*Insert Nyx topic title*

[Kontrollo]

I've been looking through a few of these topics already and saw some good ideas and a lot of mediocre ones. Then I rewatched where they talked about it in Dev Stream 114 and it looks like the devs already know where they want to take her, so let's go with that.

Recap:

Spoiler

1. Buff Mind Control target's damage (maybe by working the augment into it?)
2. Replace Psychic Bolts, the idea of the replacement being some kind of enemy debuff. I'm guessing AoE because it's going to be her new 3.
3. No changes to Chaos, but might move to 2
4. Presumably only minor math changes to Absorb
5. Presumably no changes to her passive (chance to disarm)

 

With that in mind, here's what I think what suggestions make sense in the first place (I've seen ideas for complete reworks, and that's simply not in the cards):

• New Mind Control Augment
• Replacement for Psychic Bolts + Augment
• Better ability synergy
• Maybe some QoL improvements

 

Now before adding suggestions, here are my personal opinions on Nyx. While I've been playing with her a lot and think I can provide some insight, I'm putting this in a spoiler so as not to bore you with the details:

Spoiler

The good:

• I like Chaos a lot. It's one of the few abilities that are both very hard CC but not overwhelmingly so.
  • Good other examples of this are Loki's Disarm (before the augment at least) and Nova's Molecular Prime, bad ones are Rhino's Stomp and Vauban's Vortex. I.e. it turns the odds heavily and reliably in your favour, but is not enough to make the game into an AFK farmfest (at least not by itself) when cast repeatedly.
  • Nyx relies on her weapons for dealing most of her damage (which I think makes sense in a 3rd person shooter with powers, YMMV). Chaos affords her and the team more survivability but makes the enemies more erratic, which is bad in terms of hitting weak spots. Simply casting it all the time is not always the best approach, and I like that dynamic.
• Absorb:
  • Great "oh S#&$" button, even more-so with its augment
  • Synergy with self damage weapons, e.g. Castanas for a bit of an AoE nuke. (Mostly just Star Chart level of usefulness, because radial fall-off and Magnetic)
• CC scales very well
• Doesn't rely as much on mods as other Warframes. Can pretty much ignore Power Strength.

The bad:

• Mind Control targets: Not really a problem with the ability but with the game itself. Ancient healers and Eximus units give useful utility. Bombards, Heavy Gunners and Crazy Cat Ladies are fun once in a while. Some units are simply not targetable. Why not make it work differently on e.g. Capture targets? They could still run away but instead shoot at their allies.
• Psychic Bolts. They're not completely useless, just underwhelming/uninspired. Uses:
  • Finding hard to spot enemies
  • The radiation proc in the few cases where Chaos is not necessary
  • Augment is useful for limited very hard CC. Even works on the G3.

The ugly:

• Mind Control AI
• Irradiating Disarm encroaching on Nyx' niche and her passive doing the same to Loki's. Feels like at some point the devs ran out of ideas.
• That moment when you have to use Absorb to save yourself, a Bombard is nearby and there are enough missiles that you will get hit no matter what whenever you release because of the sluggish recovery animation. In short: Absorb's sitting duck problem.
• Allies depleting Absorb's energy pool in seconds and render QT completely useless in the process.
• Her passive. It's sometimes useful and I guess it fits, but I really don't like it when my companion Eximus Heavy Gunner (or whatever) starts running around with a dagger when I want to recast it.
• While Power Strength can be ignored, utility mods (especially team utility) are so underwhelming in this game that she can't really take much advantage of that.
• Repeated QT staggers are still in the game. Sometimes even when using Chaos & parkour you can get hit by a stray bullet/explosion and get downed by what follows.

 

As for popularity: If a game massively favours raw AoE killing power over more nuanced approaches, then of course a Warframe like Nyx won't be all that popular. That's not really a fault of Nyx, however. That's a problem with the game itself.

