Heart of Deimos: Xaku Feedback Megathread

[Samhel]

I myself don't believe that I'm asking for a frame buff, because usually I always keep telling myself to try it out myself and don't listen to other people, but God, I farmed out those Scintillant BEFORE that specific hotfix and I don't really feel like it was worth it.

Xaku's kit is interesting and everything, but building them is a very frustrating thing right now. The whole kit is affected by duration and yet it's still very low everywhere, even with mods, and we have an ability that needs to be cycled for different mechanics and it makes looking at those low duration timers even more frustrating than building the frame itself. Not to mention that as I feared, their Ult totally embraced the memes by only being good to laugh about how thin the skeletal form is. Overall it's very obvious that this time the team tried to not release a completely bonkers overpowered frame, but I have the same feelings as with Protea previously, that this frame screams for a buff. They need every single ability stats to be atleast 100% or some efficiency could be sacraficed but nothing else and it makes building for actually keeping ourselves alive impossible. Explanation:

PASSIVE AND STATS

So first of all, their passive is very similar to Nyx's passive, which is actually really good, but it doesn't compensate that much to Xaku's relatively low defensive stats. There are even new modsets obviously to enhance their kit specifically, but even their armor and health bonuses can't really help Xaku surviving punches if they actually get them. I know the skeleton form should help in that but we'll get to that in it's own section.

XATA'S WHISPERING

This is actually one of the most reliable abilities in Xaku's possession, but the problem is the Void dmg. It doesn't do any more than creating a little bubble that makes aiming easier (I guess?). However it's sadly still one of the best abilities of Xaku right now, both in it's core mechanic to give a dmg buff which comes handy in any given situation and also it's duration makes building pretty comfortable... only for their 1. of course, sadly, again. Still it either needs to be stronger, because of the fact that void dmg is neutral for most enemy health / armor / shield types, but still has 2 negatives, making it worse than any other element or phisycal dmg type in the game.

GRASP OF LOHK

Satisfying to use and the duration on it makes sense since it disarms enemies as well as it acts as sentry guns around Xaku. It's dmg however has some problems scaling with enemies even if it was actually made to act that way. The target number stat getting affected by ability range doesn't really make that much sense either, strength or efficiency would, but we can't really build for efficiency if we want decent duration and range which we need. I suggest making it stronger by adding an additive bonus above the scaling one, because void dmg isn't really the type of dmg that benefits from scaling with enemy level.

THE LOST 

All of the ability variants need a HUGE duration buff and a slight range one ASAP. Accuse shouldn't be a one-press turning enemies against each other thing, it should stay in a zone just like Gaze does. Speaking of which, Gaze seems to be the most useful ability in Xaku's kit from all the 4 / 6 . But we still need that 200% strength for 100% defense strip which is really good, but with that in the build duration, efficiency and range falls off pretty badly, which should be the point of creating different builds, but still it should atleast last longer so that we can cycle through the ability and not just spam Gaze every 20 seconds or so. 
Oh and the laserbeam. Well this could be good again if not for the void dmg, it's width is pretty low and the lift up thingy isn't as great of a CC as DE thought. I mean it's obviously good with Vauban's Bastille, but on such a small scale it's not.

THE VAST UNTIME

Now my first problem was actually the skeleton, but it's because I don't like things getting added to a game just because of "the memes" or to make fun of it or to laugh. I mean things need to be fun for sure, but building and playing high level content is also a part of the game and it's enjoyable for a lot of people as well and the skeleton isn't really helpful there. But not even on lower levels, because the void dmg vulnerability and the slow is only on when the ability is still on, but it drains LOTS of energy, especially if we are really talking about people on really low levels, they can't just build for it like us. And even we can't really build around it because as I said, we need strength and range atleast and as many duration as we can just get. This ability right now isn't worth to use, at all and I already suggested just before release to atleast make the void dmg vulnerability debuff aerial around Xaku, which I still believe would be the good choice. Enemies hit by the shrapnel getting the debuffs makes players cast the ability everytime around big chunks of enemies and as I said it drains lots of energy to maintain these debuffs. 
The evasion mechanic makes sense, but it's still isn't really helpful with Xaku's low defensive stats, so that when they actually get a punch, it's gonna be a really big punch that rips off our faces.

I suggest giving the ult the same effect as Xaku's passive with the same %-s, make it drain less energy overtime and make atleast the dmg vulnerability debuff into an aerial thing with range so it becomes viable. 

OR another personal idea of mine was to remove the whole duration thing, make the debuffs aerial and actually make Xaku invulnerable to hits as long as they're in the skeletal form on the spot where they got the hit. With every hit Xaku's armor would return slowly to the spot of the hit, decreasing the chance of avoiding dmg, but decreasing the energy drain as well and increasing the vulnerability and slow debuffs range and intensity with armor piece getting returned. It's a personal idea of mine to make this ability more than just a meme and to make it feel more satisfying to use.

 

[Genitive]

If they rush the rework chances are they will have to rework Xaku again. 

[Pizzarugi]

The abilities are fine, the stats are bad.

3 second base duration on multiple skills, including one that lets you have minions and steal guns? That's absurd, Loki is far superior at stealing guns by comparison and he doesn't even use them. Void damage is a weak element and the skill can't even be used to break Eidolon shields which is really weird. Xaku's base health and shields are incredibly low that I don't think you can justify having up to 75% dodge chance with ult, I doubt they're going to be at all effective in lategame being weak as paper.

[HeySneeze]

Xaku needs help. I think fundamentally it’s void damage being kinda worthless, and their abilities being too expensive for too little of an effect. I’d like to propose some changes.

 

1. Void damage rework I think this is the most drastic part of my changes. And that’s to make void damage actually beneficial in most cases. This will also help operator combat.

