Romulus | Lycanthropic Parazon Master (revision 1)

[-Bluhman-]

 

Changes

• More sensible base stats, made less tanky
• Simplification of passive
• Explaining more of the ability costs in terms of raw combo-count instead of multiplier (they're essentially the same thing, a multiplier is equal to 20 combo hits).
• Fist of the Orokin:
  • Instead of a cooldown reset, this is being changed to now contribute to his combos and fuel his other abilities.
  • Removal of target-hit thresholds
• Lunge:
  • Cost adjustments
  • Added some extra synergy with Fist of the Orokin
• Reset:
  • Gave it a slightly less generic name
  • Migrated anti-stealth effects over to this move from the Howl.
  • Simplified and removed combo-count scaling effects.
• Legion's Howl:
  • Reined in enemy debuffs a bit, addition of "Fear" effect in its place.
  • Cost tweaks to make it a definitive emergency option, much like Heavy Attacks.

The Beast

Health	150
Shields	20
Energy	0
Armor	300
Sprint Speed	1.15

 

This is Romulus, a direct and reliable fighter.

He draws heavily from his natural weaponry and liberally wields his unique Parazon, Remus. Based off an antiquated design for capturing Infested and suppressing insurrection, he does not rely on traditional energy reserves of Warframes, making him viable and deadly in any situation.

Even in the most dire of circumstances, Romulus finds the might to emerge victorious.

Abilities

Instead of utilizing energy, most of Romulus’ abilities instead work off short cooldown timers and his combo meter.

Passive Effect

• Mercy kills play 50% faster and he cannot take damage while doing them. Executing a Mercy Kill automatically restores 25% of his health and gives him 1 second of invulnerability after the animation is finished.
• Romulus has an exalted Parazon named Remus. This Parazon acts as both a traditional Parazon with 6 mod slots for Parazon Mods, and a melee weapon with the extra 9 slots associated with those. Remus is classified as a Whip, and he will utilize Remus as a melee weapon if he does not have another one in its place.
  • Remus utilizes a fixed stance called Imperial Brave, defined by narrow, lashing jabs, speed, and mobility, versus the traditional style of most whip stances that favor range and crowd control. One unique element of Imperial Brave is a move called Brutal Fang (RMB + E with no directional input) which will automatically initiate a mercy kill on targets below 20% health (if they can be mercy-killed). Accordingly, Brutal Fang also cannot deal a kill to enemies unless they are already below this threshold.
• Gain 25% bonus damage for each weapon slot that is empty (up to 2 slots for a 50% bonus, Remus does not count for or against this limit)

Fist of the Orokin – Romulus slams the ground, sending a shockwave ahead of him that throws enemies into a low-gravity tumble through the air. Strike these vulnerable foes to increase your combo and fuel your other attacks.

• Deals moderate impact damage and knocks targets vertically into the air (a jump's distance).
  • Targets remain suspended in midair for 10 seconds.
  • These targets also take increased damage from all sources, and when hit with melee attacks, will prevent the user from falling back down (air combos!)
  • All hits dealt to these targets (including from guns) contribute to melee combo.
• Usage Limitations: Has an innate 15 second cooldown.
  • The cooldown can be removed if the player connects with a Heavy Attack with a combo count of 30 or higher.
• Rank Improvements: Extended range, damage, and stun duration.
• Scalings:
  • Ability Strength – Improves damage
  • Ability Duration – Lengthens the suspension duration of targets hit
  • Ability Range – Makes the area hit by this ability both wider and longer
  • Ability Efficiency – Reduces cooldown

Lunge – Romulus dives through the air, landing on a target and pinning them to the ground as he deals a finishing blow with a jab of his Parazon.

