Saryn, Is There Hope For You?

[Casardis]

This is BS. Contagion no longer works with Glaive after the update, I dunno it it;s a bug though.

 

What are you talking about?

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/120514-saryn-glaive/#entry1415213

[alaskaragain]

Great post, Casardis. Unfortunately, contagion would still be inadequate with or without boosting glaive.

[Casardis]

Great post, Casardis. Unfortunately, contagion would still be inadequate with or without boosting glaive.

 

I'm not contesting that, just what that person was calling BS.

 

As you see from a previous post in this very topic where I quoted two things, I'm on the side that thinks Saryn needs some serious check as a damage frame, for most if not all her powers.

[taiiat]

Great post, Casardis. Unfortunately, contagion would still be inadequate with or without boosting glaive.

which is funny, since Contagion actually boosts melee more than any other power in the game does. (excluding MPrime because it boosts everything the same - and Sonar due to unreliability).

both Invisibility powers add 50% more damage for every single swing, Roar is 50% more damage to all damages, Speed which is only a 50% RoF increase, no extra damage.

 

 

while Frost' s 1st, 2nd, 4th skills are useless and 3rd skill is extremely situational and makes Frost a one trick pony

FTFY

(though Freeze technically can be useful, it wears off too fast for it to really benefit against those high level enemies you'd actually want to freeze for a while).

 

edit:

Saryn needs some serious check as a damage frame, for most if not all her powers.

yes, they do :/

not total redesigns necessarily, but they certainly could use some touchups to keep all 4 powers useful. same goes for basically every frame that hasn't had a major overhaul yet. (that's like... what, just Rhino that has? lol - and notice how often you see Tenno using Rhino)

Edited October 29, 2013 by taiiat

[Amistyrja]

I use her in the Conclaves

[rksk16it]

which is funny, since Contagion actually boosts melee more than any other power in the game does. (excluding MPrime because it boosts everything the same - and Sonar due to unreliability).

both Invisibility powers add 50% more damage for every single swing, Roar is 50% more damage to all damages, Speed which is only a 50% RoF increase, no extra damage.

 

Roar gives equal "armor-ignore" damage boost to a melee weapon as Saryn, assuming you have rending strike and sundering strike slotted in your melee weapon. And until damage model 2.0 hits, armor-ignore dmg types (serrated/poison/AP/phys impact) are the only relevant ones at higher level.

 

Suppose your weap does 100 base dmg. With those two mods I mentioned your total damage output unbuffed is :

100 (base) + 150 (armor pierce) ................... (A)

 

Contagion will add 75% of base as poison dmg, your total dmg output will be :

100 (base) + 150 (armor pierce) + 75 (poison)      .............. (B)

 

Roar will outrightly increase all damage by 50%, so with roar your dmg is :

150 (base) + 225 (armor pierce)         ............... (X)

 

Assuming base dmg is NOT armor ignore, notice the difference between (B) and (A) : +75 extra armor ignore dmg (poison)

Now notice the difference between (X) and (A) : +75 extra armor ignore dmg (as armor pierce)

 

But if the weapon's base dmg is ALSO armor ignore, like serrated blade of charge attacks, Roar will win over Contagion cuz (X) is also 50 base dmg ahead of (A).

 

And almost all charge attacks are serrated type, be it glaive, kestrel, orthos prime, galatine. Some weapons like Dual Ichor and Fang Prime does armor ignore as their base, giving Roar an edge.

 

Both Roar and Contagion are affected by additional power strength (focus/blind-rage), thus that wont affect the relative superiority of Roar.

 

And finally, to seal the deal, Roar will give ALSO give dmg boost to EVERYTHING (including weapons/abilities) to EVERYONE in the team. And at what cost... merely 25 extra energy, assuming you dont have streamline which is rarely the case.

Edited October 29, 2013 by rksk16it

[Freelancer27]

I'm not much of a Saryn user, but I do think of Saryn as an advanced play-style of Mag.

 

Usually being a semi-tank (Offensive tank), Saryn can dish out targets through her first ability in spraying damage in large groups, if aimed properly. Her second ability is a good distraction rather than a shield sink to the enemies, considering the Molt as a second player who wants to get shot at. Her third skill is seemingly like Rhino's Roar on melee solo, increasing her damage but this is usually the one I needed it buffed. Her fourth ability proves her advance on Mag as it becomes as a stun effect while damaging enemies at the same time, this is great at higher levels, especially against heavy units that needed a damage funnel.