       1a. Void damage is like Revenant’s 4 and adapts to the weaknesses of the struck enemies

      1b. Void damage does true damage ignoring armor, and shields this is probably more lore friendly than 1a as it seems like going into the void really messes with people and is incredibly hazardous. See isolation vaults and the power of the tenno according to the orokin. 

 

With these changes I think void damage would now be viable and would greatly improve Xaku’s power. Now i worry that with one of these changes a flat void damage buff might be too good so instead of a bonus it’s a replacement so like if you get %40 instead of adding %40 void damage it would replace %40 of the damage you would’ve dealt with void damage. This could make it so they’re not just the only frame being used and since they’re giving us their 1 with helminth it wouldn’t be the best thing ever and would be a viable option when discussing possible load-outs. Now I would like their void damage to affect eidolons aswell but if its purly balancing issues I get why we cant have our cake and eat it too. This will also help operators not be just kinda jokes later in the game, and could give you a reason to play with them. 

 

Grasp of Lohk

Very simple. faster casting further range and with the void damage changes in 1a-b damage from these would not need to be buffed.

 

The Lost

Range needs to be increased over all 3 sub abilities.

Press to cast and hold to swap

Gaze no longer strips defenses if void damage is changed, instead any enemies killed in the radius has a chance to drop energy/health orbs

Deny benefits from the void damage change and can be used as a single target Nuke.

Accuse gives a void damage buff to affected targets.

 

The Vast Untime

It’s a duration OR a channeling not both. 

Also half the dodge chance for aoe attacks (I know it doesn’t make much sense but it’s necessary) 

And when cast removes all status effects. 

I know this is more of a void damage rework but since void damage is unique to Xaku and is kinda lack luster I think improving void damage will overall help Operators and Xaku respectively

 

[LagartoPunkarra]

Okay, I'll give you what I think where Xaku's abilities need to change.

Passive: It's nice that they basically have a 25% damage reduction, but I think it should also affect when you're statused, having a chance to not be affected by an element like Toxin or Gas.

Xata's Whisper: The ability is fine, maybe a bit more strenght by default, but I have two problems. First, Void damage should change to not be resisted by cloned flesh, fossilized flesh and tenno shields, so it could be more useful. And secondly, it should be effective against Eidolon shields so you have something other than AMPs to damage them.

Grasp of Lohk: Buff everything of this. Strenght, Range, Duration, even the speed of the cast animation. It needs a big buff.

The Lost - Accuse: I think a buff in range and duration should be useful.

The Lost - Gaze: Buff the range and duration, as well as the strenght required to remove defenses by 100%, maybe by using 175% strenght instead of 200%.

The Lost - Buff the range and make the damage scale a little more.

The Vast Untime: A good example of a good ability butchered. Why this has a timer AND requires to channel so much energy? Make it have a timer or be a channeled ability, not both. And maybe reducing the energy cost, 100 and a drain of 4 per second is too much, maybe 85 and 2.5 per second.

[DalanorTheLlama]

Certainly there are some issues with Xaku. Mainly void damage itself, slow casting speeds, scaling damage is low and energy management.
The overall kit feels like Nyx but with void powers.

Passive:
Overall nice little passive which should stacks together (multiplicatively obviously) with The vast untime (#4) and other newly introduced methods of evasion. Reason behind that we are playing a horde shooter where enemies hold bullet hoses so 75% evasion alone wouldn't help.  
Personally i prefer this over damage reduction because it provides a much better defensive option at high level gameplay where raw bulk and damage reduction can't hold up.
Maybe just maybe change it to all kind of attacks. Not sure if that would be too overpowered since you can avoid melee anyway with movement.

edit: It turns out it doesn't prevent status procs like toxin. That should be definitely added to evasion to prevent dying from random status effects.

#1 Xata's whisper:
Void damage is the only damage type ingame currently which has no positive bonuses but has two negatives. Making things worse in current iteration it doesn't work against eidolons nor sentients, the only two enemies in game where you actually want / need to use void damage. Either change the damage bonuses of void damage as a whole with flat bonuses across the board (in lore the void is a pretty powerful thing so ...) or simply change it to something not relatable to the void.

#2 Grasp of Lohk:
Low casting speed, very short range on the disarm, shooting range is also very low and aiming could be improved as well.
Scaling also doesn't really work, above lvl30 the ability is borderline useless for damage purposes which wouldn't be a problem if the disarm portion has better flow and becomes a better defensive option. Not being able to recast the ability while it's active is also a huge issue, please change it to recastable.
With fast enough casting this could be a great panic button if run into enemies with big enough firepower.

#3 The lost:
Accuse and Deny are straight up not good. Accuse doesn't have high enough range to be useful in Interception or Mobile defense and the crossfire can potentially kill you.
Deny as every CC ability doesn't work on targets where you would need it, damage is negligible. Sentient resistance removal is pointless due to operators.
Wouldn't complain if these two were completely removed.

Gaze on the other hand is really strong. With considerable investment to Ability strength you can fully strip defenses in an area which is absolutely nuts.
Tho i would change the range to 10 meters from the base 8 meters to be less restrictive on building. Casting speed is also an issue here.

With current iteration the need of 200% strength to max out armor strip is a tad bit too much. Range on abilities are barely enough and durrations are short which further affects the energy economy of the frame.

#4 The vast untime:
Why this ability has an energy on cast AND a drain beside that? Please remove one of them. Also it has duration on top of this. Why?
Void damage debuff as pointed out above is kinda meaningless (limited sources of damage, weak modifiers) despite being a beefy 50%, the slow is nice, evasion is godly but could be still improved. If we are sticking to the whole void theme and let's assume void damage turns out to be good then it could be a drain based ability IF the void damage debuff becomes an aura like debuff. The animation and casting speed also hurts it to be a good defensive tool.

PS: Please make Natural talent an exilus mod.
PPS: Stick to the evasion based defense, don't let players convince you about damage reduction because that would hurt the viability of the frame in the long term.

edit: After some testing 5 out of 6 skills can be ignored and improved by putting Shooting gallery on Xaku which outshines their whole kit alone.
At that point you may even stop using Gaze too and just melee whatever you come across.

