Most Aura Mods aren't worth equipping

[Kaiga]

The lack of uniqueness in aura mod choices seems like it's because a vast majority of them are either too weak or lack noticeable impact, not because popular mods like steel charge/projection are too strong.

That kind of thinking would invite from DE the head-slammingly out of touch decision to nerf said mods down to uselessness, so that everything sucks equally and nobody is happy, instead of just most people.

No, the aura mod slot seems like- a minor but meaningful way to impact the theme of your build, but even with coaction drift, those impacts on most of them are so minimal, you'd be better off with the extra mod capacity from a matching polarity or again, steel charge.

The solution seems like it would be to either buff coaction drift- so those who want a more aura focused build can spend the mod points to have it- or by flat out making some of the lesser used auras more powerful, to justify equipping them.

[TARINunit9]

The only reason they haven't bothered nerfing Corrosive Projection is because they're reworking armor already, so they won't touch CP until after. Energy Siphon is outclassed Zenurik, and EMP Aura already got nerfed (no longer works on Eidolons). So the only meta Aura they could nerf now is Steel Charge

Now that we're done talking nerf stereotypes, onto business

I think that the obviously weaker Auras should be buffed to +9 Drain, and Steel Charged nerfed to 7 Drain. This would at least give incentive to use Auras like Pistol Damage or Sprint Boost, since in exchange for Corrosive Projection you would now be getting more Drain AND another bonus that at least exists

[(NSW)Evilpricetag]

22 minutes ago, TARINunit9 said:

I think that the obviously weaker Auras should be buffed to +9 Drain, and Steel Charged nerfed to 7 Drain. This would at least give incentive to use Auras like Pistol Damage or Sprint Boost, since in exchange for Corrosive Projection you would now be getting more Drain AND another bonus that at least exists

Good idea, but as soon as we are done setting in forma, the aura will be swapped for min maxing.

The only incentive I see is to slightly change power leveling strategies.

[KCToxic]

I wouldn't mind if they buffed the amp auras for shotguns, pistols, and rifles. Those three aren't even the same amount as each other(shotgun is 18% at max instead of 27% like the other two) and they don't come anywhere near the power of steel charge at +60%. Would give an incentive to use them. 18-27% isn't enough to use them over something like Corrosive Projection's flat armor reduction. 

A lot of auras aren't used because they can be outclassed by more useful companion mods. Why use a single weapon type scavenger aura you have to change out with your equipment when you can just throw ammo case on a carrier and not have to worry about it? Let the companion mod convert your ammo so that the increase in ammo pickups of that type doesn't even matter.

Some are also just completely useless or useless in most situations. Why use combat discipline. Why is that in the arbitration reward table. Why does it exist when the whole point right now is to kill first and ask questions later. That slot is better used anywhere else.

[taiiat]

numerous more Auras than the Playerbase would be willing to admit are actually useful, however that is still a minority Percentage.

 

15 minutes ago, KCToxic said:

I wouldn't mind if they buffed the amp auras for shotguns, pistols, and rifles. Those three aren't even the same amount as each other(shotgun is 18% at max instead of 27% like the other two) and they don't come anywhere near the power of steel charge at +60%. Would give an incentive to use them. 18-27% isn't enough to use them over something like Corrosive Projection's flat armor reduction. 

+60% isn't, either.
but to make Damage Amp Auras competitive vs other Auras, they'd have to offer like, double your normal Damage or something. which is an order of magnitude somewhere around +270% Damage, which obviously is just not going to happen.

18 minutes ago, KCToxic said:

A lot of auras aren't used because they can be outclassed by more useful companion mods. Why use a single weapon type scavenger aura you have to change out with your equipment when you can just throw ammo case on a carrier and not have to worry about it?

Scavenger Auras are more effective than Mutation Mods (especially if you're relying on Carrier to do it), but the Aura Slot is a larger cost for it. rarely do Players actually need increased Ammo in the first place though, and while Scavenger Auras are highly effective, Weapon Exilus doesn't cost anything technically so weaker it may be, it doesn't have any cost at all so that's going to be a popular option instead.

[Chewarette]

There are plenty of Auras worth using though.

