Tarus - A True Tank Frame

[castem]

After reviewing some other posts, I saw a few people discussing that Warframe doesn't have a true 'tank' frame - Rhino is a mix of offense and defense, Frost excels at protecting objectives (rather than allies), and Valkyr...doesn't really even fall into the category of 'tank' (although she is the best at what she does).  So here's my attempt at making a concept for a true 'tank' frame.

 

Tarus - a battle-scarred frame who is no stranger to war and bloodshed, he knows that the only way to win a battle is to survive it.  To this end, he utilizes whatever armor and technology he can get his hands on to ensure he and his teammates make it through whatever battles they take part in.

 

Base Stats

Tarus excels at defensive stats, at the cost of having a standard amount of energy and low stamina and speed.

 

Health:  200

Power:  100

Armor:  500

Shield Capacity:  200

Sprint Speed:  0.8

Stamina:  80

 

Appearance

The tallest and biggest of the frames - enough for any frame to take cover behind him, but not any bigger than that.  He is in extremely heavy and bulky armor (hence his increased defenses and low speed & stamina).

 

His armor has various scars and scratches in it, as proof of his many battles.

 

(I am not an artist by any means, so I don't have any art for him.  Feel free to donate art if you feel so inclined!)

 

Ability Set

Ability 1:  Shatter-Shield

Utilizing advanced Corpus technology, Tarus temporarily creates a large shield in front of him.  This shield blocks all projectiles, fire, and explosions (both ways) while active.  When deactivated, the shield shatters and the shards land on Tarus, increasing damage resistance on his shields for a medium duration.  (More damage the shatter-shield takes = more shards = more damage resistance.)  Tarus generates a large amount of threat while Shatter-Shield is active; this threat dissipates over time once the ability is deactivated.

Energy Cost:  toggle on/off (Tarus can move after deployment).  5 energy + 5 energy/second

 

Ability 2:  Corrupt Teleport

Tarus teleports in front of the most wounded (or downed) ally in the party by utilizing Orokin technology.  However, the process is imperfect (corrupted) - Tarus takes any damage that ally would normally take for a small duration after the teleport.

Energy Cost:  25 energy

 

Ability 3:  Phalanx Legion

Refreshes the duration of and spreads any buffs currently on Tarus to all allies, with lesser effect.  Only affects buffs Tarus applies to himself.  Tarus' allies do not generate additional threat from buffs gained through Phalanx Legion.

Shatter-Shield - if its after-effect is active on Tarus, all allies gain half the damage resistance Tarus has on their shields.

Corrupt Teleport - if Tarus is currently taking damage on behalf of an ally, Tarus instead takes all damage on behalf of all allies.

Pain Lapse - if Tarus is currently under the effect of Pain Lapse, all allies' shields recharge at half their normal rate while taking damage.  Does not block their normal shield recharge rate after their shield recharge delay.

Energy Cost:  75 energy

 

Ability 4:  Pain Lapse

Tarus utilizes advanced technology to slow the effects of damage on himself.  All damage taken while Pain Lapse is in effect is instead turned into a damage-over-time effect, which deals the same damage but inflicts the damage over a set duration (this duration can be increased via Power Duration).  While Pain Lapse is active, damage-over-time effects do not trigger Tarus' shield-recharge delay (which would prevent Tarus' shields from recharging while taking damage).  This power generates a significant amount of threat on all enemies while active.

Energy Cost:  100 energy

[Nero9937]

TL:DR, a defensive tank. (as opposed to rhino)

[Meenmu]

I came here expecting a giant square-ish warframe with treads for legs and a big gun sprouting from its face.

Now that would have been a "true tank frame."

[CrowMoxie]

I could do some art, I don't have very good supplies atm, but maybe you could use it as a placeholder till better comes by. Please consider and check out my concept as an example of my work for what I have to work with and while rushing. If you take me up on it I'll take my time on it so don't fret. and I'll email it first so if you don't like it I can take notes on what to change and get back to it.

