Make Chroma the mythological dragon of east Asian culture that he should’ve been

[BlachWolf]

I’ve been posting different rework ideas, about how chroma could be changed; this one is oriented around his current state, being a buffing unit to himself and allies. This falls somewhat in line with his main theme of being a mythological dragon of east Asian culture, which represents strength, good luck and the uncontrollable power of nature in form of natural disasters like typhoons. Also, I’ll be implementing some of the requested features that many chroma mains desire, with some sentient goodness sprinkled on, because of the nature of his pelt.

His Passive: Sentient Shields

Ability description: Thanks to Chromas sentient pelt, all status effects are rendered useless, if his shields persists. Once they are down, Chroma will emit a radiation wave around him, driving those unlucky to be in his presents mad.

Technical description: Chromas shields will negate any status effect, when they’re not depleted, though once gone he becomes vulnerable to them. Status effect inflicted during this period won’t be negated and once shields are up, they will persist as normal, though no further status effects will be inflicted, till shields are down again. When shields are depleted, chroma will emit a radiation wave in a 10m radius, though in order to achieve this affect again, shields must be charged fully again.

Note: I wanted to squeeze some of that sentient goodness in chromas theme and found his passive to be the perfect place for that. This also gives an interesting twist to all those status negating abilities out there.

His Base Stats:

Health: Increase it to 125 (both versions)

Shields: Increase it to 135 (bothe versions)

Note: With the change to his health, I wanted to make his prime at least reach 40k ehp with 368% power strength, in order to restore some of his lost ehp, though this is still only around 45% of what he used to get. The changes to his shield where made to ease the vex armor buffing process somewhat.

His one: Elemental Shift / Spectral Roar

Ability description: When used normally chroma will cycle through his elements, allowing him to change his alignment on the fly. When hold chroma will release a tremendous roar, creating an elemental shockwave that procs his chosen element, while also severally debilitating the ones caught in the blast.

Technical description:

When tabbed: chroma will cycle through his elements.

When Hold: Chroma will create a cone shaped shockwave, similar in size to atlas’s petrify, in front of him, which will deal 500 base damage in form of chromas chosen element. Enemies hit by this ability will also gain a small debuff, which will be signified by a mark. This debuff will make enemies affected by it have an increased chance of gaining a status proc; projectile hitting affected enemies will gain a flat +5% status chance increase, which scales with power strength. Casting this ability will cost 25 energy.

Note: Spectral scream is one of the worse ability out there. The dmg is laughable and it restricts you to much, by not allowing you to use your weapons. With this new implementation I firstly wanted to give chroma the most desired ability, which is cycling though elements on the fly and thus free use of fashion frame. With Spectral roar I wanted to make its previous incarnation useful, by adding something that scales and removing its restriction, by making it an ability you cast instead of channel.

His Two: Elemental Wrath

Ability Description: When active damage done to chroma will fuel his wrath, further increasing his anger and strength. Chroma will use this new gained power, to further increase the capabilities of himself and allies in different ways depending on his elemental alignment.

Technical description: Elemental Wrath is a timed based ability with a base duration of 25s and costs of 50 energy, which can be prematurely ended by using the ability again. The range of this ability is bound to affinity range. This ability has two phases, one which is represented by the timer, where damage done to chromas health will be accumulated and a second, where the accumulated dmg is instantly dispersed as a buff to allies including chroma, based on his elemental alignment. Prematurely ending the ability will trigger the second phase. Also, elemental alignment only matters in the second phase.

Fire: Accumulated dmg will be dispersed to allies (including such things as lures and npcs) as healing with 100% efficiency, scales with power strength. (comparable to equinox)

Ice: Accumulated dmg will be dispersed to allies as Over shields with 200% efficiency, scales with power strength. While also cleansing allies from status effects.

Electric: Accumulated dmg will be dispersed to warframes as energy, with 50% efficiency, scales with power strength.

Toxin: Accumulated dmg will be dispersed to warframes as ammo, scales with power strength. Also, it will buff warframes with a 30% reload speed buff, which lasts for 10s, scales with duration and power strength.

Note: Elemental Ward was a good ability, though not good enough in my opinion to deserve an ability slot by itself, because we mostly used it to further increase our tackiness. That’s why I completely scraped it and added Elemental Wrath. This will increase chromas team capabilities and give him some sustainability. I took inspiration from Equinox and Harrow.

