Heart of Deimos: Xaku Feedback Megathread

[-CG.WFO.A4NC.EN.CM-Nub]

I did a thorough test on Xaku, and I have to say, Xaku does have a potential for lategame, but is quite annoying in some aspect.
So, my combo for Xaku is stun the creeps in place, Gaze for full Armor reduction (200% STR), Grasp of Lohk to melt the enemies and then Vast Untime to increase damage taken, this thing shreds level 175.
The combo seems nice but very annoying to pull off, mainly because:
- Xaku's Energy pool is not very high, hence Energy problems.
- Abysmal range on Gaze and Grasp of Lohk, I actually had to sacrifice 2 mod slots and the Exilus for 3 Range mods (Stretch, Cunning Drift and Augur Reach) for it to actually achieve 15 meters of radius, that's very short. Also this also indirectly affect the Energy problem because I have no Mod slots remain for a Primed Flow.
- Vast Untime having an Energy drain, I mean, why? You either reduce the initial Energy cost, or remove the drain, the drain feels dumb. Also I would like to have some visual indicator of Vast Untime affecting the enemies.
- Very abysmal Duration on Grasp of Lohk, the combo itself takes 4 to 5 seconds to execute, which means 4 to 5 seconds wasted on crappy cast animation.
* Regarding getting the enemies close together to maximize Gaze's power, you can either subsume Larva from Nidus (just drop Xata's Whisper, and speaking of, why isn't Xata's Whisper having an effect on Grasp of Lohk, that's just unintuitive to me), or Mag Pull.

These are my feedback, I do hope that Xaku gets buffed soon

[xombob89]

Not sure if this was talked about already because Im not gonna read 18 pages :D but to me it seems theres no way to cancel Gaze atm? You can cancel Garudas altars too by aiming at it and recasting. Didnt post this in bug report because I dont think its a bug, more of an oversight.

As to why I would like to be able to cancel it, theres some mission types and bounties that seem to be negatively affected by an unkillable Gaze locked enemy (for example on control area bounties it seems the Gazed enemy still counts towards enemy control)

[PsiWarp]

@xombob89 You can cancel Gaze by recasting while aiming at a target. Although, you need to have that 75 energy to cancel (the energy isn't consumed but still requires it in your energy reserves).

[(PSN)NOVALINK]

Love the frame but it's very weak for long time players. It needs a faster casting speed for all the abilities and a mayor boost in range for his 2nd and 3rd abilities. I max my range and It barely pass the 22 meter range. This is a fast pace game with huge hubs and a max range of 22 meters is just asking to get killed or sit in a corner and wait for enemies to come until you bored to death. A decent max range for him would be a 40 meter.

 Also make all his abilities recastable and boost his 2nd ability strength. The new frames should be stronger than the starting ones and I love this game since launch and I hope to keep playing it for an even longer time.

 

[quxier]

Testing it with High Status weapon (200+) and Xata's Whisper makes it good defense frame. It needs 100% status by default.
 

7 hours ago, -CG.WFO.A4NC.EN.CM-Nub said:

- Xaku's Energy pool is not very high, hence Energy problems.

I don't think the problems lies here. They have 230 energy at max rank. You are not suppose to spam his abilities a lot (except their 4th, that's later). His first last 35, 2-3 abilities last for 16 seconds. I don't see problem here. With good "flow" or efficiency you can cast a lot.

The problem is with their 4th. It costs 100 - 200 energy but you want to use it more than once before time runs out. Even activating it twice might cause you to use ~300 energy (if you time your (de-)activation at the half or the remaining timer).

If it was:
- an aura that lasts X seconds
- or even the buff were refreshable (meaning, that your 4th is still active you can cast it again) at much lower price (e.g. 10-20 energy)
then it would be much better.
I would prefer aura. That would be good. However even refreshable buff might be ok.

 

[(XBOX)GearsMatrix301]

People have likely already said this.

Xakus cast animations are WAY too slow.

Why does Xatas Whisper apply an infested texture to Xaku?

[PsiWarp]

The lack of synergies feel like a missed opportunity, considering how unique Xaku is supposed to be with their three component buddies. The base abilities need tweaking first yes, but do give synergies some thought.

Suggested synergies:

• Xata's Whisper to add extra damage and proc to the Void damage of Grasp of Lohk, The Lost Deny, and The Vast Untime.
• Grasp of Lohk weapons can shoot beyond their targeting range to hit enemies lifted by Deny (line of sight applies).
• Accused enemies group behaviors: gather near Gaze and prioritize attacking Denied enemies.

[(NSW)0nuku]

A lot has been said, but I wanted to throw my two cents in too. I really hope Xaku's rework comes with a void damage rework, preferably something that can help with and/or bypass armor with a new status effect. It'd make Operators feel so much better too, like the void demons they're supposed to be.

Grasp of Lohk is my favorite ability in their kit, but it does really suffer without range and duration. Being able to recast to get more guns would be a huge QoL improvement.

The Vast Untime is a really cool ability that works well as a part of the kit. Of course, it does need the ability to spread that vulnerability around a little better, as many have said. I think it's in kind of an in-between place right now, and it'd be much better to focus on one of three options:

1. Survival tool. Give it unlimited duration with a decent drain like Hysteria, boost evasion chance to 95-100%.

2. Emergency button. Keep the duration, get rid of the drain. Clear status effects when cast like Molt. Maybe even boost its movement speed a little more. I'm sure some people would like to use it for racing to extraction.

3. Alternative to Molecular Prime. Keep duration, get rid of drain, increase the range dramatically and remove LoS limitation. I can't help but notice its similarities to Molecular Prime, and I think it'd be interesting to have it work the same way. Boost the Speed Xaku/Slow Xaku potential, and make it more spammable. 

Xaku really needs more survivability, so I'm inclined toward 1, but it could be incredibly strong with some combination of the three.

[Electropuncher]

I lucked out and got a 75% off coupon like four days into the update on Switch and spent the next three days trying, somewhat desperately (quarantine hasn't been so good for me), to make a build that even functions with this frame. I'm just gonna leave it here that I voted for the Plant themed frame. And the concept art for Rampart is... well, I love it. Can we have that one someday? The other ones look like Nyx and Saryn skins.

GENERAL

Cast time is just too long on every single ability. It feels like I'm just stopping and waiting half the time I use an ability. And that's with Natural Talent on.

I like how Xaku has odd numbers for HP and shield. Seems kind of fitting, like they've been chipped apart or something.

