Gara Prime Access is Live!

[Pixxel_5]

With Gara Prime coming next week, can Spectrorage (3) please be made into a worthwhile ability?

Gara has 3 worthwhile abilities. Spectrorage (3) is not one of them. Other abilities in her kit do what Spectrorage does better (CC, damage, and synergy). The augment build is best helminthed onto other Warframes with clear synergy (e.g. Warframes that can group up enemies to be inside the AoE. Gara herself prefers to have Protea's Dispenser instead. Under no circumstances is Spectrorage by itself worth using, and even with the augment it is heavily outclassed.

A quick overview of Gara's abilities

Shattered Lash (1) is used to blow up her 4 (and therefore boost the damage her 2 deals), is good for some quick CC, and is even capable of being used for some light DPS duties in star chart level content.

Splinter Storm (2) is her best ability by far. It gives up to 90% damage reduction to health and shields, can be cast on allies and objectives, and has damage that (when using the interaction with her 4 and 1) scales well enough into pretty high levels of Warframe content. As if that wasn't enough, it can also be cast on enemies to make them more vulnerable to taking damage.

Mass Vitrify (4) is fantastic hard CC. It freezes enemies in place, makes them take more damage, erects walls that absorb enemy fire while letting allies shoot through... oh, and it allows Gara's damage output to scale for a significant amount of levels. Casting Mass Vitrify refreshes the duration of any instances of Splinter Storm it touches. Blowing up the walls with her 1 while outside the AoE of her 4 results in the wall's health being added to Splinter Storm's damage. And to add to that, the health of the walls scales with the health and shield values of enemies.

And then we have Spectrorage (3)...

Spectrorage is (theoretically) a localized form of CC. It spawns a small carousel of spinning mirrors, causing enemies near the mirrors to wander inside the carousel, remain inside, and attack the mirrors until half the mirrors break or the ability expires. During this time the ability reflects back damage the mirrors take. Mirrors inside instances of Splinter Storm add 50% of their health as damage to that instance when they break. There are several key areas where this ability falls short that result in it not being worth using and in Gara essentially having a dud ability.

The problems with Spectrorage

Let's talk about the CC application of Spectrorage, since that's what I think the design intent behind this ability is.

There are 2 things that I think heavily work against this ability working well as a CC tool.

First, Gara already has 2 other active abilities that give CC (her 1 and 4), not to mention her passive that has a chance to blind enemies for no energy cost. Her 1 gives a comparable kind of CC to Spectrorage while dealing much more damage & costing 2/3 less energy. Her 4 only costs 1/3 MORE energy than Spectrorage, while having a much more consistent and longer lasting form of CC. This is in addition to scaling with enemy stats and making affected enemies take more damage as well. Compared to these other abilities, Gara doesn't gain meaningful CC utility from Spectrorage that she doesn't already have elsewhere in her kit.

Second, Gara has a limit on how much range she can effectively fit into her build. You already want to be running at least 1-2 duration mods, since maintaining consistent uptime on her 2 is important. If your 2 is allowed to expire, and not refreshed by casting your 4, the damage you have accumulated is lost. You also don't want to have too high range on your abilities, as it becomes increasingly difficult to not accidentally touch Nullifier bubbles, making you drastically more vulnerable. Gara's 4 also lets you have a great deal of control over how big you want to make the area of effect, without needing to mod for significant amounts of range. This means that unlike some other Warframes with CC abilities, Garuda doesn't really have a reason to mod for a lot of range to make use of her powerful abilities. This in turn means that the very low base range of Spectrorage isn't really going to increase with her builds, and it will struggle to consistently capture enemies in any meaningful amount.

Let's look at the other aspects of Spectrorage and why they don't succeed in making this a worthwhile ability.

Gara's kit is very synergy reliant. All of her abilities have direct interactions with at least 1 other ability. However, unlike with the remainder of her abilities, the synergy components of Spectrorage do not scale with enemies. The amount of damage added to Splinter Storm by a mirror is a static amount that doesn't scale off of the stats of enemies inside the ability AoE. This stands in stark contrast to Mass Vitrify, which only costs marginally more energy, scales off affected enemy shields and HP, is a more effective and longer lasting form of CC, and also has the function of adding damage to Splinter Storm (the amount added is based on the HP of the walls, which scales off of enemies).

Unlike something like Octavia's Mallet, the damage reflected back by Spectrorage is not multiplied. This is important to make such an ability useful, since enemies otherwise suck at killing each other. Incidentally, this is also why using mind control type abilities is mostly not something you see.

The amount of damage that can be reflected back is not just capped by the duration of the ability, but is further capped by the fact that the mirrors have a finite amount of HP and that the ability ends prematurely if too many of the mirrors die.

As for her augment, I already touched on it in the TLDR above. To briefly reiterate, Gara lacks the kind of kit that can reliably make use of the augment. Something like Brozime's Grendel Spectrobelch build, or other Warframes with similar abilities, such as Gauss, Zephyr, Khora, or Nidus, are better suited to having this augmented ability in their kit. Gara herself also wants you to use a lot of different mods already, so giving up a standard mod slot for an augment is a big ask. You're better off using Protea's Dispenser instead. This also gives you a source of healing, which is something that none of her abilities do.

