Is Tornado Better Spammable, Or High Duration?

[Zachles]

I, personally, prefer to have Tornado on a shorter duration.

 

Is it better to have a longer duration for this skill, or does it really matter? I mean, for the sake of my energy consumption (which I'm not concerned about at all), obviously longer duration is better. I'm thinking more in terms of it's crowd control, because they like to wander off away from where I need that utility most sometimes....

 

 

What are your thoughts? It's one of my favorite abilities, and I want to make sure I'm getting the maximum effectiveness out of it.

[(PSN)IIIDevoidIII]

I enjoy a low duration on it aswell, at least lower than the base duration. Their tendency to wander is a real drawback for high duration builds.

[Yaerion]

Spammable (short duration).

This allows a lot more mobility through the map.

 

Besides that, i dislike how unpredictable and unreliable are the tornadoes. This is like preying that your ability will work as intended (which is rarely the case for me). Sounds like the effects of Desecrate. Same kind of prayer.

 

Also, a lot of players dislike the "troll effect" of the "Once again the rocket team flies to other skiiiiiiiies" for the enemies.

 

IMO, the ability is badly built regarding gameplay. A reliable approach would have given Zephyr a lot more love from me (and, i guess, a lot of people).

[Zhoyzu]

tornado benefits shorter duration but flying needs the duration mods so

[(PSN)Fenrushak]

I've seen good use from long duration in Defense missions where it's fairly predictable where the enemies will be coming from. In Tower Survivals, I use them with maxed duration, since it's so predictable where they will be coming from. Having a minute long wandering wall of Radiation, and Toxic, which impedes their movement, and breaks their formations. Works well enough.

[(PSN)Agent_CHAR]

Ugh, tornado is the 2nd worst ability in the game to play with (worst being tentacle storm).  Do the rest of the warframe community a favor and never use it.

[Zachles]

Ugh, tornado is the 2nd worst ability in the game to play with (worst being tentacle storm).  Do the rest of the warframe community a favor and never use it.

That's your own opinion.

[Pendragon1951]

Let me be more specific about what PS4Agent is saying, there are two things that make tornado a bad ability to use in defense, first off if your tornado is not lethal enough all its doing is delaying you being able to kill the enemy, plus it spreads them in a unpredictable way all over the map along with any drops if some are killed by the tornado. It's not like Vortex or Bastille which holds them in place and you have control of where they go,or like Mprime that literally lights them up.  

Edited June 30, 2014 by Pendragon1951

[(PSN)Fenrushak]

Ugh, tornado is the 2nd worst ability in the game to play with (worst being tentacle storm).  Do the rest of the warframe community a favor and never use it.

Tentacle Swarm? Why do you think it is the worst? Far as I can tell, the center of the aoe is wherever you are aiming it, and it doesn't move around, so it is extremely well controlled power. I think it's a bit of a redundant power, as Tempest Barrage does pretty much the same thing in the end, only costs less and does less damage.

 

And I can think of other powers that are way worse off than Tornado. Tornado, even to one that is completely unskilled with her, can run the battle field in most defense missions, but even the utility of it is fantastic. Clearing large groups of enemies is pretty handy, and considering you can mod the tornados to do the specific type of damage your enemies need with just a single round from any kind of damage type.

 

Tornado is also great for managing the field when soloing. She only had turbulence as damage mitigation. With squishy characters like that, an ability like Tornado is pretty useful. It narrows down the people attacking you to a number more easily managed by Turbulence, and you don't have to divide your attention as much with a wall of whirlwinds between you and them.

 

Give it another try. Don't give up on powers because they don't fit into your play style. Find a playstyle that fits them.

[(PSN)Agent_CHAR]

Tentacle Swarm? Why do you think it is the worst? Far as I can tell, the center of the aoe is wherever you are aiming it, and it doesn't move around, so it is extremely well controlled power. I think it's a bit of a redundant power, as Tempest Barrage does pretty much the same thing in the end, only costs less and does less damage.

 

And I can think of other powers that are way worse off than Tornado. Tornado, even to one that is completely unskilled with her, can run the battle field in most defense missions, but even the utility of it is fantastic. Clearing large groups of enemies is pretty handy, and considering you can mod the tornados to do the specific type of damage your enemies need with just a single round from any kind of damage type.

