Atlas. He who holds up the world. Currently, he doesn't offer much nowadays in comparison to the rest of the roster. He can be awkward to use at times, as his Landslide ability forces him to be grounded. The armor gain through ability usage is a mechanic that is becoming more prevalent with the recent Hydroid and Inaros reworks but in comparison to these, Atlas needs to combo his abilities to gain such a benefit. So I intend to make a few suggestions as to what could be done for our angry rock man.
The first thing I would like to get into is to give Atlas a pseudo-exhalted weapon in the same vein that Garuda has with her Talons. A pair of gauntlets with heavy and deliberate punches which can replace an arsenal melee weapon when one is not equipped. These will become important as I discuss abilities.
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Atlas's passive will be replaced with his first ability, Landslide. What we do here is ensure that when you roll dodge, you perform a Landslide attack. This Landslide won't require a target and will grant normal combo rating. Enemies contacted by Landslide are given a guaranteed Impact status effect and will take into account everything slotted into Atlas's gauntlets. So a slotted Shattering Impact mod would reduce enemy armor, and things like Healing Return or Condition Overload would also be applied.
Atlas's new first ability will just be Tectonics. Atlas may only have one wall up at a time, but it should be somewhat wider than usual. Other than that, few other changes. Primarily I'd like to give this ability synergy with Landslide. When impacting the rock wall with your Landslide, the wall shatters and becomes Overguard for Atlas. When shattering, the wall will also deal AoE damage around it which will take into account the gauntlets' equipped mods. While the wall is active, tapping the ability button again will send it forward like normal. Holding the button, however, causes the wall to roll toward Atlas. If impacted by Landslide while rolling, the radius of the AoE is increased.
Atlas's second ability will be Petrify. Nothing here needs changed save the armor gain becoming Overguard.
Atlas's third ability will be Rumblers. Let the Rumbled augment be changed to allows them to share status effects from Atlas's guantlets.
Atlas's fourth and final ability will be Plate Shift. This will cause Atlas to slam into the ground and shake it violently. Enemies caught in the radius will be brought directly in front him via a vortex. Rock structures in the radius will be consumed, making the ability deal more damage and grant Atlas Overguard. Performing a cast of Tectonics immediately after the ability is finished will invoke a Tectonic ball to roll all of the collected enemies forward... which Atlas can then Landslide into. Add a new augment which allows the Overguard to be shared among nearby allies.
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Anyway, that's all, folks! Discuss and enjoy!
