Why Wisp is so good, an indepth analysis.

[(XBOX)Lord ChibiVR]

As we all know, Wisp is a very popular and powerful Warframe, and after using her (she is now my second favorite frame), I decided that I should list what specifically makes her so successful where so many other frames have failed.

First is her passive: Wisp is in invisible while in the air until firing a weapon.

This is very useful for a variety of reasons. First, she can use it on her way to and from the objectives. Second, it has no energy drain and can consistently remain active. Third, because it is a passive, the ability is not disrupted by nullifiers. This is one example of the the little changes that makes Wisp so fun to use. 

Second, we have Wisp's first ability, reservoirs. She places up to six reservoirs, each of which can give one of three different effects, HP increase and regeneration, attack speed/fire rate buffs, and an automatic application of electricity procs to enemies within the radius of Wisp. The third ability specifically is capable of working through walls allowing Wisp to limit enemies just by being present. 

Third, we have Wisp's second (and arguably most powerful) ability, Will O Wisp. Wisp creates a spectre that attracts the attention of nearby enemies, while Wisp herself is invisible during this time. She then can teleport to this spectre's location, giving herself three seconds of invulnerability.

The important thing to note about this ability however, is that Wisp can instantly cast this ability, even while she is in the process of casting her other abilities, effectively giving herself a panic button she can use in all situations.This becomes overpowered when we go into detail of her third ability. 

The fourth reason why Wisp is so powerful is breach surge. She creates a wide, AoE flash of light that stuns all nearby enemies, blinds them, and then allows Wisp to dramatically increase her damage. 

Unlike other cc abilities, the blind effect is capable of affecting eximus enemies, allowing her to effectively remove all danger. On top of this, Wisp can use Will O Wisp during the cast time of this ability, meaning that she can be invisible or invulnerable while casting this ability, while disabling all enemies immediately after finishing casting. She is also able to move while casting this ability, adding more to that comfort while using her abilities.

It is obvious that the reason for this success is because of how these abilities are designed to work together. You are allowed to cast Will O Wisp while doing anything else. You are allowed to become invisible while casting reservoirs, or stunning enemies. You are allowed to buff yourself without interruption because now all the enemies are either stunned or distracted by your spectre. 

In other words, DE made Wisp with both practicality and fun in mind, and it is why she feels so "smooth" to use compared to frames with long cast times and clunky kits with abilities that interfere with each other. Wisp is designed to use her abilities in quick succession, but can do so without disrupting her gameplay. She can use her abilities without making the player feel impaired. This is seen in how one can even use helminth without causing any problems with her kit. 

[_Anise_]

imo wisp has such high synergies, that's part of what makes her great!, every ability except for her #4 has multiple uses that work with to augment her other abilities, #4 having no synergies isn't even that bad because i makes it a perfect candidate for the helminth system.

I think more frames should be designed this way, use this opertinity for a random jab at original Yareli who's design is terrible in comparison where her kit doesn't really have synergies but forces her onto k-drive to get abilities to work how they probably should just work regularly.

[Mediloric]

Was expecting a butt shot! So this is pleasantly surprising! Good breakdown about Wisp!

I do agree Wisp is a good if not great frame but I frankly couldn't get into her. I love support and her buffs are easy enough to apply to your team/self but I could not for the life of me get into the invisibility side of things from her passive and 2nd ability. Not her fault, just my playstyle doesn't fit with that.

She is so versatile though! Tanky, Supportive, decent CC and plenty of options for modding!

Always like seeing them generally, usually means I won't have a problem surviving if I'm playing a squishy frame and they can often handle themselves! 

I think if this wolf frame doesn't pan out for me like Styanax did (I really wanted to like him but I always feel shields are not great...) I might have to try and give her another go. Maybe with the Archon mods, I might settle into her better! 

[0_The_F00l]

Yes , very much in agreement.

Though you could have gone into more depth about all her synergies as well without being dependent on each other , especially since you can teleport to the reservoirs and double your effective range and also have the will o wisp make another equally large breach surge.

Also noticed you didn't talk about her 4 , guess we just don't talk about it. So despite having one ability that is rarely used she is still a solid frame.

And you haven't even talked about her aesthetic assets.

[(XBOX)Lord ChibiVR]

3 minutes ago, _Anise_ said:

 #4 having no synergies isn't even that bad because i makes it a perfect candidate for the helminth system.

 

The funny thing is that it does have synergies: the laser guarantees sparks from breach surge and has its damage increased by the reservoirs, but somehow is still only ok. 

You are right about helminth being amazing on Wisp. I personally run dispensary so I effectively have a frame who can cover everything at once.