[Ranzinzo]

Xatu is currently weak and honestly, their gameplay mechanics could use improvements. Their abilities need more strategic potential and interesting aspects. Also their 3 needs something to balance the fact that 1 of the abilities will always be the better option. Ignoring 2 abilities on a warframe that is made of 3 parts isn’t good design. Even though Xatu is the broken warframe, they have perfect control over all of his abilities and nothing seems really broken besides their appearance.

Here is my suggested rework, aimed to not only make Xatu stronger, but also give their kit more depth and move them closer to the theme of a broken warframe.

 

Xatu

The broken warframe

Passive: Assimilate

Xatu activates a short range vacuum whenever they roll, pulling resources and all ammo packs. Whenever they pick up an item, they regain a small amount of health.

What changed?

The original passive was basically a weaker version of Xatu’s ultimate. As long as Xatu already has a custom dodge animation, they might as well gain an effect linked to it.  Sucking up random items to use as body parts plays perfectly into Xatu’s theme.

 

Ability 1: Xata’s Whisper

Xatu creates a transparent sphere of void rift in front of him. Shooting through the sphere empowers shots with Void Damage. Xatu may pick up the sphere and carry it around, giving the bonus damage to his secondary and melee weapons. Holding the ability button on activation automatically grabs the sphere.

Whenever the sphere empowers an attack, it gets charged. Cast the ability again to explode the sphere, dealing Void Damage around Xatu based on its charge. The sphere can be thrown up like a canister by using the alt fire button.

 

• Xata’s Whisper has infinite duration and no damage cap on the explosion.

• Explosion range is short and the charge rate is quite slow.

• Holding the sphere requires one hand, making Xatu unable to wield primary weapons.

• Alt fire to throw the sphere, swap to primary to drop it in place.

• The sphere gets smaller when it's picked up to fit Xatu's hand.

 

• Ability Strength affects the bonus Void Damage and the charge rate.

• Ability Range affects explosion radius.

• Costs 25 energy.

 

What changed?

Instead of being a simple and boring buff, Xata’s Whisper now puts the buff on the ground for any ally to use. This forces the whole squad to think about the positioning and promotes thoughtful gameplay.

If Xatu doesn’t want a stationary buff, they can pick it up like Volt’s shields, gaining the buff for himself. This basically puts the ability on its original form at the cost of not using primary weapons or alternate fire.

The ability to throw and explode the rift gives players even more options and strategies.

The main problem with the original Xata’s Whisper is that it doesn’t promote thinking. If the stats are good you want it on all the time. If they aren’t good enough you simply never use it. This rework gives the ability more depth and flexibility.

 

Ability 2: Grasp of Lohk

Xatu expands tendrils from his body that grab 5 enemy weapons, disarming them. The tendrils transform into replicas of the stolen weapon and start firing at enemies. The replicas deal Void Damage and gain bonuses based on the weapon they are copying.

Each replica has a set amount of shots before disappearing. Players can recast Grasp of Lohk at any time to replace missing weapons.

 

• Void weapon base damage should be buffed.

• Assault rifles grant bonus fire rate. Big magazine size.

• Shotguns grant bonus multishot. Average magazine size.

• Launchers and flamethrowers grant area of effect damage. Small magazine size.

• Sniper rifles grant bonus critical chance. Small magazine size.

• Pistols grant bonus status chance. Average magazine size.

 

• Ability Strength increases weapon damage.

• Ability Duration increases the number of shots.

• Ability Range increases disarming distance.

• Costs 50 energy to get all weapons.

• Costs 10 energy per missing weapon to replace them.

 

What changed?

Grasp of Lohk is a great concept, but is simply weak. The main change was giving buffs to the weapons so they are meaningful in combat. Number of weapons was reduced to match energy cost, but the base damage buff should make up for it.

 

Ability 3: The Lost

Xatu can use 3 different abilities from the original warframes parts that make them. Casting one ability rearranges Xatu’s internal wiring and forcefully changes it to the next one on the list.

 

1. Accuse: Xatu pulls an enemy and slams it on the ground, marking it. Other enemies nearby will be taunted by the marked enemy and will target it before anyone else. On death, the marked enemy gives his shields and armor to Xatu and their allies.

2. Deny: Xatu channels a beam from his hand over a few moments. Enemies hit by the beam take Void Damage and are marked. Their weapons are briefly jammed and they become temporarily unable to damage Xatu.

3. Gaze: Xatu marks an enemy target, briefly stunning it. The marked enemy starts siphoning shields and armor from other enemies around it. The marked target is gradually slowed as it siphons.

 

• Both Accuse and Gaze are limited to 1 marked enemy at the same time.

• Deny supports any number of marked enemies.

 

• Ability Strength affects Accuse slam damage, Accuse shield and armor distribution to allies, Deny beam damage, Gaze siphoning rate.

• Ability Duration increases the duration of all marks. It does not increase stun or jamming duration.

• Ability range increases Accuse pull range, Accuse taunt range, Accuse shield and armor distribution range, Deny beam range, Gaze siphoning range.

• Costs 75 energy.

 

What changed?

A major rework of all 3 abilities. Gaze, being the best option right now, still maintains its ability to remove defenses in an area, but now this has a cost of making one single enemy very tanky. This cost can be exploited by Accuse’s new effect. Controlling enemies is an effect already common to Nyx and Revenant, so Accuse was changed to something a little more original for Xatu.

Accuse, Deny and Gaze now form a trinity common to most RPGs: Support, Tank and DPS. Perfect for a warframe made from parts of 3 different ones. The fact that now the abilities swap automatically is intended to balance gameplay and avoid having 1 superior ability, but also has lore reasons. Being made from 3 different warframes, there was no indication in the original kit that Xatu is broken, like the original design suggested. The fact that Xatu could perfectly control abilities from 3 different sources implied that there was no disadvantage to being broken. Uncontrollable swapping is a way of stating that being broken has a cost.

