Warframe Concept: Gustav- the Artillerist, the Man-At-Arms

[Cobalt313]

I realize my timing is bad since we probably already have 3-5 Blast-element Warframe concepts within the first two pages of this forum alone, but rest assured I had come up with this idea a while before rejoining these forums and am not intentionally trying to copy anyone else's Blastframe ideas. I am also aware that Blast as an element is a bit underwhelming in its current state, but nevertheless I was compelled by a desire to see a Frame at least thematically based on every element type, as well as vague memories of an old idea for a Warframe that sported a back- or shoulder-mounted cannon as part of its design, and a more recent revelation that the existence of Arch-Guns could perhaps allow for such as a sort of Exalted Heavy Weapon.

Stats I haven't quite gotten down in numbers yet; I imagine this Frame would be intended more as a sort of low-mobility defense or crowd-control Frame, so perhaps a decent amount of Armor and Shields but lower Health and movement speed, with a small- to medium-sized Energy pool. Idea being you would use this Frame for crowd-clearing and setting up defensive chokepoints, with the Exalted weapon's energy consumption and mobility restriction discouraging one from resorting to it exclusively as much as possible. Still something of a work-in-progress, and I am willing to take constructive criticism and feedback for how to help balance or stat this guy.

Anyway, on to its abilities:

Passive: Not finalized- will likely include innate resistance to knockback/knockdown and self-damage from explosive weaponry. May include additional effects such as dealing Blast status proc on a cooldown to nearby enemies when struck by a melee attack, or perhaps incorporate some stacking mechanic that enables or supports use of his Ultimate after certain conditions are met.

1st: Air Burst- Tap to fire an explosive projectile from his back/shoulder cannon toward your crosshair, dealing Blast/Impact damage in a radius around the point of impact with high chance of status proc. Hold to enter a special aiming mode that reduces movement speed and highlights enemies and horizontal surfaces within a cylindrical radius around Gustav. Aim to target an enemy or exposed horizontal surface highlighted within this area of effect, and release to fire an empowered artillery shot skyward that falls from above and strikes the targeted point or enemy after a short delay, ignoring obstacles or obstructions to line-of-sight between Gustav and the targeted point. The explosion from this projectile does not deal self-damage or knockback to Gustav (independently of any such resistance in his Passive), and if used while aim-gliding, he may ride the blast radius of the projectile's explosion to regain some vertical momentum and refresh or extend his glide duration.

Ability Power increases damage, Ability Range increases projectile range and blast radius, and Ability Duration increases targeting mode radius.

Possible Augment: Breach Rounds- Tap-cast projectiles gain additional Puncture damage and punch-through at the cost of dramatically reduced Blast radius. Hold-cast shells, when fired, lodge immediately into the targeted point or enemy, and explode after a short delay.

Thoughts: While a Blast-dealing projectile ability was all but inevitable given the theme, I thought adding a special targeting mode that let you blow up enemies hiding behind cover without needing line-of-sight would be a fun way to complement the "artillery" theme, and figured the "rocket jumping" could be a fun minor gimmick to supplement the Warframe's own intended limited mobility, especially once the Exalted Arch-Gun comes into play. Augment was meant to allow you to deal greater damage against armored targets at the cost of some crowd-clearing potential.


2nd: Sensor Mine- Tap to drop a motion-sensitive mine at the Warframe's feet, hold to throw it toward your cursor point in a low arc. Mines expire after a limited duration but are inert and indestructible until an enemy comes near, at which point they arm themselves and will subsequently detonate upon taking damage or detecting movement from the enemy that triggered it, dealing high Blast and Slash damage in a radius. While alerted enemies may be too focused on the Tenno to see or avoid these mines until it is too late, unalerted or suspicious enemies may catch sight of the mine as it arms, causing them to freeze in place and stare directly at the mine until it expires. Enemies trapped in this manner generate a radial fear effect at regular intervals, as they warn their allies to get out of the blast zone before it is too late. Maximum number of mines increases with ability level, up to 4 at max level. Ability power increases damage, Duration increases mine lifespan, Range increases blast/fear radius as well as throw distance.

Possible augment: Claymore- Replaces Sensor Mines with proximity-trigger Claymore Mines that can be placed on floors and walls and detonate as soon as an enemy passes through their narrow, conical detection radius, dealing high Puncture and Blast damage in a cone toward the spotted enemy. Enemies fortunate enough to approach Claymores from behind have a chance to spot them and may disarm them by shooting them to detonate them prematurely. Tap-cast to quickly place a Claymore at Gustav's feet, aimed horizontally in the direction of your pointer. Hold-cast to aim at a surface within a radius of Gustav to toss a Claymore onto it, pointed parallel to horizontal surfaces and faced away from Gustav, or perpendicular to vertical surfaces it is placed upon. The maximum number of Claymores that can be placed at once is also doubled, up to a maximum of 8.