[(XBOX)Lord ChibiVR]

3 minutes ago, 0_The_F00l said:

 

Also noticed you didn't talk about her 4 , guess we just don't talk about it. So despite having one ability that is rarely used she is still a solid frame.

 

I didn't talk about her 4 because it's not really that special of an ability compared to the other ones, and doesn't really contribute to wisp being so fun to use.

[Zeclem]

her 4 is still pretty good damagewise i'd say, and it also shreds armor like crazy.

[(XBOX)GearsMatrix301]

1 hour ago, _Anise_ said:

imo wisp has such high synergies, that's part of what makes her great!, every ability except for her #4 has multiple uses that work with to augment her other abilities, #4 having no synergies isn't even that bad because i makes it a perfect candidate for the helminth system.

I think more frames should be designed this way, use this opertinity for a random jab at original Yareli who's design is terrible in comparison where her kit doesn't really have synergies but forces her onto k-drive to get abilities to work how they probably should just work regularly.

Her 4 actually guarantees her 3 proccing.

[(XBOX)GearsMatrix301]

31 minutes ago, Zeclem said:

her 4 is still pretty good damagewise i'd say, and it also shreds armor like crazy.

It’s fire rate is literally 1 instance of damage per second. It’s awful.

[sunderthefirmament]

31 minutes ago, Zeclem said:

her 4 is still pretty good damagewise i'd say, and it also shreds armor like crazy.

It's decent, but I still find it to be her best target for Helminth replacement.  It's got a pretty big opportunity cost, and it's kind of a pain to aim.  It has beautiful VFX, but that can crowd out the screen.

[_Anise_]

2 minutes ago, sunderthefirmament said:

and it's kind of a pain to aim

not to mention pretty sure it won't hit certain enemies like bosses

[(PSN)FunyFlyBoy]

30 minutes ago, _Anise_ said:

not to mention pretty sure it won't hit certain enemies like bosses

Which bosses? I just tried it against Captain Vor and an Acolyte and was able to hit both with Sol Gate. 

Edit: Just used it against an Eximus Bombard, it dealt damage to their Overguard as well. 

[CrownOfShadows]

IMO, while making her motes immune to nullifiers is a great QoL thing, it sure seems unfair when compared to every other frame, especially since you don't even need to recast the ability if they were to get knocked off, you'd just need to go find the reservoirs again.

If only this amount of forgiveness was given to other frames, then a lot of them would be a lot more fun to play too. Wisp is overstacked and overpowered by comparison - the only reason nobody complains is because she isn't using it to nuke rooms. Just ONE of her reservoir abilities would still out-class an old frame's entire kit (looking at you Oberon).

Not necessarily saying nerf her, just saying she's setting the bar really, really high and doesn't have any weaknesses, which makes other frames look even more pathetic than they used to, and even 'good' frames envy her but don't hate her only because she benefits them equally.

[ReddyDisco]

Wisp is good for the scenery 

[quxier]

2 hours ago, (XBOX)Upl0rdYT said:

First is her passive: Wisp is in invisible while in the air until firing a weapon.

This is very useful for a variety of reasons. First, she can use it on her way to and from the objectives. Second, it has no energy drain and can consistently remain active. Third, because it is a passive, the ability is not disrupted by nullifiers. This is one example of the the little changes that makes Wisp so fun to use. 

It just works: it has set of strict rules:

- you jump - you are invisible (with some small period on the ground while you are still invisible).

- you shoot - you are not invisible

And it's not random. Random event won't deactivate it. Styanax without shields has no passive. Limbo's rift, while passive, still is disrupted by Nullies. Wisp has it good.

 

And to add to your post, it's "powerful" and you can clearly see when you are using or not. Sure, not being able to shoot while invisible make it less Overpowered but you can clearly use it in certain situations. I've even tried it with Archon Boreal. I've survived a lot (and then get "one-shooted" by some enemies). Compare it to Caliban's & Styanax passive. Caliban has 50% damage reduction. What's the point of 50% less damage when enemies deals e.g. 500%? On other hand STyanax crit bonus is small (at least for certain weapons). With base 750 Shield you get 18%-19% crit chance. For e.g. 20% crit chance weapon it is 3.75%. Even with 4x more shields (~3000) you get just 15% more crit. As with more shield you get less shield gate you are get like 3.75~15% more crit.

 

2 hours ago, (XBOX)Upl0rdYT said:

Second, we have Wisp's first ability, reservoirs. She places up to six reservoirs, each of which can give one of three different effects

And those won't disappear unless Nully touches a mote. Frost, afair, just need to brush of Nully to destroy his Globe.

