New Sentinel "Weapon": Sensor Pack

[HuckPituey]

I often use my Helios and my Oxylus to do scans for me but the number of scans they do is fairly low, and neither sentinel does all of the types of scans. Also, there are times when their weapons are unnecessary or even undesirable (e.g., in any situation where I can ignore the enemies, or whenever I need to avoid alerting them with an ill-timed attack by my companion). That's why I am proposing a new sentinel "weapon" that is not, in fact, a weapon but a sensor package occupying the weapon slot.

The Sensor Pack has no attack mode, but accommodates any mod that is specific to Helios or Oxylus. Yes, there are currently only five such mods, those being Investigator, Detect Vulnerability, Botanist, Scan Aquatic Lifeforms, and Scan Matter. Still, there are times when I would rather have these additional scanners on my companion than a weapon. When equipped on a Helios for example, the Helios can be Investigating one target while the Investigator mod on the Sensor Pack (if so equipped) can be Investigating a second target, and the Botanist yet another (this latter one being a plant, of course, as is normal for that mod). Furthermore, the Sensor Pack scans only take half as long as the sentinels' own scans.

Please note that I am not dissing sentinel weapons -- I am very happy with them 99% of the time!

In addition to Helios and Oxylus, the Sensor Pack "weapon" can also be used with the Shade sentinel! When used with Shade (or variants thereof), the scanning mods can perform scans without breaking Ghost invisibility (if any), even though use of the Codex Scanner or Synthesis Scanner does break invisibility!

And finally, the Prime version of the Sensor Pack has all the characteristics listed above, but also two unique features:

• It can accommodate additional types of detecting and scanning mods, including those for detecting enemies, loot, and maybe even rare items such as curia.
• It can be used in the weapon slot of any sentinel or moa!

What do you think?

[Zakkhar]

New Warframe will be doing codex scans with its basic kit.

This Sensor pack idea will be not cost effective to code.

[BiancaRoughfin]

3 hours ago, HuckPituey said:

The Sensor Pack has no attack mode, but accommodates any mod that is specific to Helios or Oxylus.

I honestly wouldnt be against a Sentinel Weapon that scans enemies, however i dont think it should e limited to Helios and Oxylus and given the nature of the weapon, it could be sold either by Simaris or Cephalon Suda (Preferably Suda), however its Scanning effect would be significantly enhanced when used by either Helios and Oxylus.

[Binket_]

While I think it'd be neat, it does kinda defeat the purpose of why Helios and Oxylus are unique to a certain degree.
HOWEVER, I do like the idea of "Sentinel Weapons designed as support" in a way.

Intentionally recognizing that a lot of Sentinel Weapons lack damage, so instead focusing on designing more with "support" in mind.
One could say "but that's what the precepts are for", but I say we already have these in some form.

Artax, Cyrotra and Verglas (with Verglas being the best choice) are all intended to be used as Status Inflicters.
They don't do much damage on their own, but they as quick means of applicating a set of statuses.
Some go for Viral+Heat, some go for Cold+Corrosive, some go for a more niche pick, etc, etc.
By afflicting these Statuses quickly, the user can take advantage of them directly or find ways for the Sentinel to work with them.

Alternatively, some like Sweeper Prime or Helstrum make of their ability to hit many targets to maximiz their on-hit effects from mods like Energy Generator or Synth Deconstruct.
Some even pair Helsturm with Nautilus to take advantage of Cordon's quick-grouping!

 

So in that regard, while the idea of a "Sensor Pack" isn't exactly the best of ideas?
Sentinel Weapons can be useful if they keep an indirect source of damage in mind!

> Numbers given are not final and only serve as a means to fill in the blanks.
> I'm not a Warframe dev, so I can't manually get some proper testing of it for a proper guess.
> These are ideally to be used strictly with Sentinels, so MOAs will be unable to use them.
^{Though, I would not be against MOAs getting their own variants of these.}

• Idea A: Fires a singular orb of slow moving plasma, searing thing in it's path.
  • Uses Rifle Mods.
  • Deals 45 Heat Damage every second when an enemy is touching the orb. 
  • Extremely slow projectile speed, dissipates after 5 seconds.
  • Extremely high Status, very low Critical, infinite body punch-through.
  • Multishot will cause the orb to fan out, similar to Cernos Prime.
  • The goal here is to make use of the orb by stunning enemies or pulling them into it so they will take multiple hits at a time.
    • Useless by itself, but in the right hands... truly powerful!
    • Ideally used with abilities like Mag's Pull or Nidus' Larva. Just as examples.
• Idea B: Deploys a small bubble shield around the Sentinel that reflects damage directly to the target the Sentinel is looking at.
  • Uses Rifle Mods.
  • Shield lasts for 5 seconds or pops after deflecting 30 instances of damage.
  • 15 second reload, but Sentinel has instant fire rate.
    • Meaning it will use this instantly the moment it senses danger and "reload speed" is it's cooldown.
  • Damage scales with mods on the weapon itself, including Elemental Mods.
  • Blast Radius increases the Shield's Radius.
  • Shield popping deals 20 Impact Damage to all enemies around it.
  • Ideally used with mods like Duplex Bond, which don't use the precepts of a Sentinel but still attract enemy attention.
    Other options include Djinn's Fatal Attraction, which manually draws in enemy aggro.
    • Duplex Bond still gains enemy aggro with the clones, but their invincibility prevents them from being destroyed.
    • Djinn naturally pairs well with this weapon as well, given it's nature as a beacon of sorts.
• Idea C: Extends and rotates two large razor blades, slicing enemies close by.
  • Uses Melee Mods.
  • Blades hit twice in a 4m Radius around the Sentinel, dealing 60 Slash Damage.
  • Forced Stagger on first hit.
  • High Critical Status and Damage, Moderate Status.
  • This is really just to give Sentinels a "Melee" method outside of Helios' Deconstructor... which only it can use.
    • I mean, not ALL of these ideas have to be complex. There's plenty of fun things that can do as is.
    • ... also pairs nicely with Melee users as is, y'know? Sentinels naturally DO follow their owners closely, making them ideal for such usage...
  • Optional: Allowing Hunter Set Mods to be applied to Sentinels. ^{(Mainly "Hunter Command" which would allow Sentinels to focus their attacks on a target.)}

Just a few off the top of my head.
I think the biggest problem Companions suffer from in general is the lack of damage output.
The most popular ones are the best support ones. "Panzer Vulpaphyla", "Smeeta Kavat", "Helios" and "Dethcube" are the prime examples of this.
They provide unique functions that only they can. They don't need to damage because they're not supposed to.

That's not to say "Buff Companion Damage"-- but rather that if we're going to make them DO more damage?
Have them follow the idea of the Bond mods. Your companion activates a buff and you make the most of it.
In this case, a Sentinel uses their weapon and you arrange it to be most effective.

The key is how to do so is entirely up to the player.
Encouraging experimentation, engaging the player and avoiding "automation" for content!
Once DE gets around to the "second part of the pet rework"? ^{_{(assuming they didn't forget as usual...)}}
This would be amazing to have!

[voltocitygel]

I think a non-weapon item for the sentinel (and moa) weapon slot would be cool, to give some kind of benefit for the situations you mentioned, or just for players who would prefer utility over status application. I could see a tome-like mod scheme work- a sentinel “weapon” focused on augmenting the sentinel (or player’s) performance and/or QoL rather than as a direct damage dealer. I think whatever it is, it probably shouldn’t be restricted to just a few companions. Currently only the deconstructor is limited, any other sentinel weapons are interchangeable, and I hope they keep it that way, even if we won’t get deconstructor on anything other than Helios.