 

These can make Saryn a pretty good offense-support as damaging while helping out teammates is usually her case, compared to Mag, which I think, is more of a Hit-n-Run Warframe.

 

This is just an opinion of mine.

[taiiat]

Roar gives equal "armor-ignore" damage boost to a melee weapon as Saryn, assuming you have rending strike and sundering strike slotted in your melee weapon. And until damage model 2.0 hits, armor-ignore dmg types (serrated/poison/AP/phys impact) are the only relevant ones at higher level.

 

And finally, to seal the deal, Roar will give ALSO give dmg boost to EVERYTHING (including weapons/abilities) to EVERYONE in the team. And at what cost... merely 25 extra energy, assuming you dont have streamline which is rarely the case.

50% more damage, vs 75% more damage. every melee effectively will have the same mods (damage increases, AP damage stacks, a couple Utilities, etc).

so since melee's will pretty much always be the same, 75% more damage, is more than 50% more damage. yno, always. 

(however, if Roar is adding another 50% to the base damage, then that would be a different story, but i haven't seen any useful information as to how Roar applies damage boost, so i assume the less broken option, as extra damage, not adding more base damage, which would make just about every weapon broken powerful with Roar, but that isn't the case from my experiences).

 

i will certainly agree Contagion, while having a rather nice damage boost (for Charge Attack weapons), does not help you use that boost, so it doesn't get the damage ouputted(totally not a word) very well. 

 

 

 

Saryn can dish out targets through her first ability in spraying damage in large groups, if aimed properly.

lol'd

you're right, just very contradictory.

 

also, Crush stuns too, it makes enemies fall down and need to stand back up, plus the suspension time. it's just that..... this stun is basically the exact duration of the power cast +-750ms, lol. 

Edited October 29, 2013 by taiiat

[rksk16it]

I'm not much of a Saryn user, but I do think of Saryn as an advanced play-style of Mag.

 

Usually being a semi-tank (Offensive tank), Saryn can dish out targets through her first ability in spraying damage in large groups, if aimed properly. Her second ability is a good distraction rather than a shield sink to the enemies, considering the Molt as a second player who wants to get shot at. Her third skill is seemingly like Rhino's Roar on melee solo, increasing her damage but this is usually the one I needed it buffed. Her fourth ability proves her advance on Mag as it becomes as a stun effect while damaging enemies at the same time, this is great at higher levels, especially against heavy units that needed a damage funnel.

 

These can make Saryn a pretty good offense-support as damaging while helping out teammates is usually her case, compared to Mag, which I think, is more of a Hit-n-Run Warframe.

 

This is just an opinion of mine.

 

All of which a Rhino can also do, and can do it better.

 

The dmg bonus to guns from Roar compensates Stomp's dmg inferiority to Miasma, Charge's dmg inferiority to Venom. Just fire few shots of your Soma and all that dmg is more than compensated.

 

Roar gives more boost to melee than Contagion, as I explained in my last post just above yours.

 

Stomp's stun is just outrightly better than Miasma. Yes you cannot recast it in the next second, but with fleeting expertise mod, you can reduce the stun's duration and mana cost, and then it can be spammed repeatedly for LOWER mana cost while suffering NO PENALTY to dmg, unlike Miasma which will be ruined by negative duration of that mod.

 

Iron Skin is better than molt in so many ways that its just not even practical to compare.

 

So, a Rhino is a BETTER offense-support, provides SUPERIOR help to teammates than Saryn, and can be a hit-n-run style of warframe should you want him to play it that way.

 

 

50% more damage, vs 75% more damage. every melee effectively will have the same mods (damage increases, AP damage stacks, a couple Utilities, etc).

so since melee's will pretty much always be the same, 75% more damage, is more than 50% more damage. yno, always.

 

Wow seriously dude ? You are an old player, I imagine you understand the subtle differences between the two. Please read between the lines and/or try to test it yourself.

 

Contagion's 75% extra dmg is added just like an elemental mod. Its like slotting an additional armor-pierce mod.

 

Roar is 50% extra dmg added to BASE, just like Serration or Hornet Strike.

 

Its not as simple as it seems at first.

 

Total dmg = (total base dmg added together) * (1 + (additional elemental dmg added together))

[taiiat]

Roar is 50% extra dmg added to BASE, just like Serration or Hornet Strike.

i edited after you posted, but:

(however, if Roar is adding another 50% to the base damage, then that would be a different story, but i haven't seen any useful information as to how Roar applies damage boost, so i assume the less broken option, as extra damage, not adding more base damage, which would make just about every weapon broken powerful with Roar, but that isn't the case from my experiences).

