[Warframe Concept] Durga - Hindu-Inspired Gunslinger - Ability Update

[Letter13]

Durga (Hindustani pronunciation: [ˈd̪ʊrɡaː]; Sanskrit: दुर्गा), meaning "the inaccessible" or "the invincible", is the most popular incarnation of Devi and one of the main forms of the Goddess Shakti in the Hindu pantheon.

 

Durga's intended design is a Gun-Kata centric frame specializing in ranged damage, her unique trait is her ultimate: a sustained skill which allows her to 'grow' additional arms formed of void-energy and pull weapons from localized void space to unleash a veritable hurricane of bullets against all those who stand against her. While she is in her ultimate 'form,' her appearance is akin to multi-armed Hindu deities.

 

The origin of the concept

Durga is an idea I was playing around with for quite some time (several months) as an attempt to create a departure from the traditional "gunslinger" idea. Typically a gunslinger is envisioned as a cowboy-esque or wild-west like figure, and I wanted to depart from this because I enjoy unique and strange concepts.

 

It had taken me quite a long time to figure out the name, and I had already come up with a concept for what the frame would be long before I decided on the name Durga. The idea for the basis of Durga first came to me when I was playing Asura's Wrath. I was having a blast punching out all the things when I realized "Hey, Warframe doesn't seem to really have many Hindu-inspired themes (beyond the "Lotus" it feels like), or Hindu-inspired frames."

 

That's when I decided to start playing around with the idea of a frame with multiple arms (a la Asura). But again, I dislike following stereotypes, so as to avoid creating an "Asura" in Warframe I had decided that the frame would ideally be female, and would specialize in weaponry (Durga is often portrayed holding different weapons in each hand). But to depart even further I thought "Why not make her a multi-armed gunslinger?"

 

This led me to start conceptualizing a gunslinger that was a massive departure from the gunslinger stereotype. A Multi-armed Hindu goddess who specializes in ranged damage.

 

Durga is a frame inspired by the Multi-armed Hindu Goddess of the same name. However instead of specializing in bladed weapons (as Durga is usually depicted as wielding), the Warframe will specialize in ranged attacks with summon-able void guns (think Gunslinger hunters from Destiny, but with multiple arms and golden guns).

 

Instead of using the guns that the player equips in the arsenal, Durga's abilities will conjure/summon/pull unique pistols from localized void-space around her frame. Her ability attacks can be chained together into a graceful but deadly dance of bullets which ignore enemy armor and puncture enemies.

 

When the situation becomes dire, Durga can expend a large quantity of energy to pull additional "arms" from void space which attach to her shoulders and back. These arms synchronize with the frame but act autonomously, allowing Durga to attack enemies in all directions simultaneously or to focus a hurricane of bullets on targets in front of her.

 

 

Abilities

Ability 1  - Himsa (alt name: Strike, Bullet Dance) - Durga summons a void pistol and fires a round at the target. Ability can be cast repeatedly in quick succession (each successive cast costs less energy and/or does more damage), resulting in a chained attack. When cast in rapid succession, Durga's movements will resemble dancing/gymnastics (a.k.a. Gun Kata, if you're familiar with Equilibrium) and allow her to avoid incoming fire. This skill is effectively a dodge motion and an attack at the same time, and can be cast/chained in very rapid succession.

 

Ability 2  - Bullet Mantra (alt name: Karmic Exchange) - Durga creates a sustained field around herself (which moves with her) which augments all allied gun-based attacks. It adds additional multishot/fire-rate/crit-chance at the expense of Durga's own weapons' abilities (it reduces Durga's equipped guns' efficacy).

 

Ability 3  - Samsara (alt name: Karmic Blast, Karmic Retribution) - Durga enters a defensive stance in which she accumulates incoming damage from enemies into an explosive blast. During this time Durga cannot attack, and her movement is very slow. Ability wise it's almost identical to Nyx's absorb, however Durga can still take damage. Damage to her shields contributes to the accumulated damage she deals back.

 

Ability 4  - Devi (Divine) - Durga summons additional arms (2x skill level, maximum of 6 additional arms) and a void pistol for each hand. While active, each arm can target an individual nearby enemy, allowing Durga to attack the 6 nearest enemies automatically. When aiming (right mouse), all of the additional arms will focus on the target Durga is aiming at. This allows Durga to switch between moderate crowd-based damage or large sustained single target damage. This ability consumes energy while in use (like Mirage's disco ball), and can be toggled on/off. While enabled, Durga can only use void pistols (similar to Valkyr's energy claws).

