's kit. What is his goal? Right now, seems like his goal is various types of lesser crowd control and enemy-debuffing, and even then, his crowd control isn't as massive in scale as a tank's: Rhino's single crowd control move Stomp is better at halting the actions of a far more massive crowd at enemies. So, Vauban's kit can't purely be about crowd control. He needs to provide more for the squad in order to be desirable.

DEPLOYABLES. Tesla. Bounce. Trip Laser. Shred. Concuss. Bastille. Vortex. Vauban has seven different deployables, but aesthetically they're all variations on a "mine" theme, each mine generating different effects, but ultimately being limited to being... a mine. I don't think I'm alone in seeing Vauban as the most Corpus-like of the Warframes, and yet... Corpus aren't really known specifically for their mines. Rather, any "mines" are generated by the real Corpus specialty: robotics. What if Vauban did more with robotics and complex machines, maybe turrets, than just simple mines? What if Bounce was a remotely-deployable teleport pad: requiring two castings, which creates two active teleport pads that automatically link to one another and are activated by context-sensitive interaction, limiting trolling against allies and increasing focused utility? Any subsequent casting just links the previous pad to the newest one; no range or duration limitation, survives for a certain number of teleport charges. It would be pretty useful in Plains of Eidolon and the coming Fortuna; place a pad at the entrance or near mission-giver (in Fortuna's case), do the mission, then drop the next pad and just teleport back to the original at the entrance/mission-giver. Note to self: Need player research to determine if this is something Vauban players would really want, or if they actually use the mines against enemies.

Tesla needs a decision made on it as well: It should either be charge-based or duration-based, not both. It should also release its electric payload much more quickly, rather than just firing every three seconds. I want to suggest turning Tesla into an electric orb that can cling to floor, walls, or ceilings, capable of generating flow of Electric damage against all enemies in a small/moderate radius, very high status chance to stun enemies, good for chokepoint defense, but that might be over-powered for 25 energy?

What if, as part of Vauban's Theme... most of his deployables are permanent? They're limited in number, so past a certain point, recasting the deployables in other areas would just cause the old ones to disappear. However, if you target the current deployable while recasting the ability, it strengthens the deployable. For instance, you could repeatedly cast Tesla in the same spot, and the Tesla orb grows larger and more powerful, maybe even more complex in appearance, until it reaches a certain point where it achieves maximum strength and area of effect. Perhaps you could have up to four such permanent powered-up Tesla orbs active at once. This could work with several varieties of deployables, and while he has such a strengthened deployable active, it would show as a buff on his screen. Over time, the buff would gradually fade by degrees, so it'd need to be refreshed, but the deployable itself would remain in place.

A permanent defense measure, but it would require maintenance.

[Atlas' Signature Weapon Doesn't Work Well With Atlas]

13 hours ago, MechaKnight said:

That feels like a running trend in many warframe and weapon sets. Always remember not to buy frame and weapon sets with platinum.

Although Rubico Prime, Gram Prime, and Chroma Prime go together like mashed potatoes and gravy. So sometimes they make sense, just not always.

[Suggestion: Allowing players to pick what element they want for Chroma rather than colors deciding this.]

2 minutes ago, Sludge_Puppy said:

I like what you're dishing out there. The concept is simple and sweet and yeah being able to change mid-mission would be cool, in case the situation arises. Nice job putting an image to this!

Chroma is love.

Chroma is life.

[Suggestion: Allowing players to pick what element they want for Chroma rather than colors deciding this.]

I've thought about this a lot. My solution is this:

Instead of three loadout configurations, Chroma gets four, each labeled to an individual element available to him. When he uses that loadout, it always starts him with that element, regardless of his energy color.

As you can see in the colors below, however, if there is a rework wherein he's able to change elements mid-mission, he would also be able to choose different energy colors for that element, without being limited to the normal "white is always Cold, orange is always Heat, &c."

[THE DRAGON KING: A Chroma Rework Concept [UPDATE 11/17/2018: Warframe Strategy Layer/Syndicate Expansion concept]]

Proposed an alternate camouflage mechanic for Toxin Elemental Ward. Rather than being dependent on alert status, the camouflage would keep Chroma (and allies within the aura) always undetectable when stationary; however, if you move within a short range of enemy line of sight, you would be detectable. That means there's always a risk when moving if the enemies are alerted or not, but if the enemies are always alert (like on Defense or Survival), as long as you stay still, you could still hide while the Elemental Ward is active. Firing weapons would not reveal you while stationary, even if standing directly in front of an enemy, but any melee attacks that moved you out of position would risk revealing you.

