Chroma Rework: Draconic Paladin

[Nerthiril]

Ok it is currently 2:30 am so this may not be my best work but I just want to get it down for feedback purposes and so I don't forget by tomorrow.

As we probably all know by now chroma has been getting more and more obsolete as the years go on and patches come out that indirectly nerf them (Removal of self damage, overguard frames) and while luckily the second part is getting fixed somewhat next week (Finally something good for chroma for once). And the first got somewhat fixed by Guardian armor (Which should honestly be baked into the ability at this point. But at least its an augment worth the mod slot and energy). Chroma still is in the iffy place of not being bad per say. Like it doesn't draw the eyes of DE to fix them, but chroma just isn't worth playing when there are so many other frames that can easily beat it out in every category it once held claim to. So I have the idea of instead of trying to make it fit into already existing categories, why not make it fit into its own category, Paladin. Paladin for those who don't play DnD or fantasy games with classes are a class that's a hybrid between a tank and a support, often with powerful buffs to make their allies last through the fight. With guardian armor augment he is already on the path to becoming a proper paladin instead of a selfish self buffing dps/tank hybrid. No longer needing narrow minded for duration he can now actually buff allies within a decent range and take their allies damage onto themselves with guardian armor. Now that's Just Vex armor, the rest of their kit doesn't really flow into the paladin style game play in particular the 1 and 4. So my goal is to suggest some changes that will make their kit actually flow starting with passive:

Draconic protection: The current ability feels like a placeholder, like DE couldn't come up with anything else but since the passive was getting removed they had to do something. Just an extra jump isn't doing much. It doesn't even fit the elemental dragon theme they previously had going on. But as I was thinking over how to make chroma more fitting as a paladin and how their current playstyle may fit a dragon's selfishness, the paladin idea can be them viewing their allies as their hoard to protect. Currently no idea of what to make this due to the Guardian armor augment's existence being basically what I'd want as the passive, but moving that augment to their passive could work

Spectral Scream: Lets be honest, if this ability didn't also hold the most identifying part of their kit (swapping elements) it would be the one to go over even effigy, at least that has merit in PT with credit doubling. Low damage, low range, locks out of non melee weapons. this is the peak of useless abilities. So lets change it into something both chroma and their allies benefit from:

Chroma lets out a roar infused with elemental might staggering and inflicting status on enemies caught in the blast. Secondary effect changes based on what element is equipped: 
Heat: A flash of fire Blind enemies for 3 seconds

Electric: Electric tendrils latch onto nearby allies instantly starting a boosted shield recharge

Cold: Instantly Freezes nearby enemies (Currently a placeholder as cannot think of what else better to add)

Toxin: Toxin drips from chroma and enemies hit by the blast creating toxic pools underneath them.

This addresses some of the main issues I've been having with chroma, they are a tank but have no form of CC at all. Heat and Cold will allow that. Electric allows them a minor buff on their 1 to supplement the additional shield on elec ele ward. And toxic is just added aoe which due to this change taking out the only form of ability damage they have, it would be nice for them to still have something. I've always liked elemental ward and how it changes in effect based on element and feel like the 1 holding the swap but 2 being the only one that actually changes (other than just element damage) is weird. This will make it so 1 actually has a reason to be the one swapping elements instead of just moving it onto 2.

Elemental Ward: One of my favorite abilities previously crippled by the dedication to needing to watch over VA. Now with GA being here we can finally reliably keep Elemental Ward up for as long as we want. My personal only change is just making this recastable, there is no reason not to, just makes chroma feel clunky to play when you have to wait an extra second to let ele ward drop before casting it again. But I'll bring up a change supplied from EmperorBlastoff 's post as I feel like it is a pretty decent change if you want to go further with it instead of a simple recast
 

"Second Ability Changes: The second ability Elemental Ward at first seems like a decent survivabilty and support tool but in practice its pretty overwhelming for Chroma. First you cant recast the ability like on other support abilities, so your force to wait till the duration to end to recast it. Two you can only use one buff at a time so you can't use it at its full potential. Three most of the buffs kinda suck., for example the heat buff only gives you extra health but no healing. Which isn't good especially in steel path because extra health with no healing, armor, and Shield gating isn't gonna mean S#&$ to a Steelpath enemies. While the cold and electric buffs are decent, but like I said you can't use two buffs at the same time, and the worst of them all is the toxin buff. Having extra reload and holster speed is situational and most Chroma players rarely use it, unless they are using it in Eidolon hunt. since Elemental Ward is Chroma's subsume you can just slap it on other frames like Wisp or Trinity and get better results than on Chroma. I would keep Elemental ward but make some changes like making it recast able and being able to use two buffs instead of just one. I will also give changes to the buffs by giving them special effects. The Heat Buff will  give Chroma extra health and also extra healing like Wisp's motes. The Electric Buff will give extra shields as well as extra energy regeneration, The Cold Buff would still give extra armor but it will also give out a slow moving aura similar to that of Sevagoth's gloom, and  finally the Toxin Buff will give extra ammo and ammo capacity to guns. You can only use two buffs at once, but just having just two should be enough survivabilty." (EmperorBlastoff)

Vex Armor: This ability is a bit controversial about what to do with it but in my opinion these are the two best for this version of chroma
1: Keep as is, it works perfectly fine and has synergies with stuff like Longbow sharpshot and guns/melee that have Multiplicative CO
2: Turn it back into Multiplicative with the expectation that it will get nerfed to be not even close to the power it was before.