 

Ability 4.1  - While in Devi/Divine mode, Durga's first skill (Himsa) is augmented; instead of only firing on a single target, Durga will fire at the six nearest enemies within range (if less than 6 are in range, fire is focused/distributed among the nearest enemies in range). Her "dance" like motions will also be augmented, her shots will do more damage and each successive use consumes the same amount of energy.

 

 

 

I'm currently working on getting concept art for Durga. For now, enjoy the Wikipedia Page. If you have ideas, suggestions or criticisms, I'd love to hear them! 

 

tl;dr - Female Asura from Asura's Wrath that uses guns.

Edited November 6, 2014 by Letter13
Ability 4.1

[Prime]

*-*

 

O

M

G

[LukeAura]

I'm guessing this is a fair bit more of an honourable gunslinger, no room for underhanded tactics? 
 

[DeathKoala]

That concept is sicker than this gif:

[Morgax]

I have feeling that arm growing thing might glitch and won't snap properly on body textures, would be hilarious to see.

 

As much as i enjoy mythological beings, i don't really dig the idea of gunslinger having this background.

[Letter13]

I have feeling that arm growing thing might glitch and won't snap properly on body textures, would be hilarious to see.

 

As much as i enjoy mythological beings, i don't really dig the idea of gunslinger having this background.

That's something I've been thinking about. The two ideas really for the generation of additional arms is that they'd either be directly attached to her shoulders/back, or they'd float in very close proximity to her shoulders/back.

 

And the arms would be more or less solidified void energy, rather than actual physical arms.

[Dhrekr]

This is actually much cooler than what I thought it would be from reading the title.

 

Other than the many arms and gunslinging, it might be interesting to have more Hindu themes. What about a Karma-based ability (say, for the second one)? The Durga-frame activates it and, for a certain period of time, enemies in the area receive a cumulative debuff (increased damage maybe?) every time they shoot, proportionally to the damage they inflict - with higher level enemies accumulating this debuff much faster. This would give the frame an ability that scales with the enemies - potentially more useful in the later game.

[Sasquatchias]

I have a (mediocre) idea for her third ability.

 

Suppressive Fire: Durga summons two of her "Void Arms" at her current location which continually fire at target location. Arms will automatically switch their aim to enemies in the target area that are in their "line of sight".

 

(This is going off the assumption that since the arms are made from energy they can be summoned on anywhere or anything.) 

[Letter13]

This is actually much cooler than what I thought it would be from reading the title.

 

Other than the many arms and gunslinging, it might be interesting to have more Hindu themes. What about a Karma-based ability (say, for the second one)? The Durga-frame activates it and, for a certain period of time, enemies in the area receive a cumulative debuff (increased damage maybe?) every time they shoot, proportionally to the damage they inflict - with higher level enemies accumulating this debuff much faster. This would give the frame an ability that scales with the enemies - potentially more useful in the later game.

I definitely like the idea of incorporating something karma related. I could see it working for a #3 "burst" attack too; activate it once to put Durga into Karma-mode, perhaps she assumes a certain stance. During this time she cannot attack, however for every point of damage she takes (including damage to her shields) she builds up "retribution" damage which is unleashed at the second press of #3. Basically something like Nyx's absorb but without any protection. A skill like that would actually make a heavy shield build rather interesting.

 

 

I have a (mediocre) idea for her third ability.

 

Suppressive Fire: Durga summons two of her "Void Arms" at her current location which continually fire at target location. Arms will automatically switch their aim to enemies in the target area that are in their "line of sight".

 

(This is going off the assumption that since the arms are made from energy they can be summoned on anywhere or anything.) 

That would actually be pretty neat. Perhaps she can deploy a stationary set of arms, sort of like deploying an autonomous turret?

[Rorkyr]

LOVE IT ! *^*

[Netsuki]

I would love to see this concept grow and improve :D following!

[Letter13]

Added abilities 2 and 3. I've decided on making them skills that focus around balance/exchange. Buffing allies at the expense of one's own efficacy, and what's essentially Nyx's absorb but without the invulnerability and immobility.

[arch111]

My initial skepsis soon was replaced with interest.

The powers, especially the Kata and void arms are very cool.

Appearance I am very curious what you come up with.

[(PSN)SteampunkJester]

As a fan of all things Gun-Fu you have no idea how much I'd use this frame!

