Top 6 frames that need attention in 2019

[(XBOX)Knight Raime]

Sort of click bait I admit but hopefully you can forgive me.  Anyway, I wanted to create a thread based on frames that I think DE needs to give proper attention to this year in order to make it a great year for the whole roster.  I will be sharing my personal 3 that I want to see touched and then what 3 I think need the most help in more of a factual manner.  I encourage you guys to post 3 frames you'd like to see/think needs help the most as well to get a good discussion going.  So lets hop in:

 

My personal top 3:

Nyx:  Nyx is one of my long loves of the game ever since I joined waaaay back when abilities were on cards.  The very notion of having a psychic frame was very interesting to me.  However for most gameplay she was mainly just chaos the warframe outside some niche/interesting gimmicks.  She recently got reworked and it's sad to say that the rework didn't do her justice.  I think some of the changes were good for her (thematically or not) but largely the changes didn't attract new fans and it divided long time fans of her.  Mind control and bolts need a lot more polish.  Potentially a new ability for bolts entirely.  Her passive should be changed yet again due to how inconsistent accuracy debuffs are.  And absorb needs to be redone from the ground up.

 

Valkyr:  She's dated simply stated.  My long time main of a frame is basically underperforming now due to the fact that any frame can carry a good melee.  Her having invincibility/health regen on her 4 are not enough to set her 4 apart from current melee weapons as we have plenty of ways to self sustain/be functionally or directly invincible with other frames.  You can make a case for all of her abilities and how they're currently servicable.  I still do.  But the fact is she needs an overhaul in order to be thematically appropriate.  Or at the least she needs the overhaul so she's more than just a glorfied shiny melee weapon.

 

Revenant:  Still the only frame DE has ever released that has managed to not only be a frame I truly dislike but has been a flop from start to finish from reveal to being polished.  Khora got railed for being thematically messy but at least she's functional and unique.  Revenant isn't either.  The devs seem to have decided he's a sentient frame and not a vampire frame.  So they should rework him from the ground up with said theme in mind.  It's 100% possible to fix the mess he is without giving new abilities.  But I think to do so would be a disservice to the theme of the frame as a whole and DE SHOULD rework him entirely as the right move.

 

The dying 3:

Wukong:  Shouldn't be a surprise here.  I'd rather let DE Monkey explain why he's as bad as he is as he'd do the frame a far better justice than I ever could.  His deluxe is "coming up."  The devs better do more than slap a sticker on him.  If that is it then we only have his prime to look forward to for further changes, or he might be forgotten into the abyss forever.

 

Ember:  Another frame people should have seen coming.  Unlike Wukong Ember actually is more than just one ability.  The problem in my opinion has always been she has weird clunk piled on top of the giant sad fact that she's never met the player fantasy of being someone who sets everything on fire.  Many saw her as the original damage frame and yet she's never lived up to be it.  In a world where we have frames like mesa or chroma literally slaughtering the games hardest content for what seems like ages it really shouldn't be fear that's holding the devs back from making her strong.  They created the newest saryn who is absolutely terrifying but requires lots of player interaction.  What is stopping them from making Ember powerful but interactable as well?  I don't know.

 

Vauban:  Also not a surprise.  He's an engineer frame which you'd think would give the developers plenty of cool ideas for his kit beyond just bland cc/ragdoll ideas.  But I guess not.  There was a time when you'd see this frame on the regular for high end content.  You'd be lucky to see him in dark sectors these days.  Of all the frames that have come into the game I think it's a sad and frankly upsetting that such a frame could be ignored as much as he has.  I think the devs just don't know what to do with him.

 

Anyway, that concludes my personal list and the 3 frames that, in my opinion, are struggling the most (and have been for quite sometime.)  This isn't to say other frames don't need attention, we do still have a handful of frames where two abilities are basically dead in the water.  Which shouldn't ever be a thing.  I think it's fine for some frames to fall to the wayside as new content comes out so long as they're technically more than viable.  But we should never have any frame anywhere close to the mess that revenant is.  Nor should we have any frame be this ignored like Vauban.

Edited January 3, 2019 by (XB1)Knight Raime

[(PSN)LoisGordils]

I don't see Chroma on this list -_-

No passive

Ties fashion to performance

Spectral Scream is horrible

Elemental Ward and Vex Armor are strikingly similar. Both are passive, one-press skills that have zero interactions or synergy

Effigy is a useless energy hog that deals pitiful damage and doesn't really do much else.

[Zavenosk]

+1 for including my top 3 (Vauban, Wukong, Revenant) needs-rework frames.

[Aldain]

Just here to say that Ember isn't quite as bad as Wukong and Vauban and would likely benefit from a smaller rework (energy cost being a big one) and some form of armor countermeasures rather than a more full overhaul. Ember is mostly serviceable, but her damage element doesn't fit well in today's wacky armor hyper scaling conditions and a few changes to make her better against armor and an increase to fun factor would likely be most of what she needs, rather than a full rework.

