Jade, Myth of the Moon -- Lua Warframe Concept

[bnnuy]

Edit: Happy Year of the Rabbit! Wanted to 'finalize' the ideas here (sans any ability feedback). Feedback still welcome of course, it's a for funsies concept and I'm happy the art for Jade turned out great for him amongst other things!

 

Art by Carl Tabora! https://twitter.com/carl_tabora

 

A folklore legend of Lua once thought forgotten, this fable has come to life. This is Jade, the bejeweled, the arcane.

 

Underneath the moon's gaze, will you witness the hunter become the hunted, Tenno?

 

 Lore

Spoiler

As generations passed through the Ostrons, so too would fables of old. Gara, protector of Unum. Revenant, the lost one.

Another fable had come to pass, one brought by the sudden return of Lua, one once thought lost to the times of old... the Myth of the Moon. A revered symbol of the Orokin Empire, dominion be the virtue of the once forgotten Prince of Lua.

Since Lua's return, rumors come to that if one spends the nights gazing from the plains, a figure could be seen to sail over the moon with boundless reach.

Both arts by Leonidax0! https://twitter.com/leonidax0

 

 

Stats

Spoiler

Male

Health - 75 (225)

Shield - 75 (225)

Armor - 150

Energy - 215 (347)

Sprint Speed - 1.3

Progenitor - Impact

 

Aura Polarity - Madurai

Exilus Polarity - Universal

Polarities - Madurai, Naramon

 

Kit: Loose inspirations and themes pulled together from the Jade Rabbit/Moon Rabbit folklore, the Moon/Lua, and the (then) coming Year of the Rabbit. Provides a kit uniquely built around the "Lifted" status. Ability design basis centered around some attempt to avoid 'bottom-right' syndrome and Lavos-inspired ability buffing activation for a fluid kit.

 

Passives

Spoiler

Impetus: Jade possesses extraordinary jumping capabilities. +200% jump strength and 90% faster recovery from hard landings.

 

Lunar Cycle: Jade draws power from Lua, displayed as a silhouette of the moon that can be cycled through its moon phases. As Jade is dependent on abundant energy usage, his energy capacity is also displayed as a unique circle gauge around the silhouette (mockup below).

The set moon phase at mission start is determined by the current real-life moon cycle.

 

Moon Vaulting - 25 Energy

Jade channels the energy of Lua to exuberantly invigorate his jumping abilities, gaining a 20% bonus to bullet jump distance, 50% bonus to bullet jump speed, an extra double jump, and an extra bullet jump. Additionally, Jade's bullet jumps and hard landings will produce a rift of lunar energy, lifting surrounding enemies and dealing scaling true damage.

Jade can hold jump to charge the level of his bullet jump, starting at level 1 from a quick tap to level 3 from a fully charged one. Each level scales the stat bonuses of his bullet jump's distance, speed, range, and damage from a x1 to a x3 multiplier. The multiplier also affects the shockwave range and damage of hard landings.

 

Augment: Vortex Spring. Enemies caught in Jade's bullet jump and shockwave landings are pulled inwards and are dragged along Jade's bullet jump path after a short delay. Passive: Energy Cost scaling is capped out at 10 enemies hit.

 

Ethos, Ability Stats, and UX Design

Spoiler

Moon gravity and rabbit jumping inspirations. Gives Jade a unique mobility and CC option around a modded-for mechanic not often used otherwise (bullet jump AoEs, shockwave landings). Scaling damage can be strong with a full charged jump, but the energy cost associated with hitting a larger number of enemies in a wider radius provides a cost opportunity.