Animation set is really cool. The VFX on this frame are some of the best yet. I especially love Accuse's peeling light effect.

Passive is kind of eh. It's a bit too lucky for me.

Energy management is absolutely abysmal. I feel like I need to be running max efficiency to even stand a chance at being able to use my abilities. Then there comes the fact that my allies tend to so out-DPS me that my abilities are often useless.

XATA'S WHISPER

This ability is boring. It's a worse version of Toxic Lash, and barely increases my damage output. On a few high damage weapons, I see a noticeable change, but even on my >100% status weapons, I almost never see the Void bubble. Also, unlike Toxic Lash, this doesn't have any secondary effect, so it's really just more of a passive ability. In fact, I would swap this and their passive, making Xaku deal 25% void damage (flat) with all attacks, and making Xata's Whisper act like Baruuk's Elude, just as a duration based dodge.

GRASP OF LOHK

This is Xaku's coolest ability, by far. It's also their worst. If you only grab one gun, that's your lot for the next 20 seconds or so. Let me recast this. Give each gun a timer like Protea's Blaze Artillery, and have Power Strength determine how many guns I can gather. As someone already stated, the weapons' damage is almost inconsequential unless you literally have all of your abilities going at once. And even then, my weapons deal way more damage. Enemy guns need to my mods, matching the correct weapon slot, preferably.

THE LOST

This ability is just bad. Unlike other modal abilities, which have a unified motif between them, this is literally three different abilities crammed into one. And they all have decent effects (after getting tuned). You could literally delete the previous two abilities and make this take their place. You shouldn't though, because all three of these abilities are so grossly undertuned that they're all kind of bad, with almost one exception.

-Accuse: Like I said, this is a gorgeous ability. Sadly, it's a worse version of Enthrall, so I almost never use it. 

-Gaze: This ability is by far the best ability in Xaku's kit. It also is the most awkward, and is really a more cumbersome version of Psychic Bolts. It demands you build for strength, as it only does a 50% defense strip, while PsyBolts only needs 30% power strength to do the same thing, as a one handed action that only takes a few frames to do. I love that this is an area of effect, but it also needs to have a generous amount of range to be usable. So, in short, I need to have casting speed, 200% power strength, and as much range as I can squeeze on my build to have this be even competitive with Nyx's second ability. And even then, it's just not enough to make this viable.

-Deny: This is a ray that makes stuff it hits float. You guys know I have guns, right? This ability is literally useless.

THE VAST UNTIME

So energy hungry. This is, as far as I know, the only ability other than Mirage's Prism with Prism Guard that has a casting cost, casting time, duration, and channeling cost. And then it only affects the enemies in my immediate vicinity while basically being Molt with a Xaku-specific damage boost. Unless someone's REALLY digging their operator. I almost never use it. Shame, as again, great VFX.

CONCLUSION

Xaku's best team comp is three other Xakus. This is an absurdly selfish frame, and because the abilities are all kind of weak, no matter how much you adjust the numbers, there is no reason to use this Frame as it stands. There are some kernels of greatness here, though. I would love to see what can be done to make Grasp of Lohk a powerhouse, as I love running around with ten guns orbiting me as a skeleton. I'm excited to see where this frame goes, but there's a long road ahead.

 

[Imppuccino]

Starting on a positive... I absolutely love the design. The terminator mode too. They look great, and I don't know why people are asking for animation changes - it feels thematic and cool to me.

OK so I've tried to think of anything remotely useful, let alone fun, I could do with this frame and honestly I'm tempted to just feed them to the Helminth and save myself having to farm scintillant for another copy. This is by far the worst frame you have released - I am not saying this out of malice, I just think that we need to acknowledge how saddening it is that it's the community frame that has earned this title, and I know you will feel the same way. It will take a lot more than a few tweaks to salvage them but I will try to give my thoughts as best as I can.

I haven't read absolutely everything posted here so far, so apologies if there's duplication.

Passive: Xaku is not a tanky frame, so a 25% to have shots miss does not compensate for the 75% of the time they don't. It is not a reliable tool for survivability, and in practice is unnoticeable. Add the fact that their ultimate does the same thing but at a higher percentage, they might as well not have a passive. So crap this, put in something better and thematic. Here's an idea, Xaku is a great big void channel - have them boost the cast speed of every ally within affinity range (from strengthening their void connection). Now you have a support frame with a unique twist people will love to group with, and it will address the atrocious cast time of Xaku's own abilities.

Xata’s Whisper: Conceptually, 'press to add damage' is a staple 1st ability so fine, whatever, have that. In practice, however, it's 'press to nerf your weapons'. People have already pointed out that it should be added at the end so it doesn't mess with our status chance, but it's void damage type itself that is in desperate need of attention. First of all, absolutely nothing should be resistant to the undiluted power of the void. You don't want it to have a damage bonus, cool, but resistance is a straight up no-go under the same logic. Next is the status effect. It does not scale, and it does not do anything useful. We all know prolonged exposure to the void is bad news, so why not make the status a scaleable vulnerability to void damage. Now you've got something worth using. But why stop there, have the status also create weak spots on the enemy. Now you reward skilful play (proper aiming) and have a status that benefits the entire team. Suddenly, there's a damage and support ability that contributes to the team.

Grasp of Lohk: Visually, this is great. Functionally, this is a high risk low reward ability. The cast time is abysmal, and you need to run into a group of mobs - again on a frame that can take no punishment - to make use of it. And what do you get for this? Why, very light support utility and no discernible damage increase. Awesome. Obviously people have pointed out having it scale with mods and having the weapons function like they should. That will go some way towards fixing this, but I think we can do better. I would go with a tap and hold multi-ability here, both using the same mechanic of yoinking some firearms off some fools.

First, tap to shoot out void beams in a cone shape in front of you (have the degree scale with range) that steals weapons off everything in sight (line of sight required). Then, have those weapons act as a shield in front of Xaka, each with their own health bar that takes the damage before Xaku (Iron Skin style). Now you've got actual survivability on them. Lose the duration with this mode, but block recasting while there are weapons left and reduce the percentage of damage taken by the weapons as they get destroyed (because more shots can get through). Now it's naturally degrading and sets it apart from other similar abilities. You get survivability but no cc/squad utility.

So let's add a press to cast secondary function! This will work on a radius around Xaku as now, but also continuously keep stealing weapons off mobs for the duration of the ability (keep a weapon cap and have new weapons replace old ones. They could even pile on the ground for a bit of added flair). Add a stagger when a mob gets its weapon stolen in this mode (they're disrupted by the void connection or something, the justification shouldn't be too hard to find), so you get cc out of it and have the stagger briefly open mobs for finishers (giving you a reason to get close enough to use this ability in the first place). You sacrifice survivability for cc and a viable melee playstyle. Options!

