So I was watching ballistic demonstration videos (as one does) and noticed a reoccurring theme in the scientific explanations: Ammunition compromises armor. To be more specific; armor, metal plate or Kevlar fabric, rapidly lose their ability to stop ballistics with repeated hits. The force of the bullets compromise the structural integrity of any ballistic protection it strikes, with armor-piercing munitions especially degrading the integrity of armors. So that made me think: why doesn't that happen in Warframe?
Puncture damage is somewhat of the black sheep among the three physical damage types. Where as Slash damage eats away enemy health and Impact opens up tough enemies to mercy kills (and can be modded to also proc Slash), Puncture is given the ability to reduce enemy damage output. This isn't a bad effect on paper, but in practice it is rather underwhelming. Enemies at especially high levels are not particularly phased by this reduction, and Warframes with exceptional survival options don't really see a point in hindering enemies when it is simply easier to kill them outright. Thus, the damage type as a whole is seen as only a modest benefit compared to other options. This can be changed, however, by changing the status effect to something more useful in eliminating enemies outright.
Thus here is my proposal: Puncture damage procs should permanently reduce enemy armor by 5%, up to 50%
Now I know what you're thinking: Why would we need this? We already have Corrosive and Heat to reduce armor! Well the trick here is that these procs need liberal application to be and stay in effect. Corrosive procs negate an initial 26% of armor, with the maximum reduction of 80% after 10 procs. Heat procs need a moment to ramp up to their temporary 50% reduction, initially starting at a 15% and ramping up to 50% after 2 seconds. That is precious time and ammo wasted waiting for either proc to go into full effect. Once both are in full effect, the target still has 10% of their armor. That may not sound like a lot, but to a level 150 Steel Path Grineer Lancer that is ~181AP, or an almost 38% average damage reduction. But if we slapped on an extra 50% armor reduction, we get only 5% Armor remaining; which is ~90AP, or ~23% average damage reduction.
That all said, the grand total of armor reduction is not the main concern. The main goal here is to strip armor quickly and efficiently. By changing the Puncture status effect, we add another tool to our weapons' arsenal for effectively tackling armor without abilities. Not every Warframe can delete armor on a whim, making especially heavy units a chore to destroy at higher levels. Having a weapon that not only gets bonus damage against armor, but also eats away consistently at it without specific elements would be extraordinarily beneficial. Plus it gives more options to weapon crafting. Now you could forgo the Heat or Corrosive mods in favor of something else if the weapon has innately good Puncture. More options are always good.
Either way, this was just a random idea. I'd love to see if anyone had a similar idea (or even thinks this is a good idea).