 

Bullet jump bonus - 20%

Bullet jump speed bonus - 50%

Bullet jump radius - 3m

Shockwave radius - 5m

Damage (True) - 1000

Lifted duration - 10 seconds

Extra jumps and bullet jumps - 1

Energy drain per enemy hit - 3

 

• Jade gains a 20% bonus to bullet jump distance, 50% bonus to bullet jump speed, and gains an extra double jump and bullet jump while channeling.
  • Bonuses to bullet jump strength and speed, the number of jumps, and bullet jumps is not affected by mods, but is affected by the charge level, with each multiplier multiplying the stat bonuses up to a max of x3.
  • Bullet jump bonuses stack additively with parkour mods like Mobilize and Motus Signal, with mod bonuses applying before charge level calculation (yes, break the sound barrier).
• Jade possesses a 3 meter bullet jump radius and gains a 5 meter shockwave on hard landings while channeling.
  • Bullet jump radius and the shockwave radius is affected by Ability Range as well as the charge level, with mod bonuses applying before charge level calculation. For example, with a max rank Stretch and level 3 charge, Jade's ability radius would have 3 * (1 + .45) * 3 = 13m on his bullet jump radius and 5 * (1+.45) * 3 = 22m on his shockwave radius. Calculations will round to the nearest whole number.
  • When Heavy Impact is equipped, the seismic shockwave produced by it acts as an additional layer overtop of Ability 1's shockwave, and does not add to the range of it. 
  • When parkour mods that add damage are equipped, the effects of the mods only apply to their own 3m radius as a separate layer.
• All enemies caught within the bullet jump radius or shockwave radius of Ability 1 will be inflicted with a Lifted status for 10 seconds and will take 1000 TRUE scaling damage.
  • Damage is affected by Ability Strength, certain ability buffs like Roar, the charge level, and the enemy level.  Enemy scaling is calculated as follows: Total True Damage = Base Ability Damage x (1 + Ability Strength) x Enemy Level Multiplier x Charge Level, where Enemy Level Multiplier is calculated as ceil(Level / 10). The multiplier only increases after 1 level past the per-10-levels mark (e.g. levels 11, 21, 31, 41, etc). For example, with a max rank Intensify, level 3 charge, and an enemy who is level 101, Moon Vaulting will deal 1000 * (1 + 0.3) * 11 * 3 = 42,900 damage
  • Lifted duration is affected by Ability Duration.
• While Moon Vaulting is active, energy is drained at a rate of 3 energy per enemy hit. Hits are counted as either by the bullet jump radius or by the heavy landing shockwave causing a Lifted status to occur. Energy cost is voided per enemy already inflicted with the Lifted status. Enemies already afflicted by Lifted will still take ability damage and will have the Lifted duration refreshed.
  • Per enemy energy drain is affected by Ability Efficiency.
• Despite being a channeled ability, this does not interrupt energy regeneration.
• Vortex Spring pull radius is based on the ability range of the ability, and will pull enemies to Jade's landing position or last point from which he bullet jumps.

 

Bullet jumps now operate on a release-button trigger because of the charge mechanic, which simulates a spring effect to add to the power behind imbued bullet jumping. Jade leaves a visual afterimage upon bullet jump takeoff using his energy color, with the charge level affecting the number of afterimages that appear. Jade's body radiates with a trailing effect similar to the energy cracks on Lua maps, matching his energy color. Bullet jump takeoffs and shockwave landings also produce a similar energy 'rift' effect, also leaving visible, spreading 'cracks' of energy on the surface upon liftoff or contact. While the ability is active, the bracelets on Jade's legs imbue with energy using his emissive color. Charge level displays above the aiming reticle when charging.

 

Apex Sense (Subsumable) - 50 Energy

When cornered, Jade's heightened senses even the odds. Jade channels a proximity aura that increases evasiveness per enemy within a range of 14 meters. Jade's melee becomes imbued with guaranteed Lifted status when enemies are within range. Additionally, for every enemy in range under Lifted status, Jade gains a damage buff to all weapons.

