Upcoming Xaku Changes!

[(PSN)Maunstre]

5 hours ago, [DE]Danielle said:

It is important to note that Eidolons, Amalgams, and certain bosses will still maintain this resistance.

Danielle, does this mean that casting Xata's Whisper still won't permit use of non-amp weapons against Eidolon shields, or allow resistance reset on Sentients by non-amp weaponry?

[Melos-mevim]

good start, still needs more, base stats of range and duration are way to low on just about all xaku's abilities, none of them feel cozy

but more importantly void damage, even with this change there is still the much needed rework of the void status proc all together, currently in most situations the bullet attract or proc is useless at best, a nuisance at worst when it pulls your projectiles away from say the head of the enemy and themeatically it does not fit for the concept of "void" a type of other worldly energy that has been hyped up for years to be not only poison to sentients but extremely dangerous to just about everything.

I think personally void should act more like a combination of viral, corrosive, and magnetic, basically just make it so that void procs make a target susceptible to more damage

but if a better idea than that can be thought of great, just something besides an old bad version of Mag's 2

[Scootles96]

Can Gaze also get similar casting speed change as Grasp of Lohk?  I found in multiplayer missions, the enemy I casted on would often die before the effect actually occurred (due to teammates' gunfire)

[Drachnyn]

vor 5 Stunden schrieb [DE]Danielle:

We are making Void damage ‘True Neutral’ by removing the 50% resistance of Void damage on Cloned Flesh and Fossilized enemies - a long desired request for Void damage.

• Currently, Void damage is relatively ineffective against Cloned Flesh and Fossilized enemies which greatly limits the use of Xata’s Whisper on Grineer and Infested enemies. In an effort to give it (and Void damage in general) more utility across enemy categories, we are removing this resistance so that it aligns with its neutral effectiveness against the other enemy types. It is important to note that Eidolons, Amalgams, and certain bosses will still maintain this resistance.

 

Void damage is still garbage. All the good damage types we use either have amazing procs or +75% against relevant health types (or both). Void damage has neither. The status proc is an active detriment. 

[Karvix1]

While Xaku's problem of low duration might be "fixed" with the changes to Vast Untime, they still have absolutely pitiful range on Grasp of Lohk and other The Lost abilities, I'll have to see how the damage changes to void affects Xaku's damage output before I can say Lohk's damage is still too low in higher levels 

[Zibidibodel]

The problem with dodge chance is not AOE, the problem is that when 100 grineer, corpus, or corrupted enemies are shooting at you, 75% dodge doesn't make you take 75% less damage. It makes you take one hit that slips through the dodge and one-shots you in the current meta. The current meta is pretty much if you don't have DR, you can't get hit. It doesn't help either that Xaku has the paper tank of Banshee so when a hit slips through there's nothing to be done.

[Zibidibodel]

18 minutes ago, (PS4)Maunstre said:

Danielle, does this mean that casting Xata's Whisper still won't permit use of non-amp weapons against Eidolon shields, or allow resistance reset on Sentients by non-amp weaponry?

They're referring to void damage resistances, not the other uses of void damage, they stated no changes about those other functions. You still can't use on eidos, but still can use to reset sentient resistances.

[Klokwerkaos]

Huh.  I was thinking Xaku was going to be Forever Trash tier.

He's still no nova, but these all look pretty good For starters

[Fungus_Billeh]

Changes honestly look great so far! Just one gripe from me, it’s a bit hard to tell which enemies are under the effects if your 4 with darker energy colors, could we possibly get something like the mark above enemies effected by Garuda’s 4?

[r2in]

for the love of god !!!!

just stop with stupid evasion/dodge or whatever u called!!! cuz he/she s not going fckng survive at higher level. in 5 second just 2 bullets (1 for shield another 1 for health after shield gate) from 20 shots is enough to kill him !!!!

just give him/her pure damage reduction so it can gets benefit from adaptation and rage/hunteradrenline.

pls im really looking forward for this frame to be 1 of the best., but u ruin everything u have planned.

