Banshee... Trash?

[Achronus]

I have a Banshee, Forma X3. I DO like the play style. (I dropped Silence) Sniper loves sniping!

 

The 1st power is (much) weaker than say, Mag's. I understand the lack of throwing power (It's one thing to pull everything to you but shoving all the INFESTED away? that can be pretty powerful) But why so short ranged? and that lack of damage is just murder!

 

The Ult is designed to be a SUPPORT power. That is that it does damage and stun-locks an area so that the rest of the team can move in and perform murderous kill on everthing in it's reach. This means that Banshee herself can not take advantage of the stun everything effect (unlike say Rhino) but, it does more damage to compensate. The problem is that it leaves the power making Banshee vulnerable for the whole time, but doing damage an par with Mag or Volt's Ult; both are MUCH shorter cast time powers.

 

Sonar... X5 (plus and bonuses) on the weak point? AWESOME! Flip-side: Sonar... X5 on the weak pont that is an invulnerable (or stupidly resistant) point on the boss (Lephantis, Sargas Ruk, Lech Kril, Hyena, Jackal, Anyo's HEAD!) YEAH! completely USELESS.

 

Possible fixes:

 

May I suggest that Sound quake be able to destroy any projectile attacks in range? Or perhaps just most? This means that anything NOT stun locked (like most bosses) could easily just run over and smack you. Also if only most projectiles are destroyed DE has the option to make some projectiles always get through, making the ability tactical in nature; it would also provide cover for other teammates as they could be within the "safe zone". It shouldn't too badly overlap Snow-globe but it would provide short-lived emergency cover for others to res a fallen Tenno for example.

 

Sonic Boom, damage OR range; I think a combo of both would be too powerful. I think damage would be better, maybe strong fall-off on that damage? (eg in your face hurts like heck, at the max range of the power does only the small 'current' damage)

 

Sonar... I would suggest limiting it to the places on the mob to places that can be damaged. The tool tip says that it finds weaknesses in the target's armor, invulnerable points do NOT have weaknesses to find!

 

PS. DE let me color the Lanka's bolt, and shut off the light when I zoom.

Edited January 6, 2014 by Achronus

[HumboldtZ]

Bansh is already my favorite char, but if I could tweak some things to make her perfect and possibly OP they would be:

 

Sonic Boom: just a little more damage. It is a utility skill and I think its great as it is, but it would be nice to at least be able to kill very low level mobs when your running maximized power strength like I do with my build

 

Silence: Who knows this might be good when DE finally re-visits stealth in WF

 

Sonar: Make the weakspot non-random and highlight the particular enemies natural weak spot (as in always highlight the head on Grineer, body on MoA, et)...this might actually destroy some of the fun of the skill for me. Also make the enemy radar/map aspect of the skill work properly.

 

Sound Quake: Cast animation but then Bansh can move and function while still emitting sound for the duration of the skill.

 

 

Possible "Toggle" option that I have heard some others suggest: Silence, Sonar, and Sound Quake could be toggled on and drain energy gradually until they are toggled off again. This would fit the "sound theme" nicely imo, but idk

[Achronus]

I often wondered why doesn't Sonar show mobs through walls?

 

I get not showing the weak-point through walls; but the point of sonar is not to put things on map. It is to 'see' through walls!

 

PS. DE let me color the Lanka's bolt, and shut off the light when I zoom.

[Tyroki]

Banshee? Trash?

Yeah no.

 

Sonar is one of the most useful abilities in the game. Especially as the enemies get more spongey.

 

Sound Quake is crazy good at what it does. The best part is, efficiency doesn't reduce duration because the duration is untouchable. It is always 6 seconds. Range kills strength, but after a while, the power is doing eff all damage anyway. So now you have a crazy big power range for the cost of 25 energy. Is it boring to stand there while your allies do everything? Absolutely. Does it matter? No.

 

The thing is, to maximize either, you have to ruin the other.

Sonar wants high power strength, which kills efficiency. Now, that isn't so bad, but efficiency to solve that problem kills duration, which you want to keep with Sonar if you intend to do higher wave defense or higher time survival with it (So you don't take fleeting, thus your abilities get crazy expensive to use often. With duration it isn't so bad for Sonar, but Sound Quake becomes harder to use due to energy constraints). Sonar also wants a decent amount of range. However, unlike Quake, it can do without max range. So stretch is all you really need. This, however, screws Quake over a good deal.

 

It's tough. Both are really useful though.

 

Sonic Boom works best in the quake build, due to range. But in that case, it's easier to just quake. Naturally, it's still useful in the Sonar build due to knockdowns being useful. CC for the win.

 

I definitely wouldn't call Banshee trash. She just might not be your style.

 

Edit: I do wish they'd fix the bloody bug where sometimes the sonar'd enemies appear on the map only for your allies, but not for you. It's a pain.

Edited January 6, 2014 by Tyroki

[Revel72]

Banshee trash? *cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough* what did I just read? That doesn't mean if I don't have the warframe that it is trash. Banshee is okay warframe.

