The Serro Does Not Live Up To Its Name!

[Jaycemonde]

Edit: Because some people just don't get the point.

THIS IS NOT A SUGGESTION ABOUT CHANGING DAMAGE TYPES

THIS IS A SUGGESTION FOR MAKING THE SERRO LOOK LIKE IT CAN CUT THINGS APART BY OVERRIDING THE VISUAL DAMAGE EFFECTS

THIS IS NOT A SUGGESTION ABOUT CHANGING DAMAGE TYPES

So stop discussing that. Thanks.

 

The Serro. A three-headed super-heated power ax used to cut through the hulls and infrastructural beams of starships.

Serro is literally "I cut" in Latin, and it is the origin of "Serrate" and "Serration", which both involve slicing things open.

 

But the Serro does NOT cut. It does not open things up. It is effectively a glorified cattle prod.

 

This is because only weapons that do slash damage can cause those beloved messy deaths Warframe is known for. A Lato--an exceedingly weak starting weapon--with a slash damage mod can cut a Grineer Lancer in half, take arms and legs off of Corpus crewmen, and turn the Infested into chunky salsa. The Orthos Prime, which looks like a ceremonial Elven weapon from a PG-13 action-adventure movie, is capable of painting an entire room red in seconds. But the gigantic three-headed power tool can't even turn a level one Butcher into two slightly smaller Butchers.

 

Notice the part where it's a three-headed powered ax used to cut starships up.

 

Now I get where the lore and gameplay supposedly intersect. It does a ludicrous amount of electricity damage, which means it eats robots for breakfast. Robots = mechanical. Starships also = mechanical. But you don't cut through three solid feet of carbon steel (or whatever the Grineer and Corpus use to make the hulls on their ships) with a bedtime electrical toy. You'd use superheated steel, or maybe lasers.

 

I'm not asking for the one niche role that the Serro fills in gameplay to be changed, because that's pretty unreasonable even if this is a ridiculous problem for it to have in the first place. All I ask is for a mediocre amount of slash damage to be introduced. Ten points' worth. Five points. ONE point. Give us something to work with. Even that one point would turn it into the Barbarian Rage-enabled ball of fun we all know weaponized power tools are supposed to be. Even if you can't somehow justify adding slash damage with that, at least make some kind of exception in the game's code that forces slash damage visuals for it! I'm sure I speak for everyone who owns this otherwise fabulous piece of machinery when I say we're sick and tired of feeling like we're trying to live inside of a Dreamworks movie while everyone else laughs at us and churns their way through a happy tunnel of meat and rage.

Edited July 27, 2014 by Jaycemonde

[011100110110000101101101]

There is actually a method for cutting steel and other strong materials with electricity and sparks, it's called EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining).

 

Though the Serro should actually cut things up.

[Not_Oliver]

There is actually a method for cutting steel and other strong materials with electricity and sparks, it's called EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining).

 

Though the Serro should actually cut things up.

Electronic Dance Music?

[--FORMA--]

Electronic Dance Music?

Monstercat

[castem]

Making the Serro actually cut up enemies?  I can get behind that.  (It's better than getting in front of it, at least.  :P  )

 

Seriously though, this is a good idea.  Good job bringing it up OP.  +1

[Vastaren]

+1 for an entertaining read. +10 for a good idea. I don't see any reason from the end-user's perspective why the Serro can't have both base Slash and Electricity damage to fit in thematically and for more versatility.

[Azawarau]

What do you mean by Niche role?

 

Its effectively the best melee weapon next to possibly and only possibly the Darkra Prime thanks to its status build with high procs and crowd abuse

 

Adding slash damage would be a huge nerf

 

I dont want those physical procs over my beautiful arcs of electricity and swards of Gas

Edited July 26, 2014 by Azawarau

[TennoTheSergal]

I wish I could +1 this more than once. Goddamn that was a great and truthful read. Love ya, babe. ❤

[Azawarau]

In all seriousness though

 

The slash damage would take over status procs and potentially lower the Serros overall damage output .-.

[ArgonTheFox]

What do you expect? It looks like the spinning thing in my grandmother's garden she uses to hang out her washing on.

 

On a serious note, I know a few people who use Serro as a main weapon. It's main selling point is the crowd control. The ground-slam is insanely large with Reach mods, and the Electricity proc does even more CC.

[Jaycemonde]

In all seriousness though

 

The slash damage would take over status procs and potentially lower the Serros overall damage output .-.

That fringe scenario where enough people start caring more about the mediocre slash damage I'm suggesting than the elemental damage it already does? That's why I included the secondary suggestion of overriding visual effects.

 

Ice for everyone.

[Klies]

This is a thing to get mad about? OK bad name for it perhaps... But id think a complete lack of innate COLD damage weapons would be a bigger gripe... As far as cutting things up, you just named plenty of other weapons that do deal slashing damage and Many if not most of the melee weapons slice and dice just fine... So WHY would you use it when it is clearly just the orthos turned into a prova and is effectively only single-headed unlike the orthos which damages at each end.

As the theatrical device: "suspension of disbelief"... Besides, there's only so many Latin bases they can use for these things... And I was of the understanding that Sect was cut, Serro was saw.

[Rettycombine]

sadly, i don't think 1-5 slash damage would really work, since im pretty sure the effect that happens on the enemy is based on the killing blow, you would only be able to bisect enemies with exactly 205 health and 0 damage reduction.

