Mach Rush Rhino Charge?

[Steel_Rook]

I managed to get my Gauss recently (took me a while) and have had a lot of fun with him. I'm especially fond of his Mach Rush ability implementation. Sure, it's not terribly practical for moving through most tilesets and it doesn't do a lot of damage, but MAN is it ever fun to headbutt and gore my way through a massive throng of enemies along a narrow hallway 🙂 That got me thinking, though - this ability would be SUCH a perfect fit for Rhino's Charge. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with that ability - it's neither weak nor cumbersome. However, it's just a limited rush. As I played Gauss and rammed my way through dense groups of enemies, I couldn't help but wonder how cool it would be if Rhino could take off running and do the same.

So, what do you guys think? What if Rhino's ability gained an extra aspect? Tap the button and Rhino Charge works exactly like it does now. Hold the button and Rhino starts running (possibly more slowly and with greater directional control), shoving people out of the way, until he collides with a wall and causes an explosion. Yeah, it will probably make it easier to proc Ironclad Charge and might necessitate some changes that people might not like but... At least in theory, wouldn't that be a good fit for Rhino?

[(PSN)guzmantt1977]

43 minutes ago, Steel_Rook said:

Yeah, it will probably make it easier to proc Ironclad Charge and might necessitate some changes that people might not like

☝️ This is one of two concerns I'd have. The other is that the damage from his charges stack.

From the wiki:

If Rhino Charge is successfully cast within a window of 1 second after the previous cast, its damage will be multiplied by 200%, its charge range will be multiplied by 125%, and its energy cost will be reduced by 50%. Any successful cast thereafter will multiply Rhino Charge's damage by 400%, multiply its charge range by 150%, and reduce its energy cost by 75%

 

 Holding would mean that the combo isn't activated and won't stack damage. 

[(XBOX)GearsMatrix301]

7 hours ago, (PS4)guzmantt1977 said:

☝️ This is one of two concerns I'd have. The other is that the damage from his charges stack.

From the wiki:

If Rhino Charge is successfully cast within a window of 1 second after the previous cast, its damage will be multiplied by 200%, its charge range will be multiplied by 125%, and its energy cost will be reduced by 50%. Any successful cast thereafter will multiply Rhino Charge's damage by 400%, multiply its charge range by 150%, and reduce its energy cost by 75%

 

 Holding would mean that the combo isn't activated and won't stack damage. 

They could easily rework that.

[(PSN)guzmantt1977]

1 hour ago, (XB1)GearsMatrix301 said:

They could easily rework that.

Yeah, it's just something that I'd prefer they rework before/while making the changes that @Steel_Rooksuggested rather than having to fix it after.

Other than those two issues, I don't have any significant concerns about what was suggested and it does sound like a good idea overall. 

[Steel_Rook]

DE seem to have designed quite a few of their offensive abilities in this fashion - spam the button, get a stacking damage buff and energy discount. It works for stuff like Atlas' Landslide as that auto-targets enemies and doesn't knock them back. However, Rhino's Charge ragdolls enemies and scatters them, thus this design isn't quite as effective there. So yes, my proposal would involve redesigning the core ability's discount/damage structure, though I personally feel a change like that is warranted. Without wishing to assume, do a lot of people really use Rhino Charge for its damage component or spam it over and over again?

I do believe the damage ramp-up fits the ability, but I'd do it over distance travelled. Start the charge slower, then ramp speed and damage up for distance travelled while offering an energy discount similarly. Honestly, my personal balance concern is that this makes Ironclad Charge a LOT more powerful since it's so much easier to bowl down a hallway packed with 20-30 people in it and pull a LOT of Iron Skin out of that. Then again, people have been doing that with Health Conversion for a while, so I'm not sure if the difference is that significant.

Personally, though... I feel that if there's one Warframe in the game who should be running through groups of enemies and knocking them down like bowling pins, it really should be Rhino and Gauss' Mach Rush does such an awesome job of that 🙂