Atlas Rework idea

[(PSN)Brecan]

Atlas is a fun frame to play, mostly because is passive is basically Prime Surefooted, but that is about the only good thing about him. His kit needs some tweaks and an actual ultimate. Summoning two dumb rock bros, while fun to have around, do not make an ultimate ability.

Landslide - We are leaving this unchanged.

Bulwark - Hot garbage! Get rid of this ability and move Petrify into it's place.

Petrify - This will now be a channeled ability that will work in a fashion similar to Gloom, but only in a cone in front of you. The base drain will be 5 energy per sec that ramps up to 15 energy per sec when up to 10 enemies are within the cone. Enemies within Atlas's gaze will be initially slowed by a certain amount based on your ability strength. Over the next 6 seconds the enemies will gradually get slower and completely petrify if they remain within the gaze long enough. This petrification processed can be hastened with duration mods, meaning Narrow minded would make petrification almost instant but at the cost of range. Additionally, enemies killed while under the effect, even if they are not completely petrified, will still turn to rubble.

Rumblers - Move this to the 3rd ability slot and take away the duration. If Wukong can have a 5 star specter indefinitely Atlas can have his two dumb rock bros.

Now For Atlas's new Ultimate!

Meteor Impact

Atlas's takes 5 seconds to form a large molten bolder and hurls it a target location at least 15 meters away and no further than 100m. This targeting range is not affected by mods. On impact the bolder causes 1500 heat and 1500 impact damage in a 14 meter radius. All enemies caught in the blast are petrified and heat procs are applied, enemies killed by this will turn to rubble. In addition, a large pile of rubble will be left at the center of the "crater" enough to fill 1/4th of the rubble gauge. The blast radius and damage will be affected by range and strength mods.

 

Please let me know what you think.    

[p_silveira]

11 hours ago, (PSN)Brecan said:

Bulwark - Hot garbage! Get rid of this ability and move Petrify into it's place.

Yo, take away Tectonics and Atlas will have no defensive abilities whatsoever. I use Tectonics (with it's augment Tectonic Fracture) a lot in Mobile Defense / Defense / Kuva Survival / Excavation to protect stuff. Taking it away severely nerfs Atlas's utility, imo.

 

11 hours ago, (PSN)Brecan said:

Petrify - This will now be a channeled ability that will work in a fashion similar to Gloom, but only in a cone in front of you. The base drain will be 5 energy per sec that ramps up to 15 energy per sec when up to 10 enemies are within the cone. Enemies within Atlas's gaze will be initially slowed by a certain amount based on your ability strength. Over the next 6 seconds the enemies will gradually get slower and completely petrify if they remain within the gaze long enough. This petrification processed can be hastened with duration mods, meaning Narrow minded would make petrification almost instant but at the cost of range. Additionally, enemies killed while under the effect, even if they are not completely petrified, will still turn to rubble.

This sounds like a nerf with extra steps. By making it a channeled ability you won't let Atlas gain energy via Zenurik's Void Dash, and is basically making the ability go from instant petrifying to slow petrifying. I'm failing to see the advantages of this change here, it sounds like a plain nerf.

 

11 hours ago, (PSN)Brecan said:

Meteor Impact

Atlas's takes 5 seconds to form a large molten bolder and hurls it a target location at least 15 meters away and no further than 100m. This targeting range is not affected by mods. On impact the bolder causes 1500 heat and 1500 impact damage in a 14 meter radius. All enemies caught in the blast are petrified and heat procs are applied, enemies killed by this will turn to rubble. In addition, a large pile of rubble will be left at the center of the "crater" enough to fill 1/4th of the rubble gauge. The blast radius and damage will be affected by range and strength mods.

You are aware that 5 seconds in game time charging an ability will feel like a thousand years, right? About the damage, 3000 base damage is going to get kinda "meh" real quick and won't even tickle high level grineer and their ridiculous dmg reduction armor unless this becomes an exalted weapon and can get it's own mods, or it can use mods from some weapon (the same way Landslide uses melee mods on your melee).

