Excalibur Overhaul

[TehArqan]

As we all know (well, more or less) Excalibur is currently a pretty bad mediocre Warframe. He is supposed to be melee oriented and yet he doesn't have the tools for it. More precisely he is frail as hell.

But that's not the only problem. Excalibur has little to no synergy between his abilities.

So here's my 2 cents on how to make Excalibur better suited for melee combat.

 

Base stats:

Armor 65 -> 100

 

1. Slash Dash

Energy: 25

Strength: 150/225/400/500 -> 200/250/300/350 Slash damage

Duration: no change

Range: 1.5/1.6/1.8/2/0 -> 2.0/2.2/2.4/2.6 m

Excalibur dashes forward slashing any who gets in his way. If an enemy is hit, temporarily increases Excalibur's base Armor and Shield Capacity by 50% (doesn't stack).

 

Comments: Slash Dash makes for an excellent movement ability but it's damage is not really important in the end game content. So we can slightly reduce the damage while increasing it's AoE and more importantly giving Excalibur a sizable defensive boost when he enters the fray. After all 150 base Shields and Armor scale much better than 100, right?

To prevent people from Slash Dashing into the wall just to get the buff it requires at least one enemy to get hit.

 

 

2. Radial Blind

Energy: 50

Strength: no change

Duration: 7/10/12/15 -> 7/8/9/10 s

Range: no change

Excalibur emanates bright light for 4 seconds blinding all enemies for several seconds.

 

Comments: The problem with Radial Blind is that it's unreliable. To fix the LoS issues we are turning Excalibur into a lantern. Any enemy that was behind the cover while the ability was used will still get blinded if he is in LoS with within the 4 seconds of activation. This effectively makes the blind last up to 14 seconds at maximum level.

Also it doesn't have a 4 seconds cast/channeling time in case someone got confused by the description.

 

3. S#&$ty Jump -> Stalwart Stance

Energy: 50

Strength: up to 50% damage bonus and reduction

Duration: 11/14/17/20 s

Range: 10/15/20/25 m

Excalibur deals more melee and takes less ranged damage proportionally to the damage done to his shields. Maximum bonuses when below half of his maximum Shield Capacity. Nearby allies also gain half of those bonuses.

 

Comments: Given how obsolete Super Jump has become, I believe that an ability like this, which increases combat effectiveness of Excalibur and his party is a much better fit.

 

4. Radial Javelin

Energy: 100

Strength: 1000

Duration 4/6/8/10 s

Range: 16/19/22/25 m

Impales nearby enemies to the ground with javelins, immobilising them for the duration. Survivors are also stunned briefly.

 

Comments: Basically a small buff to the ability through added immobilization of surviving targets

 

 

 

So what are your thoughts on those changes?

Edited March 5, 2015 by TehArqan

[SoulDust]

Excalibur? Bad frame?

 

Hohohohhahaha 

 

haha

 

ho

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

no

[AdunSaveMe]

he is frail as hell

wat

He is supposed to be melee oriented

whut 

As we all know (well, more or less) Excalibur is currently a pretty bad Warframe.

Excuse you m8

 

I think Excalibur is fine where he is. Super Jump is niche as hell and Slash Dash is buggy, and while he could be improved, his combination of utility, damage and mobility makes him more than viable.

 

I like the Radial Javelin idea. But I also like Super Jump.

Edited March 5, 2015 by AdunSaveMe

[Stormandreas]

So you're proposing making Slash Dash and Radial Blind WORSE, because you think he's bad.... Excalibur is one of the more balanced frames, along with Volt.

ALSO, Excalibur is NOT a melee frame. He is a rounded, balanced frame for starters. He is the easiest one to master and get used to all the games basics. He isn't designed to be a dedicated melee frame.

Edited March 5, 2015 by Stormandreas

[TehArqan]

So you're proposing making Slash Dash and Radial Blind WORSE, because you think he's bad.... Excalibur is one of the more balanced frames, along with Volt.

ALSO, Excalibur is NOT a melee frame. He is a rounded, balanced frame for starters. He is the easiest one to master and get used to all the games basics. He isn't designed to be a dedicated melee frame.

 

I could understand that a new Slash Dash change could maybe, possibly be called "worse" (if you value 150 damage more than possible 50*mods% Armor and Shields) but how on earth is my Radial Blind suggestion a nerf?

 

Currently if an enemy is not in LoS with Excalibur it's not blinded at all. With my suggestion it would actually have 4 seconds of "active blinding". The blind itself does not last 4 seconds, it's much longer.

Edited March 5, 2015 by TehArqan

[Jahadaya]

The only change you listed that Excalibur needs is the armor buff to 100. That's it.

 

And a sprint speed buff to 1.1 should happen as well. Right now, his abilities are in a nice spot (though the stun on RJav could last a lil longer though.

[Eldnacpeek]

Valkyr=Melee frame

 

Excalibur=Melee themed

 

 

 

but how on earth is my Radial Blind suggestion a nerf?

 

How, you ask?