[(PSN)LoisGordils]

14 minutes ago, Aldain said:

Just here to say that Ember isn't quite as bad as Wukong and Vauban and would likely benefit from a smaller rework (energy cost being a big one) and some form of armor countermeasures rather than a more full overhaul. Ember is mostly serviceable, but her damage element doesn't fit well in today's wacky armor hyper scaling conditions and a few changes to make her better against armor and an increase to fun factor would likely be most of what she needs, rather than a full rework.

Personal Space On Fire needs to go. It was a bad design from the get go. It's so set&forget, looks pitiful and is overall a lackluster ultimate. I would much rather have an ultimate that scales with the amount of Heat damage Ember deals. Upon reaching a certain "temperature", Ember can activate WoF and emit an extremely damaging heat wave around her that scorches her environment, unlike those tiny fart-pillars of fire that we currently have. Once the "temperature" reaches a meltdown point, WoF is deactivated in a devastating blast of fire that deals damage proportionate to the amount of Heat damage dealt to enemies while WoF was running 

[Xzorn]

Well in truth the list could be much longer but I'm down with those picks.

[(XBOX)Knight Raime]

2 hours ago, (PS4)LoisGordils said:

I don't see Chroma on this list -_-

No passive

Ties fashion to performance

Spectral Scream is horrible

Elemental Ward and Vex Armor are strikingly similar. Both are passive, one-press skills that have zero interactions or synergy

Effigy is a useless energy hog that deals pitiful damage and doesn't really do much else.

I'll admit chroma was up there for both of my lists.  But chroma at least is meta even if its with a pretty messy kit.  Which is why hes ultimately not up there.

[Elementalos]

2 hours ago, (PS4)LoisGordils said:

I don't see Chroma on this list -_-

Chroma has a lot of issues but he's still ridiculously usable and even part of the established metagame for certain mission types. So while I want to see him improved too, it's understandable why he's not on a list about the bottom 6 frames.

2 hours ago, (XB1)Knight Raime said:

I think the devs just don't know what to do with him.

The thing about Vauban is that I think he requires a much more significant rework than most other frames. Even big 'reworks' to frames often amount to limited functionality changes to skills and rebalancing of numbers rather than sweeping redesigns and Vauban's kit kind of begs for the latter.

There's too much internal overlap in his kit. 2, 3 and 4 are all forms of area control and step on each others toes thematically a lot.

Then on top of that his 1 and 2 are both about space control and denial in a game that wants you to funnel enemies together so you can kill them all more efficiently and doesn't lean on chokepoints all that much. They also suffer from scaling problems where enemies strong enough to be worth controlling and shutting down mostly aren't going to be very inconvenienced by them. Enemies that do get messed up by Vauban's various mines tend to be so weak that the control is as much of an inconvenience as anything else.

All of that points toward a significant reassessment of his kit more than just tweaking numbers around.

[(XBOX)Knight Raime]

2 hours ago, Aldain said:

Just here to say that Ember isn't quite as bad as Wukong and Vauban and would likely benefit from a smaller rework (energy cost being a big one) and some form of armor countermeasures rather than a more full overhaul. Ember is mostly serviceable, but her damage element doesn't fit well in today's wacky armor hyper scaling conditions and a few changes to make her better against armor and an increase to fun factor would likely be most of what she needs, rather than a full rework.

Even if she was given some method to deal with armor it wouldn't be enough imo.  I like her passive but as is you don't make use of it.  I want that kind of interaction applied in a more usable fashion be it her passive or part of an ability.

Her accelarent stun is inconsisten because it depends on the type of enemy.  The ring of fire and any mechanic involving it doesn't really fit how the game plays nor her kit.

 

And i just plain don't like how passive her 4 is. 

[NeopetsMaster4432]

I personally love Valkyr and think her and Banshee are the warframes in like the best balance spots right now!
Her abilities have distinctive and useful uses~ Zipline for mobility or throwing enemies away, Warcry to boost melee weapons and her 4, Paralysis to open up tough enemies for finishers and/or provide CC, and Hysteria is a thing that does stuff.(although I never use Hysteria because I have maxed out weapons)

I don't know how she fits in thematically, because I'm not one to really capture the themes of frames. But it's nice that her skills have synergy together too~

Have to agree with all of your other ones. It's a bit saddening to use Vauban now in particular, he just doesn't feel good to use. At least he was fun when you could pull teammates with Vortex or push them out of the extraction zone with bounce pads. :^) 
However, I'd say that Zephyr is at about the same level as Wukong though in terms of effectiveness, and would like her to be looked at too. 