[(PSN)Brecan]

Thank you for your feedback p- silveria. One of the main things I was trying to address with these changes is Atlas's goofy "rubble" mechanic. I see what you mean with Tectonics 
(I called it Bulwark by mistake) I used the same strategy like twice, until I realized just killing the enemies fast with my Rumblers is more active and effective. The changes to Petrify and Meteor Impact are meant to produce more rubble and thus increase Atlas's defense.

My petrify idea isn't meant to be left on all the time hence the ramping up energy cost. The way petrify works now you basically have to stop, take a picture, then destroy the statues. Now you can just look in that general direction right before your ally Brammas the area and still get rubble. Also Arcane energize is a wonderful way to restore energy while channeling.

5 seconds is a long time, but you are casting a ranged nuke ability, can't make it to OP.  Yes 3000 base damage is actually not a lot but it's of more of a cc and rubble producing mechanic than anything. 

 

[(PSN)CommanderC2121]

On 2021-09-17 at 5:14 PM, (PSN)Brecan said:

Atlas is a fun frame to play, mostly because is passive is basically Prime Surefooted, but that is about the only good thing about him. His kit needs some tweaks and an actual ultimate. Summoning two dumb rock bros, while fun to have around, do not make an ultimate ability.

I concur, so lets see the ideas

On 2021-09-17 at 5:14 PM, (PSN)Brecan said:

Landslide - We are leaving this unchanged.

I disagree. Landslide needs 2 stat changes, which are changing the crit chance and status chance values from 5% to at minimum 15%, preferably 20%. At current, Khora and Gara both sport a 25% crit/status chance on their semi-exalted weapons, and stat sticks for atlas are pigeon-holed in effectiveness due to the offensively bad base stats. 

On 2021-09-17 at 5:14 PM, (PSN)Brecan said:

Bulwark - Hot garbage! Get rid of this ability and move Petrify into it's place.

I agree the ability by itself is bad, but it doesnt not need a full removal. Instead combine it with rumblers, add a third ability, and make it a quiver-esque swapping ability, call it “Formation” or something. My personal thoughts have been to make bulwarks always scale with range, and give the wall a small curve of 20-45 degrees. Having an ability for atlas that fills in the earth bender aspect by giving him not 1, not 2, but 3 possible creations leads to some interesting gameplay flows. Id enjoy a third ability in this slot being a rock or molten pillar that gives a stacking  flat armor/melee buff, as a way to both synergize with Atlas’ kit and provide some team support, as the only other frame that provides armor of any note is Oberon. 

On 2021-09-17 at 5:14 PM, (PSN)Brecan said:

Petrify - This will now be a channeled ability that will work in a fashion similar to Gloom, but only in a cone in front of you. The base drain will be 5 energy per sec that ramps up to 15 energy per sec when up to 10 enemies are within the cone. Enemies within Atlas's gaze will be initially slowed by a certain amount based on your ability strength. Over the next 6 seconds the enemies will gradually get slower and completely petrify if they remain within the gaze long enough. This petrification processed can be hastened with duration mods, meaning Narrow minded would make petrification almost instant but at the cost of range. Additionally, enemies killed while under the effect, even if they are not completely petrified, will still turn to rubble.

This is not something I agree with at all. Before petrify become what it is now, it used to be a channel and it sucked to use. The energy drain was too much, the fact it slows you to use the ability, the cone, all of the things you suggest are what atlas started with for petrify, and it was all hated. As it stands, petrify is a fine ability that costs a bit too much energy. Make it either 50 energy or possible 40, and that would make the ability a lot more palatable. 

On 2021-09-17 at 5:14 PM, (PSN)Brecan said:

Rumblers - Move this to the 3rd ability slot and take away the duration. If Wukong can have a 5 star specter indefinitely Atlas can have his two dumb rock bros.

Im down for making the rumblers infinite duration. Many people dont realize you can actually heal the rumblers with petrify, but the synergy is useless because they last such a short time anyway. Along with this, giving them damage a way to scale, either with melee mods or by giving them a copy of your landslide would be appreciated. 

On 2021-09-17 at 5:14 PM, (PSN)Brecan said:

Now For Atlas's new Ultimate!