 

i've never really noticed my weapons suddenly dealing effectively 200%+ more damage with Roar, so i can't really feel that's how it operates. as 50% more base damage on most weapons.... would turn a weapon from an automatic CC weapon to a instant kill weapon...

but i've never had my weapons suddenly start instantly killing enemies with Roar, if they weren't before. 

 

they certainly do more damage, but not so much more damage that everything kills with one shot.

 

edit:

ofcourse, the phrase 'base damage' is used for dozens of meanings. anything from raw unmodified damage, to X amount of upgrades in any game with upgrades, adding all damage and extra damages together, to how many furlongs per week the weapon does. it's just a very archaic term because of how many meanings people tape on to it. 

if it is infact increasing the core damage of a weapon (including core damage mods or not), and additional damages are not getting any boost from this extra damage, then it makes sense. but if they are, well, Roar would turn an Assault Rifle into an automatic Sniper Rifle. it would really be somewhere in the area of 150-200% more damage from Roar, because of the additional damages being also increased.

 

it's a lot of smoke and mirrors due to using too few terms for too many meanings. 

but that's English for you! heh.

Edited October 29, 2013 by taiiat

[rksk16it]

i edited after you posted, but:

(however, if Roar is adding another 50% to the base damage, then that would be a different story, but i haven't seen any useful information as to how Roar applies damage boost, so i assume the less broken option, as extra damage, not adding more base damage, which would make just about every weapon broken powerful with Roar, but that isn't the case from my experiences).

 

i've never really noticed my weapons suddenly dealing effectively 200%+ more damage with Roar, so i can't really feel that's how it operates. as 50% more base damage on most weapons.... would turn a weapon from an automatic CC weapon to a instant kill weapon...

but i've never had my weapons suddenly start instantly killing enemies with Roar, if they weren't before. 

 

they certainly do more damage, but not so much more damage that everything kills with one shot.

 

edit:

ofcourse, the phrase 'base damage' is used for dozens of meanings. anything from raw unmodified damage, to X amount of upgrades in any game with upgrades, adding all damage and extra damages together, to how many furlongs per week the weapon does. it's just a very archaic term because of how many meanings people tape on to it. 

if it is infact increasing the core damage of a weapon (including core damage mods or not), and additional damages are not getting any boost from this extra damage, then it makes sense. but if they are, well, Roar would turn an Assault Rifle into an automatic Sniper Rifle. it would really be somewhere in the area of 150-200% more damage from Roar, because of the additional damages being also increased.

 

it's a lot of smoke and mirrors due to using too few terms for too many meanings. 

but that's English for you! heh.

 

Looks like you wont believe in anything but hard evidence, alright, I done the homework for you, here goes :

 

Weapon : Orthos Prime (200 charge dmg as serrated blade)

Note : Medium Grineer take 50% extra dmg from Armor Pierce type, thus a 90% armor pierce mod will effectively give (90 + 45 = 135%) extra dmg.

 

Case 1 : Charge attack, Mods : None, Buffs : None

 

Case 2 : Charge attack, Mods : Sundering Strike (+90% AP), Buffs : None

 

Case 3 : Charge attack, Mods : Sundering Strike, Buffs : Roar

 

Case 4 : Charge attack, Mods : Sundering Strike, Buffs : Contagion

[alaskaragain]

I don't believe the problem with contagion is the damage boost, it's that meleeing in an end game situation gets you knocked and killed quickly.The skill just isn't useful at the point when you actually need the extra damage. 

 

I think adding knockdown resistance would solve this problem and make contagion useful, no extra damage needed. 

 

 

[rksk16it]

I don't believe the problem with contagion is the damage boost, it's that meleeing in an end game situation gets you knocked and killed quickly.The skill just isn't useful at the point when you actually need the extra damage. 

 

I think adding knockdown resistance would solve this problem and make contagion useful, no extra damage needed. 

 

Exactly, and that is another reason why Rhino is just a flat upgrade of Saryn in every imaginable way. With Iron Skin you do get that knockback/knockdown resistance you want while doing melee.

