Oberon Rework

[PlatypusWarriorX]

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my favorite warframe getting a rework has been such a hot topic lately! Not that it'll ever happen (;-;), but here's my take.

 

After about 142 Oberon hours I actually enjoy his kit. I just feel like his unique character has been overshadowed by his younger counterparts. Wisp also provides a variety of buffs and healing. but is more mobile and has I-frames and better damage output. Citrine has a similar playstyle but has better crowd control, stronger damage reduction, and much higher damage potential. Even Oberon's emphasis on radiation damage is outdone by Qorvex, who benefits more from the status. I was looking at Hydroid's rework, how they kept his overall playstyle while shifting his passive and damage types to give him his own niche. These ideas attempt to do something similar for Oberon, increasing his power and giving him his own claim to fame.

 

Passive: Some of Oberon's abilities will spawn Blooms. Blooms are special orbs that restore 75 health and provide a buff to anyone who picks them up for 15 seconds, with the following effects.

- Ability efficiency and duration are increased by 15%

- The allied companion will get one instant revive with a 60 second cooldown.

Blooms count as health orbs for effects like Equilibrium, Health Conversion and Arcane Blessing.

 

Smite: Projectiles have a higher radiation status chance that's affected by strength. The initial target gains increased threat for six seconds and has a 50% chance to drop a Bloom if killed during this time.

 

Hallowed Ground: I don't see any need to change it with these other buffs.

 

Renewal: Allies affected by Renewal will have their shield recharge rate increased, and recharge delay reduced, by 25% when at full health. Renewal and Iron Renewal's effects will be increased by 50% additively while Oberon is under a Bloom's buff.

 

Reckoning: Instead of health orbs, enemies have a 50% chance to drop Blooms if killed during the blind duration. Blind starts when enemies are lifted up and the duration is extended slightly. 

 

Some other ideas I wasn't sure about: (1. Excess healing from Blooms will grant energy. (2. Health orbs that touch Hallowed Ground are turned into Blooms. (3. Enemies that stand on Hallowed Ground are slowed by 3% for every radiation stack on them, up to 30%.

I'd love some feedback on this if anyone's willing. Thanks!

[AsffluffyZ]

The only addition I would make would be to change the base hallowed ground angle to 360 and have only the radius scale off of range just to save some ability spam and energy.

[PlatypusWarriorX]

That's a good idea!

[Iedarus]

Passive:

I like the Bloom idea; it keeps his identity consistent but gives him a passive that's more up to par with the newer frames. An efficiency and duration buff is also huge for Oberon since he gets put on sui-slide watch whenever Nekros is in the party. I do also like how this gives him an opportunity to make use of Health Conversion for more armor. My only concern is that this basically makes Equilibrium mandatory when Oberon already struggles with being mod starved. However, if he can consistently create health orbs, then Equilibrium should be the only thing he needs for energy, so I do like this change!

Smite:

Issue with Smite is that very few enemies are worth burning energy for it. Acolytes and Anatomizers can net you crazy numbers, sure, and Smite is a very powerful boss killer, but in a regular mission, how often are you really going to get value out of it? I do like how this change is similar to my idea where Smite gives energy, but in this case, it drops a Bloom which acts as his energy source. I especially like how you kept the ability mechanically the same while making it worthwhile to use on squishier targets; it actually makes the ground melee finisher the ability enables worth a damn. I personally would make the orbs also generate threat to further establish Oberon as a tank. Great work!

Hallowed Ground:

Innate 360 degree angle, please PABLOOOOOO! Also some verticality on the hitbox so we don't get knocked down when we jump over it and so we don't get screwed as hard by geometry. I cannot tell you how many times I've gotten knocked down when I was clearly on my grass. Also FOR THE LOVE OF GOD get rid of the stupid "do all your abilities on your Hallowed Ground" mechanic; it serves no purpose. All you're doing is wasting energy.

Renewal:

Not sure how I feel about shield regen buffs when Oberon is an armor tank; it feels very anti synergistic. I would simply add a max HP buff so the ability is actually worth using on low HP targets. I also hope that 50% is added after the ability is already cast so I don't have to wait until I get a Bloom before I can finish stacking my ability strength. Though I suppose you'd have to wait for a Bloom anyway to get the efficiency and duration buffs. Although 15 seconds should be plenty of time to stack up. Also please Pablo, make a visible aura around Oberon that nullified allies can re-enter so we don't have to set up all over again. Also give this ability a drain cap pleeeease. Sorry if this section sounds so critical; I've been having a lot of grief with this ability.

