A Hydroid Rework Idea

[shootaman777]

Look, I get that subsuming other Warframes' better abilities onto Hydroid can make Hydroid better, but I have yet to find something to subsume onto Hydroid that makes him good. I had some hope that the Helminth system would give Hydroid a helping hand, but that does not appear to have been the case. If anything, the subsumed abilities have only showcased how little Hydroid has to work with, since most of them can not aid Hydroid significantly enough to warrant the effort of replacing one of his abilities.

Are other Warframes closer to the front of the line at the "HELP ME, DE" bureau? Yes, there are (arguably) other Warframes that are far more deserving of a better rework, first. But, putting an idea down onto figurative paper should not impact that line at all.

Since Hydroid's current kit revolves almost entirely around augmenting his Undertow (current 1 for damaging/debuffing enemies in Undertow, current 2 for mobility in Undertow, current 4 for damaging/looting enemies in Undertow), I would like to keep that theme in this rework idea:

 

 

Passive: Kraken/Squid/Shark bait (ooh ha ha... sorry, couldn't resist). Walking over the corpses of enemies grants charges (bait), used to either augment the effects of Hydroid's abilities, or temporarily reduce (maybe even temporarily remove) abilities' energy cost. The temporarily reduced energy cost may be activated by hitting the ~ ` key, to the left of 1 on a standard keyboard.

 

1st Ability:

Ink Burst

A small AoE enemy stun and blind, caused by spraying ink all around Hydroid. Range and duration affected by power range and duration. Enemies covered in ink are more susceptible to damage, the extra amount affected by power strength. With enough charges of Hydroid's passive, resets enemies' alert level.

Casting this ability while Hydroid's 3rd ability is active will fill the Overtow with ink, making Hydroid harder for enemies outside the Overtow to target, as well as making the enemies inside the Overtow take increased damage. This will last for double the normal duration.

Augment: Heals allies hit by ink by some amount over the duration of the ink ability.

 

2nd Ability:

Maelstrom

This ability functions as what the name suggests - a powerful whirlpool that pulls things to its center.

With enough stacks of Hydroid's passive, the Kraken spawns in its center, pulling enemies rapidly one-by-one into its centre with decent hits of damage.

This ability requires far greater base range than Overtow would possess, in order to be able to properly synergise with Overtow.

Should the Kraken appear while Hydroid's Overtow is active, it will become a permanent installation in the Overtow until Overtow itself is decasted.

Augment: Eroded Debris - Over the duration of Maelstrom, debris is added to it that damages enemies hit by it. Debris that enters Overtow will become a permanent installation in the Overtow until Overtow itself is decasted.

 

3rd Ability:

Overtow

Creates a sphere of water centered on Hydroid that follows Hydroid as he moves. Duration-based/Toggle ability (perhaps with increasing energy drain over time, or increased energy drain per number of enemies in it, or increased energy drain per the number of sharks in it?). Enemies that enter the sphere are trapped inside and slowly drowned, taking finisher damage at the increasing rate/scaling of the current Undertow.
The initial cast of the ability spawns 2 (potentially affected by power strength and/or the number of passive ability charges) sharks in the water, with more sharks spawning over time as the ability remains active (possibly up to a capped number of sharks). These sharks will repeatedly do drive-by-esque bite attacks to enemies trapped in the water, dealing slash damage and procs (the frequency of attacks potentially affected by casting/holster speed, the damage and status chance potentially affected by power strength).
When an enemy dies in the water, their corpse lingers to have chunks taken out of them by sharks that are not currently attacking enemies, for a permanent damage boost to that particular shark's attacks. Decasting drops all remaining enemy corpses and sharks on the ground near Hydroid, to be harvested for passive ability stacks.
On recast, the 2 sharks that had the greatest permanent boosts on the previous cast of Overtow spawn as the initial sharks.

Augment: Heavy Water - the water sphere slows down incoming projectiles, decreasing the damage done by projectiles by X%. <It may also slow down some part of the ability or Hydroid himself, if it seems to be overkill to hand Hydroid a DR mechanic on top of everything else.>

 

4th Ability:

The Flying Dutchman

A slow-moving, flying ship. I figure this should be doable (a precedent for implementing it should exist) once DE figures out how they want to implement Necramechs into starchart content. Potentially affected by Vehicle mods (Archwing/K-Drive/Necramech), separately moddable as an Exalted Vehicle with those same vehicle mods, and/or with set stats affected by Hydroid's ability stats (range, strength, duration, efficiency).

If casted while Overtow is active, the ship will fly faster, as it will be travelling on water.

The ship will have cannons with multiple types of shot, that may be swapped between with the weapon swap key (default F). I'm not very well-versed in the types of cannon shot, but the ones I know of are grape shot (early cluster bomb), round shot (standard cannonball), and chain shot (smaller cannonballs with chain connecting them, reminiscent of bolas). This would be artillery thematic of Hildryn, within the theme of Hydroid. Go figure, eh?

**HAS INNATE 25M/100M VACUUM** (Potentially affected by power range, 25m is for starchart missions, 100m is for open world content)

 

So, what do y'all think? Good? Bad? Overloaded? Not enough utility? I would very much like to refine this idea, so feedback would be much appreciated.