Hydroid Problem

[NuclearCoffeePot]

With the recent reveal of Hydroid Primes trailer(RIP) and the upcoming release of his sick as f*ck deluxe skin i felt it was time we talked about this watery boi once again. Hydroid has always been one of those frames who never quite delivered on his theme, and with the trailers cinematic representation of him my feelings have been redoubled. Hydroid is supposed to be a terror from the deep, and oceanic entity none can face and live, but instead of RAAAAH OCEAN GOD we instead have Waaaaaah Soggy Pirate. I think a big part of this is that, aside from his abilities being generally not that good in later content(especially with the corrosive changes nerfing his 1 augment) Hydroid is in a sorry state. All of his abilities with the exception of his Tidal Surge(which face it we don't use anyway) are either a set it and forget it ability or a sit down and watch movies on your second screen ability. So I think it is about time we all banded together and came up with a fresh outlook on his abilities, specifically in encouraging more engaging, active gameplay and bringing this sad puddle's abilities up to date. I will put my own spin on an updated hydroid kit and you can leave your own feedback and ideas in the comment's section to discuss. 

Starting with his passive- In order to help encourage more hands on gameplay Hydroids passive will encourage him to use both weapons and abilities to unleash his full strength- I like to think of this in D&D terms- If hydroid is a warlock, the kraken is his god and he takes a share of its power- the kraken doesn't like to have to do all the work, so if hydroid shares the load the kraken is more willing to help- thus

 

Spoiler

Tide Meter/Krakens Blessing- When hydroid kills enemies effected by his abilities he pleases the kraken, thus filling his tide meter and granting him various buffs as it fills- Things like passive ms at rank 1, bonus attack and reload speed at rank 2, and damage reduction at rank 3-

 

Next is his first ability- While its damage may not be good its original capacity to strip armor using the augment was highly useful, however with corrosive nerfed to a non 100% strip this utility has been effectively neutralized- So following the suggestion of a hydroid fan (kapn655321) and this post (https://warframe.fandom.com/f/p/3343172654596392006), rather then an offensive damaging ability I will shift it to a more utilitarian standpoint-

Spoiler

 

Torrential Downpour- It will have the same cast function as it currently does holding to increase range and duration but it effectively won't deal damage- Instead torrential downpour will cause heavy rain to fall from the sky, preventing them from seeing you, and muting the sounds of gunshots, alarms, and death screams- This effectively allows you to use hydroid more stealthily and easily finish enemies off within the zone-Killing these enemies will give points to your tide meter, and successful finisher attack's will award double the points.

-It will have two augments, #1: Acid Rain: Enemies within the zone will be alerted but still unaware of your presence, and will take a small amount of damage per second as their armor is slowly stripped the longer they remain in the zone- rather then dealing corrosive damage this will simply be a flat % per second strip to enable full 100%, #2: Persistent Precipitation- Torrential Downpour has a reduced radius but spawns 2 zones- one at the target location and another that remains centered on hydroid's position

 

His second ability- Tidal Surge is his most active ability and improves mobility but it needs tweaks to be less clunky and more useful- 

Spoiler

 

Tap cast- will cause hydroid to amass a wall of water around him before surging in the cast direction the same way he does in the trailer (link here  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QACf0yN5eYU- timestamp 1:27)  - he can cancel the cast simply by pressing the key again- 

Hold cast-Hydroid again immerses himself in water but instead moves slower and more controlled then his tap cast dash, allowing him to turn and move more freely while still sucking up enemies he passes through

Augment- His tidal surge augment was always a bit meh, and while the added mobility changes to this version might aid in becoming more useful it does not change the fact that few people would use it- instead another augment for tidal surge would allow the wave to continue traveling in a straight line for the remaining duration

 

And now his third ability-I am not going to remove undertow because it is such a fun idea but i am going to change its mechanics greatly and visually change it.

Spoiler

 

Undertow now creates a pool at the targeted location with its own duration- Hydroid can enter the pool however to reset the duration and remain inside it for a small channeling fee, pausing the duration till he exits. 

The pool itself now utilizes a mechanic similar to that used in railjack(basically the interior of all the ships was stored in a separate skybox from the exterior where all the space combat happens and the windows and railjack launch are portals into the combat skybox) in the same way the surface of the puddle is actually a direct visual portal into a separate part of the skybox entirely. This separate area is its own tiny "tank", that has its own mechanics and visuals, namely, it is underwater and filled with the same aquatic vegetation seen in the trailer- While not very wide it is quite deep and it gets darker the farther you go to create a nice aesthetic of depth- In addition this dwelling is where I think the kraken should be, not as a tiny floater, but instead as a massive creature, though it won't have a full body and instead will appear as giant glowing eyes staring from below the floor limit of the area. It will however have physical tentacles that have reached up and grabbed the drowned enemies, wrapping itself around their torso and crushing them as it pulls them deeper-

Hydroid can freely swim around this deep area simply be looking in a direction and holding w(+ shift to move faster)- he can individually shoot and perform finishers on enemies inside, gaining tide meter by killing them- 

The pool will still have a damaging mechanic like it currently does, however sitting and allowing the tentacles, pressure, and lack of oxygen kill your opponents is not fun and since you will get tide meter by killing them before the ability it is best to remain active in the pool rather then sitting in it like the soggy pirate you used to be- The damage itself I think should be dealt by the tentacles that are wrapped around the enemies especially since your fourth ability will call more of them outside and its just super cool- I think a 50%/50% of viral/ impact is a good way to go, with a 50% status chance per tick of damage- This balance will allow it to be effective against shields and health while fitting the feel of being crushed by a giant kraken with hooks or teeth in its suction cups.

