Archwizard's Warframe Concept Compilation - (Update 07/19/17) New Dust Ability Stats

[Lyravain]

Having just read the OP and not much else on this topic, there's just 3 things I can say.
 

Firstly, Aether's 2nd and 4th ability are a bit too similar. Not Limbo-level of similar, but very, very close. Considering we have all of Cthulhu mythos available, a different second ability might be possible, yes? I'd go with something like a teleportation hole, but that's way too similar to Nova. Or I might just like my movement abilities a bit too much. I just think he needs something in the direct-damage department. Aether can augment other team-mates' damage and can debuff and CC enemies just fine. Maybe something to help tear enemies apart?

Second;  Scathlach could have a passive much like Mesa's 1st; every time she receives or deals damage, she receives a certain portion of it and holds it in. The next time she uses an ability, that damage is added to the first enemy hit.

Third; is there anyway we can go to DE's office and chain the devs on their computers to make these frames reality?

[Archwizard]

1 hour ago, Annon5150 said:

Well you could do something with the projectile or when enemies walk into it or when players walk into it.

Could have something to do with movement, I suppose, or an effect when the projectile collides with an enemy.

Maybe something like, enemies who walk into the wall are dragged along it some distance, or allies who step into it have a movement speed increase moving through it? The latter I'm more partial to, since it really plays up that "changing the shape of empty space" angle, shrinking the space for allies to pass through and stretching it along for enemies; as long as the projectile is faster than Aether himself, it should work.

That or I could just make the projectile itself the augment, keep the character-attached trail baseline, and maintain the Duration-scaling effect.

9 minutes ago, Lyravain said:

Having just read the OP and not much else on this topic, there's just 3 things I can say.
 

Firstly, Aether's 2nd and 4th ability are a bit too similar. Not Limbo-level of similar, but very, very close. Considering we have all of Cthulhu mythos available, a different second ability might be possible, yes? I'd go with something like a teleportation hole, but that's way too similar to Nova. Or I might just like my movement abilities a bit too much. I just think he needs something in the direct-damage department. Aether can augment other team-mates' damage and can debuff and CC enemies just fine. Maybe something to help tear enemies apart?

Second;  Scathlach could have a passive much like Mesa's 1st; every time she receives or deals damage, she receives a certain portion of it and holds it in. The next time she uses an ability, that damage is added to the first enemy hit.

Third; is there anyway we can go to DE's office and chain the devs on their computers to make these frames reality?

I wouldn't say Aether's 2 and 4 are very similar at all. He can place his 2 as a trap, and use his 4 in conjunction with his 1 to deal damage and drag enemies into his 2 or through his 3. In fact, his 4 is the only one of his abilities that he can't just "drop" on the battlefield, and has to maintain. Not to mention the augments take the two in separate directions.
I actually tried to limit most of these frames in the direct-damage department; when it comes to ability-based damage, most effects suffer from a lack of scalability that makes them spectacular in early levels, decent in mid-levels, and then near-useless, completely inefficient forms of energy usage at later levels. I wanted to focus on the utility and scalability of each skill first. (Except for Obliterate. Revenant's supposed to be an energy-based attacker, and I just wanted someone to have a beam cannon.)

The passive you suggest is pretty much the way the damage buff from Scathach's _{^{(no L)}} third ability works, although in terms of actually being a passive it seems very similar in effect to Volt's, barring exact execution. I did want her to be very much of a "charge up, cut loose, repeat" type of attacker, however; make a DB Warrior proud.

I think the most effective way to do that third one is just to increase the visibility of these concepts and generate more support.

[Lyravain]

26 minutes ago, Archwizard said:

Could have something to do with movement, I suppose, or an effect when the projectile collides with an enemy.

Maybe something like, enemies who walk into the wall are dragged along it some distance, or allies who step into it have a movement speed increase moving through it? The latter I'm more partial to, since it really plays up that "changing the shape of empty space" angle, shrinking the space for allies to pass through and stretching it along for enemies; as long as the projectile is faster than Aether himself, it should work.