Edited January 3, 2019 by NeopetsMaster4432

[(XBOX)Knight Raime]

19 minutes ago, Xzorn said:

Well in truth the list could be much longer but I'm down with those picks.

This is true.  But baby steps.

[(XBOX)Knight Raime]

5 minutes ago, Elementalos said:

Chroma has a lot of issues but he's still ridiculously usable and even part of the established metagame for certain mission types. So while I want to see him improved too, it's understandable why he's not on a list about the bottom 6 frames.

The thing about Vauban is that I think he requires a much more significant rework than most other frames. Even big 'reworks' to frames often amount to limited functionality changes to skills and rebalancing of numbers rather than sweeping redesigns and Vauban's kit kind of begs for the latter.

There's too much internal overlap in his kit. 2, 3 and 4 are all forms of area control and step on each others toes thematically a lot.

Then on top of that his 1 and 2 are both about space control and denial in a game that wants you to funnel enemies together so you can kill them all more efficiently and doesn't lean on chokepoints all that much. They also suffer from scaling problems where enemies strong enough to be worth controlling and shutting down mostly aren't going to be very inconvenienced by them. Enemies that do get messed up by Vauban's various mines tend to be so weak that the control is as much of an inconvenience as anything else.

All of that points toward a significant reassessment of his kit more than just tweaking numbers around.

Unfortunately you hit the nail on the head with vauban all to well.

[(XBOX)Knight Raime]

3 minutes ago, NeopetsMaster4432 said:

I personally love Valkyr and think her and Banshee are the warframes in like the best balance spots right now!
Her abilities have distinctive and useful uses~ Zipline for mobility or throwing enemies away, Warcry to boost melee weapons and her 4, Paralysis to open up tough enemies for finishers and/or provide CC, and Hysteria is a thing that does stuff.(although I never use Hysteria because I have maxed out weapons)

I don't know how she fits in thematically, because I'm not one to really capture the themes of frames. But it's nice that her skills have synergy together too~

Have to agree with all of your other ones. It's a bit saddening to use Vauban now in particular, he just doesn't feel good to use. At least he was fun when you could pull teammates with Vortex or push them out of the extraction zone with bounce pads. :^) 
However, I'd say that Zephyr is at about the same level as Wukong though in terms of effectiveness, and would like her to be looked at too. 

As ive said Valkyr and her abilities all have function and work.  Doesn't change that shes just a glorified melee weapon with no defining characteristics that make her being a melee frame worth picking over a different frame.

Melee weapons as a whole are super strong now which basically invalidates her.  At least wukong and baruuk have some extra thing tied to their combos.  Valk is just combos.

 

And zeyphr is neither here nor there.  Shes in a good enough spot post rework.  Her only glaring issue being tornado sillyness

[GPrime96]

3 hours ago, (XB1)Knight Raime said:

Valkyr:  She's dated simply stated.  My long time main of a frame is basically underperforming now due to the fact that any frame can carry a good melee.  Her having invincibility/health regen on her 4 are not enough to set her 4 apart from current melee weapons as we have plenty of ways to self sustain/be functionally or directly invincible with other frames.  You can make a case for all of her abilities and how they're currently servicable.  I still do.  But the fact is she needs an overhaul in order to be thematically appropriate.  Or at the least she needs the overhaul so she's more than just a glorfied shiny melee weapon.

From a prevoius Valkyr Main (Garuda is my current girl), i would agree with this. Valkyr Prime has been a Frame i use in different Endurance Runs and my highest level Runs was with her as a Eternal War Valkyr except for Mot because Garuda has beaten that record. The 290 - 300+ run in Ani Void was with her and Gram Prime while the other ones in different Survivals was 260+ or lower. That’s why she’s my second Favorite Frame although her kit dosen’t have the Synergies Garuda have. So she do need extra work.

Edited January 3, 2019 by GPrime96

[Xzorn]

53 minutes ago, (XB1)Knight Raime said:

Even if she was given some method to deal with armor it wouldn't be enough imo.  I like her passive but as is you don't make use of it.  I want that kind of interaction applied in a more usable fashion be it her passive or part of an ability.

Her accelarent stun is inconsisten because it depends on the type of enemy.  The ring of fire and any mechanic involving it doesn't really fit how the game plays nor her kit.

And i just plain don't like how passive her 4 is. 

 

Ember actually rivals Banshee as a team damage buff frame. If it wasn't for the Resonance overlap bug they'd be pretty even.

Armor is what prevents her from showcasing that.

Between Fireball Frenzy, Flash Accelerant and Shooting through multiple Fireblasts she can amp up a teams damage pretty hardcore. Now on her own? Meh, esp since they screwed with her WoF radius. Too much to do and too squishy to get it done. With the amount of spam casting she has to do to push levels added into resetting her WoF and increased energy drain. Don't think I could get her to the level range I could before. Dumbest part is WoF Damage was never a factor in that to begin with.