 

Tornado is also great for managing the field when soloing. She only had turbulence as damage mitigation. With squishy characters like that, an ability like Tornado is pretty useful. It narrows down the people attacking you to a number more easily managed by Turbulence, and you don't have to divide your attention as much with a wall of whirlwinds between you and them.

 

Give it another try. Don't give up on powers because they don't fit into your play style. Find a playstyle that fits them.

 

The end result of tentacle storm is fine, but the chaos for its duration is where it loses me.  But hey I'm biased to the negative with Hydriod as he's my least enjoyed frame by a wide margin.

 

Every thing you are saying about tornado is basically true, I'm not arguing against the power of the ability (I do play with and like Zephyr).  Spam it as much as you want when you are solo. 

 

I just think its important to let the OP know that everyone in his squad probably doesn't want it spammed all the time for a number of reasons.  Mainly that it likely negates the frame I'm playing.  Nekros + Tornado = fail.  Vauban, Nyx, Trinity, Valkyr, etc all in the same boat.

[(PSN)friedricetheman]

My 2 forma Zephyr build has a maxed Narrow Minded as the only duration mod. Coupled with a R4 fleeting expertise, I get +49% duration which is the sweet spot for me.

Turbulence and tailwind are great with the +49% duration and so is Tornado.

It neither last too long nor too short. It's timed just right.

[Darzk]

Tornado is better (imo) with less duration, but it's a fairly terrible ability all around. I would only use it for defenses and reviving, otherwise the kill rate reduction on enemies is not worth the CC.

 

Instead, I would focus on building for Turbulence, which loves a longer duration.

[CaptainJohnson]

You're going to want to go for Duration regardless, because Turbulence should be a priority on a Zephyr build, and trying to spam an ability like that is going to get you into more trouble than it's worth. Minimum Range is helpful in keeping them at least somewhat closer, imo, so a maxed Narrow Minded should work wonders. Beyond that, it's up to you what Duration feels the best.

 

Duration is also helpful for her flight ability, so in general, the frame prefers high Duration over low Duration.

 

Regardless, I don't believe that Tornado is a solo-only ability. Its proc chance isn't the best, but it's a really good way to mass proc Viral or Radiation if its Duration is long enough. Its CC may not be Vauban-tier, or nearly as convenient, but is useful in a variety of mission types and as an occasional "panic button" when you need to revive a fallen teammate or something like that. Of course, it's not going to be very well received in something like ODD, but higher-level missions might appreciate it better.

[Taikaponi]

Keep the base duration. You want to have long duration on Turbulence and short duration on Tornado.

Edited June 30, 2014 by Taikaponi

[CaptainJohnson]

Keep the base duration. You want to have long duration on Turbulence and short duration on Tornado.

 

I still think Turbulence takes priority over Tornado, if you want to maximize Zephyr's potential.

[Taikaponi]

I still think Turbulence takes priority over Tornado, if you want to maximize Zephyr's potential.

 

I personally go for maximum of +30% duration.

[Noble_Cactus]

That's your own opinion.

 

It's an opinion shared by many players, and one that I agree with.

 

When the tornadoes stop killing things on their own, they just make the enemies trapped in them much harder to kill because they're swirling around and flying all over the place 20 feet above the ground. That's bad for Defense and Survival when you need to kill enemies as quickly as possible.

 

Tornadoes would be better if they allowed anything trapped in them to take full gun damage by shooting the twister. Maybe no headshots. It would at least make the move more reliable.

 

To answer the OP, I prefer shorter duration. This cripples your Turbulence, though, so a balance of around 30 seconds is usually enough. Personally.

Edited June 30, 2014 by Noble_Cactus

[dice]

You want a long duration build on Zephyr because end game turbulence is hella good.

[Zhoyzu]

Ugh, tornado is the 2nd worst ability in the game to play with (worst being tentacle storm).  Do the rest of the warframe community a favor and never use it.

i dont know how you came to that conclusion but you must be doing something seriously wrong

[Darzk]

That's bad for Defense and Survival when you need to kill enemies as quickly as possible.

 

Well, it's bad for survival. And farming. But the enemies per wave of defense is a static amount, so delaying an attacking wave from one direction by dropping tornadoes in their path can be useful, because then your team can concentrate on the other directions.

 

But the scattering of enemies all over can be a total pain. I've had enemies land on perches we in no way expected enemy fire to be coming from. Also never use Tornadoes on open tilesets against Infested - flying Toxic Ancients are the bane of my existence when playing with a Tornado happy Zephyr.