 

Ethos, Ability Stats, and UX Design

Spoiler

Fight or flight response or a cornered animal-type of theming is used here. Provides a survivability and damage buffer. Evasion is a controversial survivability stat but fit the most thematically for an ability like this. Unlike an Eclipse or Roar type subsume, there's no damage bonus cap, with the design more suited for using all the front loaded damage on priority targets (like Overguarded enemies), especially considering it is a multiplicative damage bonus just like Eclipse, just with a much higher damage buffing potential offset by needing Lifted-afflicted enemies to function and losing bonus effects per killed enemy. It would likely not be a popular subsume for these reasons except in very niche CC/melee synergy setups where the damage amp could be exploited.

Proximity range - 14m

Evasion % per enemy - 10%

Evasion % cap - 80%

Damage % bonus per enemy lifted - 30%

Energy drain per enemy - .55 energy per second

Energy drain cap - 10 enemies

Lifted duration - 10 seconds

 

• Evasiveness is increased by 10% per enemy to a max of 80% at 8 enemies. The evasiveness given per enemy and max evasiveness is modified by Ability Strength up to a cap of 95% evasiveness.
• All of Jade's melee attacks guarantee a Lifted status of 10 seconds on hit and is effective on melee attacks beyond the range of the proximity aura (i.e. gunblade shots, projectile effects on certain melees, slam attack radius, etc.)
  • Lifted duration is affected by Ability Duration.
• Damage % bonus per enemy lifted is modified by Ability Strength. The damage bonus is multiplicative to Jade's weapon damage, calculating after the weapon's total damage value.
• Energy drain is based on the number of enemies within range, starting at .55 drain per second and capping out at 5.5 energy per second with at least 10 enemies. Energy channeling cost is voided per enemy already inflicted with the Lifted status, but enemies within range will still apply the evasiveness buff.  Per enemy energy drain is affected by Ability Efficiency.
• The range of the proximity aura is affected by Ability Range.

 

While the ability is active, the bracelets on Jade's arms and his 'earrings' imbue with energy using his emissive color. Melee weapons and attacks feature an effect akin to the old 'channeling' mechanic, utilizing Jade's energy color.

 

Lunar Cycle - Passive / 75 Energy

Drawing from all corners of Lua, Jade can conjure various buffs depending on the currently cycled Moon phase. Tapping the ability key will cycle through buffs, and holding 1 through 5 down will activate an amplified buff for 15 seconds at the cost of energy. The phase options and provided buffs depending on the held ability key are as follows:

1: 🌑New Moon (Invisibility) --> 2: 🌘Crescent Moon (Slash) --> 3: 🌗Half-Moon (Health & Energy) --> 4: 🌖Gibbous Moon (Loot) --> 5: 🌕Full Moon (Blind)

 

Exilus augment: Lunacy. Toggle/holding the ability keys to activate cycle buffs is disabled. Phases are auto cycled at random after 10 seconds with no delay in activation and are amplified at no cost.

 

Ethos, Ability Stats, and UX Design

Spoiler

Thematic buffing with the different phases of the Moon, makes the passive interactive. Gives Jade a lot of options and potential build focuses (looting setups, Nekros synergy, energy or damage platform with Jade's 4th). Augment maybe threads the line for being an exilus, but since the buff is made random and doesn't necessarily free up a mod slot otherwise since it's very gimmicky, I believe the exilus labeling is fair. This is probably the skill most liable to have changes made to it. While it used to require holding 3 to activate the current cycle buff, it was mentioned how clunky this could potentially be and I'm proposing it having the Lavos style of activation instead.

 

• Activated buff duration and Lunacy augment duration is affected by Ability Duration mods.
• Activating a buff will auto cycle the Moon phase to match.

 

🌑New Moon (1) - Kills on enemies affected by Lifted cloak Jade for 5 seconds and is refreshable. Held version only grants 5 seconds of invisibility per kill, but kills will stack seconds on the remaining time, capping out at 30 seconds. Passive, amped, and cap duration as well as duration provided on kills are affected by Ability Duration mods. Invisibility will carry over its remaining duration when cycling to other phases.