[(PSN)Maunstre]

30 minutes ago, Zibidibodel said:

They're referring to void damage resistances, not the other uses of void damage, they stated no changes about those other functions. You still can't use on eidos, but still can use to reset sentient resistances.

Bummer. Really wish they'd allow functionality on Eidolon shields, it'd make Eidolon hunts more fun.

Thanks for clarifying!

[Decinomic0n]

5 hours ago, [DE]Danielle said:

A couple of posts, notably those written by people with verified 6 Forma installations, have realized just how powerful Gaze can be in certain mission types.

If its only good in select mission types, and requires 6 forma to be remotely good, i'm sorry but that doesn't mean the ability is good. See, something like frost's globe is good even though its only good in certain situation, because it does not require you to forma and build around the ability. 6 forma is a decent time investment for those that don't have basically infinite plat, a frame and abilities should be good by default, and be made better through formaing, if I need to devote 6 forma (equivalent to 6 days)  to make one ability good its not worth it.

[Decinomic0n]

Also, change the voide status effect, makes weapons worse in most cases.

[Prince_El-Ahrairah]

Please stop calling Evasion "damage reduction"; it is not, was never and never will be the same as damage reduction. They are different stats for a reason, please refer to them correctly; you don't call critical chance "critical damage" because they're different stats. Yes, evasion and damage reduction serve a similar purpose, but in very different ways! One makes you take no damage X% of the time, the other reduces damage by X%. I am not saying one is superior, I am merely saying that it's incredibly mis-leading to refer to Evasion as DR, because it just plain isn't or it wouldn't be its own separate stat.

[Fireshock]

8 hours ago, [DE]Danielle said:

Here is how we are changing Grasp of Lohk:

• Increasing the speed at which enemies are disarmed so that it occurs earlier in the casting animation. Also increasing the casting animation speed overall. 
  • Currently, the point of when enemies are disarmed once Grasp of Lohk is cast is far too delayed. 
• Allowing Grasp of Lohk to be recast. 
  • How it will work: Any existing Grasp of Lohk weapons will simply be replaced by the new cast up to the maximum amount of targets.
  • Currently, once Grasp of Lohk is cast you are locked with the weapons that were grabbed until the end of the ability’s duration. This is obviously limiting if the ability was cast with undesired effect. To counteract this limitation, we are adding the option to recast. With the added benefit of resetting the ability’s duration and disarming a new set of enemies where/when desired. 

This is a great change, but it still needs more range. I built for Duration and Range (175% Range right now) and it still only has a 14 meter radius which still feels too short. I would suggest buffing it to at least 12 meter base range, so I'd have 21 meters with the same build. For reference other disarm abilities like Radial Disarm have a base range of 20 meters. Also, recasting it shouldn't replace your existing void weapons, you should be able to keep casting it to add on more weapons to your total so reaching the max is more easily achievable.
 

8 hours ago, [DE]Danielle said:

Here is how we are changing The Lost: Deny

• Adding synergy between Deny and Grasp of Lohk that increases Deny’s damage output.
  • How it will work: The number of weapons orbiting Xaku from Grasp of Lohk act as a damage multiplier for Deny’s Void beam. For example: If you have 4 weapons orbiting Xaku, Deny’s damage will be granted a 5x multiplier. 
• Increasing the casting speed of Deny. 
  • More firepower… faster!

Another good change, but Deny needs to be able to hit more targets easier since a single target void beam is the same thing I can already do with my amp. I was thinking that it should shoot 3 or so beams at multiple targets but as long as you're making it synergize with Grasp of Lohk you could make each floating void gun fire an additional beam at the time of cast.

Edit: I added my extended thoughts to the feedback thread:

Basically they just need more range and duration in general and the proposed passive changes aren't enough to help with survivability.

[NinjaZeku]

I have put 6 Forma on Xaku, so listen to me when I say please give Grasp of Lohk more range, at least for the shooting part.

Like, guns are ranged weapons. Why do these have a base range of only 8 meters?

An easy comparison would be Protea's Blaze Artillery, which has close to quadruple the range.

[Amazerath]

Still needs more duration on powers and less disruptive casting times. These changes don't address the clunky gameplay.