 

2. Radial Blind

Energy: 50

Strength: no change

Duration: 7/10/12/15 -> 7/8/9/10 s

Range: 8/12/15/25 -> 11/14/17/20 m

Excalibur emanates bright light for 4 seconds blinding all enemies who look at him for several seconds.

 

Comments: The problem with Radial Blind is that it's unreliable. To fix the LoS issues we are turning Excalibur into a lantern. Any enemy that was behind the cover while the ability was used will still get blinded if he looks at Excalibur within the 4 seconds of activation. This effectively makes the blind last up to 14 seconds at maximum level.

 

 

You're proposing that only the ones looking at Excalibur get blinded. That's called a nerf.

Edited March 5, 2015 by LazerSkink

[Maou]

I find him fine as he is, I main excal P just so you know,

though I could use the extra movement speed and armor.

[TehArqan]

Alright, my bad. I kind of derped with the Radial Blind. Fixing it now because it's not what I meant it to be.

[(XBOX)SkinnyANOINTED1]

Here's the only change Excalibur needs other than some stat tweaks like armor (100), speed (1.1),and stamina 300:

First, super jump will have no changes, but there will be an addition. You can hold down the button and engage Supercharge. Supercharge will cost 65 energy. Now you can engage Supercharge after you jump by repressing the jump button and holding it down or you can just hold it down while on the ground (lets say one second).

What Supercharge does is grant Excalibur a 5/10/15/20% melee speed increase (fixed) for 5/6/7/8 seconds (affected by duration mods). Also, Excalibur will receive unlimited stamina as well channeling at no cost for the duration. I believe this will make Excalibur a much better SWORD frame and provide an ability that gives him an option to fight for a moment instead of bailing to survive all the time.

Give me your thoughts on how it could be better. Also, I took the name from rockwolf as I previously called it adrenaline. I think Supercharge fits better.

Edited March 5, 2015 by (XB1)SkinnyANOINTED1

[(PSN)A4-_THORN_-4A]

Definitely needs a change... I used to solo almost 2 hours t4 sur with Excalibur, since his blind nerf,he is pathetic...he is my favorite frame but his low armor and average shields and health don't carry him, his javelin is pretty weak and since his damage is split evenly it doesn't particularly work on any 1 enemy too well, super jump can be achieved by any warframe by jumping,aiming up, and swinging melee weapon,and blind used to protect him and you're allies, add melee buff,great for reviving allies and was pretty spammable... now in t4 you blind and 1 enemy turns the corner while you are attacking with melee or reloading and you're dead... please DE, I beg of thee, gimme my Excalibur back...

[tris1]

There are plenty of problems with Excalibur especially his skill set

Slash dash: doesn't scale with damage/only use is mobility/damage is small/no cc/can be damaged while using slash dash. Out classes by rhino charge and tidal surge

Super jump: out classes by tailwind and air strikes which all frames can do. You can't use ability while in the air for a certain time, it's mobility goes up only. It's another mobility which wastes a skill slot. Radial blind will beat this ability. It's stun and invisibility are so lackluster it's one of the worst skills in the game when even parkour can do better at times while also being outclassed by dive bomb. Even obstructed by situations meaning areas you can't jump.

Radial blind now has so many problems

First is that it's Los which is a bad mechanic in a fast paced game. Los only works sometimes meaning I have to blind about 2-3 times to just revive someone because people have just come round a corner or come round a little box. Then the problem when you can see an enemy but they don't get blinded because ther under you or above even though there shooting at you. Moas can still shoot while blinded and grenades can be thrown to kill you still. Then the problem with large groups some enemies still don't get blinded. It's cc has no damage so it's less useful than some cc's that are so much better rhino stomp/chaos. Even looking at a target and the is a open door the target will not always get blinded aswell as the fact if you are above or below an enemy and you can see them through gaps or through holes they won't get blinded. The skill has lost most of its effective ness. They could have fixed this easily by having a duration cap or shortening the range or locking the blind for a duration before cast again. While for a skill it also does no damage. Range mods should not effect this then since it should just blind all targets in sight.

Main problem is that light can reflective or go over and past objects meaning if a grinier was behind a box or round a corner they would still see the light so they should get blinded unless it's a totally isolated area where the door is shut then they won't get blinded

Radial javelin while it has no limited numbers now it's damage is still to small to deal gd damage and the cc is so bad because the stun lasts while your casting and leaves a two second stun to just run away. The casting animation is still to long and your still vulnerable during the cast.

A balanced frame should have

1 mobility/buff

1 defense

1 cc

1 damage

Not 2 mobility no defense a lackluster cc and a rubbish nuke

He's meant to be a melee frame yet I can't get into melee range without being damage by range units or other problems. The shatter shield from Mesa that has damage reduction would fit Excalibur so much better.

[Koujjo]

Best way to fix Excalibur is to revert all of the recent changes. He was fine how he was. Now he's just a XP farmer.