Added to the original post.

[Chroma needs a rework]

I'm actually tempted to say that with just a few tweaks, this could just be an entirely new Warframe concept, since so much of Chroma's core functionality would be altered here.

[Garuda Feedback and Discussion]

Chroma knows well the pain of a sustained limited-range ability that also prevents weapon usage. Oh, yes.

[Chroma needs a rework]

Maybe the same kind of warning as when the Focus buff is about to fade, or have some sort of blinking effect when there's just a few seconds left.

[Chroma needs a rework]

10 minutes ago, Tsoe said:

nerf the base abiity and make it scale with vex armor buff that's the point , making it better than now at the end but with a base nerf for range and strength , at max the range of the actual damaging aura would be 8m with 55% statut chance

 

vexing retaliation range would also be revisited and the blast proc changed for some forced ragdolling

No, my point is that if they were to combine it with Vex Armor and make it scale with Vex Armor, that I don't think they'd just make the numbers worse, I fear they'd strip out some of the functionality as well, because it's just way too much power to get not just +Armor and +Damage, but also +AOE elemental damage aura and unique elemental utilities, all of which can be passed onto other squadmates, all under one 75-energy ability.

[Nidus, 15 stacks to die]

Pretty sure it's said as much in the Codex entry for a long time.

[Chroma needs a rework]

4 minutes ago, Tsoe said:

elemental ward nerf  (as elemental is allmost useless) think about it

also ppl allways activate both together mindlessly unless if out of energy

Why nerf it and then combine it if we can just give it more/better functionality as a separate ability? Add Health regeneration, not just +Max Health, to Heat; add Overshield capability to Electric's counter-attack arcs and give them much longer range; add melee weapon speed rather than holster rate (which won't exist in Melee 3.0) to Toxin; add a slowing effect to Cold's aura. Make it good, don't make it worse and then combine it with the other buff.

[Chroma needs a rework]

On 2018-10-18 at 9:02 AM, Tsoe said:

snip

Vex armor  FUSED WITH Elemental ward (range and strength of the ward now vary depending vex armor buff)

VEXING RETALIATIONS NOW PROC CHROMA CHOOSEN ELEMENT

snip

 

I've always been uncomfortable with the idea of just combining Vex Armor and Elemental Ward. That's just way too many effects under one ability umbrella, which leads me to think that if they did do that, they'd have to nerf one or both abilities so it isn't outright overpowered. And that would be bad.

[THE DRAGON KING: A Chroma Rework Concept [UPDATE 11/17/2018: Warframe Strategy Layer/Syndicate Expansion concept]]

6 minutes ago, Synpai said:

Fair enough, but it would be nice to see build diversity in some way. 

I think that'd require not just a rework, but an entire remake, because simply so much of Chroma's kit is dependent on both power strength and power duration. A power range build doesn't make much sense without both strength and duration, since you only really build range (currently) to expand Vex Armor/Elemental Ward aura radius, and if those are either not very strong or last very long, they're not very useful regardless of the size.

And if it'd require an entire remake, well, best to just put those kinds of ideas towards a new warframe concept entirely. Chroma could be amazing, he just needs to be reworked/tweaked with that in mind. Make range beneficial (bigger explosions/attack radius and aura radius), but not really the focus. Chroma's always been about maximum overkill, and for that he needs strength, and to maintain that strength, he needs duration.

[THE DRAGON KING: A Chroma Rework Concept [UPDATE 11/17/2018: Warframe Strategy Layer/Syndicate Expansion concept]]

8 minutes ago, Synpai said:

As you've pointed out, this thread involves the theory of what Chroma could be, so does it matter that Effigy isn't currently affected by range? Are you sure having effigy unaffected by range should still hold? Especially with the terrain change it seems like you'd want the opposite. Like..Max range armor halving/CC Chroma.

You could argue that instead of strength increasing the cap, it merely increases the conversion rate making it take shorter or longer for Chroma to reach maximum stacks, similar to Nova's AMD. Making effigy last until it dies? I'm not saying it's THE way, just offering other things for thought.