His three: Vex Armor

Small change: Add a 2x base health multiplier, which scales with power strength, in order to make up for the loss of elemental ward.

New augment mod, Everlasting Vex Armor: Allies that leave the radius will retain the effect for 100% of the remaining duration.

Note: With this we will finally have only one ability for tanking. Having two was to redundant and reduced the ways in witch chroma could be reworked. Also, the augment mod would fix the range issue with vex armor. At first, I wanted to make the scorn buff a dmg reduction caped at 95%, but I realized it would be to OP, one because chroma would be able to access this ability for ever and second because this ability would have no weakness. With armor chroma will be vulnerable to the dmg bonuses provided by the different dmg types and thus have a balancing point. We don’t want another Mesa or Gara tank.

His four: Effigy

Ability Description: Chroma turns his pelt into a massive sentinel that engulfs enemies in elemental attacks. Chroma may set Effigy in a stationary position or make it follow him like a sentinel normally would.

Technical Description: Effigy will now be time based instead of channeled, with a 25s duration and 100 energy cost. To add to that effigy will now perform Spectral roar instead of a spectral scream. It will also have a stationary and follow mechanic like eidolon lures.

Note: The one thing wrong with effigy is that it just unhandy to use and how it consumes energy, the CC it provides is not bad and now with spectral roar it will debuff enemies. This with the added mobility and new energy consumption method will make effigy into a worthwhile to use ability. I also though about making effigy basically into a sentinel with a moldable weapon, though I stopped thinking about that, once the forma cost came to mind.

 

 

My Final Notes:

With this rework I wanted to make chroma into what he’s theme described. The different buffs will open him up to different playstyles, while retaining / improving his current one. So Tenno, what do you think about this rework?

Edited January 26, 2019 by BlachWolf
fixed title

[(PSN)Ozymandias-13-]

Chroma is Greek. 

[Andele3025]

He isnt a dragon in the first place, but a sentient hunter.

[Elementalos]

Why do you think Chroma is asian themed? Or sentient themed for that matter?

As for the suggestions themselves. Status Immunity as a passive seems really strong. It also creates some weird internal ability conflict where said passive wants you to have big shields and avoid taking status damage while your version of 2 and his 3 want you to take lots of damage to fuel their effects and Vex Armor wants you to expose your health pool to maximize Fury. 

 

Your 2 seems clunky to use too. 'Detonating' it to explode healing, energy and ammo seem like they're effects that could be easily wasted given the delayed activation of them (and that I don't even think there's a way to track allied ammo). You say his current 2 isn't good enough but I'd rather have the persistent effects than what you're suggesting.

[BlachWolf]

34 minutes ago, Andele3025 said:

He isnt a dragon in the first place, but a sentient hunter.

Well you should look up the video where he was revealed.

[BlachWolf]

54 minutes ago, (PS4)Riko_113 said:

Chroma is Greek. 

Well from the reveal I remembered one of th devs talking about that he's a mix between those two. Though he's more of a lucky angry dragon, which is represented best by the asian theme, then the western one.

[BlachWolf]

14 minutes ago, Elementalos said:

Why do you think Chroma is asian themed? Or sentient themed for that matter?

As for the suggestions themselves. Status Immunity as a passive seems really strong. It also creates some weird internal ability conflict where said passive wants you to have big shields and avoid taking status damage while your version of 2 and his 3 want you to take lots of damage to fuel their effects and Vex Armor wants you to expose your health pool to maximize Fury. 

 

Your 2 seems clunky to use too. 'Detonating' it to explode healing, energy and ammo seem like they're effects that could be easily wasted given the delayed activation of them (and that I don't even think there's a way to track allied ammo). You say his current 2 isn't good enough but I'd rather have the persistent effects than what you're suggesting.

It was state when he was revealed in tenno con 2015, though i currently couldnt find the clip to link it.

Also status immunity does not equal dmg reduction. Though the passive could always be changed to something more usefull. Elemental wrath would work like night equinoxes mend, though on a timer instead of being a channeled ability.

[(PSN)LoisGordils]

1 hour ago, Andele3025 said:

He isnt a dragon in the first place, but a sentient hunter.

He has always been considered a dragon.

[BlachWolf]

12 minutes ago, (PS4)LoisGordils said:

He has always been considered a dragon.

Well they are new players and only see him as an eidolon hunter.

