[Heart of Deimos: TennoGen: 29.3.2]

1 hour ago, master_of_destiny said:

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Let's entertain this idea, and try to understand how it might work.  Please note, this is not criticism of the idea.  I want to understand a perspective and believe talking it out might help me, and hopefully others, to get the ideas straight.

 

Now, step one is to determine how the kit interacts in itself.  This is....frustrating.  DE has one power directly buffing another, and it's not a trivial buff.  100% increased size means that even a small stationary tornado could theoretically be buffed into a screen destroying mess.  This is somewhat the problem we see with a Vauban using a very light energy color, because a lime green bastille should really come with an epilepsy warning and a welding helmet to prevent blindness.  So...I think we really have to separate the interaction of air burst from this, or your default tornado is going to be an issue.

 

Our next step is to look at what it does, and ponder why.  Let's peel this onion.  Tap will be a stationary large, with presumably a lot of local CC.  Hold will be a quadruple dose of slow meandering messes that are mobile.  Presumably hold+augment will produce an octuplet of fast tornados completely without CC.  This mean Zephyr basically gets to have all of the potential iterations of this ability....and none of them have yet proven to be effective.  How so?  Well, the big tornado is Bastille....which Vauban does better with the Bastille/Vortex ability (AND HAS INNATE ARMOR STRIP).  The quadruple tornados are too slow and stupid to be consistently effective.  The augment is great...if you can consolidate enemies and use the tornados as status spreaders.  

So....Vauban does the big tornado better.  Khora and Nidus both do the enemy consolidation better.  The Kuva Nukor does status spreading much more consistently.  By my count then, there's no usage case where this shiny new iteration is not paling in comparison to other pre-existing content.  If it's not better, then the only justification is that this is to simply add more, and hopefully use it to sell something instead of putting forward the huge effort to actually fix this.

 

Now, I'm Buzz Killington, right?  There's a usage case where you could theoretically suspend enemies, chain status, and thereby result in massive CC and huge damage numbers.  Well, theoretically.  Just like the tornado augment could theoretically obliterate level 170 enemies nearly instantly with huge status stacks.  In reality such a build would have to forego any balance....and Zephyr is a frame that desperately needs survival tools at any level it is conceivable for this to be reasonable.

Let me elaborate.  If you're dealing with mooks then it'll be faster the do a single melee attack, rather than a chain build to insane status.  If the mooks get to be durable, then the problem becomes the inability to use close quarter combat.  Remember, Zephyr is a frame with very low armor despite the huge health and shield pools....and the casting animation for turbulence is longer than the rolling guard invincibility...and even with a decaying key you'll never get a second chance to shield gate....and finally, building for the power strength to make tornados dangerous hurts either range (thereby reducing how good turbulence is), efficiency (300 base energy for 4 large tornados is very high), or duration (hammering turbulence and tornado).

 

 

 

Note that I'm not a fan of Vauban....but it's not like he isn't king of direct and predictable CC.  Octavia's Resonator can CC enemies into a murder conga line.  Nidus and Khora agglomerate enemies better.  The proposed tornado doesn't rival any of these....and most frustratingly it's not better than the sum of its parts because each "extra" power added changes its usage case instead of making it better.

What I fear is a never ending vacuum problem.  The last Zephyr change was for the Prime.  Before that was the change from Tornado rag doll to damage transfer.  If they slap on this new coat of paint it'll be years before we see any new attempt to fix her, and it's not like there's a huge amount of masochists, ahem, Zephyr mains out the screaming for a good rework.

 

Maybe DE has it right.  Making the range greater will prevent enemies from just ignoring the tornados.  That said, I don't see this as competing.  It's a side-grade with some niche potential just like the Opticor Vandal.  Yeah...I'm an idiot.  I loved Zephyr, and I loved the Opticor.  It's basically the only Vandal whose variant actively spits on the original and doesn't really deserve to be a "better" variant.  This said, I don't think they care.  If Zephyr moved merchandise like Excalibur this might be a different story.

Really, more than anything, I'd like Zephyr to be Aerial Valkyr. 

I'd like a kit built around her ability to maneuver with ease and Parkour her way through maps in ways that Volt and Gauss can only dream of, and the energy efficiency to make Titania look like a Fuel-guzzling Grineer Ship by comparison.

Aero might be the only mod set that directly rewards you for being airborne, an even then, only while aim gliding with a Sniper Rifle. 

Motus makes you immune to Knockback in the sky, and gives you the tools to stay airborne, as does Proton, but I've yet to find a loadout that can take full advantage of it. 

Heavy Slams from On High are a ton of fun, and I've fiddled with an Arca Titron Zephyr Build. Granted, Bird Meteors are some of the most fun I've had with Zephyr, but they really can't stand up to Endgame content. 

The closest I've been able to manage for something really fitting to Zeph and her kit is a rather costly build based around the Prisma Obex/Nami Skyla Prime with the Sacrificial set, Shattering Impact, and what basically amounts to your traditional Valkyr Talons Build on the Obex, but with way too many attack speed mods on what is already the fastest non-exalted Melee in order to compensate for losing Combo whenever you have to Slam to approach the next group of enemies. 

It's still the most fun you can have with her. Makes Valkyr feel Sluggish by comparison. 

 

 

[Heart of Deimos: TennoGen: 29.3.2]

Ok, as a self-proclaimed Zephyr Main, There's really only one thing Zephyr actually needs to buff: 
Enemies Ragdolled by Tornadoes count as having the Lifted Status for Melee Mods, such as Saxum and Enduring Affliction.

Stable Tornado is a great Idea, but I agree with @master_of_destiny, It won't be worth it unless it's a huge tornado with a 25-30m Radius, and draw them into the tornado. I can think of a billion different ways this would actually synergize REALLY well with Zephyr's Kit and already existing Mods. Saxum Set is obvious, but the Hunter and Tek sets are ripe for combo with Zephyr's kit if she just has the tools to make use of it.
Slash Proc with Enduring Affliction combined with the Hunter set and Relentless Combination to feed into Weeping Wounds, Gladiator, and a Steel. Throw in the Hunter and Tek sets, and maybe some playing around with Synth Deconstruct and you have the potential for Zephyr being the Ultimate CC Master-Frame.

Either that, or just PLEASE give us something like a Mod set that grants buffs for Aerial Melee Combos, or something with Aim Glide that makes the Sarpa/Aero Mod Build.
Zephyr has the best Movement in the game. Her Kit is insanely fun to build around Aerial Maneuvers. Proton+Motus+Bullet Jump Boosts and I've been nearly able to race Archwings across Free Roams. She has the best potential Parkour of any Frame, but she doesn't have any way to use it.
Just... Give us something that makes being the Bird Frame fun while BEING IN THE AIR.