What needs to change, and some ideas on how it can change

The following areas need to be addressed:

The stats of the mirrors and the damage that Spectrorage deals need to scale with enemy levels. Looking at other abilities, such as the aforementioned Mallet or even Gara's own Mass Vitrify, we see that 1) the reflected damage from enemies needs to be further amplified to be worthwhile and 2) having such scaling abilities is in no way game breaking.

It's worth highlighting that CC becomes MORE important as you increase in levels, not less. This means that Spectrorage's flat amount of damage reflection and damage dealing potential, along with its decreasing CC uptime due to mirrors breaking faster, all contribute to making it an increasingly bad ability as you increase the enemy levels.

This is an area where the problem and solution are directly tied together.

Whatever synergy interaction with Mass Vitrify or Splinter Storm it is supposed to have, it needs to significantly increase its actual usability. As it stands, you need to be close to a mirror when it breaks to have a pitiful amount of damage added to your Splinter Storm. Even if it scaled with the enemies trapped inside, it would not be sufficient to bolster Splinter Storm because of how ridiculous the positioning requirement is.

The range at which enemies are affected by Spectrorage is another vital component that needs to be addressed.

Possible solutions:

The following are additional thoughts on what can be done to address the shortcomings. They are by no means mutually exclusive with one another, nor are they necessarily the only solutions that could work to give Spectrorage a purpose.

Rather than requiring Gara to be closeby for damage to be added to Splinter Storm, Spectrorage could directly add the damage regardless of where Gara is. This would give a further source of damage scaling for Splinter Storm and reduce the overreliance on specific melee mods to help scale up Splinter Storm’s damage. All Warframes that rely on stat sticks are directly affected by buffs or nerfs to the melee weapons, combo system, melee arcanes, melee mods, or riven mods. I don’t think that’s a good state for the game to be in, because it 1) makes it harder to balance and 2) raises the barrier to entry for a particular Warframe that relies on these things.

Spectrorage could be given additional functionality or synergy, such as providing health orbs from enemies, reducing enemy armor, adding a large AoE blind, or providing some kind of buff to nearby Warframes when the ability expires.

The energy cost, even with it scaling with enemies, is too high. Reducing it by 25 or more energy would help reduce the opportunity cost of foregoing a Helminth transplant or the sacrificing a mod slot for the augment.

Spectrorage can be completely scrapped and replaced with something worthwhile. Even with all the aforementioned fixes, part of the problem is that it’s another kind of CC ability in a kit that already features a lot of CC functionality. Further requiring enemies to interact with the abitlity in a particular way results in slow, static gameplay that often isn’t fun or ideal for what the game is trying to accomplish.

[(PSN)AbBaNdOn_]

YES!!!!!!!   Gara Prime!!!    I've used her in two different ways alot.    Her Deluxe skin is kick ASS!!.   I had to stop using her because she was climbing to high up the usage boards for a non prime.   

A bazillion people have asked for it.   PLEASE allow a toggle for her Deluxe armor to remain intact when you cast splinter.

[sauceyboii11]

On 2021-05-19 at 2:11 AM, [DE]Helen said:

With a conviction clear as glass, Gara Prime arrives in Prime Access! Get Gara Prime, exclusive Accessories and more instantly with Prime Access, or hunt for Relics in-game to retake the Origin System and shatter your enemies with the unbreakable Gara Prime and Prime Weapons beginning May 25.

While you may know the glass-manipulating Warframe Gara, the first Warframe to fell a Sentient on the Plains of Eidolon, Gara Prime is a relic from the Orokin Era that boasts upgraded stats and Mod Polarity. Whether you’re keeping a key enemy distracted with Spectrorage, sending volleys of explosive glass shells with her signature Astilla Prime shotgun or sweeping a few Lancers aside with Shattered Lash, Gara Prime is well-equipped for any situation.

GARA PRIME ACCESS FEATURES:

Gara Prime
Continue the legend of the glass-armored warrior Gara. Dominate the battlefield with the power and purity of crystal.

Astilla Prime
Loose explosive glass slugs that tear through enemies with Gara’s signature shotgun. Presented here in its spectacular Prime form.

Volnus Prime
The glorious original Orokin casting of Gara’s signature glass hammer. Deceptively light and swift, while remaining lethally effective.

Exclusive Gara Prime Glyphs

GARA PRIME ACCESSORIES INCLUDES:

• Catena Prime Ephemera
• Castellan Prime Kavat Armor
• Sabella Prime Gene-Masking Kit (Includes Fur Pattern and 4 Colors)
• 90-Day Resource and Affinity Boosters
• BONUS: Kavat Incubator Upgrade Segment and Kavat Starter Kit

When Gara Prime enters Prime Access, the following items will be entering the Prime Vault:

• Wukong Prime
• Zhuge Prime
• Ninkondi Prime

Gara Prime Access begins May 25 on PC, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. Don’t miss this warrior clad in glass and gold, Tenno!