I personally am in favor of keep as is, it allows different arcanes to shine like longbow and shotgun vandetta that fly under the radar due to merciless and deadhead being so prevalent. Those arcanes barely see much use due to merciless/deadhead being the best way of getting base damage onto a weapon, allowing for more optimization with mods no longer needing serration. Chroma has the unique opportunity of being a warframe that can directly benefit from those lesser used arcanes and I don't want to take that away.

Effigy: This is the ability im most unsure about. I know it needs to be taken out of the picture completely it is so bad, especially with blind rage, have fun running out of energy in seconds. So I'll be taking feedback on what this slot could be that would fit into a paladin or dragon theme, all I will ask is that it isn't a buff, the frame with these changes already has 3 buffs (though only one affects damage, so it wouldn't be out of line) putting a 4th one will run the risk of making this a support frame or just being too timer focused
 

All feedback is appreciated, all I'll ask is if you take issue with a proposed change, to supply some other way the ability could be changed instead. Criticism is more than accepted as long as there is constructive merit to it as well. 

[DarkBlueSeaDragon]

On 2024-04-06 at 3:21 AM, Nerthiril said:

Draconic protection: The current ability feels like a placeholder, like DE couldn't come up with anything else but since the passive was getting removed they had to do something. Just an extra jump isn't doing much. It doesn't even fit the elemental dragon theme they previously had going on. But as I was thinking over how to make chroma more fitting as a paladin and how their current playstyle may fit a dragon's selfishness, the paladin idea can be them viewing their allies as their hoard to protect. Currently no idea of what to make this due to the Guardian armor augment's existence being basically what I'd want as the passive, but moving that augment to their passive could work

Chroma's pelt is a defeated sentient in lore, it could grant 5% adaptation to damage types up to max 35%, with GA this would then also apply to alies. It may not perfectly fit the idea you had, but it fits the name I guess?

Edited April 7 by DarkBlueSeaDragon

[Nerthiril]

17 hours ago, DarkBlueSeaDragon said:

Chroma's pelt is a defeated sentient in lore, it could grant 5% adaptation to damage types up to max 35%, with GA this would then also apply to alies. It may not perfectly fit the idea you had, but it fits the name I guess?

Thank you. I was looking for basically anything to fit it. and innate adaption would fit both the sentient aspect of lore and also help chroma cause adaptation is nearly universally used on them, freeing up a mod slot.

[TheCleverJoker]

I don't really see where you are coming at with the 4 taking a ton of energy, but I do think it could be more of a sentinel style companion where you can tell it on either tap or hold to repel or pull in enemies. The build I have ended up using on him has no range at all really because there isn't anything in his kit that makes me feel like I need it. The ability should also either be health based duration or channel based duration and not a combination of both.

[ThePredicament]

My suggestion is to move element selection to Ward (gives Ward helminth additional functionality) and make Spectral Scream have two uses. On hold press, it does the usual dragon things, breath fire like an Ignis (same distance, more damage), lightning in a straight line with range with a chance to stun and near infinite punchthrough, a cone of ice with a shorter range but can slow enemies, and toxin that sprays and inflicts toxin damage while leaving residuals that eat at armor BUT instead of toggling it the way it is now, Chroma would be in a "sentry" mode where he will only breathe at enemies at around a 120 degree angle without barring weapon use. Energy is only spent only when firing, doesn't block energy regen when not in use. Then on top of that, pressing the button (or backwards for holding to charge) will result in tier 2 shots like you've suggested, giant fireball with aoe and blind, shotgun ice that flash freezes enemies, laser shot ala Bahamut Zero that fully ignores defenses, and a giant lobbed acid ball that explodes and leaves a puddle. Casting in the air will make him ground smash at cursor based on the element AND how high the combo multiplier is.

As for Ward, yes, let it be recast but as for the effect, this might sound crazy but why not all of them at the same time? There are so many frames that can press to be nigh invulnerable now that simple bonuses to health and shields isn't going to mean much. Start with the chosen element at 100% but then allow absorption of elements up to 120% of the values now, both singular and combinations, to stack up those bonuses. For instance, if shot with an explosive blast, add to both cold (armor) and heat (health), then when hit with magnetic add more armor and shields. Yes, there are IPS damage and most of the time enemies don't have elements, so those add very minor bonuses to random elements.

Vex Armor is great outside of external overguard but that's seems to be on its way to be solved. Still think it should act as a shield until Scorn is full, then slowly fill up Fury, but killing stuff is a good middle ground.

As for the the pelt, go all out with it's living armor theme. Disrobe on hold, channeling or health based. Have it full blown rage at enemies casting new and improved Spectral Scream tier 2 effects on press and natural elemental breathing, while smashing everything with a melee weapon based on the element that can be mildly modded. For instance, lance on electric for charging and dive bombing (see what I did there?), morningstar on cold for hulk style smashing and bashing, ultra great sword on fire for wide heavy arcs, and double bladed sword on toxin for quick poison procs stacks and blinking.

His kit is great, it's just missing stuff that can make it not only effective but also fun and engaging.