[Kalenath]

Trash?

 

Um... No. Sonar is the SINGLE most useful power I have used with the POSSIBLE exception of Snow Globe. That power ALONE makes it not trash, but then Sonic Boom throws enemies back. (The OMGWTF button)  Sound Quake kicks butt on lower levels and staggers even on upper levels.

 

Silence is a situational power, mainly used for stealth and since people don't generally even TRY stealth in this game, it is only for solo or clan runs. I don't even try it with random PUGs.

 

Banshee has been my main since I got her and will remain my main. Sniper rifle or Bow + Banshee = One shot, one kill.

[Monolake]

should I buy her? I gave up on dat 2% helmet chance 

 

edit: never mind, I read details of her abilities, only Sonar is good, not worth it

Edited January 6, 2014 by Monolake

[Noble_Cactus]

Depends on if you're willing to spend $20 on a frame. If you can get a good group together, you can knock out a few Derelict defenses per night. A friend of mine also had the helmet drop from Phorid, which I didn't know was possible. Loot table bug?

 

 

Trash?

 

Um... No. Sonar is the SINGLE most useful power I have used with the POSSIBLE exception of Snow Globe. That power ALONE makes it not trash, but then Sonic Boom throws enemies back. (The OMGWTF button)  Sound Quake kicks butt on lower levels and staggers even on upper levels.

 

Silence is a situational power, mainly used for stealth and since people don't generally even TRY stealth in this game, it is only for solo or clan runs. I don't even try it with random PUGs.

 

Banshee has been my main since I got her and will remain my main. Sniper rifle or Bow + Banshee = One shot, one kill.

 

 

Or rapid fire/AoE weapon Banshee after a Sonic Boom = Many shots/One shot, many kills! Ogris/Penta don't target crit spots, so weapons like a Soma/Synapse/Grakata/Despair/etc. work great with Sonar. Sniping is fun, though, I will admit, and it's also helpful for setting off Molecular Prime chains if your Nova missed a few stragglers. Banshee may not have the raw, flashy killing power of other frames, but she's a solid asset to a team due to Sonar and good CC options.

 

There is a bad bug with Sound Quake that I have only gotten once, and I'm not sure how it's triggered. I was doing some Void Survival with friends and I Sound Quaked near the capsule for my teammates to activate it. Shade cloaked me and by the time the cloak wore off, I was stuck in the Sound Quake pose with no way to cancel it. After I died, my friends were able to revive me, but I wasn't able to use any skills. The wiki says this is associated with alt+tabbing out of the game while it's active, but I was in the game the entire time. I've never had that happen again, thankfully.

Edited January 6, 2014 by Noble_Cactus

[Kalenath]

Or rapid fire/AoE weapon Banshee after a Sonic Boom = Many shots/One shot, many kills! Ogris/Penta don't target crit spots, so weapons like a Soma/Synapse/Grakata/Despair/etc. work great with Sonar. Sniping is fun, though, I will admit, and it's also helpful for setting off Molecular Prime chains if your Nova missed a few stragglers. Banshee may not have the raw, flashy killing power of other frames, but she's a solid asset to a team due to Sonar and good CC options.

 

There is a bad bug with Sound Quake that I have only gotten once, and I'm not sure how it's triggered. I was doing some Void Survival with friends and I Sound Quaked near the capsule for my teammates to activate it. Shade cloaked me and by the time the cloak wore off, I was stuck in the Sound Quake pose with no way to cancel it. After I died, my friends were able to revive me, but I wasn't able to use any skills. The wiki says this is associated with alt+tabbing out of the game while it's active, but I was in the game the entire time. I've never had that happen again, thankfully.

 

Indeed, that bug has hit most Banshee players I know. it's hit me a few times too. I THINK it was caused in my case by using Sound Quake when a Nova used Molecular Prime. It was very annoying.

 

And no, I didn't alt+tab either.

 

That said, in 90% or more of the missions I have run? No problem.

Edited January 6, 2014 by Kalenath

[-CM-Syein]

Banshee= Trash, hell no. 

Yes, she need a buff, but she's not trash. 

Also you compared Banshee's 1st ability to mag? For me, mag first ability is considered to be one of the best here. 

At least Banshee 1st skill doesn't do self damage like Ember's fireball. 

[Fluff-E-Kitty]

she needs a buff, but I loved player her once I got her a long time ago.

I will say that silance is kinda... well I dont know.

but I think that sonar could benifit from seeing the enemys light up in real time rather then the map, similer to the way that the scanner works where you can see them thouhgt walls. hell its sonar, even if thay jest pinged now and again in a visual manner that would help.