 

🌘Crescent Moon (2) - Attacks on enemies affected by Lifted have a 20% chance of imparting a slash status. Held version has a 40% chance to proc slash while providing an additional 20% bonus to bleed damage. Chance at producing slash status and the bleed damage bonus is affected by Ability Strength mods. Hidden Passive: 100% gore chance on kills.

 

🌗Half-Moon (3) - Kills on enemies affected by Lifted restore 10 energy and health per kill. Held version restores 20 energy and health per kill and imparts an additional 50% chance of enemies dropping either an energy orb or a health orb. The amount of health and energy restored and the chance of enemies dropping orbs is affected by Ability Strength mods.

 

🌖Gibbous Moon (4) - Enemies killed who are affected by Lifted have a 40% chance of rolling extra drops. Held version has an 80% chance and guarantees a roll for your current weapon type's ammo. Chance at rolling drops is not affected by mods.

 

🌕Full Moon (5) - Attacks on enemies affected by Lifted have a 20% chance to invoke a radial blind effect from the enemy's position, blinding surrounding enemies within 15 meters for 5 seconds. Held version will invoke an immediate blind from Jade's position, affecting enemies in a 20 meter radius and lasting 15 seconds. Chance to blind is not affected by Ability Strength mods. Blinded enemies are vulnerable to melee finishers and susceptible to stealth damage bonus. Blind range for the passive and amped versions is affected by Ability Range mods. Blind duration for the passive and amped versions is affected by Ability Duration mods.

 

The ability icon for Lunar Cycle is always 'active' like a channeled icon would show. Activating it displays a duration as normal. Cycles are visibly shown on the Moon UI, with amped buffs providing a rift-like visage to it. Current passive and activated buffs display as buff icons.

 

 

Moonrise - 50 Energy

Jade enters a stance to concentrate energy into manifesting a surrogate Moon, lifting enemies into its radius. Jade can hold the ability key to charge Moonrise to scale the size, range, and duration of the manifestation for a multiplied energy cost from a level 1 to a level 5 charge. Enemies wandering into the radius of Moonrise will be pulled into orbit around the manifestation.

 

Augment: Eternal Night. Kills on enemies affected by Moonrise add 1 second to the total duration of Moonrise.

 

Ability Synergy: Allies within the radius of Moonrise will receive the full benefits of any passive or active Lunar Cycle buff, with the Moon phase visually represented on the manifestation.

 

Ethos, Ability Stats, and UX Design

Spoiler

A front-loaded CC-type 4th ability. The potential power this has is offset by an astronomically high channeling energy cost and vulnerable casting period. While it doesn't offer the damage amping potential or the wandering coverage of Zephyr's tornadoes, it can potentially cover a much larger static area for much longer.

Cast range - 50m

Range - 10m

Range scaling - 2m per charge level

Duration - 15 seconds

Duration scaling - 3 seconds per charge level

Lifted duration - 10 seconds

Channeling cost - 50 energy/s

 