[(PSN)LoisGordils]

46 minutes ago, BlachWolf said:

Well they are new players and only see him as an eidolon hunter.

Understandable 

[BlachWolf]

1 minute ago, (PS4)LoisGordils said:

Understandable 

I miss the old good times, where he could reach 100k+ ehp, though i must admit it was broken.

[Birdframe_Prime]

32 minutes ago, BlachWolf said:

Well they are new players and only see him as an eidolon hunter.

True, but I don't see where he was ever Asian Dragon themed. The whole point about his colour affecting his element was the more Western Dragon theme, like the DnD and Heraldric traditional dragons that had different breath types based on their colour, it's also why his Effigy is his armour, because Western dragons were heavier and definitely built more tanky in appearance than the more elegant and serpentine Eastern dragons.

But his introduction video also doesn't cover his pelt being Sentient either, the only frame to incorporate Sentient tech is Revenant.

Moving on...

No to his passive, status effects and damage types that go through shields are a staple of some of the factions and a key reason why shields regenerate and health doesn't (for most frames). Shields are supposed to have a weakness at all levels, and Status is that weakness, where raw damage is only a weakness at later levels.

Yes to his 1 as the means to shift his Colour, that's a basic that everyone knows he should have.

His 2 and 3 seem to have... lost the strong identity they have currently, where 2 is an elemental themed function-based buffing ability that gives reliable flat results, and 3 is a self-sacrificing scaling buff based off damage taken.

Having two abilities for tanking is not redundant, look at Valkyr, or Baruuk, as long as they serve additional purposes beyond tanking, in this case the damage buff versus the other stat buffs, they are complimentary.  Especially as his current 2 is a customisable team buff that you can adapt to the situation, to the mission you're running. A better plan, with the ability to change the element type, is to give his 2 more specific buffs relating to each element in turn, and have him able to recast (before end of Duration) to replace one buff with another. Also, because this is then a Duration cast, changing the element for his Damage functions wouldn't affect an individual cast of his 2, you can switch to the preferred colour, recast the buff, then switch back to whatever damage type works best and continue casting his other abilities.

Also, I feel that having his Effigy as a Sentinel would remove the ability to make it better in other ways.

What I'd do is make it a buff beacon. Able to be set over an objective and radiate an additional point of his Ward and Vex buffs for people that aren't going to follow you around. Take away the extra functions it doesn't need, like the credit boost and the clearing pulse, just keep the close-range blind and the 'copy-of-his-1' attack, then it can even stop being a Drain ability and become a regular Duration cast (like you would want) that you can then de-cast early and re-cast without needing to worry about your energy economy. As a Sentinel it really wouldn't stop being a Drain ability, that would be too strong if you could literally sprint it into the middle of a group and have it blind, knock-back and then attack every single enemy you walked into.

With his 1 changing to a blast-style attack and his 4 now a Duration, though, you could even drop off the Hunter Adrenaline mod in any mode that isn't the Eidolon/Spider fights, because he'd be so much more efficient.

I mean, your base goal of buffing up Chroma's other abilities to make him more playable is the right move to go for. But the specifics... are a bit off. That's all. Yes he's a buff frame, but his buffing theme is the Chromatic Dragon, not an Asian Dragon.

[BlachWolf]

12 minutes ago, Birdframe_Prime said:

True, but I don't see where he was ever Asian Dragon themed. The whole point about his colour affecting his element was the more Western Dragon theme, like the DnD and Heraldric traditional dragons that had different breath types based on their colour, it's also why his Effigy is his armour, because Western dragons were heavier and definitely built more tanky in appearance than the more elegant and serpentine Eastern dragons.

But his introduction video also doesn't cover his pelt being Sentient either, the only frame to incorporate Sentient tech is Revenant.

Moving on...

Well we can keep talking about that, but thats just the theme, either way lets just say he's a dragon with elemental powers.

14 minutes ago, Birdframe_Prime said:

No to his passive, status effects and damage types that go through shields are a staple of some of the factions and a key reason why shields regenerate and health doesn't (for most frames). Shields are supposed to have a weakness at all levels, and Status is that weakness, where raw damage is only a weakness at later levels. 

True, the generall conspiracy of chromas pelt being of sentient origin hasnt really been backed up, outside of how his wings look. Though on the shield side i must disagree with you. Right now in warframe shields are basically useless in most places that extra tankiness really matters. Only really one frame can make real good use of them, which is Harrow.