I'm personally using CP, Steel Charge, Energy Siphon on some Frames (the ones needing a few energy but which I use without Zenurik), Growing Power (for Strength-hungry Warframes), Pistol-Amp sometimes on Mesa, Power Donation on non-Strength-Warframes, Stand United on Armor-hungry Warframes, I even used Infested Impedence on some Infested Defence Arbitrations at the time.

That's a lot more than the two you listed. In fact, Corrosive Projection is quite useless for most of the content. We have plenty of ways to strip armor nowadays.

[(PSN)Onder6099]

Most of players forgot that Auras stack.

[(PSN)robotwars7]

this is why we desperately need a dedicated Aura rework. some Auras are just flatout more viable than others, even with stacking.

 

[0_The_F00l]

And that's why aura forma was pointless addition to the game , i have a large quantity of those and i haven't bothered to use em.

Steel charge is mainly beneficial cause of the extra mod capacity.

Corrosive projection is effective only cause armor scaling is such a PITA at higher levels , its not really that essential up to level 80 to 100 which is most of the star chart and sortie and its stack can completely remove the armor from enemies , maybe with the rrework for shields that is promised (Soon^TM) we can see use of shield disruption too.

Growing power is very good for power dependent builds , and is usually preferred over a pure armor build for frames that need a combination of armor and power strength to function.

Power donation is very niche , and can be used for certain squad load outs effectively , but growing power is just more pub friendly,

Energy siphon can help certain duration based frames manage energy but its effect is so weak that.

There is no reason to use any aura other than the above mentioned ones for effectiveness.

People are free to run what they want, they will just be less effective.

The weapon damage auras are utterly pointless , the effective damage increase if you already have serration mods is so tiny that you are wasting a slot that could actually be useful.

 

 

Then again most of the mods in warframe are useless , so it is kinda in line with the big picture.

[tzadquiel]

There is a lot of interesting auras, people are too afraid to get out of meta to do so though, but who cares what other people do.

 

Combat Discipline equipped among all 4 teammates is god mode for all. 

Empowered Blades or Swift Momentum are great melee auras, much better than Steel Charge in effect imo (I dont like steel charge because if I need those 2 or 4 more capacity points, that most likely means I am at capacity with the warframe - which then means, my initial energy levels will be very low).

Growing Power/Power Donation equipped among 4 teammates is free power strength, too. 

 

I would like more archgun auras though. 16s on Tanker is silly and not worth even looking at, if it wasnt a free arbi drop. 

 

Edited February 21, 2020 by tzadquiel

[Graavarg]

You look at aura mods the wrong way.

It's called "aura" for a reason, because it is a squad mechanic. Not a mod slot meant to further increase your own personal abilities & capabilitites.

A good example of this quite common misconception was when the new Arbitration (Hexis) auras were introduced, so I'll use Combat Discipline and Power Donation as examples. Both were repeatedly slammed on the forum as being "totally useless".

If you (only) use Combat Discipline, you will lose 10 health for every kill, healing the rest of squad for 20 health = semi-useful. If the whole squad uses Combat Discipline, every player will heal 50 hp on every kill = insanely useful, bordering on op.

If you (only) use Power Donation, you'll lose 30% ability power while the other players gain +30% = works excellent with a Speed Nova, and is a nice buff for others if you yourself don't need any ability power. However, if the whole squad uses Power Donation everyone will get a 60% ability power increase.

If you want to understand the auras, just do the same math. Some auras are more "owner"-friendly, but even Growing Power is 4X more powerful if the whole squad uses it (the 25% increase stack, unfortunately not the 6 sec). Some auras don't seem intended as much for stacking (everyone using the same aura) as adding functionality to the whole squad. The "ammo pickup increase" auras for instance, as the whole squad getting 150% more rifle ammo and 150% more pistol ammo (1 x Rifle Scavenger, 1 x Pistol Scavenger) seems more convenient than increasing either by 300%.

And as the gameplay has changed, so has the impact/meaningfulness of the auras, and I agree that some now are a bit underwhelming, especially when compared to other, newer options. But even so, many keeps forgetting that an aura like Rifle Scavenger affects the whole squad, not the only the player equipping it. Auras are not (and never was) only about you yourself, it's about the whole squad.

Edited February 21, 2020 by Graavarg

[SenorClipClop]

3 hours ago, GeneralKaiga said:

The lack of uniqueness in aura mod choices seems like it's because a vast majority of them are either too weak or lack noticeable impact, not because popular mods like steel charge/projection are too strong.