• Jade channels energy at a rate of 50 energy per second when pressing the ability key. The amount of energy consumed will boost the stats of the ability until a limit of Level 5, where the ability will automatically activate. Each level takes 50 energy for a maximum cost of 250 energy for a Level 5 Moonrise, affected by Ability Efficiency. Moonrise will automatically stop channeling and cast at the level threshold that Jade has the minimum needed energy for. Jade forms a Moon where their reticle is aimed at within 50m. Double tapping the ability key will form a Moon at Level 1.
  • Level thresholds display on the passive UI to indicate when Jade has enough energy to reach certain level thresholds.
  • Casting range is not affected by ability mods.
  • Casting and channeling Moonrise is a full-body animation that will prevent movement for the entire duration of the animation.
  • Casting cost is affected by Ability Efficiency mods. The passive UI will reflect efficiency changes for the threshold amounts.
• The surrogate Moon has a gravitational pull, lifting enemies and pulling them within its minimum range of 10 meters. Range will boost by an additional 2 meters per level to a max of 20 meters at Level 5 through channeling. The radius of which it can pull enemies is indicated by energy rising from the edges of the pull radius.
  • The minimum base range and range increments are both affected by Ability Range mods with the following formula: 10 + (10 * Ability Range Bonus) + Level * (2 + 2 * Ability Range Bonus)
    • For example, with a 45% Ability Range bonus and Level 5 Moonrise, Moonrise will have a radius of 10 + (10 *.45) + 5 * (2 + 2 * .45) = 29 meters.
  • The surrogate Moon visually scales in size to half of its total radius. Enemies lifted by the Moon are pulled inwards until they rotate around its center axis. As the summoned Moon is a translucent, non-solid object, it can be shot or maneuvered through.
  • The imparted Lifted status has a permanent duration for as long as enemies are within the radius of the ability.
• Moonrise on spawn has a base duration of 15 seconds. Duration will boost by an additional 3 seconds per level to a max of 30 seconds through channeling.
  • The minimum base duration and duration increments are both affected by Ability Duration mods with the following formula: 15 + (15 * Ability Duration Bonus) + Level * (3 + 3 * Ability Range Bonus)
    • For example, with a 30% Ability Duration bonus and Level 5 Moonrise, Moonrise will have a duration of 15 + (15 * .30) + 5 * (3 + 3 * .30) = 39 seconds.
• Eternal Night duration added per enemy kill is affected by Ability Duration mods.

 

The summoned Moon is a translucent, non-solid object, radiating with rift energy in Jade's energy color. The outer radius of the ability is also in Jade's energy color. The current Moon phase buff displays on the manifestation, following the player's perspective. When channeling, the energy gauge on the Moon silhouette lights up and displays gauge levels for the charge level, with the charge level displaying above the aiming reticule. While the other abilities don't have potential SFX yet, I did sample one for the Moonrise summon to give an idea of the 'arcane' vibes that Jade's ability SFX would generally sport: https://www.sndup.net/hfwb/

Change Logs

Spoiler

1/14/2023 - Year of the Rabbit made me want to touch this up a bit is all.

 

7/3/2022 - Decided based on feedback that I wanted to rework the input controls for Lunar Cycle buffs. This also necessitated changing how Moonrise functioned without the hold to channel cast but I feel this change would still help usability a lot in the long run. I also wanted to flesh out Tenno Reinforcements to have what would be Jade's signature Speargun and Glaive, so I'll re-add that later.

Lunar Cycle changed from holding down 3 to activate the current cycle buff to holding down 1 - 5 Lavos style to activate buffs. Tap 3 is still used to cycle the passive, but holding down 1-5 will now activate the amp buff (and will switch the passive as well).

New Moon passive stealth buff changed from 10 seconds --> 5 seconds. Didn't feel like he needed 10 seconds on the passive, plus easier access to New Moon buff probably makes it not as necessary to have.

Moonrise changed from hold-to-channel to tap to channel. Tapping the ability key again will end the channel and will summon Moonrise based on the current level threshold reached. Moon will also auto cast once hitting the minimum level Jade can cast with his current energy amount. You can double tap to cast a level 1 Moonrise to mirror the old function of tapping for a quick level 1 Moonrise cast.

Added mockup UI under Passives.

 

[CrownOfShadows]

I really like the concept, basing it around moon phases is a great and unique idea, i'm glad you changed it off of lepus xD. Here's my thoughts if you don't mind some constructive feedback:

Moon Vaulting: I'm not sure that I like it, it feels like it might be a weak ability and just generally less useful than a more regular style of ability. It feels like more of a passive. BUT, i LOVE the Vortex Spring Idea, in fact, I think if that was combined with the regular one by default it would be a super strong and fun ability and also introduce an interesting mechanic of dragging enemies in behind you and then about-facing to kill them. A lot depends on how well the rag-doll mechanics work out, but I think it would be great.