 

Ability 4: The Vast Untime

Xatu explodes, sending his armor pieces flying away in all directions and becoming a walking void skeleton. In this form Xatu loses all his base armor, but gains 75% chance to avoid incoming attacks and bonus movement and melee speed. Xatu gains the ability to walk through enemies. Doing so makes the enemy vulnerable to Void Damage from all sources over a few seconds.

The explosion deals Void Damage to enemies and sends 3 pieces of Xatu across the room. Xatu can pick up the pieces to undo the effects of The Vast Untime by ⅓ each (Xatu regains armor and activation energy, and loses dodge chance, bonus speed, void vulnerability debuff strength and energy consumption per second). Each piece also heals Xatu for ⅓ of their maximum health. Picking up all 3 pieces deactivates The Vast Untime.

The Vast Untime consumes energy per second. If Xatu runs out of energy or health, they become an agile mass of void tendrils that can crawl through the floor and jump. This is an alternate form of the downed state and Xatu can be revived by allies or by picking up all 3 pieces of armor. If they aren’t revived, Xatu dies.

 

• The Vast Untime has infinite duration.

• Vulnerability to void damage should be greatly buffed.

• Dodge chance does not include area of effect damage.

• Bleed out reduction works on crawling downed state.

• Crawling downed state is completely immune to damage, status effects and crowd control.

• The ⅓ gains and losses of picking up parts are not affected by mods.

 

• Ability Strength increases explosion damage, void vulnerability debuff and bonus speed.

• Ability Duration increases void vulnerability debuff, crawl mode bleed out time and decreases energy consumption per second.

• Ability Range increases explosion range.

• Costs 100 energy to activate.

• Costs energy per second to maintain.

 

What changed?

The main appeal of The Vast Untime no longer is the explosion or the dodge chance, it is the ability to tag enemies to take increased Void Damage. Xatu can use their speed to run around the room marking enemies and later use his Ability 1 and Ability 2 to kill them.

What is weird about The Vast Untime is that it puts Xatu in a skeletal form that is clearly not intended for combat and the only penalty was the energy consumption. Now Xatu has to worry about losing his health and his energy, making it pretty clear that this is an unstable form that shouldn’t have a prolonged use.

To make up for this change and encourage running around the room, Xatu can now pick up the 3 pieces to give him bonus survivability while also slowing down the energy loss. Players can pick only 1 or 2 pieces to keep the ability going with weaker effects.

Xatu also gains a custom downed state. This crawling tentacle form can’t attack or cast abilities, but is very agile and most of the time Xatu will be able to pick his pieces or run to an ally, encouraging players to really go all in despite having less armor.

[EinheriarJudith]

i knew this frame was just going to be boring. 

needs faster casting speed.

void damage should be converted to adaptive damage with a new proc.

remove the ability wheel like seriously why does this frame need 6 powers? it doesnt. chose one and remove the other 2.

remove the channel drain from the vast untime. give her an aura so that void debuff is actually useful. you seem to not have learned your lesson with warcry.

remove all limitations on recastability. the game does not move at a snails pace.

evasion is fine. people need to learn how to use survivability mods.

[Don_Nestra]

This damn new Content has more bugs then infested Enemys. NOTHING of it is bugless and alot of "fails" are willed to slow down the players...i always defended DE in discussions but rly..this Content sucks Eidolon $&*^s. i was never that mad about a patch in ANY game like this...

[JustALemon]

Xaku's Passive: doesn't even feel like it exist

1st: didn't feel like getting anymore dmg just use it for the void proc

2nd: becuz of her/his/their fragile body and useless passive going in to the middle of group of enemies to cast the skill to it fully usefulness is not a good idea. recast able would be a good idea for this becuz sometime you will get like 1 gun and have to wait for the duration to end

3rd: well Gaze is ok becuz of defensive reduction. Deny is not that good becuz it didn't do great in the thing it can the dmg isn't high enough to kill lvl 50 armor enemies and the aoe is a straight line it's not good for cc. The corrupt one (forgot the name) is good for stop some enemies from shooting you but some dmg(ours) can dmg them so I don't know if you guys intend for the corrupted enemies to be dmg by us or not. Overall of the 3rd not a good ability

4th: the most stupid ultimate of all warframe I have ever use(even chroma 4th still have it usefulness). First the 75% chance to dodge. it look good on paper but in reality it is very stupid. If you compare to 75% dmg reduction yes you take only 25% of the dmg overall but if all the enemies need is a one shot to hit you dodge is useless with dmg reduction you have enough time to hide or goes into operator mode to survive but dodge yeah you don't have time for that you just dead(note: I use Vitality with Adaptation and Arcane Guardian so I didn't just go with 200 health and complain about her survival skill). Hey what about the other effect. The increase void dmg and slow only applies to the enemies that got hit by the explosion if this is a use and done it would be fine but this is a duration based skill. Not only that but it a duration based with drain functionality. Why put drain on an ability that balance by duration. To fixed this first 75% dodge either change to reduction or have other effect entirely on this part. Second choose either it would be a drain skill or duration based skill. If you choose drain reduce the cost for activating and reduce the explosion dmg to balance out with the cost, but if you choose duration just remove the energy drain the rest is fine. Third change from getting hit by explosion to get the more void dmg and slow effect into an aura that make enemies in range receive more void dmg and slow. The aura will make the skill have more usefulness.

[-Minibeave-]

Spent my past few days theory crafting my Xaku build, and first thing I'd like to note, is this frame needs a lot of stats, in a lot of places. By that I mean, she needs duration, range, strength, AND effeciency in order to make most of the kit even usable. 