Accuse: Have you run the stats on how many people immediately swapped out Nyx's first ability yet? Scrap this, no-one wants to convert some mooks that will do nothing and get immediately gunned down anyway. How about instead we just explode pools of void concentrate randomly (they're broken, after all) around Xaku, that will do void damage over time as enemies come into contact with them. Now you've got a damage ability that synergises with their first (provided status chances happen) and reward clever gameplay if you can keep mobs in the void concentrate.

Gaze: Honestly, this is pretty good. Maybe the range could do with a slight increase, but otherwise no notes. Phew!

Deny: What on earth is this mess? Hard to target, barely tickles the mobs and takes forever to pull off. Resetting sentient resistances is pointless, void damage does that anyway - even if it weren't a super niche utility given we barely fight any sentients at the moment. Change it to an immediate AoE akin to Banshee's Sonic Boom that gives enemies Lifted status and a void damage DoT that increases in strength the longer they stay Lifted. Now you've got something else to make melee a decent focus for Xaku players. Great, we have even more viable options!

The Vast Untime: As I already said, I absolutely love the terminator look. It's just a shame that that's all this is - a cosmetic ability. Giving something so utterly useless both a duration and energy drain is an especially cruel joke. Let's rethink this while keeping the basic idea intact but making it feel like an actual ultimate. Xaku sheds their shell to become a catalyst for the void - exposing everything around them to pure void energies. Add a brief blind effect to the initial cast (line of sight) and make it so everyone in a large radius (line of sight not required because it's the sheer proximity to the void) becomes more vulnerable to void damage. Add a low void damage DoT for enemies in the area with a high status chance (remember we talked about void status earlier?). And then why not add some much needed synergies to make this an actual ultimate:

• Passive: Double the cast speed increase and add a small amount of energy regen due to strengthened void connection
• Xata’s Whisper: Double the damage increase for Xaku, and share 25% of it with your teammates as long as they stay near you (percentage can scale with proximity). Let them share in wonderful void damage synergy!
• Grasp of Lohk: Let the weapons accumulate and store a portion of the damage they deal. When The Vast Untime is activated, explode the weapons and add the stored damage to the damage dealt when activating the ability. Now you have a strategy element to activating the ultimate, and a way to refresh the proposed DR function of the tap ability
• Accuse: Add a gravity effect to the void concentrates, pulling enemies towards them. Now you've added cc and made them much more potent for the duration of the ultimate
• Gaze: Add a regen effect to allies within the circle - either energy or shields (potentially better but seems less thematic). Increased range as long as Xaku is within the circle
• Deny: Lifted enemies now have a chance to apply Lifted status to mobs that get near them (increasing the longer mobs are in proximity). Maybe also increase the range of the cast itself

Lose the energy drain and 'cast again to cancel' function. Let Xaku's armor come back in stages - with the power of the ultimate scaling back the more armor Xaku recovers (mirroring the gradual shielding of the void catalyst) - similar to Gauss's redline scaling.

And there you have it, instead of Helminth-kibble we've reached a frame that rewards multiple playstyles, contributes to the team, and actually feels fun and worthwhile. How about that.

[Velitria]

Oh I never mentioned it previously, but... If I can't put Roar on Xaku because his 1 is classified as a "damage" ability, it might as well give at least 50% extra total damage like rhino or else I'm just going to replace it (and definitely never give it to another frame over Roar). Secondly, Rhino's Roar applies to ability damage and this does not, which that alone makes up for the 25 vs 75 energy cost difference since it is specialized to that with Roar. It's literally 26%... that's a joke, and even worse feeling because it was my broken frame ability idea... it was made so weak that it isn't even worth over other abilities, unless void damage had a 300% multiplier to everything in the game which artificially makes that 26% actually 78%. It still isn't better because Roar increases DoT multipliers as a bane modifier and is essentially applying twice. In order for anyone to not think it is a good idea to replace with Roar, it would Require at least a bonus of 75%, force the procs, and act as a separate instance of damage, based on the total damage dealt. With a separate instance that forces the proc like Toxic Lash, you don't run into the issue of "oh well I'm losing proc opportunity to void status". (Note: It could basically be a 75% version of Toxic Lash which is 30 (60 melee) and still be worse since Toxic Lash adds a DoT proc with which Void Status is not.) This shouldn't be classed as a damage buffing ability since it isn't raw buffing the damage sources like Chroma, Rhino, Mirage, or Mesa. It isn't buffing straight, "all stat damage". Players would only choose this over a real damage buffing ability only to do void status. Otherwise, even if it could potentially be more damage (if it were buffed to 75 instead of 26), it would still be more effective to use Roar for DoT, or for increasing a weakness based damage type, ie... (radiation against eidolons).

The passive ability since being made irrelevant by the 4 should actually be unique to the frame and beneficial as if they are sitting inside a nullifier bubble. What bonus is going to make this frame stand out inside a nullifier bubble? It's definitely Void related and there are a lot of options here.

An idea from me (food for thought) could be that Xaku (in void theme and style) when crouched, falls into pieces (unless using quick crouch or midair), and gains invulnerability (enemies shoot the ground at random places sporadically and Xaku can only be seen if stood on top of) but Xaku cannot shoot or use abilities (unless they are already active). Upon reforming, with uncrouch, jump, bullet jump, etc, Xaku cannot move for a solid 1.25 seconds of reassembling animation. While in a pile pieces and tendrils, you can still move and is akin to limbo in the rift... but slower and without energy regen, maybe give some form of theme bonus?

(Perhaps another idea for void status and food for thought) Void Status causes everything it touches to have detrimental effects done to them. With that theme, a void status proc would last 30 seconds and make the enemy glow the energy color of the weapon that shot them. Enemies will have their resistances reduced by 1% each proc (can go negative and stacks infinitely). This method would make high firerate and/or weak weapons compete better with Snipers, explosives, etc...

Lastly... might I propose that deny oneshot enemies? In its current state, that is a huge energy cost, a tiny beam, a long animation, and hard to aim from being lockmovement and clunky. Honestly, it would still be not worth the energy if it oneshot enemies with a set "they die" mechanic. Perhaps make it add a oneshot status effect with infinite punchthrough and void % damage, synergy increased beam width from xatas whisper with the base bonus being 75%. Then you have a beam of doom that would instead do 10% against bosses. Deny their life.

