Oberon could use some QOL tweaks

[MirageKnight]

Disclaimer: I'm a long time Oberon player, but I do use other 'frames on a regular basis.

In light of the recent tweaks to older 'frames such as Hyroid & Inaros to make them more relevant and competative, I'd like to see Oberon get some love as well as I feel he's really fallen behind.

While Oberon is still mostly relevant as a support healer with decent stats, as a damage dealer his abilities start to seriously fall off when encountering enemies beyond normal star chart levels. As an Oberon main using a 247% Strength build (not including Molt Augmented), I am hard pressed to do appreciable damage to Level 55 and up enemies despite Warframes with weaker Strength builds being able to readily handle the same enemies. Forget Steel Path - here his abilities are only useful for damage mitigation, some expensive armor stripping and some crowd control.

I'm not asking for a full rework, as his kit is functionally sound and has nice synergies. Rather, I feel he ought to inflict damage on a level that's comparable to most other 'frames.

So lets look at his abilities, what they do, and what can be done with them.

Smite: Does 150 / 200 / 300 / 500 damage distributed evenly between Impact and Radiation as well as a guaranteed Knockdown and Radiation status effect. The affected target emits 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 orb projectiles that seek out enemies within a radius of 5 / 7.5 / 10 / 12.5 meters of the main target, over 12 seconds. Each orb deals 75 / 85 / 100 / 150 Radiation damage, plus 15% / 20% / 25% / 35% of the main target's maximum health and shields divided among the number of orbs, as well as a guaranteed Stagger and Puncture status, and a Radiation status chance.

So first of all, why not inflict Puncture Status as well as Impact and Radiation on the initial target seeing as Puncture is being applied to nearby enemies by the Orbs? Also, the amount of raw radiation damage being done seems fairly weak to begin with and quickly becomes diluted the more Orbs that are spawned. Late game Smite is somewhat good for reducing enemy output and some CC, but that's about it.

Hallowed Ground: Covers the ground in an angle of 90 / 100 / 120 / 180 degrees in front of Oberon, spanning up to 8 / 10 / 12 / 15 meters, for 10 / 15 / 17 / 20 seconds. Enemies standing on the area of effect are dealt 25 / 50 / 75 / 100  Radiation damage with a 5 / 10 / 12 / 15% Radiation status chance every 0.5 seconds, while allies are relinquished of any negative Status Effects and become immune to them for as long as they are standing on the area. Up to 4 patches of Hallowed Ground are allowed.

The damage is good for low to mid level content, the ability to negate status effects is immensely useful and the area it can cover makes for a decently sized defensive perimeter. It also gives a nice level of armor protection for any and all players affected by Renewal. That said, as a damage dealer vs higher level content its effectiveness falls off rapidly after a certain point. I wonder if perhaps Toxin would be a more appropriate element damage, given that Hallowed Ground causes grass / plants to spring up? Perhaps also add a slight slowing effect as well, maybe represented by vines trying to entangle the legs of enemies standing in the affected area.

Renewal: Spawns a heal area where Oberon stands with a radius of 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 meters that stays where cast. Ally players entering the area will receive a buff which will regenerate 15 / 20 / 25 / 40 health every second, while allied summoned units affected will regenerate 5 / 6.7 / 8.3 / 13.3 health every second (1/3rd the normal rate), for as long as Renewal remains active, regardless of range. Fully healed allies are additionally cleared of all negative Status Effects. Affected allies that enter Bleedout will have their timer slowed by 20% / 25% / 35% / 45%.