 

And last but not least: Mass CC lockdown AFK gameplay isn't fun, either. But imho there are easy solutions to that problem, too. E.g.:

• Affected enemies cap. Just make it visually clear which enemies manage to "resist" an effect. Maybe keep the short stun at the beginning.
• Diminishing returns
• No spawn caps
• LoS restriction

 

Suggestions

1) Mind Control Augment: Essence Transfer

When Nyx' or an allies' sentinel/pet dies, kills the mind controlled enemy & instantly revive with some seconds of invulnerability and permanent damage reduction (stacking, capped).

 

2a) Psychic Bolts replacement: Psychic Bullets

Personally, I don't think her 2 and 3 need to switch places, so this is a suggestion for simply replacing Psychic Bolts. Idea is obviously ripped off Zenith, because I think that's a great weapon.

The next X bullets in the magazine are free (i.e. don't deplete) and gain Y amount of punch through (infinite?), but only for projectiles/hitscan part and not AoE, to prevent abuse. Chance for Radiation/Slash procs like Psychic Bolts. One-handed cast.

Possible Augments:

• Works for allies, too.
• Enemy outlines visible through walls, X radius from Nyx, whole team

 

2b) Psychic Bolts replacement: Tranquility

Nyx' damage is comes from her weapons and her survivability depends on Chaos. This is meant to improve both. Also, the devs have added so much visual noise and screen shake... Thankfully I don't suffer from motion sickness, but I'm sure I'm not the only one bothered by this.

Root enemies in place for a short duration, then decaying movement speed reduction. Flat increase of status duration, maybe status chance. Aura, maybe toggle.

Heavily reduce screen shake, recoil and weapon swap time for the whole team. Could be tied to the number of affected enemies.

Possible Augments:

• Shooting affected enemies adds a flat amount of armour to the team buff
• Team immunity to knockdown/stagger. Could be charges.

 

3. Synergy

• Mind controlling an enemy under Chaos could further amplify their stats.
• Absorb:
  • Explosion emanating from both Nyx and the mind controlled target; maybe only the CC or damage part for the latter
  • Enemies affected by Chaos are slowed by X%, decaying over distance like its damage. E.g. close enemies take twice the amount of time to hit the ground. Would be awesome with QoL ragdoll (see below)

 

4. QoL

• One-handed Mind Control cast
• Absorb really really should have a ragdoll instead of a knockdown. Might need a "only every X seconds", though, so as not to be abused. Alternatively, faster animation when ending it, so I can get the hell away. (Assimilate is so much better here because I can try to kill the biggest threats before stopping it.)
• Maybe simply cap the amount of Absorb damage and energy consumption, so as not to deplete my reserves instantly by some overpowered weapon
• Got a better idea for her passive? I'm all ears. 😉

 

 

Last but not least, some other topics I found interesting:

Spoiler

Adding this because Mind Sense Aura served as inspiration for the 2a) Augment, which is probably nicer than Zenith's markers.

 

 

[Kontrollo]

Actually, I think I've just had a much better idea for a new Mind Control augment. If the current one is worked into the ability itself, just adding more damage or something similar is really uninspired, and while I tried to come up with something unique for my earlier suggestion, I can see how that is probably not very enticing, either.

Mind Transference

• Take over an enemy unit completely while parking the Warframe, as with Operator mode.
• Enemies will not be suspicious unless you attack them.
• Deactivate alarms and hack panels in a few seconds like they do; just a "channel" no hack minigame.
• Spy lasers and cameras don't trigger any alarms.
• The Warframe stays visible and vulnerable. If it is spotted, enemies start attacking and traps work as usual again. Maybe make enemy Kavats and Kubrows extra threatening in this mode, if they're nearby they start searching for the Warframe.

 

The War Within shows us how it's done, this would finally be a fitting power for the name Mind Control. It would of course be specifically useful for certain mission types such as Spy and Rescue, but also to sneak past unsuspecting enemies. Should be channelled, constantly draining energy. Actions and walking into traps should probably drain some as well to keep things interesting.