 

So Iron Skin and Roar :

 

1. You are immune to crowd control, so no worry of faceplanting the floor while trying to melee.

2. You will actually do your melee and live to tell the tale, unlike Saryn.

3. You will do more dmg

Edited October 29, 2013 by rksk16it

[Asbeel]

Yo solo se esto la mayoria se creen buenos por jugar con "rhino noob y nova noob" y  los demas warframe, yo utilizo  vauban  y en solitario he llegado a mobs nivel 150.  

[Vardog]

I don't believe the problem with contagion is the damage boost, it's that meleeing in an end game situation gets you knocked and killed quickly.The skill just isn't useful at the point when you actually need the extra damage. 

 

I think adding knockdown resistance would solve this problem and make contagion useful, no extra damage needed. 

 

What good would knockdown resist do you against enemies that shred you to pieces with their weapons from miles away? I'm sorry but I don't think that would solve the problem at all. Enemies aren't conveniently clumped together for you to kill them in one swing, at end game situation that knockdown resist wouldn't make any difference.

 

To make Contagion viable without touching other skills it'd need to have some kind of Damage Reduction to make Saryn live while she moves between targets.

 

Or...

 

Just fix Molt to make it draw attention while Saryn moves between enemies, there are a few ways that come to my mind to make Molt useful, either:

 

a) make it time based, no health/shield values,

 

b) keep it time based but make the health/shield values scale with enemy level, this way it'd be as useful at level 100 as it is at level 1,

 

c) change the mechanic completely, make it a semi-buff, you would use it and for a set amount of time if you'd get killed instead of dying you shed skin and survive with let's say 50% of your health, the dead skin is left behind like it is now to let you espace and recover. It'd work kind of like Iron Skin but not really.

 

 

Contagion could work in it's current state, if Molt wasn't so useless, though I think Contagion at the very least should have complete Poison Resistance to make it viable against Infested.

[nekrojiji]

Hello all, I have an issue with my favorite frame, the Saryn. After much reluctance I decided to build and potato the nova, just to see what the uproar was about. Oh how I regret it. They say ignorance is bliss, but god damn the Nova is at least 3-5 times as useful as the Saryn. 

 

The only thing Saryn has is a LOW range ult that stuns for 4-6 seconds. She also has high armor and the highest hp. None of that matters when you get to high level content, 80-120 still one shots her, and she has nothing to counter the damage or to deal the damage needed to be viable. Molt is useless past level 60, it dies before you can even run, and it doesn't pull aggro off everything. Contagion/Venom are both basically useless. Venom has some situations, but the damage is so small that its not even worth it.

 

Are there any mod set ups/ideas to make the Saryn somewhat playable in anything above level 50 gameplay? As it stands I cant even really farm the invasion event at level 40, as the flux rifle corpus MELT my hp.  

 

Currently, Im running a Quick Thinking/rage build, so I am basically immortal besides flux spam/disruption. Even then though, my powers are so useless I just end up having to bring my heavy forma'd Ignis to clean up.

 

Thanks for any info,

 

Funk-Master Black-Nasty

The moment you understand that Saryn has a radial stun that lasts al least 4 seconds.....you can actualy build her to acomodate that. 

 

Use these Focus, Streamline, Strech, Fleeting Expertise, Narrow Minded, Continuity. Acomodate them in your build.

 

With Fleeting Expertise and Stramline you will need only 25 energy for Miasma.

 

Your contagion does tons of damage with a Galatine.

 

Use a shade for when you need an escape. 

 

Stun your foes and than cut them down with contagion.

 

You don't have to deal damage with your skills alone.

Edited October 29, 2013 by nekrojiji

[taiiat]

b) keep it time based but make the health/shield values scale with enemy level, this way it'd be as useful at level 100 as it is at level 1,

 

c) change the mechanic completely, make it a semi-buff, you would use it and for a set amount of time if you'd get killed instead of dying you shed skin and survive with let's say 50% of your health, the dead skin is left behind like it is now to let you espace and recover. It'd work kind of like Iron Skin but not really.

 

Contagion could work in it's current state, if Molt wasn't so useless, though I think Contagion at the very least should have complete Poison Resistance to make it viable against Infested.

scaling Decoys with levels has been an idea that could work well, and would lock them into a set level of Utility at all levels, so that they can always be worth the energy. 

while we're at it, we should un goof their aggro level, it was reduced at some point... it should be just a bit higher threat level than Tenno are, to get enemies to pay attention to them the majority of the time.

 

i like having a Decoy power.... but an abandon ship escape power... is interesting. 