As far as healing abilities are concerned, Renewal is arguably one of the most useful in the game. That said, it has one major problem that most, if not all Oberon mains are painfully familiar with: That Nekros Shadows that happen to run into the Renewal area WILL pick up the heal. The result is that this can and will suck an Oberon's energy pool dry very quickly and thus shut off Renewal / Renewal. This interaction needs to be removed once and for all as it is a detriment to Oberon heal builds aimed at keeping players alive in long duration missions. Besides, if a Nekros player wants to, they can heal their minions by recasting before their HP runs out: They don't need an external heal, in fact some players don't care if their minions die as they can be easily replaced. Aside from that, the only other tweak I'd give Renewal would be to give the heal area a marker so that other players know where to go to pick up the heal bonus. To that end, have Oberon summon a small tree or something similar as it would fit his theme as a forest guardian. Perhaps even make the heal based off the affected target's HP so that it heals a small percentage of the target's maximum HP per tick.

And last but not least...

Reckoning: Lifts all enemies within 8 / 10 / 12 / 15 meters up into the air and violently slams them to the ground, dealing 500 / 750 / 1000 / 1250 damage distributed evenly between Impact and Radiation with guaranteed Knockdown and Radiation status, plus an additional 100 / 225 / 400 / 625 damage to enemies already affected by Radiation status effects. An enemy that dies by the effect of this ability has a 25% / 35% / 45% / 50% chance of spawning a Health Orb. Affected enemies that survive the impact will emit an intense flash of light, Blinding surrounding enemies within 2.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 4 meters that were unaffected by the initial cast, for 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 seconds.

Ability Synergy: Enemies that survive Reckoning while standing on Hallowed Ground will have their armor permanently reduced by 10% / 20% / 30% / 50%.
Armor is fully removed at 200% Ability Strength.

Well, it's useful in that you can completely strip armor with this, but it's clunky and energy expensive in that you need to cast Hallowed Ground first and then Reckoning to do so. For comparison, Frost's Avalanche can armor strip in a single cast if modded for high Strength (167% and over). I also feel this ability's damage ought to scale based off of a percentage of an affected enemy's health, seeing as you're hurling said enemies into the ground.

I'm not asking for a room nuker - just some tweaks to make him more useful beyond the normal star chart and some QOL improvements.

Any other helpful suggestions and feedback are welcome.

Edited April 14 by MirageKnight

[NinjaZeku]

Don't really disagree with any of the above, some stuff I'd like to also see would include ...

Make the Renewal "sphere" recastable without first canceling the ability entirely (hold to cancel instead),
or maybe replace it with an aura that moves with Oberon, constantly applying Renewal to anyone / anything in range.
(Just to be clear, you'd still keep Renewal after leaving the aura's AoE.)
It only draining Energy when actually healing, and outside of that allowing Energy regen stuff to work, would be swell.

Let Hallowed Ground make a full circle no matter your Range stat,
have the proc protection linger for a few seconds at least after leaving the AoE,
plus not least, give it some vertical reach, maybe just make it a spherical effect even,
it's entirely silly how e.g. standing on the Hydron / Helene cryopod makes it impossible to receive the ability's effects,
and if the Armor removal "synergy" is here to stay, then that also needs some help in allowing enemies to be hit.

If Iron Renewal is active on Oberon, have anyone coming into Renewal range gain that buff without needing to also be on HG.

Conversely, Hallowed Ground I guess could also be made a Renewal source, to add another option for (re)applying that,
be it in addition to or instead of the above suggestions.

His passive should apply to all Companions, not just Pets.

[Zakkhar]

2 hours ago, MirageKnight said:

As an Oberon main using a 247% Strength build (not including Molt Augmented), I am hard pressed to do appreciable damage to Level 55 and up enemies despite Warframes with weaker Strength builds being able to readily handle the same enemies.

Have you tried Smite Infusion? I have no problem dealing damage to enemies. 

Hallowed Ground is not a damage ability (the damage is just a bonus), Reckoning is a damage ability same way as Mag's Crush.  The damage is better than on Hallowed Ground, but it is still not the main purpose of the Ability. I assume you are comparing to frames whose Abilities main purpose is damage (and may offer small bonuses to other stuff).

Edited April 14 by Zakkhar