Atlas needs minor improvments to be a great frame

[Void2258]

Atalas is an ok frame whose design is somewhat dated. However, he could become great with a few minor tweaks.

A word about Rubble, Atlas' not-quite-really-a-passive: Rubble as is does not work well. Teammates inadvertently grief the Atlas players by killing before they can Petrify, and the rate of acquisition is too low and the decay too high. While in theory it makes Atlas extremely tanky, in practice Atlas spends most missions struggling to even maintain 200 points (never mind the 1400 the Rubble Heap augments wants to activate). This mechanic needs serious numbers and rates adjustments, or a full refactor. Also, it should be clearly listed as part of the passive; the actual function of rubble and the meter is not actually explained ANYWHERE in game.

• Passive: Good as is, just move the rubble mechanics here so they are clear and in one place and details aren't lost on helminth.
• Landslide: Now that automelee is in the game, having to hit 1 repeatedly feels really bad (and especially since it can invalid target while also moving you around, making it easy to flub). Either make it able to be held down for repeated hits (with a lock-on to prevent invalid target issues or a removal of the target requirement ala Khora whipclaw) or convert to a proper exalted melee you equip/unequip. Also, fix the way the "combo counter" is presented; it looks regular melee combo, but this is deceptive as this effect is entirely different from melee combo counter. While this is nominally a "charge a target" ability, the combo nature of it makes it different from other similar abilities, as rather than using it, then doing something else once in melee range, you want to use it in rapid succession.
• Tectonics: Make the animation much faster and cleaner; it's very slow and janky right now. Add a hold to immediately roll the boulder (and enable tap/hold invert). Have the petrify interaction work on the boulder directly; the combo (wall, petrify, roll) is awkward and counter to general usage. As it is, this is the helminth replacement.
• Petrify: Good ability, but needs a much better animation (simultaneously too long of a full body cast, but with a visual that is actually hard to see) and more obvious effect on enemies (hard to tell who got hit at a distance as they blend into the background). Also, would be nice to have some kind of effect on overguarded units (ability far predates CC immunity being a thing to consider). One issue is that a good team will room clear so quickly you can't use it fast enough, keeping you from getting rubble (or extra loot with Ore Gaze). Want to avoid felling like you have to fight your own team to get your own frame to work.
• Rumblers: General AI improvements and stat adjustments needed to maintain relevance, especially in high level Steel Path. Rumbled augment got improved to make it more worthwhile by adding overguard (though Atlas' passive make OG less of a big deal than on other frames), but Rumblers/Titanic Rumbler still fall off fairly hard due to lack of decent scaling. The cast is also rather long.

These changes would put Atlas in a much better place without needing a major rework (excepting possibly changing him to use an exalted melee and fixing the rubble mechanic).

Edited September 12 by Void2258

[Famecans]

The last suggestion I gave to Atlas was transformed a few months later into a nuclear augment mod for Sevagoth. I honestly don't know what to suggest for Atlas.

I hope DE has cool plans for it, my criticism is that this frame has 3 petrification abilities, this is similar to Frost's freezing but petrification is not a universal status in the game, there are no external modifiers to synergize or enhance the petrified one and it does not cause degenerative damage because it is a status not classified as a status and depends on frame interaction. Petrify it is like marker like mecha mod set, there are many abilities in the game that mark enemies while petrification is indefinite because it is not marked and is not a universal status.

Edited September 13 by Famecans

[UltraGreedier]

I think there should be a way to passively spawn rumblers since they aren't even that strong as an active ability.

maybe when petrified enemies die they can have a base chance of summoning a rumbler. Or let the rumblers have a chance to cast landslide instead of doing normal attacks, maybe 10% at 100% strength? 
the problem with summoning friends is that rock friends will always do less damage than a warframe friend's weapon, plus rock friends are way less flexible. Thus in order to be used as a "main skill" rocky bois must have some kind of edge over just pointing your weapon at enemies.