I Don't "get" The Banshee.

[noneuklid]

So I've played Trinity, Mag (pre-Pull changes), and Volt, and loved all of them.  I thought Sonar looked pretty cool, so I farmed Banshee parts and built her.

 

I'm pretty underwhelmed.  I really want to like her, but Sonic Boom feels like a weak "Pull," Silence is... not working?  Or just not particularly useful in the current play paradigm, or both.  And Sound Quake is just awful; 8-second root for underwhelming damage and total exposure to anything outside the radius?  No thanks.  Making it cast-and-forget for the duration would smooth it out a lot, but it still wouldn't make it interesting.

 

I like the effect of Sonar, but I'd like it a lot more for twice the baseline radius and half the cost.  The thing is, it's a great power for dealing with 'spongey' enemies (disproportionately high health to their overall threat), and wonderful for bosses, but against anything else it's slightly less useful than just having a direct-damage power.

 

I haven't seen a lot of calls for "buff the Banshee," and I'm thinking that this is maybe because she's just not that popular or interesting to play... but the alternative is that I'm totally short-selling her and there's a great combo I'm just not seeing.

 

So before I start my crusade to fix her, help me out -- what am I not getting about the Banshee?

[Xievie]

Banshee is really a one trick pony, having Sonar being the only reason why you would choose to get her.

 

Sonic Boom is just a tiny bit of crowd control which you rarely use.

Silence is useless and underwhelming.

Sound Quake, like you said, has underwhelming damage. It DOES have a bit of (stagger) crowd control, though. It's not bad for lower level missions, but you'll kill anything in one shot, then will be stuck in position until the casting is finished.

 

I still choose most frames over her. She's only useful for bosses and defense that has levels high enough that you really can't deal damage with your guns. (Sonar)

Edited September 15, 2013 by Xievie

[Casardis]

I've shared my point of view on her powers before, and I've always believed that she needs a look at, among other frames like Volt. It's similar to pre-9.8 Nyx where Chaos was pretty much the only skill you would really use, except for a few Mind Control and rare Absorb here and there.

Copy-pasted (with a few additions)

I know that Banshee's not supposed to be an offensive frame, but to be honest...

- Sonic Boom deals nothing in terms of damage (a whooping 40 maxed without Focus). It's great to quickly push things away though, especially in defense. However, sometimes it seems like it doesn't work. I also feel that it needs more range, especially if you want it to be on par with powers like Pull (Pull was buffed to be "on the same level" as other frame's powers, isn't it? No reason not to buff Sonic Boom then)

- Silence is simply useless. Half the times it doesn't work correctly, and even if it does, it's not worth the energy/capacity. Now with mods that reduce sound, it's even more useless.

- Sound Quake doesn't ignore armor (why would they make armor protect against "ultrasonic reverberations"?), deals moderate damage, makes you completely vulnerable, but has good range at least. Sound Quake isn't great crowd control either unless you have a team close to help you because, as soon as the damage stops dealing, they will start shooting at you during your recovery animation. Banshee's squishy so she can't take a lot of that.

Compared to a few other ults, Rhino and Nova has about the same range, while the former deals armor ignore damage and puts enemies in stasis, increased with mods; the latter slows down any enemies and for the most part, doesn't even require you to be in the middle of the crowd for high effectiveness due to the nature of MPrime. It also increase damage received.

The one skill that has a really great use is Sonar, which can give quite an insane multiplier, but why should only one skill be so effective?

I'm not saying she's not good, but that Banshee can use some luvin' <3 She can definitely receive a few changes that wouldn't hurt her nor the balance between frames too much, but rather make all of her skills more useful (while keeping Sonar as it is).

Edited September 15, 2013 by Casardis

[tigrex]

I can remember the time where sound quake was one of the strongest ults, those were nice times.

But she realy needs some serious buffs, so i expect that she is one of the next frames that will be reworked.

[Wynn]

Sonic Boom can be use to move bosses, when you need to get a teammate up.

Sound Quake has really great range and is amazing till armor scaling gets too high for it to kill.

Sonar is your bread and butter at high levels it's a party damage multiplier.

[LukeAura]

Banshe has crowd control and the biggest damage buffing skill in the game, Sonar. 
Unfortunately yes, her CC is somewhat lacking. And Sonar is only worthwhile on bosses and heavy enemies. 

Silence only works while enemies are unalerted to your presence. So basically never. 
She is a very simple frame to play I think, which is her big problem. You're in a good position, Sonar to capitalize on your situation. In a bad one, Sonic boom to escape or to gun down enemies while they're knocked down. And that's it. It's not very exciting. 

[Dasmir]

Banshee is really a one trick pony, having Sonar being the only reason why you would choose to get her.

 

Sonic Boom is just a tiny bit of crowd control which you rarely use.

Silence is useless and underwhelming.

Sound Quake, like you said, has underwhelming damage. It DOES have a bit of (stagger) crowd control, though. It's not bad for lower level missions, but you'll kill anything in one shot, then will be stuck in position until the casting is finished.

 

I still choose most frames over her. She's only useful for bosses and defense that has levels high enough that you really can't deal damage with your guns. (Sonar)

 

Sonic boom is awsone and Sound quake is still the skill with more range and CC is game now is a shame power duration doest nothing to it cuz that will make it the best CC ult in game.

 

its a tactical frame, no a one trick pony if you want a Derpherp frame play nova or saryn.

[Xievie]

its a tactical frame, no a one trick pony if you want a Derpherp frame play nova or saryn.

 

Yes, I am aware that she is tactical. Though, she is pretty weaker, and the CC she provides is so situational, it's usually better to choose a Nova or something over her. She's a secondary choice, and I wouldn't choose her unless the other warframes' roles (Frost, Nyx and Nova/Saryn) are already covered.

 

Actually, I'm fighting FOR Banshee, not against her. Would be cool if she got a buff.

 

best CC ult in game.

 

I wouldn't go THAT far. It does laughable damage already. All I can say it does is that it provides "oh S#&amp;&#036;" emergency CC when at higher levels.

[Casardis]

Sound quake is still the skill with more range and CC is game

 

It has a lot of range, yes, but even though it has CC, it's a mediocre CC because, as I've explained:

 

- You can't do anything during the animation

-- CC happens only during the animation, which means you NEED teammates around to help you defeat the enemies you're putting in CC.

- When the damage-dealing part ends, enemies have a short recovery, enough to get a few shots at you while you're at the end of getting back up from your animation.

 

 

As much as I'd like Sound Quake to be armor-ignore, if it can't be that way, at least buff the CC abilities (I much prefer utility than damage for my Banshee). For example:

 

- Make enemies disoriented for a short while after the casting. They've been bombarded with sound waves after all.

-- Disorientation can be in form of stun, or simply enemies having bad aiming (that way Banshee can recover in time without getting a few bullets in the buttcheeks)

- To make this even more effective, power duration mods can increase the time of disorientation. Since its base duration is already short, it won't make it OP effective either.

 

As for Sonic Boom, simply range and/or damage buff will be good I think. I prefer range and knockback range to be honest, but a buff in damage to deal at least in the hundreds will be great too. I also can't help but compare SB to Pull (I have both Frames, and Mag's my starter Frame), and I feel it should be equal in terms of "effectiveness."

Edited September 15, 2013 by Casardis