Other important mechanics- 

 

Spoiler

 

-If undertow is active Enemies caught by tidal surge will be teleported inside if there is space

-Recasting undertow moves it to the target location/hold casting destroys it

-Rain from Torrential downpour's acid rain will effect enemies in undertow but only if it is positioned overhead or if hydroid also has the Persistent precipitation augment equipped

-Rather then augment exclusive hydroid is healed whenever he is inside the puddle

 

Augment-

Curative undertow- The ability for allies to enter the pool would be ten times cooler with the mechanics I have described plus getting healing per second is always great- Since hydroid will always have the hps augment or not I think he should receive another supportive buff when he enters like receiving overshields or armor boosts dependent on how often allies use the pool

 

Finally for his 4th ability- His current 4 is not bad thematically but it has become quite stale and again, lacks interaction- so I will be combining it from an ability I proposed in a prior page to create...

Spoiler

 

Riptide- Hydroid erupts into a fluid form, altering his active abilities and enraging the Kraken-

This ability is the payoff for all the interaction to fill your tide meter-  While in Riptide Hydroid drains Tide meter to fuel it(He can cast it whenever but without tide meter it will cost energy per second) 

-While in riptide Hydroid appears as a swirling mass of water, surrounded by a large whirlpool

-he can only use his melee weapon, if he has none equipped he will conjure one from the ocean- a trident would be on point(no pun intended) but is a bit campy for my liking, and a cutlass might be the same to other players, so instead I think he should pull out two anchor shaped hook blades from his collection of destroyed ships

-while in riptide all of tide meters buffs remain in effect and he gains additional melee attack speed on top of that, while the whirlpool at his feet staggers enemies and pulls them toward him over time

-Ability empowerment- As the payoff for filling your tide meter all of hydroid's abilities receive altered effects to match his change in tone- Rather then raining like normal, his torrential downpour will rain tridents from above to pierce enemies to the floor, his tidal surge will spawn tentacles from the deep like those in his undertow to drag additional enemies into the zone, and enemies in undertow will take additional damage from the kraken below

-The tide meter can still be replenished by killing enemies under ability effects though it will not infinitely outpace the speed of the tide meter drain

Augment-Pilfering swarm would probably be moved to an undertow augment since their are more tentacles their then when using this ability

Instead We can have 

Augment-Low tide: Rather then pulling enemies in Riptide will push enemies away from hydroid- In addition ranged weapons will become available so you can still kill your enemies

 

Now that I have finished my(excessively long) idea dump please feel free to reply with your own ideas and criticism.

[AzulMage]

Except for his 2, I personally don't like any of this. 

I remember that post where the 1 came from and Hydroid really isn't meant to be a stealth frame. Plus, that ability is too inactive in terms of actual gameplay and the buff/debuff it provides isn't strong enough to be worth casting. I'd rather just go on guns blazing and meleeing in a game like this. 

His 3, I remember that post as well. It's impractical for DE to create and entire space within the game for one frame. That and this slows his gameplay down even further than his current 3. Aside from it being meme worthy there aren't any benefits to it. 

His 4, there may be something there with the transformation but for the sake of his theme his kraken should play a more direct role. I do agree his current 4 needs something different though

 

[NuclearCoffeePot]

13 hours ago, (NSW)AzulMage said:

I remember that post where the 1 came from and Hydroid really isn't meant to be a stealth frame. Plus, that ability is too inactive in terms of actual gameplay and the buff/debuff it provides isn't strong enough to be worth casting. I'd rather just go on guns blazing and meleeing in a game like this. 

I understand this sentiment, originally i also wanted to keep with an offensive ability like tempest barrage. I really don't want hydroid to be an inactive frame and thats why I inserted getting tide meter from killing enemies inside since it would encourage fighting inside the zone though in hind sight i see your point. I will work on something new. Do you have any suggestions?

14 hours ago, (NSW)AzulMage said:

His 3, I remember that post as well. It's impractical for DE to create and entire space within the game for one frame. That and this slows his gameplay down even further than his current 3. Aside from it being meme worthy there aren't any benefit

I don't doubt its impracticality, I often think more on thematic elements before anything else when creating concepts and it was never meant to be a large space to begin with, just a way to visually represent and interact with undertow and the enemies inside. I can't say i agree with the statement of slowing gameplay. The ability to manually kill enemies in undertow without exiting your safe space would please me sincerely as a hydroid player, as I wouldn't have to sit there waiting for the damage to rack up or recharge my weak tempest barrage. The idea for his gameplay feel was to place undertow on a keypoint and then run around using your other abilities to rack up your tide meter without having to sit in undertow forever, but you could easily jump in at any time to kill enemies for bonus tide meter and buffs. I will think on your criticism however, and try to come up with a better solution

14 hours ago, (NSW)AzulMage said:

His 4, there may be something there with the transformation but for the sake of his theme his kraken should play a more direct role. I do agree his current 4 needs something different though

I will keep this in mind, I agree the kraken should play more of a role but i can't abide with keeping it super close to his current 4, the kraken as it is now feels too weak, its floppy tentacles and small size undermine any expectations players have for its power. The idea behind the transformation was to further embody the changing nature of the ocean in his kit. From calm and placid to a raging storm in the blink of an eye.

14 hours ago, (NSW)AzulMage said:

Except for his 2, I personally don't like any of this.

I'm glad you liked the 2, its long past time it received a change.

Aside from what you have mentioned and I have replied is there any other ideas or feedback you can give. I would love to improve on my concepts and introduce them further to the community.