18 minutes ago, Birdframe_Prime said:

His 2 and 3 seem to have... lost the strong identity they have currently, where 2 is an elemental themed function-based buffing ability that gives reliable flat results, and 3 is a self-sacrificing scaling buff based off damage taken.

Having two abilities for tanking is not redundant, look at Valkyr, or Baruuk, as long as they serve additional purposes beyond tanking, in this case the damage buff versus the other stat buffs, they are complimentary.  Especially as his current 2 is a customisable team buff that you can adapt to the situation, to the mission you're running. A better plan, with the ability to change the element type, is to give his 2 more specific buffs relating to each element in turn, and have him able to recast (before end of Duration) to replace one buff with another. Also, because this is then a Duration cast, changing the element for his Damage functions wouldn't affect an individual cast of his 2, you can switch to the preferred colour, recast the buff, then switch back to whatever damage type works best and continue casting his other abilities.

Not really, Vex armor would still remain the same, with an added health buff ofcourse. One of the reasons why I decided to remove elemental ward, was because the trade off between elements was just to great, you had to choose between losing around 15k ehp from his already low 35k at max and gaining a nice to have buff like faster reload speed. Chromas main problem with elemental ward, was sacrifing a lot of ehp to gain something not worth the investment. Removing the tankiness factor from this ability, will free up more creative freedom, by allowing the buffs to be more diversed. Though changing what the actual buffs do can always be done, what would you implement instead? Also one other thing, I really dont count hysteria to be a tanking ability, as it stores dmg and depending on where you are it can kill you once you're out of it, I myself use it to kill something fast or heal myself.

36 minutes ago, Birdframe_Prime said:

Also, I feel that having his Effigy as a Sentinel would remove the ability to make it better in other ways.

What I'd do is make it a buff beacon. Able to be set over an objective and radiate an additional point of his Ward and Vex buffs for people that aren't going to follow you around. Take away the extra functions it doesn't need, like the credit boost and the clearing pulse, just keep the close-range blind and the 'copy-of-his-1' attack, then it can even stop being a Drain ability and become a regular Duration cast (like you would want) that you can then de-cast early and re-cast without needing to worry about your energy economy. As a Sentinel it really wouldn't stop being a Drain ability, that would be too strong if you could literally sprint it into the middle of a group and have it blind, knock-back and then attack every single enemy you walked into.

Effigy is a really wird ability to rework in my opinion, though becoming a catalyst for his buff isnt a bad idea. What I wanted to change with my rework, was make effigy more agile, by giving it more freedom of movement.

39 minutes ago, Birdframe_Prime said:

With his 1 changing to a blast-style attack and his 4 now a Duration, though, you could even drop off the Hunter Adrenaline mod in any mode that isn't the Eidolon/Spider fights, because he'd be so much more efficient.

Well right now when only using his 2 and 3, chroma doesnt really have any energy issues. I myself never use Hunter Adrenaline (one because I think its really only a low to mid level mod), becasue with zenurik im able to maintain my buffs for over 2h, even with my 398% powerstrength build. I decided to remove the channeling faktor from effigy, because it would mess with his builds, because of how efficiency works with channeled abilities. The good side effect of this change is that chroma will be able to regen energy while effigy is on.

45 minutes ago, Birdframe_Prime said:

I mean, your base goal of buffing up Chroma's other abilities to make him more playable is the right move to go for. But the specifics... are a bit off. That's all. Yes he's a buff frame, but his buffing theme is the Chromatic Dragon, not an Asian Dragon.

Well we can agree to disagree there, in the end he's just our favorite dragon boi, which we all want to see in a better place. Ill rethink some of the changes to elemental ward, though i still think only one ability should be dedicated for tanking.

[Andele3025]

1 hour ago, BlachWolf said:

Well they are new players and only see him as an eidolon hunter.

No, that came from way before because of his quest and how the actual chroma frame is the dinky boy without the pelt while the pelt itself has a lot of features in common with sentients (notably hunhow).
Just as Nova doesnt actually use anti-matter but gravity (gravitational collapse/wormholes/altering g pressure for time dilation) and Nekros uses OG version of Technocyte and not actually turning things undead.

The idea of his kit came from a fan concept of a actual dragon frame, he himself is only related to dragons in store plat pack name and that his prime gets Dota 2 Dragon Knights human form visuals.