[IShaco]

you guys  nerfed radial blind and left radial diasrm, chaos, rhino stomp, booben, molecular prime, SOUND QUAKE untouched. give him something like mesa's  Shatter shield, or bring him back to his former self. he cant melee, he is SQUISHY, , he has 2 obsolete skills , 1 nerfed skill and 1 farming skill. you dont want him to be a rep farmer? , im fine with that. take it out and give him SOMETHING ELSE to play with cuz right now thats the only thing he can do well.

 

sorry for my english

Edited March 5, 2015 by IShaco

[JayGideon1]

i think Excalibur is pretty good,hes my second most used frame behind ash and i've even forma'd him twice.i will say that reverting radial blind back to the non LOS version would be pretty great as mirages prism completely outclasses it (though this could be argued by the fact that prism is an ultimate whereas RB is a 2 move) and ill be honest this is probably more of me just wanting exal to be amazing becuase i main him, but it would be nice. and i will admit that it's pretty odd that Excal is the starter frame and should just be a balanced, versitile frame and what not but you guys cant deny that DE is seemingly trying to push him towards a melee oriented frame, not just theme. both his augments benefit melee game play, his prime version comes with a V slot, in most trailers you only ever see excal doing melee, i think DE wants him to be a melee frame 

[IShaco]

i forgot about mirage's prism, thanks  JayGideon

[Koujjo]

both his augments benefit melee game play, his prime version comes with a V slot, in most trailers you only ever see excal doing melee, i think DE wants him to be a melee frame 

 

I agree. But in order to be a decent melee frame he needs either good CC or high health / armor, or both. He now has none of that.

[Mr.Lube]

Just because a frame has 2 good abilities does not make it good. Slash Dash's damage is laughable and the melee multiplier does not last long enough for it to be effective. Super Jump is completely ruined by directional melee. So all in all Excalibur is a pretty bad Frame IMO, yes he has some good abilities but he also has two useless ones aswell.

[(XBOX)Lmacncheese]

Excalibur is one of my favorites  I cant use my prime version anymore but I still love him no doubt now only thing I would suggest would be a change to super jump and maybe slash dash wasn't there a thread that Excalibur gets some kind of energy slash he does from his melee weapon now that's a change

[RahuHordika]

I definitely would not say Excal is in a terrible spot right now, he's a fairly okay frame right now, however anyone who claims he is perfect is simply lying. He has two good abilities right now, but the other two are questionable in most ocassions if not hardly usefull at all:

-Super Jump: You can see some people defending this one left and right but sincerely no one has been able to give me a single way in which this ability could be useful overall, so far all I've been getting are incredibly niche statements about it. It's two biggest flaws right now are the animation lock (which only goes away once you're going beneath max height) and that dreadfull forced verticality, which absolutely kills the ability in anything that isn't an open space since you'll be hitting your head against the ceiling and falling back just as quickly, unable to do anything about it. Oh and don't get me started on that stun after landing.

To be sincere I do no think this ability requires much changing, simply allow it to be aimed, that would widen it's range of potential uses and general versatility by a lot. Maybe also remove the animation lock as well.

-Slash Dash: Excal's 'signature' ability is unfortunately his most underwhelming one, or at least becomes one quickly. Mobility-wise it can be easily outclassed by the wider, energy-free and more controlable options that are available to everyone. However that is not the problem with it, the issue is that when compared to it's clones SD brings nothing to the table but damage (Tidal Surge and Rhino Charge have knockdown, Tailwind is actually meant for mobility and exceeds at it), and that damage scales too poorly to the higher levels (and I don't mean void).

I think the best way to tweak it is to have it's damage scale somehow, and I think the best way it could that is this: Since it can now add to the melee combo simply have the damage scale based on the combo counter, this would allow for great potential damage but you'd have to build up for it (not to mention it'd make Surging Dash useful). Perhaps also make it be affected by other melee modifiers such as the unawareness trait or maybe even the Furious Javelin effect, but mainly the combo thing.

Edited March 6, 2015 by RahuStalker

[(PSN)Mofojokers]

Who needs super jump when you can copter orthos prime to even higher distances lol.

[RadriarTheGodKing]

Ok,

Slashdash is very buggy, and yes, Super Jump is very situational, But I think the only thing DE should actaully do is the armor buff. I mean, Excal is a great frame. If it could have a bit more armor, it would be tied for my favorite with valkyr, not because of the tankiness, but Excal just needs a slight armor buff to be slightly more effective for the endgame. Other than its reletively low armor, I wouldnt change a thing about the First frame. :D

P.S.

BRING BACK EXCAL PRIME 2015

;)

[tris1]

armour buffing hardly does anything it only effects hp and not shields so musht people try keeping shields up more than health meaning an armour buff will not do much at all to effectiveness

[DarkLordX2]

I think they should remove the LoS from Radial Blind, it was Exc's best ability.

[Koujjo]

I think they should remove the LoS from Radial Blind, it was Exc's best ability.

 

Yup. I really don't understand why they nerfed it. It's not like Excal was the most OP frame out there.