3 hours ago, (XBOX)Upl0rdYT said:

It is obvious that the reason for this success is because of how these abilities are designed to work together. You are allowed to cast Will O Wisp while doing anything else. You are allowed to become invisible while casting reservoirs, or stunning enemies. You are allowed to buff yourself without interruption because now all the enemies are either stunned or distracted by your spectre. 

In other words, DE made Wisp with both practicality and fun in mind, and it is why she feels so "smooth" to use compared to frames with long cast times and clunky kits with abilities that interfere with each other. Wisp is designed to use her abilities in quick succession, but can do so without disrupting her gameplay. She can use her abilities without making the player feel impaired. This is seen in how one can even use helminth without causing any problems with her kit. 

First she isn't perfect - ability 4th restricts some abilities.

I agree with general idea of synergies (not dependencies, more later), easy to use and non-blocking abilities.

As for synergies you haven't put too much but that's important in my opinion. Will-o-Wisp can teleport to mote. Will-o-wisp "recasts" Breach surge (at least it used to do it). WoW kite enemies so you can hit more enemies during 4th. You don't have to use 2 or more abilities to get something. Sevagoth forces you to use 2 abilities together as 1 (I don't remember which one) is just weak. That's dependencies.

Abilities are easy to use. You click and there is WoW flying. No unnecessary jump that they make to make ability worse (look at Styanax & afair Protea, those jumps are just to make ability bad). We have even "grace period" when you can stand on the ground and still be invisible.

Her 4th blocks 2 abilities. However that's not big problem (for her base kit). Motes have long duration. Sure you may want to recast Breach surge. Other frames have it much worse. Caliban can use only useless 2nd (without huge strength it's useless). Sevagoth can only just aim.

2 hours ago, (XBOX)Upl0rdYT said:

2 hours ago, _Anise_ said:

 #4 having no synergies isn't even that bad because i makes it a perfect candidate for the helminth system.

The funny thing is that it does have synergies: the laser guarantees sparks from breach surge and has its damage increased by the reservoirs, but somehow is still only ok. 

You are right about helminth being amazing on Wisp. I personally run dispensary so I effectively have a frame who can cover everything at once.

You can use Will-o-Wisp to travel, kite enemies or teleport.

Still, that's one ability that I replaced in 3 base slots.

 

[EdinaMonsoon]

it's a really good thing she's popular in public games, archon stretch is now compulsory for me on any builds that previously used stretch

[cute_moth.npc]

Shock motes are cancer but I'm glad you like your Warframe ^^

It's wild how we can get Warframes like Wisp in one release that can do almost anything and then others like Gyre that don't even excel at the one thing they were supposed to do lol.

Did they give Wisp way too much, new Warframes way too little, or maybe a little bit of both? ^^;

[(PSN)Frost_Nephilim]

Yea i love Wisp, she was our first warframe to have different movement animations aside from normal walking and running, almost all of her abilities are awesome and useful, even her passive. I do think her shock motes are overkill though. They can take all of the engagement out of a mission, easier than a limbo can. 

But outside of that, shes as solid as frames like Volt, Saryn, Wukong and Nehza amongst others. 

4 hours ago, cute_moth.npc said:

Did they give Wisp way too much, new Warframes way too little, or maybe a little bit of both? ^^

Right like Gyre and Styannax, i mean 2 of their abilities look like they do the same thing. They used to make warframes to encorage different playstyles, these recent 2 warframes though. Idk what was the goal playstyle wise. 

Wolf warframe about to have a 1st ability that sends out a wolf that runs forward and then creates a vortex that groups all enemies. 3rd ability has a howl and same animation as Gyre's 3rd and Styannax's 3rd. Creativity? Never heard of it. 

And they dont do that good at any role too which blows. Maybe its just my build? Idk. I wasnt as impressed with them as i was with Gauss

[(XBOX)Lord ChibiVR]

28 minutes ago, (PSN)Frost_Nephilim said:

 

And they dont that good at any role too which blows. Maybe its just my build? Idk. I wasnt as impressed with them as i was with Gauss

Tbh Gauss is a lot like Wisp where he has an all rounder kit where everything feels good to use. 

I understand that it's probably hard to make frames like those two, but some of the more recent frames would do wonders with a little QoL, so idk why they don't have them.

[cute_moth.npc]

1 hour ago, (PSN)Frost_Nephilim said:

And they dont do that good at any role too which blows. Maybe its just my build? Idk. I wasnt as impressed with them as i was with Gauss

To be fair as someone who plays a lot of Gyre right now, it's actually not your build if you're referring to her, she's literally just really flawed.