Meteor Impact

Atlas's takes 5 seconds to form a large molten bolder and hurls it a target location at least 15 meters away and no further than 100m. This targeting range is not affected by mods. On impact the bolder causes 1500 heat and 1500 impact damage in a 14 meter radius. All enemies caught in the blast are petrified and heat procs are applied, enemies killed by this will turn to rubble. In addition, a large pile of rubble will be left at the center of the "crater" enough to fill 1/4th of the rubble gauge. The blast radius and damage will be affected by range and strength mods.

 

As the other guy said, 5 seconds is wayyyy too long of a last time. The currently longest casting abilities are Harrows Covenant and Limbos Cataclysm, both which are universally considered too long and only 3 seconds to cast. Regardless of the use of the ability, it should never take that long. I enjoy the idea that you are going for, but it seems a bit weak damage wise. When it comes to damaging abilities, giving atlas more seems ineffective since unless the damage is higher then landslide, it wont be used. The radius also seems small at only 14 meters. It does seem like an interesting way to generate rubble, but if you build a lot of range to maximize that effect, I feel like petrify would at that point just be a better option. 

On 2021-09-17 at 5:14 PM, (PSN)Brecan said:

Please let me know what you think.    

 

[p_silveira]

On 2021-09-18 at 9:31 AM, (PSN)Brecan said:

Thank you for your feedback p- silveria. One of the main things I was trying to address with these changes is Atlas's goofy "rubble" mechanic. I see what you mean with Tectonics 

Didn't get a notification for this one, so I only saw it today when I entered the thread manually. So, sorry for the delay.

On 2021-09-18 at 9:31 AM, (PSN)Brecan said:

(I called it Bulwark by mistake) I used the same strategy like twice, until I realized just killing the enemies fast with my Rumblers is more active and effective. The changes to Petrify and Meteor Impact are meant to produce more rubble and thus increase Atlas's defense.

Rumblers's damage scale horribly (or not at all) in high levels though. At best they are aggro takers, so at least there's that. And I get what you're going for, but the usefullness of Tectonics, for me, is not protecting Atlas himself, but protecting objectives. Take away Tectonics and he can't protect objectives.

 

On 2021-09-18 at 10:20 PM, (PSN)CommanderC2121 said:

My personal thoughts have been to make bulwarks always scale with range, and give the wall a small curve of 20-45 degrees. Having an ability for atlas that fills in the earth bender aspect by giving him not 1, not 2, but 3 possible creations leads to some interesting gameplay flows. Id enjoy a third ability in this slot being a rock or molten pillar that gives a stacking  flat armor/melee buff, as a way to both synergize with Atlas’ kit and provide some team support, as the only other frame that provides armor of any note is Oberon. 

Now that would be cool as hell!

On 2021-09-18 at 10:20 PM, (PSN)CommanderC2121 said:

At current, Khora and Gara both sport a 25% crit/status chance on their semi-exalted weapons

If I'm not mistaken, Gara's Shattered Lash has 0% crit chance and 1.0 crit multiplier (no multiplier, then?). Tbh Atlas's Landslide doesn't feel too bad because Arcane Avenger exists, and the fact that it hits like a truck. I would, however, prefer for it to be a full exalted ability, with an exalted weapon for us to mod. It would be a nerf of course, because of the No Rivens "rule" for exalted weapons, but I hate the concept of stat sticks even more. I can't take melees that I truly like into the mission because if I want to properly use his 1 I have to bring a melee that I never use only because it has a good riven/augment.

On 2021-09-18 at 9:31 AM, (PSN)Brecan said:

5 seconds is a long time, but you are casting a ranged nuke ability, can't make it to OP.  Yes 3000 base damage is actually not a lot but it's of more of a cc and rubble producing mechanic than anything. 

I see where you're coming from, but think of it this way: why go through the trouble of charging an ability for 5 seconds when a player can just press an instant button to petrify a bunch of enemies and then just nuke them with a single shot from a Bramma? The Bramma will even have more damage, probably, because of the insane Mod multipliers we have access to. The only advantage of the meteor nuke is the rubble, but with instant petrify I don't think that's too much of an issue.
Your concept is very cool, but the damage numbers should be pumped up and the charging time should be tuned down. Either that or just make the "meteor cannon" an exalted weapon so we can mod it properly, otherwise it will have no chance competing against a Bramma/Zarr/etc.