Thoughts: Pretty straightforward; figured it would make sense for a Blast-frame to have some kind of mine without quite copying Vauban's abilities. Initially meant for the detection/detonation delay to maximize how much of a crowd of following enemies would be on top of the mine before it blows to ensure it wouldn't just be set off the second a lone unit stumbles on it, and came up with the detection/fear trap afterward. Claymores were mostly just a way to make the augment trade quality for quantity. May consider separating the fear trap effect into its own separate "Terror Mine" augment that makes the first enemy to stumble upon it freeze and periodically radiate a fear effect, and then detonate if any other enemies approach between fear intervals.


3rd: Detonation- Tap to release a radial explosion centered on Gustav that deals Blast and Heat damage to nearby enemies and knocks them away. Hold to slowly charge the explosion with additional energy, gradually increasing damage and blast radius and empowering the explosion to leave a lingering area of effect that deals Heat damage over time to enemies within. Gustav will moves at a reduced speed and cannot fire while charging Detonation, but takes significantly reduced damage until the explosion is released by reaching maximum charge or letting go of the button.
Ability Power increases base damage, Ability Range increases base blast radius, Ability Duration increases maximum charge bonus percentage.

Possible Augment: Meltdown- Changes secondary damage type from Heat to Radiation, and halves maximum charge level. Charged explosions are not released immediately upon end of ability channel, but are instead stored and carried passively until released immediately upon recasting the ability or when Gustav's health falls below 0. Storing energy in this manner causes Gustav to slowly lose health over time at a rate proportional to the level of charge, but also empowers all damage dealt with additional Radiation damage that scales with Ability Power and level of charge. May also convert a portion of incoming Elemental damage into additional power strength that goes above this ability's normal charge limit, up to double the maximum amount allowed by this Augment.

Thoughts: Radial explosion ability is all but required on a Blast-frame, but this time it isn't his Ultimate. Figured letting it be a clutch crowd-knockdown on quick tap and require you to charge it up for bonus damage and/or create some area denial with the lingering damage zone. Augment started out with the idea of letting you charge up in advance while out of danger, and then rush into a crowd to ensure you were completely surrounded when unleashing your full fury whether or not you survive the trip, then that gave me the idea of also adding in the damage accumulation and held charge buff to turn it into a sort of more aggressive risk/reward option.


4th: Armageddon Cannon- Warframe unleashes the full fury of its dorsal cannon(s?) as an Exalted Arch-gun. Primary fire unleashes a rapid but inaccurate barrage of explosive rounds slightly affected by gravity that deal Impact and Blast damage and explode and in a small radius around the point of impact. Alternate fire mode instead uses a single high-velocity explosvive round with much higher damage, pinpoint accuracy, longer range, and a much larger explosive radius than the primary fire in exchange for increased energy consumption per shot and a much slower rate of fire. Cannon may be modded in Arsenal as with other Exalted weapons, in addition to gaining increased base damage from Ability Power, increased blast radius and projectile speed from Ability Range, and reduced energy consumption per shot from Ability Duration.

Possible Augment: Solid-State Ordinance- Replaces primary rocket spray with a rapid-fire cone of hitscan projectiles that deal additional base Puncture and Slash damage in exchange for no explosive radius, and replaces secondary fire with a railgun round that trades explosive radius for dramatically increased base damage, additional Puncture and Slash damage, and high innate punch-through.

Thoughts: And now for the crown jewel of this kit. the Exalted Arch-Gun. Very much meant for this to be an Energy-guzzling pyrotechnic death dispenser, with Primary fire meant for mowing through crowds of standard enemies with its small Energy consumption per shot and Alternate Fire for deleting single, stronger targets with an energy drain that discourages spam. Augment was more or less the same mindset as Airburst's augment: less spreading damage across crowds and more concentrating damage to a single target each hit. Still open for ideas for change in functionality so long as it still fits the theme, and debating whether this should be freely togglable, have some sort of cooldown like regular Arch-Guns, or be tied to some passive ability that involves fulfilling certain criteria before you are allowed to use this for a short duration (affected by mods of course).

Appearance: Very militaristic aesthetic, possibly even evocative of the Grineer in some respects, while still maintaining a distinct silhouette from actual Grineer units. Covered in bulky sections of armor padding with one or two cannons attached prominently to his back and able to extend up and over his shoulders to aim at targets in front, as well as a retractable barrel integrated into a thick protrusion in his spine that can extend to fire upwards for artillery-style long-range projectiles. All three may possibly be attached to a prominent "hunch" that can in fact detach from his back as a single connected mass and be wielded in both hands as the Arch-Gun itself, alternating between the smaller "shoulder" barrels and the larger "spine" barrel for primary and secondary fire modes, respectively.

 

I had an idea for a quest to unlock this guy, too; something involving Maroo, the Steel Meridian, and the location of a secret Orokin manse thought lost since the days of the Old War that Grineer scouting parties keep failing to report back about. Might update this later with some general story beats if anyone's interested.


So that's the long and short of it, what do you all think?