That or I could just make the projectile itself the augment, keep the character-attached trail baseline, and maintain the Duration-scaling effect.

I wouldn't say Aether's 2 and 4 are very similar at all. He can place his 2 as a trap, and use his 4 in conjunction with his 1 to deal damage and drag enemies into his 2 or through his 3. In fact, his 4 is the only one of his abilities that he can't just "drop" on the battlefield, and has to maintain. Not to mention the augments take the two in separate directions.
I actually tried to limit most of these frames in the direct-damage department; when it comes to ability-based damage, most effects suffer from a lack of scalability that makes them spectacular in early levels, decent in mid-levels, and then near-useless, completely inefficient forms of energy usage at later levels. I wanted to focus on the utility and scalability of each skill first. (Except for Obliterate. Revenant's supposed to be an energy-based attacker, and I just wanted someone to have a beam cannon.)

The passive you suggest is pretty much the way the damage buff from Scathach's _{^{(no L)}} third ability works, although in terms of actually being a passive it seems very similar in effect to Volt's, barring exact execution. I did want her to be very much of a "charge up, cut loose, repeat" type of attacker, however; make a DB Warrior proud.

I think the most effective way to do that third one is just to increase the visibility of these concepts and generate more support.

Maybe if it was used in conjunction with Aether's 1st? How about throwing enemies through the 'portals' he has created? Base form could be something straightforward, such as 'reach into the Void and tear them asunder in a metaphysical state' by disturbing not their body, but their entropic state (I can write lots of mumbo-jumbo arcane-sounding stuff like this). And if there's a Fracture nearby, also do a knockback away from him, by launching them out of the Fracture itself. Kind of 'get the heck out of my lawn' moment. Possibly also dealing increased damage or turning the enemy into an AoE fueled by their max health/heal lost because of the skill. Kind of throwing taking a dimensional anomaly and tossing it into and through another dimensional anomaly; end result should not be exactly... pretty.

I think Aether's 2 and 4 are similar because of the underlying gravity mechanic in both. They both pull enemies to a specific point. Granted it's not the exact same thing (such as Limbo having 3 abilities that do pretty much the same thing), but it's similar enough that I believe, with so much stuff possible, they could be more different.

If my hopes for DE turning all damage into scaling (there's a base damage and then enemies take extra damage based on their max health), there would be no issue. Or if they turned all Powers into doing damage based on enemy health.

Scathach's passive, the way I'm suggesting it, would be close to Volt, yes. But, since it's fueled by the passive itself (I did mention ALL damage she does or is dealt) it would be more of a 'maintain an ebb and flow of combat damage' more than anything. Would also be pretty badass connected to Quick Thinking. Like another Valkyrie using the very pain of her near-lethal wounds to bring out even more ferocity and strength. Rawr.

[Archwizard]

Actually come to think of it, a good augment to his 3 might have him doing something about warping the proportions of enemies who pass through the field - the ability itself is all about stretching and distorting space, after all.

For instance, increasing the size of enemies to reduce their speed and make them easier targets, and reducing the size of allies to make them harder targets and increase their speed.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Archwizard

[Elydir]

On 6/4/2016 at 3:56 PM, Lyravain said:

Maybe if it was used in conjunction with Aether's 1st? How about throwing enemies through the 'portals' he has created? Base form could be something straightforward, such as 'reach into the Void and tear them asunder in a metaphysical state' by disturbing not their body, but their entropic state (I can write lots of mumbo-jumbo arcane-sounding stuff like this). And if there's a Fracture nearby, also do a knockback away from him, by launching them out of the Fracture itself. Kind of 'get the heck out of my lawn' moment. Possibly also dealing increased damage or turning the enemy into an AoE fueled by their max health/heal lost because of the skill. Kind of throwing taking a dimensional anomaly and tossing it into and through another dimensional anomaly; end result should not be exactly... pretty.

He was talking about an augment to Aethers new 3, he made some changes on the previous page.

