I just want Chroma to be cool...

[HomicidalGrouse]

I'm a Chroma main. Been that way ever since I unlocked him. I thought he was one of the coolest looking frames, and I actually enjoyed the quest A New Strange. Tracking down this rogue frame on the Derelict and then the long slog of unlocking all of his parts (and repeatedly murdering Kela for the right Saryn part to build him) made finally claiming him from my foundry one of the more rewarding experiences in this game.

Then I realized how mostly useless Effigy and Spectral Scream are. His two abilities that are the most visually appealing... almost entirely useless on anything beyond level 40 or so enemies unless you specifically build just for Effigy (but who does that!?), and even then it's never as powerful as the Vex Armor meta.

I know there have been a lot of threads about Chroma reworks and things have been muttered about it not happening anytime soon, but I figured I would throw a couple ideas I had out there to see if they sound viable. I'm sure someone else has thought of similar changes, but I haven't read all of the threads...

A lot of people seem to think that the biggest issues with Spectral Scream and Effigy are that they don't do enough damage to be of use in higher-level content. While this is true, I think giving them greater utility uses would be more effective in making them useful abilities.

The first change I would make is to give Effigy a large AOE crowd-control effect on-cast dependent on energy color. Fire could knockdown all mobs in a certain radius and ignite them, toxin could cause them to vomit uncontrollably, cold could cause them to be slowed and/or frozen, and electricity could shock and stun them. These would all basically be stun effects, though it would be nice if the damage were sufficient to kill most of the "trash" mobs on-cast. Effigy can already perform a "radial roar" that stuns enemies, but I think this would be more effective as a guaranteed on-cast effect so the player can control it more reliably.

In addition to this, I believe either lowering or even removing the continual energy drain of Effigy would be an improvement, at the cost of a higher cost for the initial cast. Chroma already loses armor as one trade-off for the use of the ability.

Spectral Scream, I think could use a "charge" time similar to Ember's WoF. The longer you use Spectral Scream, the more damage it does, but the caveat being a greater energy drain. On top of this, to add a bit of synergy with Effigy, I believe it would be a helpful addition to allow you to "charge" Effigy by hitting it with your Spectral Scream. This could increase Effigy's damage output and range and allow you to dump excess energy into it as a trade-off for the removal of the continual energy drain of Effigy. This final change gives you a choice of how powerful you wish Effigy to be, and how much energy you wish to spend on it at the same time, rather than having an underpowered ability that is constantly draining energy. The only downside I can think of to this is that after charging it, you would potentially have an over-powered ability that is costing no energy, so to combat this, I would suggest that Effigy loses its charged up state over time, so you would have to return and charge it with Spectral Scream again to restore its buff.

I think with these changes, Chroma would gain better CC and Effigy would be capable of fulfilling its apparent goal of being a decent defensive ability.

Thoughts?

TL;DR:

Spectral Scream:
- Increase damage and energy drain the longer it's used.

Effigy:
- Remove continual energy drain.
- Convert its chance to cast a "radial roar" into a powerful AoE crowd-control effect on-cast determined by energy color.
- Allow Effigy's damage and range to be "charged" by being hit with Spectral Scream.
- Have Effigy's charge decrease over time, incentivizing recharging with Spectral Scream.

[XenMaster]

Spectral scream should be like instance frontal breath attack. Scalable with armor/shield strip. Similar to Fire Breath shout from Skyrim.

 

Effigy need to be the best AI tank with longer cc. Basically, true combat companion.

 

[(XBOX)zThulsaDoomz]

As long as Chroma is turning open world boss bounties into Chernobyl, chances are pretty slim DE will look at him.  

Sad really.

[Kainosh]

I do not play Chroma much...But i got some thoughts about his kit :

 

Spectral scream

1. Should "blow away" all incoming fire (frontal shield while "screaming").  Like....cone Turbulence. 
2. Must scale somehow.  Either let it benefit from Vex....Or make it utilise incoming damage similar to Octavia's Mallet (preferable)
3. Should "cook" enemies, making them drop health orbs. (coz Vex need health)

Effigy

1. Would be nice to turn it into a "pet" of sorts. Like Venari. Fully moddable and with its own set of abilities.  If it is killed, it returns to "armor" mode and to use it again you need 100 energy (revives it with full health).  It will last till dead or called back.
2. When Effigy is summoned, you can tell it to "hold position".  Otherwise it will follow you around.

 

That, and ability to somehow cycle through elements would be nice.

[(XBOX)RPColten]

He's pretty cool if you use a white energy colour.