State of Equinox after Jade (and random ideas)

[_2Door_]

Hello, hello, I know this is another post I'll add to the pile, but I want to share a few of my opinions of Equinox after the recent update as well as her place in the new generation of frames.

 

Maim Improvements

To start with a more positive note, the status and armor rework is the best thing that happened to her since Veil Breaker (Terrify buff): the new armor caps and scaling means that full striping is no longer required to deal devastating damage with maim and lets us build for something more than Terrify. So far I tested corrosive priming weapons (kompressa, epitaph) and abilities (Viral Tempest), Fire blast for 87.5% strip (75% + 12.5% heat status), and Pillage for survivability. It feels a lot better to use and less tedious to build for.

Mend Comparison

Mend, I think, is one of the stronger support abilities and compared to Light Verse/Triumph (Dante) and Spirit of Resilience (Jade) it can stand its ground. Shields have the 50% damage reduction as well as the longer immunity time makes them a bit better than overguard.  Getting shields per kill and ignoring the recharge delay gives an upper hand compared to SR in crowded rooms with no cover.

 

These are, what I consider, the strengths of equinox, next I'll talk about are weak, outdated or irritating aspects of her kit.

 

Pacify?

Pacify was a really weird ability for me for a while, it's an inverse DR, instead of reducing the damage you take, it reduces the damage enemies deal to allies; but even more than that the effect gets weaker the farther away enemies are from equinox meaning that most range attacks are not really affected by pacify. The peaceful provocation augment is very powerful, granting up to 80% slow to the enemies in range, but it is very inconsistent; taking health damage to increase the effect makes it dangerous in later parts of the star chart where it can cost your life.

Provoke.

Provoke is nice, is not a mandatory ability, but also nobody is complaining about extra power strength (sorry speed novas). The value is capped at 50% (80% with the augment) which is a bit weird since Jade's Power of The Seven has no limit.

Resting & Raging
Rest and rage suffer from the same problem, in my opinion: they are too niche for casual use. Most enemies that you would use the abilities on (bosses and eximus) are immune, or the effect is greatly reduced, and the radius is too small to use it on common enemies (the augment fixes the last issue partially).

Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis is used to change from day to night forms, granting a small decaying buff (shields & armor for night, damage & speed for day). The augment duality summons your other side for a few seconds when switching, even if it is fun the duration (and the specter ai) leave room for improvement.

 

What I would want!
These are a some changes I would want to see in the future to bring the frame back in the spotlight. I will order them from simple and common request to some more weird, complex and fun ones.

• Universal Transfer: energy transfer should be part of equinox's kit, and should apply also to pacify and provoke. What it will do: this will give a reason to switch between forms more often without the fear of losing stacks and free a mod slot;
• Fixed scaling: The effect of metamorphosis and pacify no longer decays over time and over distance, respectively. What it will do: this will make the abilities more consistent;
• Uncapped provoke: Remove or increase by 10/20% the max power strength cap on provoke. What it will do: will bring it closer in power with jade's ability;
• Peaceful protest:  Change the stacking method of peaceful provocation in night from health damage taken to damage dealt/shields recovered/anything else. What it will do:  more consistent and faster way to stack the buff;
• Super-recovery mend: When releasing, mend also fills overshields if possible and also restore 10-40% of objective's shields. What it will do: one more reason to use mend over maim and increase survivability.
•  Mania: Rage will also apply a radiation status to hit enemies. What it will do: enemies are blinded by rage and start attacking everyone around, more cc.;
• Energy Transfer 2.0: On changing forms, 25% of accumulated damage healing allies or damaging enemies depending on the form you are leaving;

 

• Tranquility (Metamorphosis Augment): Equinox becomes one for the duration of metamorphosis, M&M and P&P have both effects active at the same time. Metamorphosis duration greatly reduced. -this is 100% broken but sounds fun

That's all from me! Thanks for reading!