 

I actually think it's important to keep power range from affecting certain attributes so that they're always viable. The way I see it:

POWER RANGE SHOULD AFFECT:

• Spectral Scream/Proud Roar: Heat explosion radius
• Spectral Scream/Proud Roar: Cold cone width
• Spectral Scream/Proud Roar: Toxin splash/puddle radius
• Spectral Scream/Proud Roar: Electric secondary arc length
• Elemental Ward: Aura radius
• Vex Armor: Aura radius
• Effigy: — (currently affects nothing, should continue to affect nothing)

POWER RANGE SHOULD NOT AFFECT:

• Spectral Scream/Proud Roar: Heat projectile distance
• Spectral Scream/Proud Roar: Cold cone length
• Spectral Scream/Proud Roar: Toxin bomb distance
• Spectral Scream/Proud Roar: Electric main bolt length
• Elemental Ward: Individual non-aura-radius effects (Electric counter-arcs, Cold bullet-deflections, Toxin camouflage/sound suppression)
• Vex Armor: — (aura radius is the only thing really applicable for power range)
• Effigy: —

I think Effigy should remain as it is, in terms of how power range affects it (i.e. not at all), even with the ruined lands factor. Nidus and Oberon can't alter the actual size of their own land-generating abilities, after all; Oberon can't increase the radius of his Hallowed Ground, only the angle width of the cone that generates it; Nidus can't affect the size of his Ravenous spawning ground at all, only the explosion size of his Maggots. It'd be inconsistent to have Chroma's ruined lands be affected in that way when they're denied it.

[THE DRAGON KING: A Chroma Rework Concept [UPDATE 11/17/2018: Warframe Strategy Layer/Syndicate Expansion concept]]

22 minutes ago, Synpai said:

snip

If your argument is just that you don't see it as "necessary," then you're not really making an argument except for argument's sake. No change for Chroma is, strictly speaking, "necessary." Chroma is passable/adequate right now, it's just that generally people aren't as happy with the state of him as they used to be. His Vex Armor is still good, it's just no longer great; ditto for Elemental Ward due to Cold/Electric nerfs; his Spectral Scream has never even been good; and his Effigy is only "okay" in comparison to many other ultimate abilities.

The point of this thread is offering suggestions for improvements, alterations, and reworks to make every ability "great" or at the very least desirable. You're specifically speaking against a concept that I very intentionally included under the Tier III heading, which is for not necessary but "wouldn't it be cool if..." changes.

Also, you can't modify Effigy's range with mods. The range of its attacks are set in stone and unaffected by power range (which is frankly a wise decision). As far as I'm aware, there are no popular builds that shove power range bonuses on Chroma when strength and duration are the biggest key assets for him. There's just not room for high power strength, high power duration, personal survivability mods and power range mods, especially if people are using the crucial Narrow Minded for its giant duration bonus, which cuts on range dramatically.

But I've heard your argument, I understand where you're coming from. Just I'm not going to drop the idea of a modifiable Effigy from the original post. After all, "Exalted Effigy" was a popular request even before I made my post.

[THE DRAGON KING: A Chroma Rework Concept [UPDATE 11/17/2018: Warframe Strategy Layer/Syndicate Expansion concept]]

[ignore this post, accidentally quoted when I meant to edit instead]

[THE DRAGON KING: A Chroma Rework Concept [UPDATE 11/17/2018: Warframe Strategy Layer/Syndicate Expansion concept]]

17 hours ago, Synpai said:

Allowing Elemental ward to improve to use dual-elements also removes the need for this Exalted weapon catastrophe. Like I understand the intent behind people wanting to mod and customize parts of an ability, but it's possible without inadvertently being consumed by hunter munitions, split chamber, etc.

I think your terrain idea satisfied the idea behind scaling in a more unique and interesting way than an exalted flamethrower turret ever could.

I used to be against the idea of it being its own moddable thing... until the more I looked into it.

Virtually every Warframe that summons or possesses a separate unique "entity" actually has it as a moddable entity.

• It started with Excalibur's Exalted Blade (the entire reason people call such entities "Exalted" even though no one else has that in the entity's name)
• Mesa's Regulators (secondary)
• Ivara's Artemis Bow (primary)
• Wukong's Iron Staff (melee)
• Valkyr's Talons (melee)
• Titania's Razorwing [Dex Pixia and Diwata] (archwing)
• Khora's Venari (kavat companion)

That last one especially shows that there's precedent for having a non-weapon moddable entity. At this point, it's weirder that Effigy isn't moddable. It's not a companion, can't roam and pounce and slash, so it wouldn't use companion mods; but it's not really a Warframe either, so it wouldn't use Warframe mods. So the best I could see it is as an Ignis-like turret given that its entire job is to stay in one place and blast enemies with its elemental breath, so it would use primary weapon mods, especially those that something like Ignis would use (like Sinister Reach and Firestorm, which just make sense on a dragon).