On 6/4/2016 at 3:56 PM, Lyravain said:

I think Aether's 2 and 4 are similar because of the underlying gravity mechanic in both. They both pull enemies to a specific point. Granted it's not the exact same thing (such as Limbo having 3 abilities that do pretty much the same thing), but it's similar enough that I believe, with so much stuff possible, they could be more different.

Gravity is one of Aethers things, hes a space elemental.

[Lyravain]

Apologies, I've only read the first page.

Aether's a Cthulhu Elemental if anything. Even as a space (read; distance) elemental, gravity is not in his purview necessarily. I'm not saying he can't/shouldn't do gravity, I'm saying there's so many options for a space elemental that, reusing one ability, is kinda meh. For example, teleporting pieces of his enemies around. Not the whole enemy, just, say, their leg or arm. Yikes.

[Elydir]

6 hours ago, Lyravain said:

Apologies, I've only read the first page.

Aether's a Cthulhu Elemental if anything. Even as a space (read; distance) elemental, gravity is not in his purview necessarily. I'm not saying he can't/shouldn't do gravity, I'm saying there's so many options for a space elemental that, reusing one ability, is kinda meh. For example, teleporting pieces of his enemies around. Not the whole enemy, just, say, their leg or arm. Yikes.

He isnt reusing the same ability though? Their completely different and serve different functions, their just both CC. One forces movement, one stops it.

[Lyravain]

The point I was trying to make is; they BOTH use the same force; Gravity. Either way Gravity is manipulated, it's still gravity. What the ability itself does is not the point; HOW it is expressed is.

Give me shadowy tentacles (if Hydroid didn't have them as well). Give me 'gravity twists time'. Give me 'lets them see into the mind-shattering Abyss, stunning for a long duration while they scream in horror at the things-that-should-not-be'. See where I'm going?

[Archwizard]

2 hours ago, Lyravain said:

The point I was trying to make is; they BOTH use the same force; Gravity. Either way Gravity is manipulated, it's still gravity. What the ability itself does is not the point; HOW it is expressed is.

Give me shadowy tentacles (if Hydroid didn't have them as well). Give me 'gravity twists time'. Give me 'lets them see into the mind-shattering Abyss, stunning for a long duration while they scream in horror at the things-that-should-not-be'. See where I'm going?

So you'd have no objections to his 2 or 4, if one of them made tentacles. Like I already implied with his 4, explicitly stating he created "shadowy tendrils".

You'd have no objections if one of them twisted time. Like his 4 already does by slowing enemies as they get closer.

You'd have no objections if one of them drove the target crazy. Like his 4 does with the augment.

Edited June 9, 2016 by Archwizard

[Elydir]

On 6/6/2016 at 10:04 PM, Archwizard said:

For instance, increasing the size of enemies to reduce their speed and make them easier targets, and reducing the size of allies to make them harder targets and increase their speed.

Hmm. Bigger enemies. I guess that could make them easier to see or headshot?

[BlackCoMerc]

On 3/25/2016 at 2:47 PM, Archwizard said:

Some of you may know me from my previous concept, Tremor the Terraformer, which I previously retired because of the release of the Atlas Warframe. In the meantime, I have not been idle, working silently for months with talented artists on a series of concepts to be released to you. I promised when I began work on these concepts that I would not reveal them until I was satisfied they were at least as developed as Tremor was, and now I can fulfill that promise. As it just so happens, March 26^th is the one-year anniversary of Tremor being released to these forums, and I wanted to do something special in celebration. Without further ado:

Dust (The Time Duelist)

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Concept art by @arch111

Warframe Profile

This is Dust – the seer, the duelist.
Quick and calculating, her first blow is also the last.

Dust rends the barrier of time itself to strike down her foes at the best opportunity:

Rewind ensures Dust always fights less experienced foes. Enemies afflicted by the Rewind will suffer a drop in levels until the duration ends, while weaker foes will be killed outright.

Continuum allows Dust to make preemptive strikes. Once activated, Dust’s next weapon attack will continue to cycle in the air, continuously dealing partial damage over the affected area.

Time Warp will slow the flow of time in a radius around Dust. Allies within the field will gain the benefit of increased duration to their abilities and status effects, while enemy attacks become easier to dodge.

