[Fan Concepts Index]

 

[[Warframe Concept] Athena, Solar themed aerial frame]

Athena
A solar themed warframe with a focus on aerial superiority.

A warframe that can channel the intense power of the sun within itself, either by using it to smite her foes or to defend her allies. A large ring coming out of her backside rises up above her head and serves as her main tool to channel the powers of the sun, letting out great beams of solar energy out from 6 spikes rising out of the outer rim of the ring. Her body resembles some of the depictions of Athena in greek mythology, adorned with a golden breastplate and an ornate greek helmet.

As for lore, I imagine DE would be able to think up of something a lot better than what I have in mind since I have no idea what kind of plans they have for the warframe universe. But I reckon that Athena would have something to do with the sun of course, though in what capacity I don't know. Maybe the Orokin did some stuff with the sun? No matter what the lore is, Athena is what she is.

I've boiled her kit down to two possible variants:

Damage Variant

Passive - Damage done from abilities and weapons to grounded targets from the air will deal extra damage.

1 - EMP: Throw a small grenade forward in an arc that will explode on contact, stunning enemies and damaging their shields. Every 5 enemies killed by EMP or are killed under its effects will grant the warframe with a stacking energy regen buff.
COST: 25

2 - Aegis Reactor: Warframe hovers in the air and absorbs incoming damage, converting it into damage for EMP and Sun Beam. Can be used during Sun Beam. Can throw EMP grenades while channeling.
COST: 10 energy per second

3 - Phoenix: Creates a phoenix that will stay at its spawn location and attack anything that comes near it for a set duration. Costs no energy, but does cost health. At any point during its duration, the warframe can reactivate the ability again to immediately teleport to the phoenix and lets out a final burst of damage and knock back before disappearing.
COST: 25% health

4 - Solar Spear: Warframe hovers in the air and lets out a massive beam of light that follows the mouse, draining energy to damage enemies within and sap their health. IF the warframe has full health, all sapped health will build towards a seperate stack of Surge buffs. Can throw EMP grenades out while channeling.
COST: 10 energy per second

Support Variant

Passive - Take less damage when up in the air for more than 3 seconds.

1 - EMP: Throw a small grenade forward in an arc that will explode on contact, stunning enemies and halving their shields. Every 5 enemies killed by EMP or are killed under its effects will grant the warframe with a stacking energy regen aura.
COST: 25

2 - Aegis Reactor: Warframe hovers in the air and absorbs incoming damage, converting it into health for the team. Immune while channeling. Can be channeled during Solar Spear. Can throw EMP grenades out while channeling.
COST: 10 energy per second

3 - Phoenix: Creates a phoenix that will stay at its spawn location and attack anything that comes near it for a set duration. Costs no energy, but does cost health. At any point during its duration, the warframe can reactivate the ability again to immediately teleport to the phoenix and lets out a final burst of damage and knock back before disappearing. The Phoenix will also let out an EMP blast every time you cast EMP.
COST: 50% health

4 - Solar Spear: Warframe hovers in the air and lets out a massive beam of light that follows the mouse, draining energy to damage enemies within and sap their health for the team. Enemies that die by Solar Spear will explode, staggering nearby enemies. Can throw EMP grenades out while channeling.
COST: 10 energy per second

 

Personally I prefer the support variant more, but I could see people wanting the damage variant as well. Maybe there could be a way to switch between the two variants like how chroma can change his element color to get different effects on his abilities. I figure the support variant could bring an alternative to Trinity being the supreme choice for healing and energy regen, offering a more aggressive kit that supports your team via your powerful offense. I imagine these heals and energy regens would be over time rather than instant, much like Trinity's ultimate and EV's death proc are instant.

Ability mods could enable Athena to do some other neat functions too, such as a mod that will turn the entire team immune to damage while channeling Aegis Reactor in a small AoE, but removes the heal functionality and increases energy drain. Or perhaps a damage oriented mod for Solar Spear that leaves a fire trail wherever your beam goes. I think this frame has the chance of being a really good support frame if it were ever to see the light of day in the game, a big IF for sure.

Imagine this frame in a grineer defense situation. Wave starts and enemies start firing at your teammates and the point. Athena jumps around popping enemies with EMP and making sure to get kills with them, causing the energy regen buff to stack high and enable the team to start spamming abilities a bit more liberally. When Athena has reached a certain amount of stacks, she can begin to use Aegis Reactor and Solar Spear without having to worry too much about recuperating the energy after she's done channeling. Enemies are hurting your team a bit too much? Athena jumps into the air and uses Aegis Reactor to soak up damage and convert it to heals for your team, killing two birds with one stone. Someone got the tanking down but you still need to bring the damage and heal to the table? Solar Spear convert damage done into health and will also stagger enemies when an enemy dies to it, adding in a bit of CC to her kit. To make sure she's always there for her team when they need her the most, Phoenix provides her with an easy way to get out of trouble and acts as a conduit for your EMP spam as well.

She might be a bit OP, but I just really want more aerial frames in the game.

PS: fix Zephyr