• Mobility ability that throws Romulus into an arcing jump.
• Can hold the ability and release for more precise aiming of the jump.
• The first enemy he connects with is stunned and carried through the air with him to his landing position. Upon landing he deals high puncture damage (melee finisher with Remus) and knocks the target down.
  • For the purposes of his passive, this does count as a Mercy Kill if it succeeds in defeating the target.
  • If landing from a height of over 20m from the lunge, the effects of Romulus’ melee ground-slam are also generated.
  • Targets affected by his Fist of the Orokin will NOT be grabbed, but instead take melee hits which contribute to Romulus' combo count.
• Romulus can cancel out of doing this ability if he jumps manually, which will always perform his double-jump (implicitly restores his 2nd jump):
  • If Romulus has a hold of a target when he performs this cancel, the target is spiked straight down into the ground, dealing high impact damage and knocking the target onto their back.
• Usage Limitations: Requires and costs 10 combo-count to use, and has a 5 second cooldown.
  • The cooldown begins once Romulus has either landed, or once he cancels the lunge.
• Rank Improvements: Reduced cooldown, and higher speed/reach.
• Scalings:
  • Ability Strength – Improved damage
  • Ability Range – Improves the speed of the lunge, allowing for a straighter shot based on where Romulus is aiming.
  • Ability Efficiency – Further reduces cooldown time.

Lycan Perception – A jolt of Romulus' focus realigns him in battle, drawing from his combat rush to regain the upper hand in a fight.

• When used, Romulus’ movement and animation is reset. Lycan Perception does not have an activation animation and can be used during any other animation or status effect.
  • If on the ground he is immediately put back into a standing position with his melee weapon out, allowing him to start utilizing blocking. This includes when he’s been knocked over, is stunned, or is recovering from a melee attack animation.
  • In the air, Reset will place him in a normal falling animation with his melee weapon out. This can cancel out stun if he’s been knocked back, and also restores his double-jump if it’s been used.
• Lycan Perception sends out a pulse that shows enemies within 30 meters to Romulus on his minimap, and also disrupts any stealth effects enemies are utilizing.
  • Enemies that Romulus starts attacking will 
• Usage Limitations: Costs 15 combo-count to activate, and has a 10 second cooldown.
• Rank Improvements:
  • Rank 1: Provides temporary bonus armor
    • Armor value rises as he attacks enemies revealed by his perception, up to a maximum of 2x his normal armor.
  • Rank 2: Reloads ranged weapons on use
  • Rank 3: Causes Combo Count to deplete more slowly
• Scalings:
  • Ability Strength - Improves amount of armor generated.
  • Ability Duration – Extends bonus armor gained upon using Lycan Perception, and 
  • Ability Efficiency – Lowers combo cost on Lycan Perception's activation, as well as cooldown.

Legion’s Howl – Romulus lets loose a primal howl, rousing his allies and shaking his foes.

• A roar/warcry like ability that buffs and debuffs within a 30m circle around him.
• Line of Sight is not required for the effects to apply.
• Effects last for 15 seconds.
• Enemies:
  • Are staggered and suffer a small amount of Impact and Blast damage, with guaranteed application of effects.
  • Cause melee hits to contribute twice as many hits to the combo-count per hit.
  • Are afflicted by a "fear" effect, which causes enemies to:
    • have drastically reduced accuracy (on top of already present Blast effect)
    • have a higher chance to be afflicted by other status effects
    • enable friendly fire, but not prioritize it (i.e. they'll still be trying to aim at Tenno, but can end up hitting their allies instead)
    • have a chance to stagger if a tenno comes within 10 meters of them.
• Allies:
  • Gain the effects of Romulus’ passive, as well as the effects of all Parazon mods that he has equipped (sans kuva lich rune mods).
  • Have their companions revived if they were defeated, if hit by the initial proc of Legion’s Howl.
  • Melee attacks heal companions, stacking on top of other potential effects similar to it (pack leader). Upon the effect ending, all companions then gain an extra 200% armor until they are killed.
  • Get 50 energy each time Romulus’ Combo Multiplier is increased.
  • If allies have an overshield, their guns will not cost or use ammunition when fired.
• Usage Limitations: Requires at least 20 combo count to use, and has a 15 second cooldown
  • Drains all combo-count when used, much like a heavy attack.
  • Every combo count above 20 reduces the cooldown of all abilities by 2 seconds, including itself.
• Rank Improvements: Strengthens the damage of the howl, increases effect size and duration, and improves companion bonus armor.
• Scalings:
  • Ability Strength – Improved damage and energy generation
  • Ability Duration – Makes effects of the howl last longer
  • Ability Efficiency – Provides a 'Melee-Efficiency' styled percentage of combo count it uses.
  • Ability Range – Makes the area that Legion’s Howl cover bigger.

