Revisiting the Elytron Archwing

[Mikhael222]

Now that Itzal is not the only viable means of transportation (and now that we no longer need to use Itzal's second ability to stop inertia), I've been fighting open world bounties in archwing models I haven't become familiar with yet.  I assume that sometime during or after Railjack's release, DE will revisit Archwing abilities and bring them up to date. After playing with Elytron, I definitely enjoy the overall theme, but I have a few suggestions for how it might improve.

 

Even if nothing else is changed, I feel that at least these three relatively-minor things are a must:

 

1. The projectile speed of 1 and 4 is sad.  A century after activating either ability, the projectile finally lands where it's supposed to.  This waiting time is a little upsetting, and I feel it disrupts the game's flow of combat.

 

2. More obvious VFX and SFX.  The effects are so diminished by the surrounding combat that I've questioned whether or not I indeed activated the ability.

 

3. More damage.  I press 4; The Nuke lands on the Plains; The Grineer get a nice sun tan from the large-but-impotent blast; The Grineer move on with their lives.  I press 1; The projectile lands on the Plains; The projectile mildly disrupts the enemies' walking; The Grineer keep going. I press 3. The missiles can't seem to do anything.

 

A couple of additional changes:

 

First Ability: Bloomer

Currently: Press 1.  Wait a century for the projectile to go where you want. Press 1 again to detonate.

 

Ideally: Press 1.  The projectile shoots out at a high velocity.  It detonates automatically on impact unless you press 1 while it's in midair to manually detonate.

 

Third Ability: Thumper

Currently: Press 3.  Waste energy.  Watch some confused/impotent missiles try their best.

Ideally: Thumper should have a similar effect as Ember's new ultimate.

 

In conclusion, I am very happy with the new Archwing controls.  Fighting in the open worlds while in archwing is more thrilling than ever.  I just hope DE will make the abilities match in time.

[Althaline]

4's speed would be fine if I were allowed to airburst it like I can with 1 and 3. Damage numbers could probably do with being slightly higher on all fronts, in order to stay competitive with permanent invisibility/invulnerability.

[DrakeWurrum]

I'd rather the Elytron's 4 have some sort of target lock-on mechanic (a la Ash's Bladestorm). Tap 4, pick a target, tap it again, and let it chase down your target while you go about the rest of your business.

I don't mind the 3rd ability as is. A big AOE field of persistent damage explosions works fine for me.

I feel like the 1st ability should be given the Ember treatment. Fire off a barrage of auto-targeting missiles at targets within a frontal cone of aoe.

Frankly, my personal issue with the Elytron is how easy it is for enemies to take you down, when supposedly it's supposed to have "high survivability" among Archwings. I typically take Amesha instead because of how tanky it is.

If they were to really tweak the kit, I'd say... get rid of the 4th ability, and put a buffed-up Thumper in its place, and make the 1st ability a decent auto-targeting nuke (as above). Then make Elytron's 3rd ability something for taking damage more easily.

Edited December 10, 2019 by DrakeWurrum

[Educated_Beast]

All archwings need a x100 vacuum to compete with itzal.  There still is no reason to use any other archwing.  Itzal's #3 is very useful for collecting energy to keep #2 going.  

Even though we can stop on a dime and blink was severely nerfed, Itzal is still superior in every way.  

Electron needs a gimmick and some boosts to damage. Perhaps some cc on its #3 combined with more damage overall.  

[Mikhael222]

30 minutes ago, Educated_Beast said:

All archwings need a x100 vacuum to compete with itzal.

Not if you can blow things up.  Itzal's vacuum is Handy......but overrated.

[Althaline]

58 minutes ago, DrakeWurrum said:

I'd rather the Elytron's 4 have some sort of target lock-on mechanic (a la Ash's Bladestorm). Tap 4, pick a target, tap it again, and let it chase down your target while you go about the rest of your business.

Sure, we all know how popular that rework was. Also, Big Red Button needs to be the 4th for Elytron, pls do not take away my Big Red Button Q_Q

59 minutes ago, DrakeWurrum said:

I feel like the 1st ability should be given the Ember treatment. Fire off a barrage of auto-targeting missiles at targets within a frontal cone of aoe.

I do like this part, it would make Elytron's 1 actually useful for a change. Currently Bloomer is one of 2 useless Archwing 1st abilities, and Itzal's used to be good.

 

1 hour ago, DrakeWurrum said:

Frankly, my personal issue with the Elytron is how easy it is for enemies to take you down, when supposedly it's supposed to have "high survivability" among Archwings. I typically take Amesha instead because of how tanky it is.

This I can get behind. My personal recommendation would be giving a proper evasion buff on Core Vent (anecdotally, using it has increased my survivability, but it doesn't have an official effect on any stats) and guaranteeing Blast procs on all Thumper explosions. These combined with your suggested change to Bloomer and the ability to airburst Warhead could make Elytron a true competitor for Archwing usefulness.

[DrakeWurrum]

13 hours ago, Iamabearlulz said:

Sure, we all know how popular that rework was.

I actually prefer the current iteration of Ash Bladestorm over the previous ones.

But even if you hate it, you have to admit what I suggest would work better than having to manually direct it with your reticule, or else you're in their face already and may as well smash them with an Arch-hammer.

I'm not sure how else one could handle NOT having manual control of the warhead.

Maybe it could be something like you hold down the key, and when you let it go it fires off with a lock-on on the target that was in your reticule... but tap the key and it flies in a straight line. Tapping the key again could detonate early, like you say, beyond that.

  

13 hours ago, Iamabearlulz said:

My personal recommendation would be giving a proper evasion buff on Core Vent (anecdotally, using it has increased my survivability, but it doesn't have an official effect on any stats) and guaranteeing Blast procs on all Thumper explosions.

Personally, I would rather see Elytron get something themed around armor and/or self-repair. I don't really want to see Core Vent gone, though.

Edited December 10, 2019 by DrakeWurrum

[Gaxxian]

I made a feedback thread about Elytron a few days back:

We have a lot of points of view very similar about how Elytron feels :S

[Mikhael222]

27 minutes ago, Gaxxian said:

I made a feedback thread about Elytron a few days back:

We have a lot of points of view very similar about how Elytron feels :S

I promise I didn't steal lol I didn't even see your old post.