New Warframe Idea - Heavy Gunner (DPS, light support)

[MelanomaAIDS]

A heavy gunner Warframe named Barrage.

Passive: primary and deployed archgun weapons have bonus magazine size and ammo maximum. 

1 - Suppressing Fire: Channeled ability, self buff; While active, firing a weapon applies a a single stack of a debuff called Pinned to all enemies within range in front of Barrage (cone, no LoS required). Pinned enemies are slowed, weapon accuracy is reduced, and take extra damage from any source of Blast Damage. Pinned effect stacks so using rapid fire weapons maximizes this ability. Ability Strength increases effect of Pinned debuff; Ability Duration increases Pinned duration and reduces channeling energy cost; Ability Range increases distance in front of Barrage to apply debuff.

2 - Ammo Cache (Helminth Subsume): no energy cost, has a cooldown. Generates a universal ammo pack at Barrage's feet. Barrage and allies get buff that greatly increases reload speed and channeled abilities have no energy drain. Ability Strength increases reload speed bonus; Ability Duration increases buff duration but cooldown length is unaffected and begins when buff ends.

3 - Strafing Run: A quick bombardment strikes several times randomly in an AoE of your choice, dealing Blast Damage. Ability Strength increases damage; Ability Range increases range of target from Barrage, radius of bombardment area, and number of blasts.

4 - LMG: Exalted deployed archgun weapon, channeled ability (steady drain, not dependent on weapon firing), high rate of fire, deals innate Blast Damage, extremely low accuracy and increased multi shot when not Aiming.

Synergies:

1 is Barrage's main method of providing CC enemies, effective in large groups and while using high rate of fire weapons. Extra damage from Blast is also potentially helpful to allies that build weapons to work with Barrage on a team, or have Blast damage built into their own kits.

2 helps self-sustain use of 1 and 4 by providing additional ammo, reload speed, and pausing energy drain. 2 supports allies whether they are a weapons platform or a caster-style Warframe. 2 as Helminth subsume also provides some interesting combinations for other Warframes without being overly powerful.

3 is Barrage's fun way to clear groups of enemies after priming them with the Pinned debuff of 1. Very much should feel like using a stratagem in Helldivers 2. Also a good way to deal damage to enemies behind walls or cover that have been Pinned.

4 is Barrage's way to feel powerful against a large group of enemies or a boss target. Having super low accuracy and bonus multishot while not aiming will let you hit big groups of enemies and take advantage of the Pinned debuffs, while being able to aim to focus-fire on single targets. Having both 1 and 4 active at the same time allows dealing damage and debuffing continuously to overpower the enemies. 2 benefits both 1 and 4 

Other ideas:

Pinned debuff from 1 giving bonus damage from Blast could be curbed to specifically give bonus to Barrage's 3 and 4. But I like the idea of giving allies a way to capitalize and make use of the debuff. It could also be an overall damage vulnerability but that feels overtuned to me.

2 as Helminth subsume also provides some interesting combinations for other Warframes without being overly powerful. But if balancing was a concern, his 3 could also be the Helminth. I feel like the 3 would get overlooked compared to other nuke abilities available.

2 could replace Universal Ammo drop at Barrage's feet with just giving ammo to allies directly as if they just picked it up.

Instead of pausing energy drain on channeled abilities, 2 could offer an Ability Efficiency bonus instead. This would benefit nuke casters more, but allies that popped other abilities before the buff came would miss out on the freebie. Hard to say what's the best experience here.

4 as an exalted deployed archgun is because it's a weapon style that hasn't been adapted as an exalted weapon yet (Dex Pixia isn't a DEPLOYED archgun). It also lets us leverage the archgun mods in a new meaningful way. Lastly, I think it also gets to use the super cool animations for carrying the deployed archguns around. 

Last thoughts:

I came up with this in a reddit post recently and it really stuck in my head to point that I was thinking about it too much. I refined some of the ideas a bit and here's where I landed. I really feel like this Warframe would be an interesting gameplay style that is unique from a lot of what already exists in the game. I think the kit has wonderful internal synergy and I would be hard pressed to replace it with other meta Helminth abilities. 

I really hope someone at DE sees this and turns it into something we might see in the future.

[(PSN)robotwars7]

I like these ideas a lot, I too have wanted a frame like this, though mine is more focused on the use of artillery, and ideally would have should-Mounted rockets/mortars, and be focused on delivering powerful blast AoEs.

if it came with an actual minigun archgun (rotating barrels, low damage but insanely high RoF), I'd be genuinely stoked.

 

[Aruquae]

On 2024-04-30 at 8:33 AM, (PSN)robotwars7 said:

I like these ideas a lot, I too have wanted a frame like this, though mine is more focused on the use of artillery, and ideally would have should-Mounted rockets/mortars, and be focused on delivering powerful blast AoEs.

if it came with an actual minigun archgun (rotating barrels, low damage but insanely high RoF), I'd be genuinely stoked.

 

The only thing your enemies will fear, is you

Doom music intensifies 

Edited May 4 by Aruquae
Added extra effect