Considering there are fewer Aura Mods than there are now Warframes, it makes sense the Aura meta is tighter than the Frame meta, and the differences are pretty stand-out. While nerfing some a bit would fix things (sorry), I feel like a large portion of players (understandably) pick Auras that translate into a direct increase of a lethality feature -- do more damage, take less damage, etc.

I can also tell you that the Aura Mod that's increased my end-of-mission damage numbers the most has been Enemy Radar. Being able to see incoming targets from very far away means I can use low-spread but high-damage Frames like Ash, or constant-damage and and highly-mobile and melee-friendly frames like Hydroid, to seek out those distant enemies and deal with them before the lazy nuke builds like Miasma Saryn can affect them (and that's not entirely out of spite for p42w builds). Change an Aura Mod and nothing else, and it's easy to single out a few core options as the best. Change an Aura Mods and your weapons or playstyle to work with it, and that decision gets a lot more fluid. At least in my experience, anyway.

At some point you figure you can make it through your Sorties and Arbs and stuff without the max possible damage, and so you take a few slots from the max damage option to play with things a bit. Okay, so this sacrifices a bit of damage, but I made a Wisp/Sniper combo that barely ever touches the ground and lands you some extra uptime and free CC. So this Volt doesn't lock down the whole map or run 667012km/h, but he's got the occasional burst of extra crit, never runs out of ammo and is near-invicible from the front. That's a thing you can do, and it keeps the game exciting.

But also, a few Auras really do just need a buff. Like the one that reduces Shields. Not for Eidolons (at least not completely, a % reduction cap wouldn't be frowned upon)*, but for just making you feel like you're affecting the game in a recognizable way by using it. I suppose the answer to that issue might be buffing enemy Shields to make them feel like something you had to account for.

^{*EDIT: I disagree with Eidolons having 100% of Shields reduced with a full squad of Shield Disruption. Nothing to do with farming, just that Eidolons are designed as a two-stage bossfight (weaken, then damage) and should be allowed to remain that way.}

Edited February 21, 2020 by SenorClipClop

[Eyn_Sof]

2 hours ago, TARINunit9 said:

The only reason they haven't bothered nerfing Corrosive Projection is because they're reworking armor already, so they won't touch CP until after. Energy Siphon is outclassed Zenurik, and EMP Aura already got nerfed (no longer works on Eidolons). So the only meta Aura they could nerf now is Steel Charge

Now that we're done talking nerf stereotypes, onto business

I think that the obviously weaker Auras should be buffed to +9 Drain, and Steel Charged nerfed to 7 Drain. This would at least give incentive to use Auras like Pistol Damage or Sprint Boost, since in exchange for Corrosive Projection you would now be getting more Drain AND another bonus that at least exists

In my opinion all weapon damage auras should give +9.

[DarthIronclad]

weapon damage auras prob need a buff and/or some changes for them to be more viable...

like bumping up the % value and/or make them give a multiplicative bonus instead of an additive one.

[AuroraSonicBoom]

6 hours ago, GeneralKaiga said:

The solution seems

to not make mods, auras or not, stack additively. It creates nasty situations like this.

[(XBOX)Hyperion Rexx]

5 hours ago, tzadquiel said:

I would like more archgun auras though. 16s on Tanker is silly and not worth even looking at, if it wasnt a free arbi drop. 

 

Tanker is great on rhino to boost his iron skin. 

Use the augment where crashing into enemies increases your armour (sorry, having a complete brain fart moment and can't remember its name), then equip your arch gun and then cast iron skin.   

It's effectively like activating god mode.

[(PSN)FriendSharkey]

For a game that is a free to play power fantasy about killing things...they seem to have no imagination or I guess want to have  fun with that concept anymore ..It's almost like each Grineer lancer is a personal puppy or something...

Edited February 21, 2020 by (PS4)FriendSharkey

[vegetosayajin]

btw this vid includes the aura mods as well
interesting if you can watch more than a 5 min. video:

 

[(PSN)Hopper_Orouk]

Coaction drift is waaaaay to weak in it's current state 

It provides 15% of the already small amount of buff you get from the aura mods 

It needs to be 50% 

50% is a noticeable enough bonus but not too noticeable so players can "coordinate" with each other 

[tzadquiel]

1 hour ago, (PS4)Hopper_Orouk said:

Coaction drift is waaaaay to weak in it's current state 

It provides 15% of the already small amount of buff you get from the aura mods 

It needs to be 50% 

50% is a noticeable enough bonus but not too noticeable so players can "coordinate" with each other 

coaction drift is the level it is because if you get 4 people equipping corrosive projection (or any other aura, for that matter) with coaction drift at 50%, it would be ridiculously game breaking. 