[(XBOX)Knight Raime]

53 minutes ago, GPrime96 said:

From a prevoius Valkyr Main (Garuda is my current girl), i would agree with this. Valkyr Prime has been a Frame i use in different Endurance Runs and my highest level Runs was with her as a Eternal War Valkyr except for Mot because Garuda has beaten that record. The 290 - 300+ run in Ani Void was with her and Gram Prime while the other ones in different Survivals was 260+ or lower. That’s why she’s my second Favorite Frame although her kit dosen’t have the Synergies Garuda have. So she do need extra work.

Thats actually kinda interesting.  I also moved to Garuda

[(XBOX)Knight Raime]

10 minutes ago, Xzorn said:

 

Ember actually rivals Banshee as a team damage buff frame. If it wasn't for the Resonance overlap bug they'd be pretty even.

Armor is what prevents her from showcasing that.

Between Fireball Frenzy, Flash Accelerant and Shooting through multiple Fireblasts she can amp up a teams damage pretty hardcore. Now on her own? Meh, esp since they screwed with her WoF radius. Too much to do and too squishy to get it done. With the amount of spam casting she has to do to push levels added into resetting her WoF and increased energy drain. Don't think I could get her to the level range I could before. Dumbest part is WoF Damage was never a factor in that to begin with.

Wof is boring to me.  And as cool as she us for a buffer frame i dont think it fits her kit to be sitting still.  Ive never liked the ring.  Still annoys me to high heaven that her acceleant stun length is entirely based on what unit its effecting.

[(XBOX)GearsMatrix301]

Vauban

Wukong

Revenant

Nyx

Titania

Mirage

[(XBOX)Knight Raime]

1 minute ago, (XB1)GearsMatrix301 said:

Vauban

Wukong

Revenant

Nyx

Titania

Mirage

Would be curious to hear why you think titania and mirage are in dire states.

[(XBOX)GearsMatrix301]

13 minutes ago, (XB1)Knight Raime said:

Would be curious to hear why you think titania and mirage are in dire states.

Mirage has her 1 and that’s it. Her 2 and 3 are far to inconsistent to be reliable and her 4’s been nerfed to the point where using it is just for a pretty light show.

Titania still needs quite a bit of work before she could be considered a solid Warframe.

[C4n0n1ze]

30 minutes ago, (XB1)GearsMatrix301 said:

Titania still needs quite a bit of work before she could be considered a solid Warframe.

100 percent agreed. If anything her lantern is even MORE annoying.

[(PSN)RenovaKunumaru]

Zephyr is just as garbage as she was before her rework changed nothing.

"But she's good plains frame" 

Smh

Edited January 3, 2019 by (PS4)RenovaKunumaru

[ArcKnight9202]

For Ember: Fire is my favorite element but the frame that represents it is sadly 1-dimensional. Oh boy, it's damage on top of damage. Exciting. World on Fire sounds awesome at first until you realize how painfully unimaginative it is. If there's one skill I'd love see replaced, it's this one.

Having a way to deal with high-end armor would be nice but it could be solved just as easily(maybe) through reworking how absurd armor's DR actually becomes. That would benefit more than just Ember, too. Having to cast Accelerant just to get some decent fire damage, even on mid-level armored units, is depressing. That said, Ember needs some imagination put into her.

I always liked the idea of having a skill that burned so fast and hot that it caused a vacuum effect and pulled all the enemies towards the epicenter. Maybe if you charged up number 3 it could have that additional effect. That would be gnarly cool. Perhaps not the most functional, though, haha.

The frame just isn't very fun to play in my opinion. 😑

For Nyx: RIP my love.

Edit: I actually think Revenant is a bit underrated. I'll admit I absolutely hate his 3rd and 4th skills, though, haha. I'm used to playing frames with dead buttons. Oh, and his fashion is pretty swag.

Edited January 3, 2019 by ArcKnight9202

[Arcira]

I like Embers kit but I think she should be a scaling Warframe. Low damage when the mission starts but building up more and more heat and damage from kills, ignites, spell casts, etc.

Edited January 3, 2019 by Arcira

[(XBOX)Knight Raime]

9 hours ago, (XB1)GearsMatrix301 said:

Mirage has her 1 and that’s it. Her 2 and 3 are far to inconsistent to be reliable and her 4’s been nerfed to the point where using it is just for a pretty light show.

Titania still needs quite a bit of work before she could be considered a solid Warframe.

Hm.  I agree that her eclipse is not consistent due to it not being a snap shot ability.  But I still think it's useful regardless of what effect it's giving.  So I think it's a bit wrong to say she only has her one.  Could you elaborate more on titania?  I like her and have never personally understood why she's been considered bad outside of tribute being really clunky to use.