Eximus units in theory and practice

[SixVoltCar]

I think I was away from the game when this development happened, I have ~100 hours in it now that I've returned. I've noticed a few things;

1) At any level, arson eximus 1-shot players with their status effect

2) Melee seems to be the only reliable means of killing before you're killed

3) At higher levels they become a nuisance

I want to see these spawn exponentially less the higher the mission level gets, because I simply don't like them breaking immersion and game balance. I realize power creep is a thing, I do not think eximus is a one-size-fits-all solution.

[Pakaku]

If they're one-shotting you, then it sounds like you have a pretty fragile build in general. Either way, you should be able to roll and evade the heat damage. Melee is whatever, guns can be built to be just as strong.

[Tiltskillet]

Arson does seem more damaging compared to most of the other eximus effects.  But the thing that really bothers me about it is that the visual is a lot smaller than the actual effect, especially in the vertical plane.  That should have been fixed a long time ago.

But I can't say I agree with your proposal to make them spawn less and less frequently as level goes up.  Or maybe you were talking about eximus in general?   That's even worse, afaic.

Some missions do get super- saturated with eximus  though.  It seems to me like that is probably a bug.

[Harutomata]

Arson Eximus are probably the most annoying from the eximi, but there are things you can do against them.
You can completely evade by rolling, and if you have melee weapon in your hand while facing the arson eximus you can block the knockdown (not sure about the damage). Warframe abilities which defend you against status procs and knockdowns also can help. Some of them are even available through helminth if you have it already.
Personally not a fan of it since I use rolling for movement, but there's also Rolling Guard.

14 minutes ago, Tiltskillet said:

Arson does seem more damaging compared to most of the other eximus effects.  But the thing that really bothers me about it is that the visual is a lot smaller than the actual effect, especially in the vertical plane.  That should have been fixed a long time ago.

True, it hits you a lot further than what the visual indicates.

[Llilyanna]

You can actually avoid the Heat Damage completely by going into Operator/Drifter mode. If you time it right before the knockdown or when you get knocked down, before your health gets too low you can hop out of the warframe, go stealth, allow the burn ticks to stack without it actually effecting your frame's health, and then hop back in unscathed by the burns.

Granted, it requires timing and a bit of reaction time, but it's how I avoid getting downed while I'm busy fighting hordes.

[VladYvhv]

There are some problems the eximus have.

1: The arsons are way too poweful for their enemy level. I would suggest that if they're kept at this power level, they should be forced into a stagger/sleep state (similar to enemies affected by Mesmer Skin or Sleep arrows) for a time, to compensate for the massive amount of energy they've spent. This seems like it would be a lore-freindly solution.

2: There are often way too many eximus in any given room. It's one thing if a miniboss-level baddie shows up. It's another if he brings his own version of the A-Team... This is where they really get to be a threat. You'll have every possible version of eximus all in one place (and sometimes multiples of types), so things like Rolling Guard won't save you, because you're contantly under assault by the light and dark purple ones, the electric ones, the arsons, and the ice ones. (and gas for invested and shield for the corpus). And for corpus, the nullifers can become eximus. These make things really bad for dealign with corrupted/narmar, and the crossfire missons, too. The eximus should be limited to no more than 2 at any given time in any room on the map.

3: They're bullet sponges. Especially at higher levels, these guys outweigh liches and sisters (and sister hounds) for threat level, simply due to the amount of damage they can tank. It's possible to one-shot a level 5 lich or sister during the confrontation. Any eximus that spawn on that mission, however, are practically invulnerable. They're more powerful than their superiors. That should say someting about how much they need to be nerfed.

4: Eximus specters don't match up to their enemy counteparts. Yes, they're strong, but at this point, the arson eximus from arbiters of hexas should be obliterating every enemy within range. Instead, they cause some minor fire damage and knock them back. So, really, either nerf the enemy eximus, or buff the eximus specters.