EDIT: At this point, I really wouldn't be surprised if DE ended up making Hydroid's Kraken (from Tentacle Swarm) or Atlas's Rumblers moddable. It could lead to an entirely new category of "exalted companion" mods that are purely for weird summonable entities like this.

[THE DRAGON KING: A Chroma Rework Concept [UPDATE 11/17/2018: Warframe Strategy Layer/Syndicate Expansion concept]]

Decided to go ahead and, just in case it's needed, to explain how you could safely buff Effigy so it no longer halves Chroma's Armor when active, in terms of lore:

• Effigy Lore Context: In terms of Chroma's backstory and lore, one could argue Chroma himself was always at his full Armor value, while the "pelt" seemingly obtained later was a source of power (that is, the conduit for Chroma's otherwise-sealed Effigy ability), not a source of protection/armor. The Chroma we encounter in The New Strange may have defeated then bonded with a feral Sentient ("Dracolyst"?) by using his innate powers of Spectral Scream, Vex Armor, and especially Elemental Ward in order to change elemental alignments and get around the innately-adaptive Sentient defenses. Meanwhile, Chroma Prime was the first and most perfect iteration, who defeated a more powerful Sentient (Dracolyst Prime?) in order to unlock his own Effigy. Both always had their full Armor before and after the ritual; the "pelt" merely acts as a conduit for their ultimate ability. View it this way: Chroma is both armored dragonslayer and dragon, donning the skin of a slain foe of similar nature; he receives his protection not from the Sentient cloak, but from his own armor and his own nature. It still burdens him when worn (thus the increased speed when Effigy is active), but it isn't actually related to his own Armor value.

Added it to the original post, under the Tier I heading.

[Chroma needs a rework]

I've put some thought into this, so I'll go ahead and contribute my own ideas for a rework (plus some extra unrelated stuff).

EDIT: See page 49 for the rework idea.

[Faction syndicate revisited]

6 hours ago, (PS4)ItaDaleon said:

snip

FACTION SYNDICATE REWORK

GLOBAL CHANGING
Alliance shift: Red Veil and Perrin Sequence shifted them alliance, with Red Veil being now allied with New Loka and having Arbiters of Hexis shifted as opposer instead then enemy and them former allied Steel Meridian as new enemy. Consequential, Perrin Sequence are now allied with Steel Meridian and having Arbiter of Hexis become then enemy while Cephalon Suda turned into them opposer. 
Lore wise, this is the direct consequence of Red Veil assaulting and capturing renegade grineers during Escort Mission, and for them aggressive behaviour toward grineers in general, included them formed allied Steel Meridians. Perrin Sequence just stole the ball allying themself with them former enemies to proves both them and Meridians completly turned page from them formers faction Corpus and Grineers respectively, even going as far as accepting alliance with anchestral enemies proving there could be a future for both faction helping each other without the old prejudices.
Objectively, Red Veil alliance with Steel Meridian made little sense, since them clearly different objective and ideals. In fact, Red Veil purifying purpose mixes way better with New Loka objectives. Also, Steel Meridian and Perrin Sequence shares a lot of similarities, being both outcasts from them former factions refusing them violent ways for a more equal and pacific coexistance. Also, making them ally would be quite a solid step to difference them further from Corpus and Grineers which are still sworn enemies.

snip

It's obvious you've put a lot of effort and thought into this but [sound of cat hissing]

As someone who's put a lot of effort into maximizing four of the six syndicates specifically because Red Veil is allied with Steel Meridian and neutral to Perrin and New Loka, please no.

Also, it's not the Red Veil syndicate that's against Steel Meridian in the Defection mission; those are specifically Red Veil fanatics, loner extremists. Remember, Steel Meridian shelters Red Veil's spiritual medium on their Earth base. They are closely allied.

[THE DRAGON KING: A Chroma Rework Concept [UPDATE 11/17/2018: Warframe Strategy Layer/Syndicate Expansion concept]]

More operator miscellany.

[Build-a-frame the infested room workshop!]

On 2018-10-15 at 3:28 AM, HugintheCrow said:

Another zawframe thread, really?

While DE has shown they will sometimes break their own rules, it doesn't mean they will just throw away all world-building done in "The Sacrifice".

Replay the quest and this time pay attention and you will see how zawframes are quite literally impossible to make while still respecting the established lore.

Mixing and matching limbs, seriously...

I'm not arguing for or against the idea of "zawframes," but lore isn't really an applicable argument against it.

It might be the case that the "originals" follow certain lore, but remember the way in which Tenno build warframes. We stitch them together from their constituent parts (neuroptics, chassis, systems, which are in turn crafted from other components), so that'd be consistent with the way in which a zawframe would be crafted together from multiple parts.