 

 

I still think DE should tie the death animations to the weapon type, and not the damage type, it does not make sense for a giant axe/Zweihander to cause an enemy to just fall over because of impact damage.

Edited July 26, 2014 by Rettycombine

[Jaycemonde]

I still think DE should tie the death animations to the weapon type, and not the damage type, it does not make sense for a giant axe/Zweihander to cause an enemy to just fall over because of impact damage.

 

Honestly, that would be just as good, I'm not picky!

It seems the efficiency metagame is more important than the way things feel for many players, so that would probably be better than, say, adding versatility to a weapon.

[Filas312]

+1

 

That would pwn.

[Azawarau]

That fringe scenario where enough people start caring more about the mediocre slash damage I'm suggesting than the elemental damage it already does? That's why I included the secondary suggestion of overriding visual effects.

 

Ice for everyone.

It isnt about damage

 

Its about physical status procs having a habit of dominating elemental ones

 

Stun and utility would drop along with overall DPS

 

If it were visual only i wouldnt mind but actually changing it to physical is an issue

[fatpig84]

In all seriousness though

 

The slash damage would take over status procs and potentially lower the Serros overall damage output .-.

 

What he said.

[Jaycemonde]

What he said.

 

 

That fringe scenario where enough people start caring more about the mediocre slash damage I'm suggesting than the elemental damage it already does? That's why I included the secondary suggestion of overriding visual effects.

 

Ice for everyone.

 

What I said.

[RealPandemonium]

It isnt about damage

 

Its about physical status procs having a habit of dominating elemental ones

 

Stun and utility would drop along with overall DPS

 

If it were visual only i wouldnt mind but actually changing it to physical is an issue

Utility would drop but killing power would go up because these would be slash procs without the other two physical damage types present to dilute bonus damage potential.  I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with the OP, though.

 

It's also worth noting that something like, say, Braton Prime will almost always dismember enemies even when elemental damage causes the kill, so the OP's suggestion could work.  

Edited July 26, 2014 by RealPandemonium

[Azawarau]

Utility would drop but killing power would go up because these would be slash procs without the other two physical damage types present to dilute bonus damage potential.  I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with the OP, though.

 

It's also worth noting that something like, say, Braton Prime will almost always dismember enemies even when elemental damage causes the kill, so the OP's suggestion could work.  

Slash is single target and elec is AoE

 

Unless that slash makes a near 150% increased damage output i dont see it being useful when it overrides the other elements you have

[Jaycemonde]

 

Slash is single target and elec is AoE

 

Unless that slash makes a near 150% increased damage output i dont see it being useful when it overrides the other elements you have

 

You keep bringing this up. I'm just going to make what I said clear, once again.

 

forces slash damage visuals

 

 

overriding visual effects.

 

Adding damage seemed like a good way to do that. If there's a way to do it without changing damage types, then I'm all for that.

Let me reiterate so it's clear: If there is a way to make a three-bladed ax look like a three-bladed ax.

Edited July 26, 2014 by Jaycemonde

[RealPandemonium]

Slash is single target and elec is AoE

 

Unless that slash makes a near 150% increased damage output i dont see it being useful when it overrides the other elements you have

Slash procs add 35% of the weapon's total damage to the initial blow and then deal 210% of the total damage over the next 6 seconds.  In the end it totals to a 245% increase in damage dealt per hit, just not all at once.  The damage dealt by the proc is Finisher damage that ignores resists, armor(!) and shields, which makes it quite powerful vs any opponent.  It also does double damage to Phorid, for what that's worth (lol.)  The proc  stacks as much as you want, as well.  

 

Killing power vs single targets will definitely go way up, particularly against armored targets (which are the bane of proc builds normally at higher levels.)

Edited July 26, 2014 by RealPandemonium

[Azawarau]

Slash procs add 35% of the weapon's total damage to the initial blow and then deal 210% of the total damage over the next 6 seconds.  In the end it totals to a 245% increase in damage dealt per hit, just not all at once.  The damage dealt by the proc is Finisher damage that ignores resists, armor(!) and shields, which makes it quite powerful vs any opponent.  It also does double damage to Phorid, for what that's worth (lol.)  The proc  stacks as much as you want, as well.  

 

Killing power vs single targets will definitely go way up, particularly against armored targets (which are the bane of proc builds normally at higher levels.)

I know slash is powerful

 

Read back to the D Nikana VS serro comparison i made earlier somewhere on a thread

 

Its extremely difficult for the overall DPS to compare to a status weapon when AoE procs come into the picture and losing alot of them to a single target proc is painful

 

And in all honesty being able to damage high level targets with heavy armor wont mean much if youre taking more damage than you can handle

 

Another reason why electricity is so good

 

It adds that close range CC spam that makes your target or group of targets helpless while you beat their faces in

 

@That other guy

 

I read the visual thing when you posted  it and when it was reposted 5 times

 

Im not responding to you so dont act like i am

 

Im responding to people who want the slash damage added and not he visual

 

 

It isnt about damage

 

Its about physical status procs having a habit of dominating elemental ones

 

Stun and utility would drop along with overall DPS

 

If it were visual only i wouldnt mind but actually changing it to physical is an issue

Also this^