Apex Sense: at first I wasn't sure about this, but actually you have some interesting interplay here. The evasion should be enough defense to keep him alive until he can lift enemies, making it a very active ability, although one drawback to this is that nothing happens visually - you may want to brainstorm an additional minor effect that has an accompanying visual display just so users can tell the ability triggered. One possibility for extra safety would be to make this ability automatically cast a radial lift immediately around him. This might help when he's in danger of being overwhelmed. There's a fair stock of mods associated with lifted enemies that really never get used, and this would be a fantastic niche for them.

Lunar Cycle: This is personal preference but I am not a fan of cycled abilities in general. Titania's and Xaku's turn me off a great deal and I never really use them because it's just hard to remember what one you're on and what it does. Some of this bias might be rooted in UI deficiencies too. However, I like all of these buffs except for slash, which I think might be problematic depending on your equipment and could maybe be OP, depending on how much it is. I hesitate to suggest crit chance because that has been so overdone lately, but perhaps some armor stripping? He doesn't have much damage in his kit, perhaps slash is fine. I think the augment would be OP/slightly annoying (going invisible every few seconds and having no control over it, while also kinda having the best of everything - these are all pretty strong buffs) but it's interesting. I was trying to think of how to make this easier to cycle and use - what if you semi-transferred it to his passive such that the moon phases slowly change (and are visible in the HUD) and this ability stops the rotation, keeping the current buff active? Holding it could maybe speed up the cycle, but it could also be interesting to make the cycle speed scale off ability duration/efficiency, or even some other mechanic like kills or damage taken.

Moonrise: this is by far my favorite! The idea of holding the moon overhead and having enemies sucked to it is awesome, and i also really like the idea of holding it longer to level it up. I like the ally synergy buff too, but some of the buffs (like loot) might not do much, so maybe for those have allies under the moon extend the range of the loot buff instead? He will of course be pretty vulnerable to the new eximus while in this animation state though, so maybe add some overshield, DR or armor here?

 

All in all I think it's super solid man, I'd play it. I really like that it's not super-powered and built more around enemy lifts, it's a unique twist which is indirectly strong and also provides good survivability. Since so much of his kit revolves around this, you might add to his passive that lifted enemies stay in the air longer than normal. This is a bit delicate, because too long is OP (unless you factor in gloom, in which case even normal lifts last an eternity at high power), but it might enhance it.

 

[bnnuy]

Heyy, thanks for the feedback! :D I really appreciate the constructive feedback a lot and am just glad this got a response haha, here's my thoughts around them as I like some of what you bring up (let me know if I misinterpreted anything you said):

17 hours ago, CrownOfShadows said:

Moon Vaulting: I'm not sure that I like it, it feels like it might be a weak ability and just generally less useful than a more regular style of ability. It feels like more of a passive. BUT, i LOVE the Vortex Spring Idea, in fact, I think if that was combined with the regular one by default it would be a super strong and fun ability and also introduce an interesting mechanic of dragging enemies in behind you and then about-facing to kill them. A lot depends on how well the rag-doll mechanics work out, but I think it would be great.

That's a fair point on the potential weakness of the ability! However, I don't relatively think it's on the weaker end, and I actually consider it as more of a mobility tool first than a combative one. The base stats give the equivalent of a ~rank 8 Firewalker (or other Bullet Jump mods of its kind) and the speed bonus of a rank 0 Motus Signal, and that's before the charging component comes into mind (up to x3 the base stats), so it's moreso suited as a fun mobility tool with a situational (but powerful) CC/damage component. An idea is that you could Bullet Jump in the middle of a group of enemies, lift them with the heavy landing for CC (and to make it less risky to jump into the middle of enemies), and then target the biggest threat in the group (say an Overguarded enemy) with a damage buff if you have Apex Sense active, while also doing a fair bit amount of true damage to the fodder units. Because the range and damage also scales with a fully charged jump (and can help synergize with Apex Sense's damage buffing), I'm hoping it can make up for what seems like a relatively weak ability. Consider the included math that with Intensify, a full charge jump can deal 42,900 true damage to a level 101 enemy. It won't break Flechette Orb numbers, but it is a lot of frontloaded damage for a 1st ability. Also consider that you can hit a 22m CC AoE with stretch and a level 3 charge on heavy landing, which dwarfs Heavy Impact's numbers. Of course this comes at an energy cost per enemy effected, but it's also a 0 cost if you hit no enemies at all for a free Firewalker-like buff up to x3 scaling. Some regular styles of abilities may be stronger but I did want to make this stand out from other 1sts in other ways, such as being a mobility channel, which isn't something that (if I can remember) exists at current. 