Edited February 21, 2020 by tzadquiel

[Aadi880]

1 hour ago, (PS4)Hopper_Orouk said:

Coaction drift is waaaaay to weak in it's current state 

It provides 15% of the already small amount of buff you get from the aura mods 

It needs to be 50% 

50% is a noticeable enough bonus but not too noticeable so players can "coordinate" with each other 

What???

This would be overpowerd and broken as f***

Do you not realise Auras stacks? Imagine having 300% power strength without any power strength mods except growing power equipped with 4 people along with coaction drift. Power creep will be through the roof.

[Kaiga]

8 hours ago, Graavarg said:

You look at aura mods the wrong way.

It's called "aura" for a reason, because it is a squad mechanic. Not a mod slot meant to further increase your own personal abilities & capabilitites.

A good example of this quite common misconception was when the new Arbitration (Hexis) auras were introduced, so I'll use Combat Discipline and Power Donation as examples. Both were repeatedly slammed on the forum as being "totally useless".

If you (only) use Combat Discipline, you will lose 10 health for every kill, healing the rest of squad for 20 health = semi-useful. If the whole squad uses Combat Discipline, every player will heal 50 hp on every kill = insanely useful, bordering on op.

If you (only) use Power Donation, you'll lose 30% ability power while the other players gain +30% = works excellent with a Speed Nova, and is a nice buff for others if you yourself don't need any ability power. However, if the whole squad uses Power Donation everyone will get a 60% ability power increase.

If you want to understand the auras, just do the same math. Some auras are more "owner"-friendly, but even Growing Power is 4X more powerful if the whole squad uses it (the 25% increase stack, unfortunately not the 6 sec). Some auras don't seem intended as much for stacking (everyone using the same aura) as adding functionality to the whole squad. The "ammo pickup increase" auras for instance, as the whole squad getting 150% more rifle ammo and 150% more pistol ammo (1 x Rifle Scavenger, 1 x Pistol Scavenger) seems more convenient than increasing either by 300%.

And as the gameplay has changed, so has the impact/meaningfulness of the auras, and I agree that some now are a bit underwhelming, especially when compared to other, newer options. But even so, many keeps forgetting that an aura like Rifle Scavenger affects the whole squad, not the only the player equipping it. Auras are not (and never was) only about you yourself, it's about the whole squad.

If the aura slot is meant to be a squad-centric one, why are there so many auras clearly meant to compliment the individual or builds for a specific role within a squad (buffer/tank/etc.), which in theory is how teamwork is supposed to go, as opposed to everyone stacking the same strongest mods all the time- which is the whole point of my post regarding a lack of aura slot diversity.

Also, with the sheer number of mods, good luck with hoping the three other players in public squads all have a maxed out coaction drift build of the *same* aura you do, just for yours to see a noticeable impact.

I rather doubt it.

[Educated_Beast]

I'm having a lot of fun with empowered blades with heavy attack weapons that force slash proc.  Decent boost with just one and coaction drift.  Very effective with bullet sponges in Railjack.  

Something I run frequently (that for some unknown reason is unpopular) is enemy radar.  It is so effective and beneficial on long missions (or versus sentients) when sentinal dies.  

Edited February 21, 2020 by Educated_Beast

[SneakyErvin]

3 hours ago, (PS4)Hopper_Orouk said:

Coaction drift is waaaaay to weak in it's current state 

It provides 15% of the already small amount of buff you get from the aura mods 

It needs to be 50% 

50% is a noticeable enough bonus but not too noticeable so players can "coordinate" with each other 

Coaction Drift is effectively 30% for any aura that buffs you. It is 15% only on auras like CP that effect the enemy, where you only get half the use of CD. On Steel Charge, Swift Momentum, Energy Siphon etc. you increase the aura by 30% since you both increase the strength and the effect it has on you.

[Redfeather75]

I think auras are meant to be weak and corrosive projection is the exception because how effective it is against the strongest defense in the game.