You basically always need effeciency, her lackluster base range NEEDS +range to even make use of her 2/3/4. If you want 100% armor strip from gaze you need 200% power strength. And if you drop your duration, you gimp your 2/3/4 (1 not as much as it can be recast at any point, but as this skill is so low impact, it isn't much of a positive).

I love this frame. I didn't think I would, but it's appearance, and kit are very appealing to me. I would very much like this frame to be more usable, or more focused. Xaku feels cohesive, it has a wonderful combo with 2, 3 (gaze), and 4. Strip all their armor, take all their guns, deal double damage with their weapons. The major issue with this combo, is I'm spending so much energy, taking so much time to cast these long winded animations, all for it to take like 10-15 seconds to kill anything. I just feel like it's very underwhelming in performance in live missions. 

I want her 2 to be the star of the show. It's by far the coolest ability in the kit, but it has a lot of drawbacks. It doesn't deal a lot of damage, I figured the scaling on this ability would be better. I strip all their armor with 3 (gaze), only to now deal 50% less damage to their HP (at least on cloned flesh). Just feels like a lose lose situation. Also, every aspect of range about this ability sucks. Basically only shoots enemies in melee range, it's innate range for taking weapons is abysmal, and it's duration is extremely lackluster. 

If I were to propose a change to her 2, I would say it needs a a sizable increase to it's base range for taking weapons, as well as making it line of site based in it's range of fire (similar to Mesa or Embers 4). Maybe make it drain energy as a toggle after stealing weapons, or passively increase it's duration for each enemy it kills (only suggested if overall energy costs go down, and overall damage/performance of the skill also goes up).

I think the only major issue with her 1 is that void damage is mostly trash. Status effect is mostly useless, and no % bonus damage to anything (-50% in two situations) is very lackluster. If anything, make void damage true damage that ignores resists, and scale back the damage maybe? I assume a void damage rework has been in discussions lately. 

Her 3 is probably the most impactful thing in their kit, at least whilst using Gaze. 100% armor/shield removal is quite powerful, but in how it's used it feels mostly crap. Long animation, and very short range, with low duration. Why would I bother with Xaku for armor stripping when I could bring Ember and do it more easily, and frankly better. Locking the armor strip in an AoE location based off of an enemy feels pretty bad. I also VERY much dislike the 3 ability wheel mechanic. The other two options on 3 are mostly useless in a lot of situations (save for fighting sentients). I'd like to see this ability as just Gaze, make it not locked to an enemy, maybe some sort of void totem that does the same thing similar to Wisp's totems. 

4 also feels pretty low impact. RNG survival vs flat damage reduction feels like crap (This includes the passive). It also makes other defenses in the game less effective. I can't reliably proc Arcane Guardian, Arcane Grace, or Adaptation as I'm dodging shots rather than getting hit, then mitigating the damage, as well as proc'ing additional defenses. I'd like to see both her passive and 4 dodge chance swapped back to the damage reduction originally intended. I don't think the double damage from 4 is very impactful either given how lackluster the void damage on 1/2/3/4 feels against anything remotely threatening. The speed increase and slow in the AoE feel very low impact, mostly due to (once again) lackluster base range. 

Overall, I think this frame has amazing potential to be a formidable, and unique addition to Warframe. It just needs some tweaks and love in the right places. The kit is cohesive, but lacks power as void damage is so lackluster. I'd either like to see this frame as more of a kill frame, or more added defenses and utility. It's kind of a jack of all trades, master of none right now. It doesn't kill very well, it doesn't cc very well, and it's survivability leaves a lot to be desired. I think a more clear direction needs to be decided upon with community feedback to really sure up the issues we're seeing in this thread. 

I want this frame to be great. I want to main it to be honest, but in its current state, I'll probably only bring it along on extremely low level content when I'm helping new players/lowbie friends in game. I assume there is content coming up that she will be more suited for (sentient war), but if that's all she's gonna be good for, I regret picking her up. 

Thanks Tenno

 

 

 

[-Minibeave-]

On 2020-08-26 at 7:28 AM, Erl-King said:

People already mentioned that all abilities need a general boost in power and I completely agree.

Now here is a random thought about their 3rd ability. What if we play up BROKEN aspect of the frame and make it unstable, malfunctioning. Merge all three abilities, making them much stronger, a bit more similar, but Instead of abilities being selectable, make it randomly cycling. 10-20 seconds you have one ability, then it is replaced by the next one.

It would have same three types - big AoE blast, medium lingering AoE aura and focused Void lance. All of them would have damage, debilitating effect, armor reduction, damage and vulnerability to void damage debuff.

Big AoE blast would have biggest area of effect, strongest debilitating effect (current chaos effect), small armor debuff -30%, miniscule damage and void damage vulnerability debuff (+10%).

Medium lingering Aoe that persist for the duration of effect - average area, but lasting for the duration, average debilitating effect (rooting enemies in place), average armor debuff - 60%, average damage and void damage vulnerability debuff (+50%).

Void lance - smallest area of effect (only those touched by the void ray), weakest debilitating effect (brief stun), strongest armor debuff -100%, strongest direct damage and void damage vulnerability debuff (+150%).

Overall it would be same ability, varying in focus. Wider the area of effect - weaker the effect. And downside of such ability would be it being unreliable, random. You won't be able to consistently sit and root choke point with the root ability. Instead you will have to make do with the powerful, but unreliable, BROKEN ability.

So, what do you think?

Please God no. She's already broken and unreliable, don't add and RNG element for lore sake. Why only give us access to the only good(ish) skill, being Gaze, 1/3rd of the time? I think it's a creative idea, but would push this frame even further back on the shelf of options for anything above level 10. 

