Concerns and Suggestions Regarding Ember

[MasterControl]

While watching Devstream 126, I became increasingly concerned for Ember, culminating with the reveal of Wisp's ultimate. She was not mentioned in the rework segment and as has clearly been echoed through the forums and Reddit, Wisp's ultimate belongs on Ember. It feels like DE has entirely forgotten about Ember for the moment. I am now concerned that Ember will receive a similar treatment as Zephyr after Titania's ultimate stole the show regarding flying from Zephyr, as Zephyr got a mediocre rework that still has left her in a somewhat awkward position with a new ability that doesn't really solve the problems of her kit.

 

In light of this, I'd like to offer a few suggestions as far as what can be done to help Ember without too drastically changing her kit.

 

  Passive: Universally agreed to be terrible. Trying to take advantage of heat procs on a caster frame means you're probably going to die trying to get that bonus. The bonus you do get has an anti-synergy with World on Fire, which as a toggle ability, prevents energy regeneration.

I'd suggest replacing it with something that gives Ember base heat damage on all of her weapons, so that she can always take advantage of Accelerant without the need for her powers. You could always go crazy with it and give her a heat-meter ala the Exploiter that makes her damage more potent the more she casts, but I'm trying to be conservative here :p.

 

   1. Fireball. A mediocre 1 as any, minor damage, minor cc from heat procs, a somewhat useless charge mechanic. A very simple change to massively increase it's effectiveness and give it a use would be to cause the fireball's explosion to knock enemies down. Quick, panic cc in a similar vein to Volt. This primes them for ground finishers, and softens them to Condition Overload thanks to the heat proc. A slightly less simple, but still reasonable, change would be to vastly decrease the charge time of fireball, and to give a charged fireball different properties. For example, a fully charged fireball could be lobbed in an arc, allowing it to hit enemies it normally wouldn't be able to, while gaining a minor increase in range and damage, allowing it to knock down a larger group of enemies, albeit being slightly slower, making you chose between a quick small-range knockdown or a larger, slower knockdown.

   2. Accelerant. Mostly fine, this is the only thing saving Ember from being completely useless. Accelerant however sort of fails to stand on it's own, being more akin to a bandaid that remedies Ember's damage issues with her other abilities, and struggling with it's own identity outside of augments. I think it would be interesting if a fire proc on an accelerant'd enemy caused them to explode, dealing additional damage and potentially catching more enemies on fire. Obviously would synergize with the rest of her kit, but would not require other abilities to function, thanks to Ember's new passive giving bonus fire damage to all weapons and allowing anything she carries to proc heat.

   3. Fire Blast. I.. hmm. Fire blast has decent potential in being a good keep-away ability for a frame who really needs it, considering she can't take many hits. Honestly, I'd consider merging this with World on Fire - ala Resonating Quake. Putting down a fireblast still causes the blast and ring, and for a semi-decent distance afterwards, World on Fire damages things that come near the ring, untying WoF from Ember and making it more stationary.

   4, World on Fire. Seriously, why did Wisp get the big fire kamehameha? It would have resolved so many of Ember's issues to give it to her, and wouldn't even need to scale much if it had decent base power thanks to Accelerant. I just.. ugh, I'm so disappointed. Anyway. World on Fire in it's current form needs to be utterly removed. Period. A damage aura that surrounds the player and requires no interaction can never be good, or else the game becomes a literal cakewalk where you run around and pick up loot. Conversely, if it's bad, it's bad and not worth using. If Wisp keeps her ult, I honestly don't know what one would replace World on Fire with, and that's what worries me. A power that you interact with (say, via aiming.. like you do with Wisp's ult) is both more enjoyable to use and easier to balance.

Edited April 6, 2019 by MasterControl

[Maka.Bones]

35 minutes ago, MasterControl said:

I honestly don't know what one would replace World on Fire with

Overheat.... Her old 4th. 

 

I had suggested to give ember a Kamehameha a while back. No one liked the idea and said it belonged on a different warframe.... Now they made a different warframe which slightly resembles my old suggestions, and people want them on ember...

Lmfao. I think it suits wisp. Ember manipulates heat, by superheating the air around her... Which would make it hard for her to manipulate and control like a Lazer/Kamehameha. But she could use it as a defensive ability to deflect projectiles/energy, and to melt armor (like she used to)

Edited April 6, 2019 by Maka.Bones

[MasterControl]

3 minutes ago, Maka.Bones said:

Overheat.... Her old 4th. 

Overheat was Ember's old 2, and was replaced with Accelerant. Besides, that kind of seems like a cop-out, especially for an ult. It was removed explicitly for not fitting Ember's kit, due to her being intended as a fragile caster, and not the tank Overheat made her to be.

[Maka.Bones]

1 minute ago, MasterControl said:

Overheat was Ember's old 2, and was replaced with Accelerant. Besides, that kind of seems like a cop-out, especially for an ult. It was removed explicitly for not fitting Ember's kit, due to her being intended as a fragile caster, and not the tank Overheat made her to be.

Right, my bad. I wasn't around when it happened. Thanks for the clarification though

 

Anyway, maybe they should change her theme into a tank frame instead?

Edited April 6, 2019 by Maka.Bones