If DE is going to be reviewing frames then here are my Khora suggestions

[PublikDomain]

I've been a Khora main since she was released. If DE is doing a pass on all of the frames like they said in the latest devstream, then here are the changes that I'd like to see for my main:

Uncontroversial QoL

Changes I think everyone can get behind.

Ensnare

• Refund energy if the target dies before the chains have a chance to propagate.

Sometimes you tag an enemy only for them to die right away, wasting your energy (https://gfycat.com/jitterysadfeline). This is a simple change that would help make this occurrence less painful.

Venari

• Heal mode aura is replaced with healing pulses every 1sec that heal 50hp/sec for 1sec

Because of how pet AI works, when Venari is chasing a heal target she will frequently start/stop causing the target to enter/exit the healing aura range (https://gfycat.com/happyrevolvinganaconda). This makes the healing unreliable since a moving target will spend most of its time outside of the healing aura with Venari chasing behind. Changing it to a healing pulse that applies a short heal-over-time means that the target only needs to be within healing range for a fraction of a second in order to be tagged by the healing buff, gaining the full healing even if they go out of range. This would improve Venari's ability to heal a moving target.

• Enemies being attacked by Venari's chain attack are opened to finishers.

Khora works very will with Naramon, and I find that nearby enemies will sometimes be open to finishers without my conscious involvement. It just happens sometimes if I hop to my Operator to go somewhere. Occasionally this finisher lines up with Venari's chain attack, and I can do a cool combo-kill with Venari. It's really cool when it happens, so it'd be cool to have this as an intentional mechanic.

Strangledome

• The bottom verticies visually anchor to the ground

This is just a visual change, since Strangledome can look odd when cast on slopes. Making the bottom ring of vertices snap to the ground will make the whole ability feel more grounded.

Current: https://imgur.com/sh0aY20

Photoshop with anchoring: https://imgur.com/L4xvNgd

• Add drag to grabbed enemies so they slow down over time

This will slow down fast-moving grabbed enemies, making it easier for you (and your teammates) to shoot them.

https://gfycat.com/complicatedwellwornenglishpointer

Appearance

• Make her shoulder and leg spikes default armor attachments like Volt's shoulder pads

Khora's spikes clip very badly with leg and shoulder armor, making these spike sections default attachments would fix this.

https://old.reddit.com/r/Warframe/comments/gby12i/khoras_back_spikes_being_made_an_auxiliary/

• Make Khora Urushu's chest flowers a default armor attachment

The same could be done to her deluxe's chest flowers, allowing them to be replaced when wearing chest armor. Currently they make wearing chest armor completely impossible.

Controversial QoL

I'd be happy with just the above changes, but Khora has some very clunky kit that really needs to go. These changes go a step farther and address this.

Venari

• Stance switching moved to Whipclaw.
• Protect mode moved to Whipclaw.
• Commands are context-sensitive:
  • Tap an enemy to issue an Attack command
  • Tap an ally to issue a Heal command
  • Tap on nothing to issue a Heal (self) command or clear the current command (free)
  • Tap on Venari to issue a Heal (Venari) command that causes her to hold still
• Commands have soft targeting

One of Venari's biggest problems is that it takes a lot of time to issue commands. Switching stances to issue the command you want is slow clunky and and tedious and to be honest I don't even bother. And anyways, Attack mode is better at healing than Heal mode and Protect mode is just downright useless. If Protect mode is moved elsewhere in Khora's kit, then Venari is left with the two commands people actually use: one for enemies, and one for allies. This means commands can be context-sensitive, making them faster to cast and more intuitive. Soft targeting goes a step farther and makes it even easier to issue a command on a moving target.

• Hold 3 to "pocket" Venari, tap to summon her back for free.
• Issue a command to summon a "pocketed" Venari at the target.

I don't think these ideas are controversial, but they require a controversial change to be implemented. With the hold-3 binding removed, the ability to "pocket" Venari can be added in its place for free. When "pocketed", Venari won't interact with things like Venari Bodyguard. If you issue a command while Venari is pocketed, she will appear at the target and immediately perform her action. Now you can make Venari go away if you're entering a spy vault, doing a Radiation Sortie, etc.