[marceedoodles]

• external issue: with the addition of xaku void damage is no longer a specific damage type for a specific job, and needs a rework. imo should be neutral against all non-sentient factions and the bullet attractor status should be changed to something more useful.
• base stats: needs either more survivability or some changes in ability mechanics.
• full kit: synergy mechanics are boring. the extra damage is so low it might as well not even be there. why not buff the fire rate of 2? or having xata's whisper active increases the effectiveness of gaze's defensive strip? 
• passive: same issue as hydroid, unreliable as hell, but probably the one thing i don't mind about their kit.
• xata's whisper: the external issue of void damage needing a rework ties into this. the buff value is also on the weak side.
• grasp of lohk: fun, but base range is too short and damage scales poorly, the external issue is here as well. cast time is too long. needs to be recastable.
• the lost: accuse should either be recastable or not have an enemy limitation, deny's effectiveness is limited by the external issue yet again, and gaze's defensive strips scales too poorly. cast time is too long. range is too short for all 3 skills.
• vast untime: energy drains are unreasonable (100 energy + further drians + a timer? really?). damage evasion should scale with strength and should reach 100% (y'all made rhino, valkyr, and gauss functionally immortal, you can do the same for a frame that requires 10 times more investment than them) OR should stack with damage evasion mods like the carnis set mods. damage and the void dmg vulnerability is underwhelming. range is fine.

overall: amazing in theory but awful in practice. barely worth the investment. feels like a slightly worse nyx, y'all should have taken notes from gauss.

[Spectre_4]

On 2020-08-26 at 12:23 AM, AbstractFive said:

Xatu's 1 seems to be making my weapons less effective. Am I missing something here?

Yeah, it creates a bubble around the enemy that shots hit. Great in theory, there's a wider surface area. But it blocks crit/headshots lowering damage output, which in turn is worth far more than the tiny buff void damage might give.

[Spectre_4]

I feel like personally, Xaku's abilities just don't have a strong purpose in the gameplay loop right now. They look cool, but they're don't mix well and the stats are too make to make the cast "worth it".

1st. Due to the damage bubble from the proc affecting crits, this effect either needs tuning or a big buff to the ability damage.

2nd. This looks and feels great, but the damage is pretty weak and a slight buff to the range would put it in a similar position to how a lot of other enemy affliction type interaction type abilities feel.

3rd. Sidenote, is it just me or do Gaze and Deny ability names make more sense switched around? Casting a gaze with the beam, denying them their movement/armour etc. The icons for these two aren't very clear what they do either to be honest. It took longer than usual or necessary to learn them.

One by one:

• Accuse looks cool, but the damage and health of the converted thralls needs buffing massively. This isn't Nyx so it doesn't have a massive range to fall back on. Chances are by the time you've scrolled the ability week on your 3, someones run through and kill all the thralls anyway. Which is expected but this needs to be worth the cast if some stay around. 
• Gaze is a nice idea, but too much time is wasted trying to find an add to line up the crosshair with, wait for the long cast. To then start killing adds, making this only really useful in specific situations. It really needs a much faster cast time, or make this an area of effect cast it places on the floor. Or seeks the nearest target like Nova's Null Star.
• Deny is honestly useless, the cast time is too long and the damage is far too low for what you get out of it. This could be improved by having it combo with Gaze maybe? Say if using deny on the frozen enemy it propagates damage across enemies in the Gaze area of effect. But a flat damage buff would make this better in general, especially at higher levels it does nothing.

4th. Vast Untime is a cool idea. I like the evasion buffs, but currently the enormous cost of casting/channelling this forces you into energy focus mods where you might normally have more build diversity. Which feels like a bit of an issue across the kit right now. As each ability doesn't really bond well with each other you're forced into trying to match the effectiveness of some other frames especially recent ones with doubling down on different stats. Rather than having a more general choice, hopefully even just stat tweaks will help with this though. And the explosion damage does really nothing beyond the odd mercury enemy.

Slightly off topic but I really love playing Protea, especially after DE took on advice about the issues with abilities like Blaze Artillery. I'm looking forward to seeing what Xaku can become.

 

[iShogon]

Make Void Damage go through all types of armor and shields to make Xaku more useful than it is now, or give Void Damage + 20% Weakness to all enemies.

[PsiWarp]

About the Void status effect, please make it more visible and use the Energy Color on Xaku like other procs.

[Vahenir]

Now ive played her for a bit so i can make proper feedback.

 

Her passive is fine, could be better of course.

 

Xatas whisper: 

This one is too weak, void damage needs a buff as thats where the main downside of this ability comes from. The void status effect prevents headshots entirely. If it instead put the bubble on the enemies heads it would suddenly become very powerful. Void damage should also be changed to not be resisted by armor or something to that effect. Most of xakus powerset can be boosted massively by making void damage better.

 

Grasp of Lohk:

This one is good where i have tested it, when you get a full set of guns. So my suggestion for changes on this one would be to always make it spawn the maximum number of guns as well as boost its scaling with enemies since the damage falls off hard when enemies get more armor.

 

The lost: 

In general this should cost 50 energy rather than 75.

Accuse: This is what Nyxs mind control should be. It works decently as CC.

Gaze: Its good, tho it would have been a lot better to use it if worked like accuse rather than needing an enemy to trigger.

Deny: Its crap. The damage is way too low for a single target 75 energy damage pulse, it needs AOE as it currently CCs and damages one single enemy. Fixing void damage will go a long way towards fixing this however. A single target nuke can be useful, if it actually nukes.

 

The vast untime: 

Needs damage resistance rather than dodge chance, too many enemies have AOE attacks. Speed boost needs to be a lot higher. Energy drain or the forced duration should be removed entirely. Fixing void damage will help this as well. Its damage/effects should not require line of sight, that would make it far better right there. 

 

In general for all abilities:

Cast time needs to be massively boosted. Right now there are a lot of times when i use an ability and everything is dead by the time it finishes casting. The void damage in general needs a buff. Updating its status proc to guarantee headshots and/or making its damage bypass armor would go a long way towards fixing this frame and make operators better at the same time.