EDIT: Rather than a warframe, it could be construed as making our own controllable Zanuka.

[End Game built upon Operator's stability?? It's at least worth considering.]

If there were a "final mission" to the Warframe story, I'd expect it to use everything. Railjack, archwing, warframe, operator. Let people not feel like they wasted their time developing everything; make everything we've worked for be meaningful.

[THE DRAGON KING: A Chroma Rework Concept [UPDATE 11/17/2018: Warframe Strategy Layer/Syndicate Expansion concept]]

19 hours ago, Synpai said:

I enjoy the credit to power passive power; you could make it so his Pelt increases the chance of credit drops as opposed to doubling credit drops (like arcanes). Thus there will be an instance where you get double the credits, but more credits drop nonetheless.

I believe Effigy already increases credit drop chances (to something like +60% chance at level 3), in addition to doubling their value, but power strength doesn't influence either effect (at level 3 Effigy, it's always +60% chance for double credit drops regardless of power strength, I believe).

19 hours ago, Synpai said:

Kills are a bit too boring, even in low level missions, if playing with a full squad you've killed hundreds of enemies by the first 5 mins or so.

Agreed, that's why I provided alternate sources for the stacks, such as credit drops, ability castings, energy spent, damage dealt/received, &c.

EDIT: Agreed in the sense that they might be too boring/"easy," but I still think it's the most reliable source for the mechanic compared to other sources.

19 hours ago, Synpai said:

You could have the Pride/Greed stacks convey:

-A growing fear aura

-Increased elemental damage/ resistances (though the health and shields work too)

-Ability effects: I.e: Ability 1 increasing in explosion range, increasing in charge speed/cast speed, then finally leaving a damaging field at the point of contact.

My main goal with the Pride passive was in providing a reasonable increase in power over time, or scalability in other words; scalability is a crucial trait needed for endgame/"endless mode" warframes, and something that I think needs to be more broadly introduced so no one feels "locked out" of content.

For example, Loki scales well because he can always mass-disarm and turn invisible, completely mitigating damage by simply not being targeted; Limbo scales well because he increases energy regen for allied warframes and can mass-stasis enemies; these are flat utility or crowd control features that are always viable no matter how strong the opponent is. In terms of power scalability, Saryn's poison accumulates more and more damage over time, spreading and rapidly multiplying in damage. Nidus grows in power due to his evolutionary mutation, on and on.

As it is, Chroma's power (while very good with Vex Armor) does not scale over time. He has no real "utility" scalability, because his only real crowd control comes in the form of Effigy's knockback slams and stunning roars, and those cannot be controlled by the player. His damage similarly doesn't scale; once Vex Armor is at its cap, it's at its cap, and won't get any better except from outside influence (such as a Nidus Specter buffing his power strength).

That's why I suggested the idea of taking Spectral Scream from being a lackluster low-range flamethrower to a (at max Pride) powerhouse projectile/AOE. Obviously, it wouldn't compete with the real powerhouse abilities like Saryn's Spores/Miasma or Volt's Discharge because that's their entire bag, but it would give Chroma a way to dish out crowd control (with the Furious Roar augment replacing Afterburn) and hefty damage in a pinch.

EDIT: Anyway, going back to your suggestion, if you were to cut out the need for power scalability—

A fear aura, while dragons are traditionally known for such an aura, I feel like might be getting into Nekros's territory, since terror is his thing. A passive fear aura would be wonderful on Nekros or similarly "spooky" warframe.

Increased elemental damage/resistances are an interesting idea in theory, but how often do you actually run into elementally-damaging enemies? Toxin from some infested and eximuses, heat from Grineer flamethrower enemies and eximuses, but... not sure about lightning or cold, except from eximuses. Most damage warframes take I think is from the three "primary" damage types of Slash, Impact, and Puncture, is it not? Elemental resistances, though thematic, would actually do very little for Chroma. I think we should leave such increasing resistances to mods like the new (and amazing) Adaptation—though it'll probably be nerfed before too long.

Ability effects is an interesting idea, but also something I already suggested as being part of a hold vs tap variation of the Spectral Scream rebuild "Proud Roar" (doubling radius and increasing damage via Pride multiplier). By your suggestion, I'm not sure how the stacks would increase the "effect" of Vex Armor or Elemental Ward without just being a flat power increase like I've already concepted, because an increase in radius size or casting speed for those isn't really a scalable mechanic, just a convenience mechanic that doesn't really benefit Chroma in the lategame.