Reckoning:

Massive QOL that is LONG overdue. Though my main issue is that even with this change, the ability is nothing more than flat utility due to how pitiful its damage is, even with the augment. Perhaps simply an added effect that detonates all radiation procs on enemies for massive bonus damage? That'd justify it only stripping armor with this powercreep. It would also add more flavor by making it feel like a true Reckoning, and give more interactivity with his radiation procs (and those topaz shards oooooooooh).

Miscellaneous:

Blooms granting energy if your hp is already full could come in handy and would make Equilibrium not mandatory. The idea of health orbs turning into Blooms if Hallowed ground is on them also sounds promising; Hallowed Ground is something you want to keep up as much as possible and this interaction doesn't feel detrimental to Oberon since he gets rewarded with more health/energy if he uses it for this. A slowing effect would also be cool to ensure enemies stay in his grass as much as possible. Overall I like these changes! Here's hoping DE uses some of these ideas so the king of fairies can finally get his wings.

Edited January 11 by Iedarus

[Sojufueled]

17 hours ago, AsffluffyZ said:

The only addition I would make would be to change the base hallowed ground angle to 360 and have only the radius scale off of range just to save some ability spam and energy.

Let's not forget not allowing Nekros' minions to drain all his energy.

[PlatypusWarriorX]

Thanks for the detailed feedback Iedarus! I'm glad you like it!

 

Regarding Renewal, I'd also considered a health buff, but I was worried that it would have too much overlap with Wisp's Reservoirs. Meanwhile, if the armor bonus is too high Oberon could make himself, allies, and defense objectives practically invincible in lower levels. Unlike other tanks like Grendel, Nidus, Rhino or Inaros, Oberon only has below average (average with prime) armor and slightly above average health with no way to gain Overguard. Perfectly average shields leave me thinking that he should be able to use them. Plus, this helps his survivability in high levels and lets him better support allies who rely on their shields. 

I hear what you're saying though. Shield buffs do feel a bit out of character for Oberon. If the additive Bloom bonus scales with strength, you're essentially getting 300% effectiveness at 200% strength, which may be enough. Maybe if there was a way to reduce Phoenix Renewal's cooldown... either way, I also like your idea of a persistent radius that follows Oberon. Perhaps its range should be reduced to make it feel more active? Just looking at past patch notes Renewal seems like it's in a better place than it used to be, but having a channeled ability that's either not strong enough to be useful or requires an absurd number of mods is tricky to work with.

A drain cap seems interesting. I did think of the drain capping at the equivalent of Oberon himself and 3 allies, for a total of 11 energy/s. But one thing to keep in mind is that with enough sustain Oberon can make Nekros' shadows last indefinitely, and there's already an energy discount for summons. Personally, I feel like some sort of limiter on healing summoned units is fair.

 

For improving Reckoning's damage, one idea that I thought of was instead of the flat damage bonus on irradiated targets, it could have less base damage but deal an additional hit for every radiation stack on its targets, up to a certain maximum like five. That would pair brilliantly with the augment and improve its damage output significantly. Similar to this is the idea of the damage bonus stacking in the same way, since additional hits miiiight cause some lag issues, idk. One argument that I've read is that Reckoning's armor strip should be independent. While I can understand the frustration of having to cast two abilities to strip some enemies, Reckoning feels to me like a very strong cc ability on its own, and simply auto stripping in a wide radius with the blind and orb drops too seems like a bit too much. Instead, the synergy with HG should feel smoother with better means to regain the energy spent, hence the Blooms, the duration and efficiency increases, and potentially giving it 360 degrees. 

[AsffluffyZ]

9 hours ago, Sojufueled said:

Let's not forget not allowing Nekros' minions to drain all his energy.

The only change to to OP.

Also having to heal 10 or more things at once even with high duration and efficiency sucks

[PlatypusWarriorX]

Hmm, that's a fair point. Lord forbid you have an Atlas, Nekros and Caliban and one of them spawns Khal's crew. Or just 3 Nekros for some reason... XD Thinking about it, a drain cap would be really nice.