With that stuff in mind, I'm afraid if Vortex Spring was innate, it'd be rather overloaded as an ability. Having a max 15m vortex without range mods as a 1st ability would probably overstep Bastille and Mach Crash's boundaries quite a bit, so I think it's fair to make it cost an augment slot.

17 hours ago, CrownOfShadows said:

Apex Sense: at first I wasn't sure about this, but actually you have some interesting interplay here. The evasion should be enough defense to keep him alive until he can lift enemies, making it a very active ability, although one drawback to this is that nothing happens visually - you may want to brainstorm an additional minor effect that has an accompanying visual display just so users can tell the ability triggered. One possibility for extra safety would be to make this ability automatically cast a radial lift immediately around him. This might help when he's in danger of being overwhelmed. There's a fair stock of mods associated with lifted enemies that really never get used, and this would be a fantastic niche for them.

Fair point on the visuals. He could impart for example a light distortion effect (similar to Mirage's Eclipse buff when in the dark) when the evasion stat kicks in. I was afraid about taking on more visual effects on top of his armor and melee weapon channeling effects.

I actually like the idea of a radial lift on cast, but I'm a little afraid that it'd be too similar to Caliban's Sentient Wrath just with evasion and a damage buff rather than invulnerability debuff on enemies. Without it, casting would leave him vulnerable, but since it's a channeled ability anyways I feel like people would opt to cast it first thing in a mission and thus you wouldn't really use the radial lift portion of it often, making it feel a bit wasted. 

I think I could be down to add that effect anyways. It'd leave open an alternative usage where people use the opening cast and then disable it after dealing with enemies (but on the other hand, I'm afraid that'd potentially make the channeling portion pointless). I could rework it into a duration based radial cast buff, but I actually don't want to go down that road as I don't want to add a duration ability that Jade would have to manage uptime on by looking at the duration timer.

I do also think the evasion should be enough defense as well, especially if you use it to get in New Moon's invisibility buff. And yeah the mods that have lifted effects could definitely see some sweet usage with him.

17 hours ago, CrownOfShadows said:

Lunar Cycle: This is personal preference but I am not a fan of cycled abilities in general. Titania's and Xaku's turn me off a great deal and I never really use them because it's just hard to remember what one you're on and what it does. Some of this bias might be rooted in UI deficiencies too. However, I like all of these buffs except for slash, which I think might be problematic depending on your equipment and could maybe be OP, depending on how much it is. I hesitate to suggest crit chance because that has been so overdone lately, but perhaps some armor stripping? He doesn't have much damage in his kit, perhaps slash is fine. I think the augment would be OP/slightly annoying (going invisible every few seconds and having no control over it, while also kinda having the best of everything - these are all pretty strong buffs) but it's interesting. I was trying to think of how to make this easier to cycle and use - what if you semi-transferred it to his passive such that the moon phases slowly change (and are visible in the HUD) and this ability stops the rotation, keeping the current buff active? Holding it could maybe speed up the cycle, but it could also be interesting to make the cycle speed scale off ability duration/efficiency, or even some other mechanic like kills or damage taken.