[(PSN)Rainbow_Neos1]

I feel it'd be better if Vast Untime either 

A) Didn't drain energy and was simply duration based with a hefty 100 energy cost, or 

B) Make it have the slow and void damage susceptibility AoE be an aura (affected by range) that last for the duration and centers itself on Xaku (it moves with him)  

I know that the slow and Void susceptibility is currently caused by his parts exploding off him (so an aura wouldn't make sense currently), but it could be made into Xaku constantly exerting waves of void energy that does the slow and susceptibility. It would give more reason to use it and more reason to have a constant drain. 

[quxier]

2 hours ago, (NSW)Electropuncher said:

I see a noticeable change, but even on my >100% status weapons, I almost never see the Void bubble.

It needs proc a lot. It would be better if it had flat 100% status chance but even with enough bullets/strikes you should see it. It just adds another instance of damage. It means if you have 3 damage types it adds 4th. Now Void damage has 25% chance to proc. Before it was ~33% per status. I have Mutalist Cernos with 200+ status chance (4-5 damage types fair). And it proc every time I shoot, afair.

 

2 hours ago, (NSW)Electropuncher said:

and making Xata's Whisper act like Baruuk's Elude, just as a duration based dodge.

It's Helminth ability so they won't do this. And, imho, void buff ability for all frames is nice.

[Evil_Sam_Rye]

After having played around with Xaku for a few days, I've got a lot of mixed feelings about them.

I enjoy Xaku's aesthetic theme and visual design. They've got a Frankenstein's monster-esque appeal being an amalgamation of different Warframes slapped together and I find that an interesting theme. Kudos to the community and DE for coming up with this unique aesthetic. However, their gameplay is a whole other story.

At the moment, Xaku is a mediocre frame based around a mediocre damage type. We've got a cool new frame delivered with unfortunately poor execution. These are my thoughts on their abilities:

Passive

The 25% evasion just feels like a rehash of Nyx's passive and doesn't feel unique at all. It adds nothing to their gameplay and as far as defensive stats goes, evasion is quite literally hit or miss. It's an RNG stat that by its very nature is inconsistent. A 25% chance to dodge projectiles means a 75% chance to get nuked. While these numbers are inverted when Xaku's 4 is active, it's still a chance that your defense does absolutely nothing and you get nuked. There's also the fact that evasion doesn't account for all sources of damage including AoE damage, DoTs, and environmental damage. Xaku's current passive is very weak and I think it needs to be changed completely. Due to the RNG nature of evasion I feel like any value below 90% evasion is not worth it given its glaring weaknesses.

Xata's Whisper

This ability is weak due to the nature of Void damage. As many others have expressed, Void damage simply has no upside against any faction outside of sentients and its status effect often reduces overall weapon effectiveness as it makes it nigh impossible to land headshots. The fact that it is 50% weaker against cloned flesh and fossilized health with 0 bonuses against any other faction makes it an incredibly unappealing damage type to use. Void damage as a whole needs to be revisited if it is to be considered for use against anything besides sentients and Eidolon hunting and that's just in general! This ability only interacts with Xaku's equipped weapons and by extension their 4th ability, making it quite uninteresting as well.

Grasp of Lohk

I find this ability to be one of Xaku's more interesting and fun abilities. From a mechanical standpoint, stealing enemy guns to create a small army of floating gun spectres that blast their former owners in the face sounds really cool. Unfortunately, this ability is marred by poor numbers and casting mechanics. The damage on the stolen guns is too low despite their level scaling. The cast range is too short. The duration feels too short. The casting animation is too long even with natural talent/speed drift. The animation is also misleading in that it looks like you steal guns in a cone in front of you when in reality the ability is an AoE around you. When you manage to steal any number of weapons you are locked out of casting the ability again until the duration expires. So if I steal only one gun, I'm stuck with that one peashooter tickling enemies with negligible damage while the rest are shooting me in the face. In general this ability is way too clunky to use and the guns don't even deal that much damage. This ability is more useful for the disarm than the damage. The 7 weapon cap would be okay if they did any meaningful damage.

The Lost

   Accuse

This ability is okay, but nothing to write home about. It's basically a multi-target mind control that lets you turn more enemies than Revenant can. You can get a small army which is useful for drawing aggro but that's about it. The range is decent, but the duration feels too short. The casting animation also feels a tad too long. Overall an unremarkable ability that has its uses in some niche scenarios.

  Gaze

This has got to be Xaku's most potent ability in their current state. The ability to create a resistance shredding zone is probably the main reason Xaku's void damage can do anything to higher level enemies. Even then, this ability suffers from poor range and duration. You need 200% strength to achieve 100% resistance shred which is a sizeable investment leaving less room for range and duration in the build. While I appreciate certain build constraints to make sure the frame doesn't overperform, I feel the base range and duration on this ability are still too low. Otherwise, this is a relatively strong ability.

  Deny

An absolute joke of an ability for what it does at the moment. An incredibly narrow beam with abysmal damage, a slow animation that locks you in place and makes it difficult to aim, and a CC effect that costs way too much for what it does. There is next to no reason to use this ability at all with what it does. Deny needs some significant changes to its numbers, animation, and effect to make it usable.

The Vast Untime

Another cool ability executed poorly. While I love the idea of exploding your outer shell to run and gun as a literal skeleton, there are a number of things preventing me from enjoying that experience using this ability. First, it costs 100 energy AND has a 4/s drain AND a maximum duration. Everybody expressed their disdain for flat cost+drain+duration during the days of pre-rework Ember. Why bring it back? Second, the speed increase from losing your shell seems negligible and doesn't appear to be affected by mods. The stats screen doesn't reflect it anyway. Third, the Void damage vulnerability and slow are only applied to enemies hit by the initial explosion (which doesn't go through walls) meaning that once those initial enemies are dead, the only reason to keep your skeletal form is for the speed and evasion buffs. Fourth, the evasion increase only slightly increases your survivability, again, due to the RNG nature of evasion and the sheer amount of stuff flying across the screen at/around you in higher level missions making that 25% chance to get hit seem a lot more likely than one would like.

 

My Suggestions

Passive: Remove the evasion and instead give Xaku a passive X% bonus void damage on equipped weapons but disable the status effect. If we really wanted a bullet attractor we have Mag and amps for that. It would be free passive damage that would make Xaku effective against sentients at all times and have marginally increased effectiveness against other factions (until Void damage sees some changes at least).