[(NSW)Kvitravn]

Changes for Xaku:

Ability 1:

Xaku headbutts in front of themselves, thus detaching the face and knocking enemies back and making them bleed. The detached part of their face then re-attaches to Xaku.

 

Ability 2:

Xaku detaches the armour of their arms and hands, which then levitates beside Xaku and unleashes void beams at the enemies in front of Xaku. The void beams have a radiation status effect, thus turning foes against foes.

 

Ability 3:

Xaku kicks in front of themselves, thus shattering armour and stunning foes. The leg armour detaches during the kick and returns to assemble Xaku's armour.

 

Ability 4:

Xaku explodes, sending his armour everywhere and letting Xaku's true form run rampant upon the battlefield. Upon the end of the ability's duration, the armour returns to Xaku and emits a pulse of void energy that stuns nearby enemies.

(Remove the drain functionality of Xaku's 4th ability and reduce the energy cost to 75 as this will optimise fun and create variety in builds)

[Colyeses]

Xaku's up to 30 now, and I have to say she's better than I expected. I'd heard a lot of negative response to her, but I can see her being quite viable.

There are some weak points though...

Grasp of Lohk has an issue with getting value out of the weapons pilfered. This is mostly due to the restrictive grab range being paired with the lock-on range for stolen guns. At max rank, the base range is 8m, which is very short. That's fine for the grab, but not for the guns. I'd recommend making the lock-on range for the guns 50% larger.

Accuse is bad, but we knew that from Thralls and Mind Control. It would work better if the rift would sustain itself for a duration, causing enemies that enter its radius to be converted while they are in range. This would give the ability greater energy efficiency, and greater autonomy. Since enemies can be destroyed in an instant by allies, having a more persistent effect that is not dependent on enemies surviving would give this ability more consistent value.

Deny is awful. A long cast time and high energy cost for mediocre, non-scaling damage on a singular target render this ability one of the absolute worst in the entire game. The lifting effect is an okay CC, but it is irrelevant as it is purely single target. 75 energy can get you far better results, especially when pitted against Gaze. I would recommend giving the lifted effect more value. If the enemy were to get the same 'damage delay' that the Gaze target gets, and would then become a void damage beacon that autonomously fires Deny at nearby enemies (Without propagating the lifted effect), this ability would be far, far more interesting and competitive. As it is, it is just a control screw interfering with your ability to access Deny and maybe Accuse.

[(XBOX)Huggs93]

I made a video on changes to Xaku on my twitch channel I also go into different visual things about open worlds and throw my ideas at the wall but the first 10 minutes is over Xaku if someone like @[DE]Rebecca wouldnt mind telling me what they think id be ever so greatful.

Love you guys stay awesome

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/725039637

 

[xZeromusx]

So, I've made a few suggestions already, but I'm gonna make some others.

I stand by the statement that there needs to be some damage changes, and I think there needs to be some lore behind these changes. First, Void needs to lose its reduced effectiveness against Cloned and Flesh types, and here's why. Void procs should do what Radiation procs currently do, and they should be renamed "Void Corruption". The void corrupts almost everything, doesn't it? Turns creatures against those they were once allied with? We see it in void rifts in relic missions all the time, with the void corrupted. We see it in the story of the Zariman Ten Zero where it made the adults go berserk. So, Void's status proc should be Void corruption.

• Void Corruption: Enemies turn against their allies, and increases damage dealt to allied units by 100% and adds 50% damage to allies for each stack up to 550% damage.

Second, for Radiation status procs, it should change to "Damage Growth", increasing incoming damage from all sources. This is in reference to the real life effects of radiation build up. In the real world, we are always absorbing trace amounts of radiation, and it does slow damage that worsens as we continue to absorb more. Exposure to a massive amount all at once greatly speeds that up, shortening their life span.

• Damage Growth: Increases incoming damage from all sources by 50% and adds 10% damage from all sources for each stack up to 150% (11 stacks total)

I think this change alone would be welcome to both radiation and void, not destroying radiation as a status type due to it interacting with all damage sources, and it would make void into a more lore relatable status effect while also improving its use and effectiveness in CC, which would by proxy be a great improvement to Xaku.

 

Now, onto Xaku himself.

Passive: This passive can stay. It's not great, but not all passives have to be great.

1st Ability: Xata's Whisper: The only real change I think needs to be made here is to make it an AOE buff, like Smite Infusion or Shock Trooper. While those are augments, void damage does not interact with other damage types on a weapon either. It's just a pure buff, and with the above changes to void damage, it would improve his damage "evasion" by helping turn enemies against each other rather than attacking Xaku.

2nd Ability: Grasp of Lohk: Make this targetable from range, with the currently listed AOE being an enemy and enemies around the target, rather than a self centered AOE around Xaku himself. Think like Rest & Rage. Xaku gains 

3rd Ability: The Lost: I would scrap all of this ability and more the 4th ability here, with some changes.

• The Vast Untime: So, reduce The Vast Untime's casting cost to 75 first. The channeling cost is not that severe honestly, so I'd leave it. Leave the current base duration, leave the speed boost, and even leave the dodge chance improvement. I would, however, remove the damage effect and the slow. Instead, I would turn this into an aura. The Aura would have the same range as the current The Vast Untime, 10/15/20/25 meters. And it would cause enemies who enter it to become 50% more susceptible to void damage. This way, the effect lasts and can affect new enemies that enter the radius rather than having to recast it. Further, I would add in an effect where if Xaku is dealt lethal damage while channeling The Vast Untime, the ability ends early, and its armor pieces return, stunning all enemies inside his aura and it gains 3 seconds of invulnerability.