[TARINunit9]

So, a Roman warrior-king, who is also a wolf?

[keikogi]

That's a new spin on the weekly wolf frame pitch. 

As far as general desing I like both the general direction and the kit. There some tweeking necessary but thr kit is good 

57 minutes ago, -Bluhman- said:

Hitting at least 3 targets will reduce the cooldowns of his other abilities by 1 second, with an extra second deducted for every extra target hit by Fist of the Orokin.

I would remove the ateast clause and just make the effects linear - cd reducing of 0.75 s per enemy or something. The combo stopping effects seems hart to spot it's going on so I think its better to just generate multiple hits.

58 minutes ago, -Bluhman- said:

Lunge – Romulus dives through the air, landing on a target and pinning them to the ground as he deals a finishing blow with a jab of his Parazon.

Unless this skill states it counts as mercy kill it is quite weak.

1 hour ago, -Bluhman- said:

Unnatural balance allows Romulus to utilize his combat rush to regain control in battle, putting him in stance to initiate his next attack freely.

• When used, Romulus’ movement and status state is reset:
  • If on the ground he is immediately put back into a standing position with his melee weapon out, allowing him to start utilizing blocking. This includes when he’s been knocked over, is stunned, or is recovering from a melee attack animation.
  • In the air, Reset will place him in a normal falling animation with his melee weapon out. This can cancel out stun if he’s been knocked back, and also restores his double-jump if it’s been used.
• Gains bonus effects after reaching certain combo multipliers:
  • If Reset is used with a combo multiplier of 2x or above, it will reload his ranged weapons.
  • If he uses Reset with a 4x combo multiplier, this ability also removes all debuffs from him.
  • At 5x combo multiplier, the status removal will now instead inflict the debuffs that were on him to enemies around him, coupled with a stagger and slow effect.
  • If used with a 8x combo multiplier he will gain a 6 second boost to his movement speed and 70% of his maximum health in overshields.
• Usage Limitations: Costs 15 combo-count to activate.
  • The cost of the next activation is discounted to 50% of combo count if he utilizes a heavy melee attack with a combo multiplier of 3x or higher.
• Rank Improvements: Grants temporary armor buff upon use for 2+ seconds.
• Scalings:
  • Ability Duration – Extends bonus armor gained upon using Reset.
  • Ability Efficiency – Lowers combo threshold bonuses on Reset’s activation, as well as combo cost.

This skill is quite weak considering how unreliable it is. 

 

1 hour ago, -Bluhman- said:

• Suffer a nullifying-like debuff. Eximus effects are disabled for the ability’s duration, as well as enemy nullifier spheres and emplacements that have effects (i.e. Corpus Fabricators will stop spawning Ratels, but Grineer Blunts won’t suddenly disappear due to Legion’s Howl)
• Become marked to Romulus and his team – they are shown on the minimap and are highlighted with a red outline that appears through walls. This marking effect

Nullifying nullifier is not going to happen.

[Teoarrk]

The proposal here is very ... strong. I can see what you are going for, but it needs to be tweaked to give other melee dedicated frames a chance.

Passive-

No natural shield, but has can produce overshields on mercy kill and/or lifegain and temporary invulnerability. He performs mercy kills 50% faster and can force mercy kills on normal enemies with a short combo. He can also gain damage from not having weapons in his primary and secondary slot.

Before mods, he is not that tanky with 350 health, but after maximising his health, he'll be able to get up to about 1505, assuming he has a base rank 0 health of 150. He'll be able to take advantage of his fairly high dr with 585 armor on both his health and overshields, assuming he has a base armor at rank 0 of 200. He will also enjoy a period of shield break invulnerability. 

On top of this, his abilities rely on timers and combo count, not energy. 