She was doomed the minute Rotorswell came into play: Even when you look at it in the skill previews, it's obvious what it is: It's literally a video of "Gyre turns on the skill and walks through a group of Corpus who get zapped and die - Gyre doesn't even stop to look at them"

They've been trying to remove this stuff from the game (World on Fire, Wuclone, etc), low / zero interactivity skills that just let you sit there or run around brainlessly and rack up kills. They nerfed it to bits almost as soon as it came out. Why did this even get onto the Warframe and through production?

After years of doing this stuff, someone should have probably stopped and gone "Hey should we round Gyre out with some armor stripping, survivability, maybe a hard defense skill or something instead of adding Rotorswell? This is really low interactivity for an ultimate and players are going to use this skill to zoom and boom missions"

Between the obvious flaw that got through production somehow and the lack of diversity in what she can do, she's really a polar opposite of Wisp. To be fair, it's not that she can't do anything, but is inherently really limited in scope and features some synergy but basically all in one category, she feels incomplete. Wisp gets to use the Helminth system and all of our arsenal to enjoy her very high versatility, Gyre has to use those things to fix the gaping holes in her kit.

I should do a post called "Why Gyre's so bad: an in depth analysis!" except I still play her because I'm stubborn and know where all of the right band aids are ;_;

[Pakaku]

9 minutes ago, cute_moth.npc said:

Between the obvious flaw that got through production somehow and the lack of diversity in what she can do, she's really a polar opposite of Wisp. To be fair, it's not that she can't do anything, but is inherently really limited in scope and features some synergy but basically all in one category, she feels incomplete. Wisp gets to use the Helminth system and all of our arsenal to enjoy her very high versatility, Gyre has to use those things to fix the gaping holes in her kit.

Not everyone needs to be an all-rounder, we can have warframes who specialize at specific roles or niches. I think that's fine, I can bring one frame to do one job, and switch to others if I need to do a different job. The question is whether or not the specialists accomplish what they specialize in, and as far as I've heard, Gyre doesn't fare well

[Yamazuki]

4 hours ago, cute_moth.npc said:

Did they give Wisp way too much, new Warframes way too little, or maybe a little bit of both? ^^;

More so has to do with the recent ones being underwhelming. Xaku and Gauss are other examples of Warframes that do fine.

The problem is it doesn't seem like Warframes are really designed around what the game is at times... feels like they just go with what ever looks or sounds good, and don't stop and ask if it's useful or good with the context of how the game is played. Yareli is a prime example of issues with feeling good to use in actual missions.

[cute_moth.npc]

Just now, Pakaku said:

Not everyone needs to be an all-rounder, we can have warframes who specialize at specific roles or niches. I think that's fine, I can bring one frame to do one job, and switch to others if I need to do a different job. The question is whether or not the specialists accomplish what they specialize in, and as far as I've heard, Gyre doesn't fare well

I agree that specialist Warframes are fine, as long as they don't end up specialized to the point where you're literally only picking them when the stars align just right so you barely ever play them or appreciate them ^^;

Gyre (out of the box) is only amazing at one thing: If you are doing a low enough level mission that Rotorswell will kill, it's one of the best zoom and boom skills in the game. I like going to get Isos in an Corpus Railjack exterminate with her, once I get into the exterminate part of the mission all I have to do is find the exit because Rotorswell has killed everything while I am looking. It's seriously no wonder they nerfed Rotorswell so hard, but basically amazing that this happened at all to me.

[Pakaku]

Just now, cute_moth.npc said:

I agree that specialist Warframes are fine, as long as they don't end up specialized to the point where you're literally only picking them when the stars align just right so you barely ever play them or appreciate them ^^;

Gyre (out of the box) is only amazing at one thing: If you are doing a low enough level mission that Rotorswell will kill, it's one of the best zoom and boom skills in the game. I like going to get Isos in an Corpus Railjack exterminate with her, once I get into the exterminate part of the mission all I have to do is find the exit because Rotorswell has killed everything while I am looking. It's seriously no wonder they nerfed Rotorswell so hard, but basically amazing that this happened at all to me.

I'd have to play her myself to make a proper opinion, but if Rotorswell is the only thing she's good at, well... I feel like I could accomplish the same with Hildryn's 3 or a Day Equinox, while having even more to offer from either frame

[Tiltskillet]

2 minutes ago, cute_moth.npc said:

I agree that specialist Warframes are fine, as long as they don't end up specialized to the point where you're literally only picking them when the stars align just right so you barely ever play them or appreciate them ^^;

Caliban is awesome for Hijacks!  Oh, forgot to mention, solo Hijacks.  Oops, and sortie Hijacks don't work so well because of the nullfication field.   Solo non-sortie Hijacks though, he's top 5.