Edited November 7, 2014 by (PS4)SteampunkJester

[SazerTarious]

First of all.

 

If this design gets implemented in game i hope it doesn't get the same hate as limbo, because to me this idea sounds more like limbo. (design aspect of it magician / goddess) but when it comes to abilities you hit the bulls eye.

 

OT: 

 

Tip : Maybe you should look at smite they have goddess durga in their game, look at her abilities there and see how they work.

 

About ability 1 according to DE next frame will be a gunslinger lets wait and see how your idea and next frame will be 

 

Ability 2 and 4 i like.

 

Ability 3 well i love nyx so no objection there as long as it doesn't interfere with absorb.

Edited November 7, 2014 by SazerTarious

[Djangofett]

Good idea I guess!

[Letter13]

If this design gets implemented in game i hope it doesn't get the same hate as limbo, because to me this idea sounds more like limbo. (design aspect of it magician / goddess) but when it comes to abilities you hit the bulls eye.

It's something I'm a bit concerned about as well. The real sort of focus I wanted the frame to have was that it had a mode in which it has multiple arms (like a Hindu deity) to control multiple weapons with. 

 

Of course the controlling multiple arms bit could also be a "puppeteer" like ability, however with a Harlequin and a Magician, a Puppeteer would just be simply too far.

 

I'd actually been playing around with the idea of a Hindu-deity inspired multi-armed gunslinger Warframe for quite some time (all the way back to March this year actually), though I'd never actually put pen to paper and published the idea here.

 

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the nuances so that I could achieve a Gunslinger that also wasn't a gunslinger (people don't think of Hindu deities when they think of gunslingers, and vice versa), but at the same time I wanted to make a concept that would make people think "Why, of course it would work like that." Basically I wanted to join two very different concepts in a way where they worked together really well... Gunslingers like to shoot bullets and have lots of guns, so it only makes sense that a gunslinger with lots of arms could hold lots of guns and fire lots of bullets... Hindu deities have lots of arms and quite a few are associated with wrath, war, strength, etc, so it seemed only natural that a Gunslinger Warframe's abilities (and to an extent appearance) could be inspired by Hindu deities.

[Dirty_H4rr1]

The abilities concept is good, I'd stick to 4.1 better than 4. Regarding the design of the frame, and it's an opinion regarding the last frames as well (hydorid, mirage, limbo), it shouldn't relate to religions, "professions" or famous characters. Not that it is offensive, but it kinda breaks the lore. I'd rather start and focus with the powers and abilities Idea, and then develop the character/frame from there.

Anyway, nice concept!

[Letter13]

The abilities concept is good, I'd stick to 4.1 better than 4. Regarding the design of the frame, and it's an opinion regarding the last frames as well (hydorid, mirage, limbo), it shouldn't relate to religions, "professions" or famous characters. Not that it is offensive, but it kinda breaks the lore. I'd rather start and focus with the powers and abilities Idea, and then develop the character/frame from there.

Anyway, nice concept!

Well, we already have Loki, a Norse god. And like I said earlier I wanted to take two concepts that seemingly have nothing to do with one another and unite them together to create something unique and off the beaten path. When you think of Gunslingers you don't think of Hindu Deities, and vice versa.

 

Durga x Loki Fanfiction when?

[Netsuki]

This is just an opinion on Durga's 2 but what would it be like if you had her "share" the properties of her active gun with her teammates? The sacrifice of her own damage output would be a nice offset :D Just a suggestion, I still like the ability already available.

[Recovery8]

I like the strange as much as you, it fits in a art style like Warframe and the next concept is a female focused on gunplay so this would be a nicer surprise than a straight up cowgirl.

[arch111]

Looking forward seeing visuals on this one. Hindu are really not my region, mostly gold, animals and painted foreheads come to mind.

Their gods and heroes are quite badass though.

[Aktriaz]

The moment I saw this I thought

 

Yes this is a thing.

[Natemare117]

Holy hell in a hand basket, I have been thinking of warframe ideas for a while and this just blew them all out of the water. This is just all the awesome.

 

Also Ability 4.1 sounds very nice, I can see that coming in a lot of use.

 

This Idea is awesome, now I'm, just going to go back in the corner and make my carpy warframe ideas....

[bejuizb]

As an Indian, I can't help but approve this concept. The ability names and kit seem apt for Durga :)

 

Great work Letter!