Xata's Whisper: In addition to adding void damage to equipped weapons, allow this ability to increase all Void damage dealt by Xaku. This way, they can deal significantly more damage with not just their weapons but their abilities as well, giving them more synergy within their kit.

Grasp of Lohk: Increase the base damage, range and duration, and allow recasting while the effect is active to steal new guns and refresh the duration. Also increase the speed of the animation.

The Lost:

  Accuse: Increase the ability's duration and animation speed and grant turned enemies void damage to their attacks while they are affected.

  Gaze: Increase the effect radius and duration.

  Deny: Increase the beam width (preferably to that of the Klamora prism beam), allow movement during cast, greatly increase the animation speed, and greatly increase the damage. If this ability is easier to hit and can hit larger groups of enemies, it may warrant retaining the current CC effect for its cost.

The Vast Untime: Either remove the drain and keep the max duration OR reduce the activation cost, remove the max duration, and keep the drain (preferably the former). Additionally move the Void damage vulnerability to an aura around Xaku while the ability is active (but keep the slow on initial cast) and allow the movement speed and evasion to scale with mods up to a cap for evasion. If Xaku can make more enemies vulnerable to Void with an aura, then it will increase their overall effectiveness and boost their survivability by killing threats instead of having to rely on the RNG of evasion.

 

Final Remarks

Xaku is a cool looking warframe with a cool theme and cool sounding abilities. Everything about them is cool except for the actual execution of their kit. As it stands they are really clunky, slow, and unsatisfying to use due to the nature of void damage. Hopefully the upcoming community feedback pass will address their major issues and make this cool sounding warframe cool in function.

[Perfectly_Framed_Waifu]

9 hours ago, quxier said:

You are not suppose to spam his abilities a lot (except their 4th, that's later).

That's only true for Xata's Whisper. Their 2 and 3 are all made to be spammed, though in alternation between them due to the inability to recast many of them while they're active. The disarm through Grasp of Lohk and the mind control through Accuse are your main ways to stop enemies from firing at you. Deny CCs enemies but only in a line. Gaze needs to be recast a lot if you're running around, and when you're not, you want to use Grasp to get enemies into your area and not just shoot you from outside it.

Xaku's like Vauban in that regard - the more you move, the more you need to spam. Vauban survives the energy drought by not needing to build Strength, Duration, Range, Efficiency, and Cast Speed all in the same build. Xaku, on the other hand, needs a lot of everything.

[Electropuncher]

8 hours ago, quxier said:

It needs proc a lot. It would be better if it had flat 100% status chance but even with enough bullets/strikes you should see it. It just adds another instance of damage. It means if you have 3 damage types it adds 4th. Now Void damage has 25% chance to proc. Before it was ~33% per status. I have Mutalist Cernos with 200+ status chance (4-5 damage types fair). And it proc every time I shoot, afair.

We're talking a Rattleguts Ramble kitgun specifically meant to be nothing but procs. It's also possible I'm just killing stuff too fast. Part of the issue is that the VFX for it on Switch are minimal, so it may also be blending into the background.

8 hours ago, quxier said:

It's Helminth ability so they won't do this. And, imho, void buff ability for all frames is nice.

Nothing is set in stone. The Helminth system has been out for a grand total of two weeks, and it's experiencing quite a few growing pains (I need more bile dang it!). Just because something made the initial list doesn't mean it's going to be on the final list. The system took a nerf before it even released, what makes you think what's in the game is the be-all end-all of the Helminth? I don't disagree that a void damage buff is nice, but as I said earlier, it's kind of a lackluster effect. That said, it's a pretty beefy chunk of damage, but it's still a boring ability. If I use an ability, I want it to do something my guns can't do. My gun can shoot 26% more bullets. It can't pull enemies across the map into the path of fire. And while yes, it keys off your weapons' status chance, unless you're really building for Void damage for whatever reason, status effects really don't feel like they have a huge impact right now, if I'm being totally frank. Viral is just the de facto status to use on every faction. Adding Bullet Attractor to the list of statuses I'm using just means I'm not getting headshots.

Another possible idea to keep this ability as Helminth's choice and make it do something is to combine it with Gaze. Have it fire an arrow or ray that gives you a brief window of Void damage on your weapons. Might be a bit janky, but considering we're dealing with pieces from three Warframes duct-taped together...

 

[Electropuncher]

9 hours ago, (PS4)Rainbow_Neos1 said:

I feel it'd be better if Vast Untime either 

A) Didn't drain energy and was simply duration based with a hefty 100 energy cost, or 

B) Make it have the slow and void damage susceptibility AoE be an aura (affected by range) that last for the duration and centers itself on Xaku (it moves with him)  

I know that the slow and Void susceptibility is currently caused by his parts exploding off him (so an aura wouldn't make sense currently), but it could be made into Xaku constantly exerting waves of void energy that does the slow and susceptibility. It would give more reason to use it and more reason to have a constant drain. 

 

Why not have the parts swirl around Xaku? 

[LumilSilvermoon]

I got some more idea on edit this frame,

Please make skill3 - Gaze and Lost stay together with push and hold, may push for gaze and hold for lost. While move Deny to skill 1

make Skill 1 - push for Deny, hold for Xata's whisper

This will remove the skill roll on skill 3 and reduce it Deny's energy useage which far behind it usefulness.

I don't think give Deny to helmith system is will make it great synergy to other WF anyways since it's damage is low also it CC ability can't compare to those already in this system.

[Xolot]

Might be a bit crazy, but what about making Xaku's passive that he adds fellow warframe's subsumed skill as part of The Lost upon interacting with them in some way for the rest of the mission or until interacted with a different warframe?

It's a bit farfetched, and won't work unless you have some way to interact with an ally (like by reviving them or something), but thematically sounds good (even more if you get it visually by adding a piece of their armor to your Xaku or at least floating around) and it's not a way weaker version of the ult.

[quxier]

1 hour ago, (NSW)Electropuncher said:

We're talking a Rattleguts Ramble kitgun specifically meant to be nothing but procs. It's also possible I'm just killing stuff too fast. Part of the issue is that the VFX for it on Switch are minimal, so it may also be blending into the background.

Yeah, visuals are not great (green color is not visible enough) and you may kill before you see the void bubble (green). Even without headshot you may proc a lot (not void type, but still) so if you have, e.g viral enemies will melt.
And even when you proc it, it may soon disappear (I don't remember it's "decay" time).

 

1 hour ago, (NSW)Electropuncher said:

Nothing is set in stone.

Sure, but I don't expect huge changes. I keep my hopes down, like with Protea.