[LostDeviljho]

Please, can we make Xata's Whisper work on the Eidolon shields? Y'know, the only thing that people actually want to use void damage on, and the thing that makes hunting eidolons so horribly unfun?

If Xaku's 1 worked on Eidolons that would be an instant, immediate reason to farm them.

Please DE.

[Scootles96]

If Xaku's 4 is always going to stay as dodge chance stuff, maybe consider adding a method of getting (over)shields from another of Xaku's abilities.  Say, I dunno, make the 1 give overshield on weapon/ability damage?  Would make me actually remember to use it.  Alternatively do something like that on one of the 3rd abilities.  Anyway having a source of shields would mean that you'll be able to survive those 25% un-dodged bullets a bit better by abusing shield gating (maybe).

On another note, I was kind of expecting Deny to have an explosion or something at the point you cast it.  As it is, it's kind of hard to hit more than a few enemies with it (and therefore not very useful for damage or CC).  Maybe at least make the beam's width scale with range or something.

[(PSN)Deeceem]

I don't need six Forma on Xaku to see that you missed the core issue with Xaku's passive and his 4 and you also misrepresent evasion chance as flat damage reduction - which it isn't. 75% evasion chance is not the same as 75% damage reduction except on paper (even on paper taking full damage every fourth hit is underwhelming) because each instance of incoming damage numbers can be high, spike and vary. The issue(s) with evasion is that even with 99.9% evasion there will be cases (more often than you think with the amount of projectiles that fly at you in missions where defensive stats are relevant) when you take multiple hits/high damage attacks in a row or quick succession and just die - unless you do the whole dragon key shield gate abuse thing, I suppose (different topic but if this isn't intended rework the key to slow down the shield recharge rate to become a handicap again - tangents). This would never happen with 99.9% damage reduction unless the damage would be too high and/or came from too many sources simultaniously - which you can foresee and adjust or react to  - you don't have to rely on rng, you can't react to "rolling" unlucky with your evasion dice. That's a huge difference. Stop equating dodge/evasion chance with damage reduction. One of the two is currently far superior. Evasion synergizes terribly with tools that require you to get hit such as Rage/Hunter Adrenaline or Adaptation. To be fair damage reduction also anti-synergizes with the first two but more calculated.

If you ever played evasion based classes in mmorpgs or pnp which tend to have better more thought through evasion mechanics (and benefits over other defensive stats) and died "out of nowhere" followed by reading the combat logs or whatever and said: "Wow those hits I took are bs. How unlucky." you know what I'm getting at and that it might not be satisfying to live or die based on luck without any benefit for taking the riskier defense.

I have nothing against evasion but then you should consider to support/flesh it out more as a proper viable mechanic to survive with or to benefit from in other forms from here out onwards instead of having it just as a gimmick for flavor's sake on one or two frames and a few mods that released with it - make it desirable via mechanics and/or mods. There is barely anything to work with evasion. Give players the tools to work with it: "+melee damage per dodged attack", "+evasion for evasion", "+damage reduction for evasion", "+evasion per ability cast", "blind/stun on evasion or  getting hit/depleted shields", "no energy cost on evasion" and so on for abilities, weapons, frames, mods, passives, weapon passives, arcanes or whatever else. Your possibilities to build up an inventory to make an evasion playstyle and the mechanic good and interesting are pretty much endless. I know there were a few exceptions (Titania's 4, that one Drift mod) over the years but here you base a good chunk of a frame's survivability and therefore a good chunk of viability on a so far mostly neglected idea/mechanic. As always you have an opportunity here. I'm also well aware about the Quassus heavy attack and the new set mods. I see the hints in plain sight pointing towards how you probably want people to mod and play Xaku. That doesn't change anything I said about evasion and it requiring your work and time as a developer to shine.

Another habit by the way that you start to fall back into after having a decent streak of "4 ability frames" with options while modding is to design frame kits in a way that require you to mod too much for all stats to be able to use all four abilities properly or forcing people to mod in a way that focuses only on one or two abilities. Some older frames like pre-rework Vauban are a prime example for that and Protea almost has this issue to a degree and people can neglect efficiency only because of Dispensary and efficiency doesn't affect an ability's performance directly thankfully. If she didn't have exactly Dispensary she'd have a very similar problem.