Whipclaw

• Gains stance switching: tap to cast, hold to switch.
• Each stance (Impact, Puncture, Slash) gains an extra effect.
  • Impact: 70% Impact, 15% Puncture/Slash. Enemies are staggered or ragdolled towards the center of the explosion depending on how close they are to the center.
  • Puncture: 70% Puncture, 15% Impact/Slash. Enemies have a chance to have their weapon broken (what used to be Venari's Protect mode). The chance to break their weapon increases the closer an enemy is to the center.
  • Slash (default): Current damage distribution. Enemies killed have a chance to gib as if hit by a Slash proc. The chance to gib increases the closer an enemy is to the center.

With stance switching removed from Venari, it can now be put back on Whipclaw like it was going to be originally (https://clips.twitch.tv/TrustworthyBumblingScallionMVGame). Each stance has its own damage distribution, with Impact being better for shielded units and robots and Puncture being better for armor. Slash mode deals the current distribution and would be the default mode. Each stance also gains an extra effect to make it stand out. Impact can stagger and ragdoll, which allows Khora to move enemies around. You could use this to drag enemies into your Strangledome, for example. Puncture gains Venari's Protect effect and allows you to disarm units, which will be helpful against the heavily armored units the Puncture damage is best against. And Slash mode can simply gib enemies like Strangledome. This doesn't do a whole lot, but it's not really supposed to. I'm sure Nekros would appreciate it, though.

• Add 90% damage falloff.

The most controversial change: adding a damage falloff to Whipclaw. Khora's damage output is incredibly high and it's likely to get her nerfed. It's a wonder she hasn't been nerfed into the dirt already! To make sure she isn't nerfed too hard with some nightmare monkey paw change, I feel that she should be pre-emptively nerfed in a way that actually makes her better. Khora gameplay can get incredibly stale because you don't need to aim; you can play by minimap and kill everything in one shot even on Steel Path, and it's just not as fun as it could be. The problem isn't that Khora makes big numbers, the problem is that she makes it trivial to give those big numbers to every enemy in the room. By adding a simple damage falloff, Khora can keep her big numbers but won't be able to abuse it to the extent she can now. This means you have an incentive to aim and pay attention, and means you have an increased incentive to combo Whipclaw with Ensnare or Strangledome. This also gives you some extra "skill" options, like letting you could Ensnare a target and then hit it with the edge of your Whipclaw to spread Ensnare without killing it.

[Xaero]

6 minutes ago, PublikDomain said:

Add 90% damage falloff.

Why not just give it LoS treatment that every melee weapon/ability has received long ago?

[PublikDomain]

4 hours ago, Xaero said:

Why not just give it LoS treatment that every melee weapon/ability has received long ago?

Because not every weapon/ability has received that treatment. AoE weapons don't have LoS. A lot of abilities don't have LoS. Maim doesn't, neither does Spores/Miasma, or Discharge, etc. LoS was specifically removed from Ensnare in U22.20. And line of sight isn't even a big part of what makes Whipclaw so powerful. Sure, you can hit through walls on some tiles, but most of what you're hitting is large groups out in the open. Plus, LoS has always been wonky and unpredictable in Warframe and historically people don't like it.

The thing that actually makes Whipclaw problematic isn't the damage or the fact that you can hit through walls. A lot of frames can deal high damage, and a lot of abilities don't have LoS. The problem is that Whipclaw deals incredibly high damage equally across a large area and for very little cost. As long as you're aiming in the general direction, your 60ft-across death bubble is probably gonna hit what you're trying to kill. And when it does hit it, it doesn't matter where it is because it's going to take 7+ digits of damage.

Adding a LoS would prevent Khora from killing behind walls, but that's it. It won't do anything in the open areas Warframe is mostly made up of. It won't do anything for the fly-by-minimap gameplay she incentivizes. But adding the same damage falloff other explosive AoE weapons have gotten would address that. You'd still have the capacity to deal really high damage, but you wouldn't be wiping out every elite unit in your local area code in one hit. Unless, of course you combo with your other abilities to group them up, which is the intent.