 

1 hour ago, (NSW)Electropuncher said:

I don't disagree that a void damage buff is nice, but as I said earlier, it's kind of a lackluster effect.

It's much more interesting than other buffs. I think, it needs 100% status chance to be better.

 

1 hour ago, (NSW)Electropuncher said:

If I use an ability, I want it to do something my guns can't do.

I think 99% guns cannot attract bullets.

 

1 hour ago, (NSW)Electropuncher said:

My gun can shoot 26% more bullets.

 

1 hour ago, (NSW)Electropuncher said:

Adding Bullet Attractor to the list of statuses I'm using just means I'm not getting headshots.

In my opinion it's nice that it just don't blatantly kills enemies. There are many abilities that does that. Even his one of the Lost abilities just kills weaker enemies. Xatu's Whisper doesn't need more damage, imho. With Gaze (afair) it strip armor and enemies are weak. So even without void damage buff the frame is strong enough.... maybe little buff for Gaze but that's it.

And even without headshot I still able to kill enemies. And I bet someone could do it much better as I'm not into huge numbers that much.

1 hour ago, (NSW)Electropuncher said:

Another possible idea to keep this ability as Helminth's choice and make it do something is to combine it with Gaze. Have it fire an arrow or ray that gives you a brief window of Void damage on your weapons. Might be a bit janky, but considering we're dealing with pieces from three Warframes duct-taped together...

Well, synergy is almost always good. You can for example, like you said, when you have 1st active, and you shoot at Gazed enemy it may cause some radial effect. When you shoot at "mind controlled" enemies you may buff them (instead of killing them).

[quxier]

5 minutes ago, Xolot said:

Might be a bit crazy, but what about making Xaku's passive that he adds fellow warframe's subsumed skill as part of The Lost upon interacting with them in some way for the rest of the mission or until interacted with a different warframe?

It's a bit farfetched, and won't work unless you have some way to interact with an ally (like by reviving them or something), but thematically sounds good (even more if you get it visually by adding a piece of their armor to your Xaku or at least floating around) and it's not a way weaker version of the ult.

It may just let Helmint adds skills for free, or more complex, into his Lost ability. Not fellow frames, but frame's you subsumed.

[Aeon94]

My feedback on Xaku and Void Damage

They have quite low base stats ( I hate their odd numbered stats but they kind of make sense ) for a frame whose kit makes them jump into crowd with RNG survival.

They could use a better passive, evading projectiles is fitting yet a weak one.

Xata's Whisper is one of most useless buffs in entire game which frustrates players with a headshot preventing status effect and a damage type with only has negatives against 2 common health types.

Grasp of Lohk fills the half of screen with replica weapons that require another ability to actually deal damage ( Gaze, 100% strip enemy defenses with 200%+ str ). Also while stealing and using enemy weapons against them looks fun ( despite them shooting same laser ) but it doesn't feel like this should be an ability for a Void themed frame. It's more fitting for a frame such as Mag. Shooting sound of replicas is quite annoying too.

The Lost has 2 mostly ineffective sub-abilities ( Accuse and Deny ) and a sub-ability ( Gaze ) to use 24/7 just to make void damage somewhat useful. Not to mention how distruptive they are with their eternal cast times and movement restrictions.

And the worst offender, the ultimate ability, The Vast Untime ( cool name tho ) ;
⦁    Creates a blast to deal weak void damage, slow enemies and make them vulnerable to void damage IF they are in line of sight.
⦁    Increases passive bullet evasion to 75% and grants unknown amount of movement speed increase.
None of effects above justifies its's excessively high initial cost ( 100 energy ) and duration limit on top of being toggle drain. Ultimate offers almost nothing else if it misses enemies due line of sight, no weakness, no slow, just increased evasion which doesn't save Xaku from inevitable death.

Final Thoughts

Xaku is so weak because of Void damage & status, low base stats with RNG reliant survival and an expensive kit that requires all of ability stats to work. There are also no useful synergies to keep their gameplay interesting. No, forced usage of Gaze and boring void vulnerability from The Vast Untime don't count. All abilities and Void Damage are in dire need of reworks and buffs.

Xaku Rework, Void Damage and Status Changes

I know I will ask too many changes but they surely will make Xaku and Void Damage good against everything that game offers ( most of the changes are ability mechanic swaps with some touch ups, additional effects, synergies and visual effect changes ).

Firstly I want to start with my proposed Void Damage and Status effect changes.

Void Damage ;
⦁    Has no negative modifiers and no positives either.
⦁    Ignores armor and shield yet it can be reduced by damage reduction of some enemies ( such as Ancient Healers, Distruptors, Treasurers, Noxes and Juggernauts ).
⦁    Deals 50% bonus damage against sentient type enemies ( regardless of their health / armor types ) and resets their resistances.

Armor and shield ignore may sound broken but we already have Slash ( Bleed DoT which deals True damage, based on initial damage ) and Toxin to do the same things.
Void damage should have equivalent effectiveness if not being stronger than them for both lore and gameplay reasons, instead of being a niche story damage type, Eidolon shield breaker and sentient resistance remover.

Void Anomaly ;
⦁    Creates a 3 meter radius anomaly which slowly pulls nearby enemies and deals 25% base Void damage over 10 seconds to targets inside. Stacks for a maximum of 10 stacks and a 6 meter radius. Each stack has its own duration.

And now onto the Xaku changes ;

Base Stats
97   --> 123 Health
89   --> 117 Shields
137 --> 141 Armor
153 --> 189 Energy
1.02 --> 1.03 Sprint Speed

PASSIVE -

Void Barrier : Void spirits protect Xaku from harm. Xaku negates a damage instance every 5 sec.

While on Deimos, Xaku gains an additional passive based on Worm Cycle.

• Serenity of Vome(Order) : Xaku gains 0.5 energy and 2 health regen per sec for every 25% of missing energy and health while out of the combat.
• Ferocity of Fass(Chaos) : Xaku gains 1% attack speed for each enemy within affinity radius, up to maximum of 15% attack speed.

1- XATA'S WHISPER [Duration][25 Energy]

Xaku taps into power of the Xata(Truth), enchant themselves with void energy and reveal enemies with void sight.

Xaku's weapons and void related abilities deal +10/15/20/30% bonus void damage. Void enchanted shots have 20% status chance, unaffected by and seperated from weapon status. All enemies are highlighted and can be seen through terrain and walls in 10/12/14/15 meters radius. Xata's Whisper lasts for 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 sec.