 

her first ability needs damage, but its knockdown is good. seeing it be more like a shockwave would also be cool, thouhgt her worst attack is probibly her ult. if I rebmer correctly it has no invicability frames, althouhgt long lasting is very limited, and deals far less damage then it feels it should. it looks, and feels to me like it should be a larger, longer lasting version of her first ability, sending shock waves out with high intensity sound that damages rather then jest making the ground rummble a bit. its good for crowd control yes, however your inability to move and the fact that it offten dosent kill, makes it far more a wast of energy then jest spamming her first and sonar. infact I made an efficancy build arond her first and it was fun but again limited.

 

she needs work, but is very fun.

and has odd shoes 

[HAYABU5A]

confirming sound quake still has that bug

 

the one where u are perma stuck in the cast animation and cant do anything, until u die or quit the mission

[Tyroki]

should I buy her? I gave up on dat 2% helmet chance 

 

edit: never mind, I read details of her abilities, only Sonar is good, not worth it

 

Really? Only Sonar?

Good grief. It's the Loki all over again.

"Oh no, the Loki sucks and only has one worthwhile ability, which we could just use an Ash for"

Look at how that worked out. All of the Loki's abilities turned out to be quite useful in different situations, and it ended up being one of the best solo-rush frames.

 

 

With the Banshee, Sonar can completely make builds. Take any heavy hitting ranged weapon and you'll see what I mean.

Sonar can completely make Snipers, and even then, helps your entire team to blitz enemies.

Sonar even has that wonderful ability to make someone with an unranked weapon actually useful.

 

Sonic Boom is incredible CC. It is literally your "GET AWAY FROM ME!" button, and all enemies in range go flying AND are knocked down on the first cast. The second they get back up? You can do it again!

Why is that so good? Think about it. It combo's so well with Sonar.

 

Say you took a bow (not my favoured weapon of choice. I'd rather have Latron Prime, but for sake of consideration). Getting numerous kills in a short time frame isn't really happening without multi-shot. Well, blast the enemy back, then take aim again for another kill.

 

Meanwhile, say you're on Apollodorus for whatever reason. Well, that guy with the M1 Braton? Yeah, he can help carry himself in to the higher times. Good leveling.

 

 

As for Sound Quake, at early game levels, it's utterly devastating with a massive area of effect. Later on, if you kill it's damage in favor of range and power efficiency, you get a MASSIVE ranged 6 second stagger... for 25 energy. That already has a myriad of uses. Even in a Sonar build, it's really quite useful in helping an ally get another ally up, or to defend a point.

 

The Banshee is far from a one trick pony, and is most certainly not (as the OP considered putting it), trash.

 

 

Banshee is one of the best support frames in the game, and in supporting others, often helps itself (Sonar).

[Monolake]

Sound Quake is incredible CC that CCs yourself leaving you vulnerable. *Rhino laughs in the background*

Sonic Boom is ok-ish, but significantly worse than Mags pull (on paper).  

 

Im just saying it doesn't sound worth 225 plat  to me. 

[Tyroki]

Sound Quake is incredible CC that CCs yourself leaving you vulnerable. *Rhino laughs in the background*

Sonic Boom is ok-ish, but significantly worse than Mags pull (on paper).  

 

Im just saying it doesn't sound worth 225 plat  to me. 

 

*Slap*

Go grind it out.

 

Also, with overextended + Stretch, being CC'd yourself isn't a problem. The radius catches everything.

It's especially better if you move behind some form of cover. Keep in mind, the radius is a sphere. Everything gets caught.

 

Sonic Boom is better than Mags pull for the Banshee, as you'd prefer enemies being away from you, not next to you. Damage-wise is a non-factor. The point is the CC.

 

But y'know, if you don't want a Banshee, that's fine. One less person who knows it's true value is fine by us =D

[FrauZehel]

where to find the chassis the Banshee?

[Tyroki]

What does the wiki tell you?

[EelPlus]

OP's soundquake would make energy efficient Banshees replace Frost, as it would be a snowglobe that hard CCs and damages.  The lowered duration would be negligible with energy efficiency spam.

 

I do think Banshee is generally "trash," even though I do like her.  Silence has no application, as stealth isn't exactly an important feature to the game (I dare say it manages to barely even be a minor feature.  That said, it can be fun to occasionally play in "MGS mode").  Sonar is situational at best, because of the finnicky skill targeting (as mentioned in OP and apparently ignored by most posts) and its unimportance at low-mid level gameplay (read: "intended" gameplay).

[Noble_Cactus]

Sonar's targeting issues are apparent on bosses like Kril and Lephantis, and yes, that does need to be addressed. In all my times fighting Lephantis, I've had the orange blotch appear on his hittable spots maybe... 3-4 times? It's almost always on the back of one of his heads or somethign dumb like that. Making enemies actually show up on the minimap all the time would be nice as well. I wouldn't say it's completely useless at early-midgame, though, since as mentioned above it still helps people level up weak gear.

 

I have no idea how to address SIlence, unless Stealth were to be completely reworked (how did Metal Gear Online implement stealth? Maybe something could be learned from that game). Perhaps it could improve accuracy and crit rate along with its current effects?

Edited January 8, 2014 by Noble_Cactus