 

My concept is "Bone-Chilling Darkness: Tengu." Hope you like it, upvote, share it, and tell me your honest opinion in the comments, positive or negative!

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/258943-bone-chilling-darkness-tengu/

Edited July 12, 2014 by CrowMoxie

[MrA1]

I like the idea of a more tanky warframe 

[Edgedemon]

i agree it would be nice to have a bull themed frame and inherent defense focus instead of ability based would be good to but

 

while i agree that a moving bulwark would work with a moving shield ability and inability to fire while protecting would encourage team play some of the other abilities sound weird.

 

that teleport totally out of character for a slow moving defense based frame.  I would change it to a sort of "inverse link" you are bound to nearby allies and take damage in their stead for a small duration perhaps with a reduction to damage you receive or reducing it with your armor that should give you like 70% reduction anyway, but requiring you to stay more or less close.

 

and that pain lapse sound kinda totally useless after lvl 20 enemies start building up damage on you, you would only get a 5-10 second breathing space and then head to a certain death as there's no way to overcome DoTs

[castem]

i agree it would be nice to have a bull themed frame and inherent defense focus instead of ability based would be good to but

 

while i agree that a moving bulwark would work with a moving shield ability and inability to fire while protecting would encourage team play some of the other abilities sound weird.

 

that teleport totally out of character for a slow moving defense based frame.  I would change it to a sort of "inverse link" you are bound to nearby allies and take damage in their stead for a small duration perhaps with a reduction to damage you receive or reducing it with your armor that should give you like 70% reduction anyway, but requiring you to stay more or less close.

 

and that pain lapse sound kinda totally useless after lvl 20 enemies start building up damage on you, you would only get a 5-10 second breathing space and then head to a certain death as there's no way to overcome DoTs

 

First of all, Tarus isn't a bull-themed frame - his name is derived from Tartarus, not Taurus.

 

Secondly, an ability similar to the 'inverse link' crossed my mind while making Tarus, but was ultimately rejected for one reason:  he's slow.  Requiring him to be close to allies to protect them and giving him no way to do so seems like bad design to me.  I opted for Corrupt Teleport because it does several things wonderfully:  it allows him to protect an ally, it allows him to do so even if he's lagged behind that ally, it allows him to catch up with the group, it allows for the direct tanking of damage, and it brings you near an ally if that ally has gone down (which allows for easy reviving).  Also, it fits him quite well (since he's willing to use any technology, he utilizes Corpus and Orokin/Corrupted technology as well the Tenno's) and the graphics for it are already in-game (you've probably seen Vor teleport at some point during the game).

 

Lastly, I believe Pain Lapse would be quite useful in its current state.  It spreads out damage you receive over time, and has you constantly regenerate your shield so you can take the damage from the dots you're receiving.  Given how tanky Tarus is, and the rather large bonuses to shield recharge you can get through mods, he could be regenerating significant amounts of shield each second.  The power could be even more effective if +Power Duration mods are use (which spread out the same damage over an even longer period of time, as well as boosting the duration of Pain Lapse itself).  In addition, Pain Lapse doesn't have to be used alone - if you're really feeling the heat, you can still use Shatter-Shield.  (If Tarus forsees a ton of fire coming his way, a smart Tarus player would activate Shatter-Shield either shortly before or shortly after activating Pain Lapse.)  Shatter-Shield has incredible synergy with Pain Lapse both while the shield is active (blocking shots, explosions, etc) and after it (+damage reduction on constantly-regenerating shields).  Given the numerous ways how Pain Lapse can be boosted and its synergy with Tarus' other skills, I think it's a fine ultimate.  I think the next step up from it would be invulnerability....and as we've seen from Rhino's previous Iron Skin and Trinity's previous Blessing, pure invulnerability is absurdly hard - if not impossible - to balance in Warframe.

 

 

TL:DR, a defensive tank. (as opposed to rhino)

 

Exactly.

Edited July 12, 2014 by castem