• Enchanted shot status chance is affected by Ability Strength.
• Enemy reveal radius is affected by Ability Range.
• Buff duration is affected by Ability Duration.
• Void Sight uses highlight effect of old Naramon's Void Hunter ability.

( Please remove infested turd from this ability and give it more eldritch visual fx. Hearing whispers from void while ability is active would be cool too. )

Synergy ; 

• Xata's Whisper damage buff affects Jahu's Reflection and Ris's Judgement sub-abilities.
• Xata's Whisper affects The Vast Untime's void blast damage.

2- GRASP OF LOHK [Duration][50 Energy]

Xaku creates a breach and entangles enemies with mass of rapidly increasing tendrils from the Lohk(Void).

Entangles enemies with void tendrils within 90° angle and 9 / 10 / 12 / 15 meters for 6 / 8 / 10 / 12 sec and makes them take 25% increased damage from any Void damage source ( including Operator Amps ). Entangled enemies have 35% chance to drop an Energy Orb, upon death.

• Radius and angle are affected by Ability Range.
• Entangle duration is affected by Ability Duration.
• Void vulnerability and energy orb drop chance are not affected by mods.

3- THE HOLLOW ONES [Cycle][75 Energy]
( The Hollow Ones' sub-abilities are inspired from Albrecht Entrati's voice records, translations of Requiem words and Wisp's motes. I didn't like the idea of throwing fallen frames away as shrapnels with ultimate, so these sub-abilities will give them role in the gameplay. Let Hollow Ones assist Xaku in fight, please DE. )

Xaku sheds fragments of Hollow Ones and awakens them as sentries with power of the Lohk(Void).

Tapping the ability key to freely cycle the selection wheel between the Jahu, Netra, and Ris Hollows.
Hold down the ability key to summon the selected Hollow and placing it directly in front of Xaku.

• Hollows are invulnerable static sentries that are permanently placed until removed by Xaku or by colliding with Nullifier Crewman bubbles.
  • Recasting a Hollow will move it to new location.
  • If Xaku moves too far from Hollows ( out of Affinity Range ), they will simply return to Xaku. 
• When placed, a Hollow's fragments disappear from Xaku's body. 
• When placed, Hollows face towards the aiming reticle.
• While active, respective parts of all 3 Hollow Ones are highlighted with energy outlines and missing parts are shown with dark silhouettes or particle effects. 

Xaku gains +25% evasion and +5% movement speed as his true self gets exposed, up to maximum of 75% evasion and 15% movement speed. 

• Evasion and movement speed bonuses are not affected by Ability Strength.

// Evaded projectiles and bullets are shown with visual effects similar to Baruuk's Elude. //

[White Hollow] - Jahu(Form)'s Reflection

Has 8 meters void circle around itself that creates invulnerable Void Replicas of any enemy who crosses it. Replicas will taunt and attack to their original counterparts with 20 / 25 / 35 / 50 void damage ( scales with enemy level ) with each strike or shot. Up to 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 Void Replicas can be created and they last until their original counterpart dies.

• Damage of Void Replica attacks is affected by Ability Strength.
• Circle range and number of Void Replicas are not affected by mods.

Total Void Damage = Void Damage × (1 + Ability Strength) × Enemy Level Multiplier

Enemy Level Multiplier = ceil(Enemy Level ÷ 10). The multiplier only increases after 1 level past the per-10-levels mark (e.g. levels 11, 21, 31, 41, etc).

At ability rank 3 with a maxed Intensify equipped, against an enemy at level 101, Replicas will deal 50 × (1 + 0.3) × (11) = 715 Void damage per attack.

// Replicas have stolen weapons' visual effects. //

( This sub-ability is basically amalgamation of Grasp of Lohk's stolen weapons and Accuse but with a twist. Instead of weapon steal and mass-mind control, it just creates reflections of enemies against them. )

[Grey Hollow] - Netra(Decay)'s Sorrow

Has 8 meters area of eldritch aura around itself, which silences enemy auras and abilities for 1.5 sec and makes enemies deal 50% less damage ( capped at 90% ) within its radius. Debuff lingers on enemies for 5 sec after leaving the aura.

• Weaken debuff is affected by Ability Strength.
• Debuff duration is affected by Ability Duration but silence duration is not.
• Aura radius is not affected by mods.

[Red Hollow] - Ris(Light)'s Judgement

" This Hollow Gazes over enemies, Accuses them and Denies their existence. "

Charges up and unleashes a ray of light towards enemies, traveling up to 15 meters, dealing 800 / 1,000 / 1,200 / 1,500 void damage. Survivors are blinded for 5 sec. Enemies must be within direct line of sight and a 150° cone in front of the Hollow.

• Beam damage is affected by Ability Strength.
• Beam range is not affected by mods.
• Blind duration and beam frequency are not affected by mods.
  • Frequency cooldown is 3 seconds long. 

( Automated Deny beam with thematic CC effect. )

Synergy ;

• Xata's Whisper damage buff affects Jahu's Reflection and Ris's Judgement sub-abilities.
• Range of Hollow sub-abilities are doubled while inside The Vast Untime's distruption field.

4- THE VAST UNTIME [Toggle][50 Energy + 10 Energy/sec]

 Xaku unleashes a void blast and creates a distruption at their location with the power of Khra(Time).

Void blast deals  600 / 800 / 1,000 / 1,200 Void damage, stuns enemies momentarily and creates a distruption zone with 12 / 14 / 16 / 18 meters radius at Xaku's location.

• Xaku becomes invulnerable and cleanses all status effects while casting this ability.
• The Vast Untime can be deactivated by recasting the ability.
• All enemies and projectiles that pass through the distruption are slowed by 15 / 20 / 25 / 30% ( capped at 90% ).
  • Slow amount is affected by Ability Strength.
• Blast and distruption radius are affected by Ability Range.

When The Vast Untime cast, Xaku crouches in place then reels back, surges into the air and unleashes an expanding Void energy blast.

• If  Xaku has any fragments on them, existing fragments visually detach from body and suspended in the air with Void energy tethers for the cast time. Suspended body fragments return to Xaku after cast. 
• If all Hollows are active and Xaku's true form is exposed, Xaku just releases Void Blast without any fragment detach animation.

Synergy ; 

• Range of Hollow sub-abilities are doubled while inside distruption field.
• Speed bonus of Xaku's true form is doubled while inside distruption field.
• Xata's Whisper affects The Vast Untime's void blast damage.
   