She looks beatiful.

[(PSN)IndianChiefJeff]

18 hours ago, Ace-Bounty-Hunter said:

No one cares. Thrown weapons (besides Glaives) are mastery fodder anyway.

People care, just not you.

I'll take one Fusilai Prime please.

[Megalomaniakaal]

So... No Fusilai Prime? It's no longer part of Gara signature set? Sad tenno noises

 

[Megalomaniakaal]

On 2021-05-18 at 10:02 PM, Nekromast said:

Because a toggle would be too complex / would cause issues, Splinter Storm won't ever remove her glass anymore. Still better than removing it every time

Easy solution would be to have a special auxiliary available for her, if equipped it would keep the glass when SS is cast, with it unequipped SS would remove the glass. *shrugs*

[(PSN)Madurai-Prime]

Beautiful. Can't wait.

[Keltik0ne]

Impressive,

But the promised Sheldon and Scott Hot Tub Stream has still failed to appear.

[(NSW)4g3nt_0]

On 2021-05-18 at 2:46 PM, (XBOX)YoungGunn82 said:

Don’t forget you will get her prime noggle too this winter if you purchase her PA. I remember how excited I was to get Mesa Prime. Congratulations! 🎊🍾  🤩

What if I purchase the accessories? Do I still get a noggle or no?

[(NSW)4g3nt_0]

Aww I wanted Full glass prime loadout, maybe from baro?

[(NSW)4g3nt_0]

7 hours ago, (PSN)IndianChiefJeff said:

People care, just not you.

I'll take one Fusilai Prime please.

Yeah! Why do you think I used MK-1 Kunai until second dream? yes i used mk1 kunai until second dream because I was a stupid player but I love the idea of throwing knives. With the permanent unvault of nyx prime I can finally relive the (close) recreation of my beginner loadout.

[(XBOX)YoungGunn82]

18 minutes ago, 4g3nt0 said:

What if I purchase the accessories? Do I still get a noggle or no?

Only if you purchase the frame. That also includes when a frame is un-vaulted. 

[(PSN)KCGrimReaper15]

Would love to have Gara & any Warframe holding there Melee weapon like in the picture what an awesome Stance! 

Please make it happen DE + can we please have the Nyk Prime & Valkyir Prime Accessories released soon?? Please let us know the plan for these going forward thanks 

[(XBOX)YoungGunn82]

Just now, (PSN)KCLegionOfZoom20 said:

Would love to have Gara & any Warframe holding there Melee weapon like in the picture what an awesome Stance! 

That would be neato

[(XBOX)WafflyLearner89]

48 minutes ago, (PSN)KCLegionOfZoom20 said:

Would love to have Gara & any Warframe holding there Melee weapon like in the picture what an awesome Stance! 

Please make it happen DE + can we please have the Nyk Prime & Valkyir Prime Accessories released soon?? Please let us know the plan for these going forward thanks 

10000% this!!! I have been wanting warframes to be able to hold melee weapons in different poses based on the selected animation set. They dont even need to make new idle animations. Just use the unarmed idle animations with the melee poses.

At least let gara hold hammers/heavy blades/two handed nikanas/swords the same way she is holding them in the images for her prime. Would be cool if she walked while holding her weapons like a samurai warrior like the photos shown but that is just wishful thinking....

[(XBOX)WafflyLearner89]

4 hours ago, (XBOX)YoungGunn82 said:

That would be neato

Yes. Yes it would

[HunterDigi]

I don't suppose the 3 new kuva weapons will come with this update? :(

[ArcticHelix]

2 hours ago, HunterDigi said:

I don't suppose the 3 new kuva weapons will come with this update? :(

No they wont. they will come out in sisters of parvos.

 

[-BellaMuerte-]

Looking very forward to her PA and Accessories

[QueenofYandxre]

On 2021-05-20 at 10:01 AM, 4g3nt0 said:

What if I purchase the accessories? Do I still get a noggle or no?

If I remember correctly, just buying the PA accessories pack doesn't qualify for getting the Prime noggle. So, no sadly.

Edited May 21, 2021 by QueenofYandxre

[(PSN)Boi_Paradox]

On 2021-05-19 at 8:05 AM, Ace-Bounty-Hunter said:

No one cares. Thrown weapons (besides Glaives) are mastery fodder anyway.

If you didn't care you wouldn't have replied to this🤔

[Myr_Tsukimiya]

can we finally get soem content please? 

[(NSW)4g3nt_0]

On 2021-05-20 at 10:22 AM, (XBOX)YoungGunn82 said:

Only if you purchase the frame. That also includes when a frame is un-vaulted. 

ah.

[(PSN)DidacoJack]

No Fusilai. No Fusilai.

NO FUSILAI.

AAAARGH

Please, make another set of relics, slam it in the void storms, Baro or whatever, but please give us some serious throwing weapons action!

[Ace-Bounty-Hunter]

On 2021-05-21 at 10:22 PM, (PSN)Boi_Paradox said:

If you didn't care you wouldn't have replied to this🤔

Of course. It's just just people like you need reminding sometimes.