Fair point on cycled abilities, I actually do not like them either. Titania needs a rework of her other abilities to be honest, I only use her for her 4 and hate playing around the other abilities. Xaku is actually my second most played frame, but I'm guilty of just leaving their 3 on Gaze anyways unless I'm running a Relentless Lost build (where it auto cycles, so I don't mind it nearly as much there).

So, yes, Warframe UI needs to be fixed up in general and I was thinking this implementation of Lunar Cycle could be a bit clunky. I do love your idea of the augment's partial integration into the skill with the automatic change, but I'm afraid that would make the buffs more situational to when you can use it and not as interactive as I'd like -- I left the idea open to it being something a player can actively choose the buff for to suit whatever situation. I left the Augment purposely zany what with the auto cycles -- It could be OP yes, but since you can't choose the buff that comes up it makes it a wildcard of an augment to use (it probably wouldn't be popular because of it, but it'd be pretty fun to play with lol).

Perhaps an alternative for the control scheme would be to implement something similar to Lavos in the form of "buff" shortcuts? You could reserve holding 1-5 as automatically cycling to and activating the amp portion of a buff. You'd still need to cycle 3 to get the passive effect, but that could potentially alleviate some clunkiness. Edit: I just realize that'd conflict with Moonrise's charge mechanic, mreh.

In terms of the slash buff, I actually originally capped it at 80% slash because I was thinking it could be problematic too. Someone mentioned on an older draft that uncapping it probably wouldn't be necessarily bad as Garuda's ultimate operates on automatically giving your weapons slash procs on affected enemies anyways but on a wider scale. Of course, Jade would achieve the wider scale on using his 4 too (as well as giving his teammates the ability to do so), but overall it'd be way more costly to active 3 than 4 to get the slash effect then it would be for Garuda to just activate her 4. Given all that, I think it's currently fair in its current implementation, but I'd be welcome to debating that more anyways. I think the crit chance buff instead would probably be overdone yeah, but armor stripping could be an interesting alternative.

17 hours ago, CrownOfShadows said:

Moonrise: this is by far my favorite! The idea of holding the moon overhead and having enemies sucked to it is awesome, and i also really like the idea of holding it longer to level it up. I like the ally synergy buff too, but some of the buffs (like loot) might not do much, so maybe for those have allies under the moon extend the range of the loot buff instead? He will of course be pretty vulnerable to the new eximus while in this animation state though, so maybe add some overshield, DR or armor here.

Glad you like this one! To clarify, he isn't necessarily 'stuck' in the animation state, he'd be able to move around after the Moon is manifested. He still would be vulnerable if he goes to charge it to its max stats though, but I feel like that's a fair tradeoff for how strong the ability potential is, plus he would potentially have his evasion buff up or the New Moon invisibility up as well, so I don't think he'd be left as vulnerable as he could be.

I'm not sure I want to extend the range of the loot buff necessarily, to not step in Nekros' toes too much. I still think it has its uses in loot based comps though, what with pulling enemies into say, a Khora or Hydroid augmented 4. Even then, if a Nekros is on the team you'd probably potentially actually want to use the Crescent buff instead for the guaranteed gore chance for more Desecrate targets lol. But yeah!

 

Again, thanks a lot for the constructive feedback! I'm super open to further feedback or contesting any of what I mentioned.

Edit: Oh I forgot to mention, I would like to maybe add a base Lift duration that he inherits as a passive. I was thinking it'd potentially be too wordy too though but it's something I can consider.

[bnnuy]

I've updated his ability 3 and 4 a little bit to maybe help with potential control clunkyness. I also added a really silly mockup passive UI the Passives section to hopefully get across how his new 3 functionality would work similarly to Lavos.

[bnnuy]

Year of the Rabbit 'update'! I had more art made around the original time of the post that I should share, and wanted to add a tiny bit of lore to him! Ability feedback is appreciated, since I like the theory craft and think he's pretty frontloaded (but not OP, change my mind).

yes i know a Lua Warframe with toggle-able passives just came out but I made this for fun and got here first ; ;