@SilverBones @[DE]Rebecca @[DE]Megan

 

[Sdric]

Passive:

• On evade: Release a Void Nova that damages enemies within 12m range. Guaranteed void proc.
  • Evade itself is difficult to notice when it takes effect, making it feel impact-less even if it does make a difference. This minor buff makes it much more noticeable when it triggers.

Xata's Whisper:

• Added (HOLD): Summon a void fissure. Allies can enter the void fissure to gain 50% ammo efficiency and 50% damage reduction for 15 seconds. (Values fixed. Reduced to 33% on subsume)
  • Void is a bad damage type. This grants Xata's ability an extended amount of utility, making it a desirable utility tool that doesn't just compete with Roar & Co, but fills a different niche. Inspired by fissure missions.

Grasp of Lohk:

• Recastable.
• Range increased to 15m.
• Duration increased to 16s.
  • QoL change that increases overall reliability and reduces average upkeep cost via increased duration.

Accuse:

• Reworked: Fissure remains for 25s and corrupted approaching enemies. Corrupted enemies have a 33% chance to drop additional Health Orbs / Energy Orbs / Archgun Ammo.
  • Accuse is a A worse version of Enthrall which is a worse version of Shadows. Its function does not suit Xaku's kit. The rework shifts some offensive power in utility, pairing well with his improved Xata's Whisper and a variety of subsumable abilities like Larva, Ensnare or Airburst by offering a source of sustain to finance his higher than average mana cost.

Gaze:

• Radius increased to 15.
• Duration 20s.
  • Even though Deimos features an increased amount of caves, Warframe as a whole has consistently moved to larger map design over the years. Area control abilities like Gaze need some love to perform in open worlds and outside of chokepoint filled tilesets.

Deny:

• Synergie added: Each weapon stolen by Grasp of Lohk cast its own instance of Deny.
• Tries to lock onto different targets if possible.
  • Deny is an expensive nuke, with a bad damage type and poor scaling. While this does not tackle scaling directly, it improves the synergy between his abilities. Combined with Gaze and Grasp of Lohk, this can become a significant instance of burst damage, worthy of the huge energy investment the combination requires.

The Vast Untime:

• Remove continuous drain.
• Void damage debuff removed. Now increases your own / allies void damage instead. Affects Operator.
  • While the ability as it it right now requires a whole lot attention, the synergies infused of the above changes reduce amount of buffs needed by this ability, avoiding over reliance. The dodge rate pairs well with the improved passive (AoE void nova on evade) and the new defensive utility of Xatu's Whisper which makes this ability from a "less, one-shots but still one-shots" kind of defense-tool to a worthy secondary layer of defense. The removal of continuous drain makes this ability more affordable, while the change from void debuff to void buff in combination with added utility from Xatu's Whisper potentially allow Xaku to be a flex-pick for Eidolon hunts.

[Aratir]

So you want to have constatn dodging frames around you who debuff enemies.

And her 1.st power is too strong giving team buff 50% DR and i presume you want to keep the damage buff also, so by this it must cost around 75-100 energy per cast.

[Cobalt313]

Thoughts on Xaku, based on a mix of personal experience and observations gleaned from other players:

Passive:

No comment, seems fine as-is so far.

Ability 1 - Xata's Whisper:

   Ability itself is fine, it's the Void damage itself and/or the relative lack of promised synergy with the rest of Xaku's kit where the problems lie. Lots of enemies are resistant to Void and the only things weak to it are Sentients and Eidolon Shields, the latter of which it doesn't work on at all. Worse yet, Void Damage's Bullet Attractor Status Proc has the potential to reduce potential DPS by redirecting damage away from critical/headshot zones and/or rerouting damage toward body regions incapable of taking damage (for enemies who can only take damage to specific body parts), to say nothing of the occasional problematic interaction between non-hitscan projectiles and physics bugs preventing the attractor from properly redirecting damage to the target at all. In short, it is entirely possible for this ability intended to provide additional damage to instead cause certain weapons or loadouts to deal less damage.

   Please consider reducing some of the more common resistances to Void damage, if not outright removing them to turn Void damage into a sort of "neutral" damage type when used against non-Sentient enemies, with only Sentients specifically possessing a weakness to it. This would ensure that Void damage would never be a "bad" choice of damage to use, but outside of Sentient encounters it would never be the "best" choice compared to more easily-obtained damage types and sources. Furthermore, please consider modifying or replacing the Void "bullet attractor" status proc to make it less likely to reduce potential DPS.


Ability 2 - Grasp of Lohk:

   Excellent concept, lackluster execution. Base collection range and void-gun detection range feel very short, though most of my personal experience has been on rather large open-world maps like Deimos. Casting animation feels too long and gun duration feels too short, inability to recast until guns expire feels limiting; please consider placing a sort of "soft cap" on the number of guns Xaku can have under their control, where Grasp of Lohk can be recast if they have fewer than the limit's number of guns, though it may still be possible to exceed this number by total number of guns stolen each cast.


Ability 3 - The Lost:

    Could do well with a casting speed increase for all sub-abilities, and possibly more synergies with each other or the rest of Xaku's kit.

   Gaze:
        Increased base area-of-effect for defense debuff may be advised. Consider allowing Void damage applied to the entangled target to be spread to all enemies in its debuff radius, or perhaps allowing its radius to be increased while within the area-of-effect of The Vast Untime.

   Accuse:
        Initial casting range or area-of-effect may be advised. Consider making it possible for Grasp of Lohk to steal weapons from Accused enemies (should they have any), and having said Accused weapons be empowered with additional firing speed and/or Void damage.

   Deny:
       Needs longer range and/or wider cylinder of effect, possibly increased single-target damage or an impact area-of-effect a la Opticor. Consider allowing the "lift" effect it deals to be extended up to a certain cap when the target takes Void damage, or perhaps give it a damage buff within the area of Vast Untime or based on the number of guns currently under the control of Grasp of Lohk.

 

Ability 4 - The Vast Untime:
   I and nearly every player I have encountered have had complaints about this ability combining a high Energy cost to cast with a drain-over-time and limited duration, especially given Xaku's relatively small energy pool. My personal suggestion would be to make the Void vulnerability infliction be a persistent area-of-effect (indicated by a Void glow or fog within the area bordered by Xaku's jettisoned armor pieces) and have the base ability be a single-high-cost limited-duration effect; in time an Augment Mod could be released for this ability that trades the large persistent AOE for a smaller, mobile AOE centered on Xaku, and the high energy cost and fixed duration for an over-time drain cost that lasts until dispelled or energy depletes.