Radial Javelin: 1.1 Instead Of 2.0

[secret_character]

I've always had mixed feelings about the functional update to Excalibur's ultimate, Radial Javelin. For those not in the know, the 1.0 form of Radial Javelin had Excal launching a wave of javelins outward in all directions from himself, which would then home in on enemies. Those killed by a javelin would be impaled and join the javelin in its flight, further damaging those behind them (the same effect weapons such as Boltor or the bows have). Of course, this was terribly limiting; the javelins were projectiles prone to hitting obstacles, allies, etc. and if cast in the wrong place at the wrong time the 100 energy ability could have a total of 0 effect, making it feel very unreliable. Still though, there was a certain unique pleasure to it when it worked, shishkabob-ing swarms of enemies and pinning them to the walls.

 

So Radial Javelin 2.0 was, to me, a mixed blessing; spawning javelins next to all enemies in a radius made it more reliable for its basic damage effect, getting more players to use it and making Excal a desirable frame. Yet it lost its charm, with the shishkabob effect becoming the unreliable part, turning it a bland large area damage ability.

 

Someone at DE has obviously recognized how boring and even fun-destroying Radial Javelin 2.0 is, as they've attempted over and over to limit it to line-of-sight, to much community grumbling. However, that limit only transforms a boring ability into a weak boring ability, putting glorious Excalibur right back on top of the trash heap for most players.

 

So I propose a revert to 1.0, followed by a sensible update to 1.1. Return the javelins' origin point to the source, Excal himself. However, launch them intelligently; if all enemies in line-of-sight are in front of Excal, the javelins should all spawn facing in that direction, rather than at nearby walls, crates, Tenno, dogs, specters, windows, etc. (Perhaps a new name would be in order, as this would no longer be "radial".)

 

After that, consider some further potential tweaks:

• Make both LoS calculations and the javelins themselves ignore non-environmental obstacles such as allied units, passing harmlessly through them and into the enemies beyond
  
• Give javelins a small amount of punch-through, so the Lancer that ducked behind a thin barrier as you were casting still finds himself impaled
  
• Rather than a set number, javelin count could be based on the number of visible enemies, perhaps giving it a particular synergy with Super Jump (i.e. javelins raining down on the heads of all foes)
  
• Change the damage type to finisher damage, protecting its usefulness from the scaled-up armor of high level Grineer

 

All said, as the iconic Warframe against which all others are judged, Excalibur should not be made powerful-yet-generic and then nerfed until he ceases to be game-breaking. He should be allowed to have his unique character shine through. New players should not feel they've made a mistake by choosing the "most balanced" starting frame. And this change, I think, should be a good move in that direction.

[RavenousPartyLibrarian]

Exactly what I'd like for Radial Javelin.

 

You have my +1

[SSC-47]

• Change the damage type to finisher damage, protecting its usefulness from the scaled-up armor of high level Grineer

Good idea.

[denshibushi]

All sound like good ideas to me. +1.

 

All said, as the iconic Warframe against which all others are judged, Excalibur should not be made powerful-yet-generic and then nerfed until he ceases to be game-breaking. He should be allowed to have his unique character shine through. New players should not feel they've made a mistake by choosing the "most balanced" starting frame. And this change, I think, should be a good move in that direction.

 

Exactly. Excalibur is the iconic Warframe. I remember a time last year when players would be mocked for running Excalibur and called out as noobs (in spite of mastery rank). I even recall some squads being disbanded to get rid of an Excalibur. Every Warframe should be viable. There are always going to be missions that certain frames excel at. Ember is better against infested. Loki is best for Rescue 2.0 and Spy 2.0. Excelling at one mission type logically means suffering at another type. However, as you point out, Excalibur being touted as the most balanced frame should mean that there is no mission it does not do OK in. As it stands, I see little to no effect when I use slash dash. And with the recent change to radial javelin Excalibur suffers quite a bit in viability.

 

Although I have Excalibur Prime, I went back and built Excalibur again after I had ranked and sold it because playing an Excalibur in its default livery makes me remember when I first started playing Warframe and how much fun it was and gives me a visceral joy. I find myself smiling uncontrollably. But I sure wish running slash dash back and forth in a hallway filled with Grineer had the same effect it used to.....

[MichaelSD]

As Excalibur is my main I really would like to see the issue resolved to some extent. Excalibur has been changes 5-6 times and he is still weak. Common devs, you can better than that!

[ScorpioEric]

Yes pls, although I preferred multi hitting with javelins. Maybe #javelins=(power strength(base+ #of enemies))

[CybrinZ]

Yes. All my yes. As an Excalibur player, I support this.

 

As you said in OP, those changes would probably need a name change. Taking off "Radial" on Radial Javelin would be descriptive enough.

 

Slash Dash needs some tweaks too. If you remember when the animation used to use the equipped melee weapon, that coming back would be pretty cool. To make it more viable, the damage needs be dependent on the equipped melee. A percentage of the damage on the equipped melee will be added to a fixed base damage.

Something like

R1 : 50% of equipped Melee +  300 Base

R2 : 75% of equipped Melee + 450 Base

R3 : 100% of equipped Melee + 600 Base

 

The damage types of the equipped melee would also carry over. These bonuses would only be available in Melee Mode. This is to even out the extra power of the equipped melee.

 

Puncture heavy melee weapons would inflict Puncture and disable all enemies hit by the Dash for a short duration.

Impact heavy melee weapons could ragdoll, knock back, or drag the enemies hit by the Dash.

Slash weapons wouldn't change much.

 

This would make the animation make a little more sense. It looks really janky when you use Slash Dash while wielding a two handed weapon or something. The energy sword just appears in the hand and the weapon you were using just pops onto your back and it reverses just as fast as it happened. The animation should use the equipped melee while you are in Melee Mode, but when using Slash Dash with a gun it can be like a quick slash with the energy sword for the animation now without the bonuses of the melee weapon, just the base damage. 

 

This would look weird with Fist and Daggers you say? Well give it an animation change!

When using Fist or Claw weapons, the animation would be changed to a punch lunge.

Daggers could have a lunge with the dagger out in front like you would hold a rapier.

Edited March 26, 2015 by CybrinZ

[Bobtm]

Outstanding idea secret_character.  I'd say that's an ideal place for Radial Javelin to be as an ultimate ability.  I'd say more but it's kind of redundant feeling when I agree entirely.