Or not - wtf do I know about chance versus certainty without six Forma on a specific frame. Seems like a bad investment to me to put six Forma on something knowing it might get changed drastically shortly after release. Crazy to use my resources somewhat responsibly, I know.

[Pepich]

"Removing the Energy drain and keeping it a duration based ability. Currently, the Energy drain on top of its casting cost and duration is far too restrictive and punishing. "

Mirage Hello???

[Leqesai]

2 hours ago, skarpku said:

Thats why it synergies with vast untime 

and condition overload

[Genoscythe]

Looking forward to this. Especially the added synergy will make Xaku work more like an actual composition and less like some Warframe corpses glued together. Stoked for taking it for a spin after the adjustments.

 

One thing on void damage: The status effect seems misplaced. A bullet attractor says space magic as much as a rumpsteak says vegan. Are there plans to change the void damage status effect to something more relatable? I'd imagine a 'neutral' effect that works on anything would fit a 'neutral' damage type.

[(NSW)CloudStrife1108]

These are amazing changes for Xaku and needed for his kit to synchronize. Also to those in here still saying that this isn’t enough for him I might add that you haven’t been using Xaku to his full potential as he has two different things that go with his kit all of which when used make Xaku tank everything. And when you compare to past frames they were in roughly the same ages mods and pets are a needed option and when used with Xaku image is indeed viable in steel path I will not say how to build him to that point as that is up to you to descover but I will say this pls before you kick a man while he is down at least do thorough testing befor you claim a frame is not viable becasue if you are dying you are playing him not to his or anyframes full potential

[Archwizard]

My general feedback for Xaku:

• Xata's Whisper is... okay for a 25 energy ability. It's cheap and does its job. The real issue with it is that Void damage is underwhelming as a damage type -- it has no damage advantages against non-Sentients, so the addition of that damage type to a weapon in 90% of combat is only particularly useful for applying the status effect. Said status effect should perhaps also be reworked, since it has no benefit from being stacked, surprisingly little utility against Sentient lasers, and the magnetic spheres can screw up things like trying to headshot targets.
  • Making it damage neutral is a step in the right direction, though I think Void damage still has a long way to go.
• Grasp of Lohk is fun and pretty cute. It looks like all my complaints about it under normal circumstances are addressed here.
• The Lost is confusing overall. It's not an intuitive ability to use, since "Accuse", "Gaze", and "Deny" are pretty vague descriptors of the subpowers that have nothing to do with their actual effects -- a recurring theme with all of Xaku's powers, but taken to an extreme in this case since you can usually remember "press 1 for a damage boost, 2 for a disarm, 4 for survivability" versus a three-in-one skill you have to cycle. If I accidentally hit Accuse because I mixed it up with Gaze for armor strip, or Deny when I wanted an AoE CC, I'm out 75 energy. The three effects also really have very little to do with one another, aside from ostensibly being CC effects that share one cost, so it makes very little sense why they're on one button in the first place.
  • A pretty quick and dirty solution would be to rename them -- something like "Accuse Betrayal", "Suppressing Gaze", and "Denial Beam" for instance? Something more descriptive while remaining thematic to Ris' description.
• The Vast Untime has been pretty underwhelming for an ultimate ability -- it's largely "All or Nothing" damage reduction. The slow and damage boost are theoretically nice, but it only applies to enemies that were in range of the initial cast. Perhaps making them an aura that follows Xaku?
  • Making it a pure toggle and adding the ability to freeze all timers while active are both huge boons that may change my mind about it having been underwhelming, however. I'll have to test the changes out at the very least, but the timer freeze in particular is something that changes everything about his kit.
  • Previously I also would have suggested allowing Xaku to steal armor, health and shields from enemies hit by the initial explosion (as a "broken" frame trying to reassemble itself with spare parts) -- but the damage reduction to AoE attacks and duration freeze may make that unnecessary, too.