 

with complete poison resistance, suddenly you'd see everyone using Saryn. many Tenno would switch over from Rhino to Saryn for Infested, or any other frame really, because having complete poison immunity along with her other powers, heh.

 

 

 

Use these Focus, Streamline, Strech, Fleeting Expertise, Narrow Minded, Continuity. Acomodate them in your build.

With Fleeting Expertise and Stramline you will need only 25 energy for Miasma.

spamming Miasma makes Saryn a far less effective frame to have in a team. and, despite Miasma costing 25E in that setup, because you used Narrow Minded, you'll need to cast Miasma 3 or 4 times to clear a group of enemies, instead of just once. 

you also won't stun a lot of enemies with a power range of ~13m. so you will still end up dead pretty easily.  

 

You don't have to deal damage with your skills alone.

absolutely. there are 5 types of damage you have at your disposal in Warframe. your powers; Primary, Secondary, and Melee weapons; as well as your Sentinel. 

using all of these sources of damage is crucial for any Tenno to succeed. you cannot thrive on one type of damage alone. 

Edited October 29, 2013 by taiiat

[Vardog]

 

 

with complete poison resistance, suddenly you'd see everyone using Saryn. many Tenno would switch over from Rhino to Saryn for Infested, or any other frame really, because having complete poison immunity along with her other powers, heh.

 

 

 

 

I don't see how having Poison Resistance on Contagion would suddenly make Saryn so desirable against infested. It'd only make her viable to go melee against those dreaded Toxic Ancients and Crawlers, nothing more, you'd still take damage and could be knocked down.

 

This, in no way would trump Rhino's Iron Skin which not only protects you from poison but also from Knockdown and any Damage whatsoever.

Edited October 29, 2013 by Vardog

[Naqel]

Go for maximum Duration and Power, ignore Efficiency and Range. Basically Narrow Minded and Blind Rage + Focus and Continuity.

Don't even think about using Venom, although hold off with forming the 4th skill slot into something else.

Your strategy is to use molt much like you would Decoy, and Contagion much like you would Invisibility...

 

 

Eh... Who am i kidding, Just play a Loki and get the same work done safer and cheaper.

Saryn won't be any good even if they buff her, because there will always be someone better at what she can do.

Edited October 29, 2013 by Naqel

[rksk16it]

Go for maximum Duration and Power, ignore Efficiency and Range. Basically Narrow Minded and Blind Rage + Focus and Continuity.

Don't even think about using Venom, although hold off with forming the 4th skill slot into something else.

Your strategy is to use molt much like you would Decoy, and Contagion much like you would Invisibility...

 

 

Eh... Who am i kidding, Just play a Loki and get the same work done safer and cheaper.

Saryn won't be any good even if they buff her, because there will always be someone better at what she can do.

 

Exactly. Unless they buff her thru the roof, which is again not good.

 

Saryn needs to be assigned a definite role, and then her abilities needed to be tweaked/buffed etc. She is currently a mess, fulfilling multiple roles, awesome in none.

 

Some frames, most notably Rhino, fulfills multiple roles too, and awesome in many of them.

[taiiat]

I don't see how having Poison Resistance on Contagion would suddenly make Saryn so desirable against infested. It'd only make her viable to go melee against those dreaded Toxic Ancients and Crawlers, nothing more, you'd still take damage and could be knocked down.

 

This, in no way would trump Rhino's Iron Skin which not only protects you from poison but also from Knockdown and any Damage whatsoever.

Toxics are the main damage source of Infested, with the other being Runners. Runners can be trumped with many different types of weapons, as well as range, so normally they won't do much.

so that leaves Toxics. being 100% immune to Poison certainly does trump absorbing the poison into an Energy based health buffer. 

 

in either situation, if you're taking a lot of damage from Infested, your team needs better CC. Toxics are really the only threat that is presented from Infested of any level, so removing that, makes Saryn and Rhino very similar for survivability against Infested. 

 

yes, Saryn will still get knocked down by Runners once in a while, and Leapers if she goes AFK and stands in the middle of a group of enemies. but that poison is generally how you'll die to Infested anyways. that or killing yourself with a Rocket but neither of these can save you in that situation :p

Edited October 29, 2013 by taiiat

[LilMickey]

file:///C:/Users/mikal/Pictures/Warframe/Warframe0000.bmp[img

[Vardog]

Contagion is an ability that forces you to go into melee range, it's already useless against the Grineer and Corpus, I was suggesting a way to at least  make it viable against Infested, without protection from poison there's no point to use it on melee weapons, except for the Glaive.