Alternate 4th Ability: Ris Spoliation: Since I would scrap the current third ability, we would lose the "cycle" wheel for it, and I would replace it with a "Scavenge Meter" that appears when Xaku uses "Ris Spoliation". The meter is comprised of 3 bars colored red, blue, and yellow, going up to 1000 on each. In a 10/15/20/25 meter cone with a 60 degree arc, Xaku scavenges enemy pieces, stunning them briefly and inflicting 500/1000/2000/3000 void damage. 10% of the damage is also permanently done to a relevant stat of the faction Xaku damages. For instance, If Xaku inflicts 3000 void damage with this ability to an Infested, and they don't die out right, their max health is reduced by 300. If Corpus, they lose 300 max shield. If Grineer, they lose 300 armor. Then, that 10% of the lost relevant stat is added to the Scavenge meter. Depending on the faction, this will result in Xaku having an increased health pool (red), shield pool (blue), or armor (yellow) up to 1000 on each. For instance, if Xaku scavenges from Infested enemies, its health pool can increase to a cap of 1000 additional health. Corpus increase his shield pool, and Grineer increase his armor. The additional defenses fall off Xaku when the duration ends, or are replaced by casting Ris Gaze again.

The idea here is that Xaku is forcefully stealing pieces from the enemy. Spoliation can mean to forcefully steal. And, since it would be faction based, Xaku, the void frame, would be strongest in the void itself, where enemies are from multiple factions. This, along with Grasp of Lohk makes Xaku into a scavenging, stealing, thieving like frame. A Warframe REALLY made up of mismatched parts and pieces, some broken off from enemies.

[(PSN)Paholanani_X]

Uh... Make it damage Eidolon shields with void damage...

[Raikh]

Not able to give an in-depth review of his entire kit yet, but I still want to chime in on his Passive and 4.

I think Evasion/Dodge is being vastly overvalued here. While in theory being able to passively avoid damage is pretty damn strong it doesn't translate well into actually being able to survive properly. Diablo 3 is a good example of this. For a long time Dexterity gave dodge instead of a direct defense increase like Strength and Intellect offered. While Dexterity classes reached very respectable dodge chances, it ultimately failed to provide a relaible means of survival. Eventually Dexterity was changed to provide Armor instead so that Dexterity Classes had means to generate enough survivability to take a hit rather than gamble every time if that deadly hit is missing by the roll of a dice.

I think this applies here as well. Especially in a game like Warframe where your primary way of evading attacks is actively avoiding them via movement and positioning it is highly undesirable to have a frames survivability be reliant on chance rather than solid means to build up high enough eHp.

As a Passive its probably fine, although unspectacular as its use is really really limited and it has no engaging component to it. However, it shouldn't be a huge part of his survivability built into his 4. It would be much more preferable to see actual damage reduction here or atleast something that offers a reliable effect so players know when they can and can't take a hit.

[Doraz_]

Well, if i could actually PLAY it I could give an impression xD ( farming it now and gonna wait 3 days ) but some things to me are apparent improvements that can be made

 

1) Make Void Status Effect Bubble count as Weak Spot / Headshot ... suddently both xaku and void damage in general become valuable, as it can help those tennos that find hard to shoot weakpoints of some enemies.

1.addendum) release his augment that lets xaku give void damage to friendlies ,,, like, now ... real fast ...  you will make a lot of harrow mains very happy 🙂

 

2) This ability is too similar in function to his 3rd ACCUSE, plus nyx and revenant already cover that " make enemy fight for you" spot in the roster

In my opinion this shoud be dropped in favor of other cool abilities that are bound to be writtent in that community forum.

hardly interactive, basically a turret .... it's back to the drawing board with this ability in my opinion

but also "I HAVE NO IDEA!" xD  one thing tho ...

 

I would like that technology used to simulate void portals ( same as railjack view portals ... or " looking glass tech "  from Prey) to be used more often ... it's just so cool to watch xD

maybe he can paint an area ( i remember there being a paint frame proposal) so that that area becomes the void

... but then limbo is threatened! ... i'm getting a headache 😕 ...

 

3) i like the switching ... in my proposal xaku was to be abloe to change/rotate between his uncomplete form at will

So now ... these abilities should reflect the essence of each of the 3 warframes that xaku is made of. ( forgive the names and i will make up the personalities)

RED-ish : more violent warrior, war-machine, trigger happy >>> DENY >>>> i like it, actually functions on the sentients, nice damage (allegedly) and Crowd Control

WHITE-ish : pacifist, logistics, civilized, judgemental and composed in the image of the orokin >>> ACCUSE >>>> Xaxu splits the enemies in a radious in a cone in 2. the standard game model is stuck in time, a copy is made of Void energy, rappresenting that enemy in another parallel dimension. That version can't damage you,  and will attack randomly but they are attacking enemies in a different dimension you cannot see...  but you can damage them. After the duration the 2 copies come togheter and the damage stored is applied to the enemy.

( I say  this cuz i just listened to the lore in the entrati necralisk room and thought it was cool)

BLU-ish: scientist, tactician, manipulator >>> GAZE >>>>  Bigger radius and a better animation. i want those tendrils to really keep the enemy stuck while it tries to escape ... maybe make even its souls come in and out ... as if xaku is trapping every verision of the enemy in all parallel dimensions xD

 

4) Ultron Mode: Not sure how this aility works in its entirety but I'll make some points assuming i'm right and understood how it functions.

Need more incentive to keep the ability active and not spam it. Survivability is nice and all but you are actually "exposing yourself" xD loosing parts ... it should be the opposite, becoming a glass cannon.

in that sense, why not retain the drain ( most people hate it i get it) but make xaku spawn the 3 original warframes in void form.

they circle around him or come in and out from existance to deal damage and sometimes cast one of the 3 abilities for free 😄

Xaku would have to actually " put trust in the void" ... as our lord and saviour Nef Anyo always said!

(this would i hope satisfy you as it would keep the "steal weapons" feel and watch it happen ... just you would watch other versions of you do the job ... no stealing required .... tenno skuum 😛 )

 

Now .. the farm ... how am i getting this little THAUMICA xD oh Otak help me