This passive is a bit much. This is effectively 4 to 5 passives on one frame. (no energy, lifegain on mercy, shields on mercy, 50% mercy kills, exalted weapon with scaling)

FotO- Given what you're proposing, this basically is as powerful as Rhino's slam on most starchart maps and only a little more situational on open world maps. On top of this, it has the ability to freeze your combo counter and reduce the timers on the other abilities, all of which seem to have very short timers.

This is a lot to pack into one ability. It adds Wukong's passive and parts of Lavos's 3rd ability to a directional version of an ultimate. Granted, it is not the best ultimate in the game, but this is this guy's first ability. It needs some tweaking to be less powerful.

Lunge - By comparison, this ability is fairly tame. Single target, or an aerial slam if the jump is long enough. The fact that it is a cancellable animation is actually fairly interesting. The cooldown is fairly short though, it seems like with the heavy cc on the first ability, you could easily line up many finishers in a row without having taking damage. It should be lengthened to the point where the ability cannot be easily reset by a cast of his 1.

Reset - This ability goes from a guaranteed prime sure footed to essentially becoming a free CO burst, combined with molt.  Given what most exalted weapons (without rivens) are already capable of and given that his exalted weapon comes from a class best known for quickly and effectively reaching maximum combo count quite fast, it is more often then not going to give you the maximum effect when at full build. The penalty for using it has to be much larger, like draining your combo counter entirely. 

Legion's Howl - Okay. So it gives the party enemy radar, pack leader, his 5 passives, an aoe version of this, extra armor on pets, a version of Harrow's Thurible and a conditional full ammo efficiency for weapons for 15 seconds? 

This is way too much. It either needs to require a full combo counter, draining the entire thing, have an ungodly long cooldown (somewhere in the range of at least a minute), only be able to randomly grant two of these abilities per cast, or you need to rethink the ability entirely. It is crazy powerful. 

 

I like the idea of the concept, it's just that your abilities are very strong and spammable. When they are toned down, I think you'll be closer to something that could fit into the game just fine.

[(XBOX)Fluffywolf36]

On 2021-01-21 at 10:08 PM, keikogi said:

That's a new spin on the weekly wolf frame pitch. 

 

I've seen so many by now lmao

Hell, even I made one! 

[keikogi]

13 minutes ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

I've seen so many by now lmao

Hell, even I made one! 

I'm impressed that I saw roman wolf before seing frost/viking wolf 

 

[(PSN)Frost_Nephilim]

5 hours ago, keikogi said:

before seing frost/viking wolf 

🤔🤔🤔😈😈😈

Gotta say that sounds really kool kogi, if you dont feel like making 1 may i?

From weekly to daily wolf frame pitch, lets get em in here boys

[(PSN)Frost_Nephilim]

On 2021-01-21 at 9:06 PM, -Bluhman- said:

Passive Effects

Man, you have a lot of passives. Im down for it all but still, jeez

On 2021-01-21 at 9:06 PM, -Bluhman- said:

Fist of the Orokin

Okay, its alright

Combo count pause for 3 seconds is really small for getting lucky enough to hit 5 enemies

I dont think this ability should have too much range since its cost is kind of small, instead i think id double the duration of that pause to 6 or 7

On 2021-01-21 at 9:06 PM, -Bluhman- said:

Lunge

Aight

On 2021-01-21 at 9:06 PM, -Bluhman- said:

Reset

This just doesnt seem cool at all to me, its too complicated and offers too little

And id imagine that visually it wont look impressive at all

I dont see the fun in this ability

On 2021-01-21 at 9:06 PM, -Bluhman- said:

Legion’s Howl

Same problem as "reset" except may a bit worst

And the removal of null bubbles doesnt seem fitting

Thoughts

I like the direction that you were going with ability 1 and 2, as it seemed you were making a melee themed warframe in a really cool fashion, then the next half just went somewhere else

Id like the frame more if you stayed on that course i think, albiet the abilities were extremely simular to rhino stomp and ash teleport but it was going somewhere imo

Hope you go back to that in some way

 

[-Bluhman-]

Thanks, took a look over the feedback and made some changes accordingly.