 

There's no way in hell I'd go into melee range near a Toxic Ancient, I don't care how much damage Contagion adds because when I'm dead I won't be doing any damage anyway. Your objection to this change seems rather ungrounded, so what that it'd make Saryn a good choice for Infested, finally this ability could be useful and not just a waste of a slot. You don't seem to have a problem with Rhino's Iron Skin which is infinitely better or his Roar that let's THE WHOLE PARTY do more damage with ANY WEAPON.

 

You'd still have to expose yourself into melee range to make use of Contagion and most of the other frames already have much better ways to deal with Infested, like Vauban's Bastille/Vortex or Nova's mPrime, Rhino's Roar/Stomp or even Frost's Snow Globe.

 

All Saryn has is Miasma and Venom, the other two abilities are practically useless, you'd rather keep Contagion useless or semi-useful (75% or whatever Posion Resist wouldn't change a thing given how much damage poison deals, not to mention it ignored Shields) than make it a  fully viable end game skill? I don't understand your reasons at all.

 

So what if people would prefer to use Saryn for Infested? Not that I agree with you but let's just go with this, what's the big deal? Every frame has it's traits and right now Saryn isn't very impressive at anything she does. Tanking? Frost and Rhino are way better at it. DPS? Nova and Mag can do it better. Utility? Loki, Nyx, Nekros are better choices.

 

Saryn doesn't excel at anything, her abilities have very little Utility, except for the relatively high base armor/health values she isn't much of a tank either and her DPS is pretty much defined by Miasma alone. She's one of the less prioritized frames when creating a party since she provides no significant help for the party, yes her Miasma can stun a group of closely clumped enemies for a few seconds but that's it.

 

Nowadays I rarely see peple play Saryn because for anything she does there's another frame that does it better.

Edited October 29, 2013 by Vardog

[alaskaragain]

 

Nowadays I rarely see peple play Saryn because for anything she does there's another frame that does it better.

 

True that. I have only seen one (other) sayrn after some 95 missions in the event. 

[Raijinmeister]

Hello all, I have an issue with my favorite frame, the Saryn. After much reluctance I decided to build and potato the nova, just to see what the uproar was about. Oh how I regret it. They say ignorance is bliss, but god damn the Nova is at least 3-5 times as useful as the Saryn. 

 

The only thing Saryn has is a LOW range ult that stuns for 4-6 seconds. She also has high armor and the highest hp. None of that matters when you get to high level content, 80-120 still one shots her, and she has nothing to counter the damage or to deal the damage needed to be viable. Molt is useless past level 60, it dies before you can even run, and it doesn't pull aggro off everything. Contagion/Venom are both basically useless. Venom has some situations, but the damage is so small that its not even worth it.

 

Are there any mod set ups/ideas to make the Saryn somewhat playable in anything above level 50 gameplay? As it stands I cant even really farm the invasion event at level 40, as the flux rifle corpus MELT my hp.  

 

Currently, Im running a Quick Thinking/rage build, so I am basically immortal besides flux spam/disruption. Even then though, my powers are so useless I just end up having to bring my heavy forma'd Ignis to clean up.

 

Thanks for any info,

 

Funk-Master Black-Nasty

Agreed.

I have a very well geared Saryn and their skills just dont have the punch of a Nova or the teamwork value of a Trinity.Her ult should be buffed someway,i think contagion should work like an aura,affect the whole team at a certain distance from her applying the dmg buff and for her the dmg+a dot effect.And since i thought this like an aura it should use some new mechanics to spend your energy to be activaded,like a continous lost of energy while the effect is up(you could just turn off to recover energy) or when you turned the aura on a portion of your energy should be saved to sustain the effect and while the aura is up you will have access to a certain ammount of energy minus what the aura need to be used,untill again you turn off the effect.

Molt should scale with your gear + a huge base def/hp immunity or a very nice resistance to poison for the sake of some logic to start with.And beside a better taunt effect it should apply some armor/movement penalty to the attackers in range or for those who attacked the decoy or simply deal some poisonous dmg,again for those in range or for those who attacked the decoy,the effects should be applyed for the duration of the skill.

Right now she is just a low tier frame without much use past lvl 55-60.Unless you like to kill Moas using her Venom for fun,all the rest is just forgetable.

Edited November 25, 2013 by Raijinmeister