When the time is right, Magic Hour will create a perfect snapshot of enemy formations at the present moment. Damage or status effects dealt to these Snapshots will retroactively be reflected onto their connected bodies. Rewinding targets connected to a Snapshot will bring them back to the location of the Snapshot.

Dust also infuses her weapons with the ability to stop the clock. Melee attacks will briefly slow enemies, while successive swings can bring enemies to a standstill.

Dust can amplify her powers through the application of mods. Duration and Strength mods will increase the benefit of all of her abilities, while a Range mod can increase the affected area of Time Warp and Magic Hour.

Enemies of Dust beware: she has seen the future, and she will be the victor.

Stats, Abilities and Augments

Theme: Time Manipulation/Timing, Duelist
Roles: Offensive Support, Enemy Debuffer, Sustained Damage

Health: 100 (300 at rank 30)
Shields: 150 (450 at rank 30)
Armor: 100
Power: 100 (150 at rank 30)
Speed: 1.2
Aura: Naramon ()
Polarities: 1x Vazarin (), 1x Madurai ()

Passive – Disjunction: Melee weapon damage also inflicts a stacking slow for 3 seconds; applying a new stack refreshes the duration. This effect can freeze targets.

Rewind: Dust sends her foe back along its own timeline to a weaker state, reducing its level. Cast on a tethered target to return them to their Snapshot.

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-          Dust debuffs the target, staggering it and causing it to temporarily lose up to <10> levels, affected by Power Strength and Power Duration. This drop cannot bring the target below level 1. Dropping in level can affect the target’s maximum health, maximum shields, total armor and attack damage.

-          If the target would be reduced below level 1, they receive Puncture damage based on the excess level drop. This does not activate Continuum.

-          Any damage dealt to the target before and after the level drop is retained in its entirety, rather than scaling up or down. If a target has less maximum health after activation than the damage they received before activation, they will be killed instantly.

-          If cast on a target with an active Snapshot, they will be teleported back to their Snapshot.

-          Recasting Rewind on an affected target will not stack or cancel the effect, but will refresh the duration and teleport them to their Snapshot again.

-          Direct-aimed, like Mind Control or Energy Vampire.

-          One-handed cast, can be cast while airborne.

Augment: Inertia – The target rapidly ages when Rewind ends, applying Corrosive status with a chance of Viral status.

-          Number of stacks of Corrosive status and chance of Viral status are affected by mod rank.

Conclave Augment: Grandfather Paradox – Killing a victim of Rewind confers their lost lifetime to you.

-          Killing a target affected by Rewind will grant Dust a temporary bonus to health and shields based on the amount the target lost via Rewind's level drop.

-          Duration is affected by rank only.

Continuum: Dust’s next weapon attack reaches into the future, continuously cycling in the air.

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-          Similar in principle to the second cast of Ballistic Battery, activating the effect causes it to remain dormant until Dust’s next weapon attack. This attack does not need to strike a target to consume the effect, and only needs to be capable of dealing damage.

-          Upon initiating an attack with any melee weapon or firearm, Dust creates an Afterimage of herself that repeats the attack in the air for a percentage of the damage per strike. This Afterimage is affected by Power Strength and Duration.

-          Afterimages created via melee attacks will apply stacks of Dust's passive.

-          The Afterimage cannot turn or perform any action other than the attack that created it, and can only move within the boundaries of a melee attack animation.

-          The Afterimage is intangible and immune to attacks, similar to Hall of Mirrors. Unlike Hall of Mirrors, the Afterimage draws no threat and is invisible to enemies. The Afterimage is semi-transparent when attacking, allowing allies to aim through it, and becomes completely invisible between attacks.

-          The Afterimage will attack at the same rate as the fire rate of the weapon used to initiate the attack. Likewise, the Afterimage will share the same status chance, critical chance and critical multiplier as the weapon used to initiate the attack. The Afterimage cannot copy Syndicate activation effects.

-          The trajectory, flight speed and affected area of the Afterimage’s attacks is exactly equal to that of the initiating attack; even with inaccurate weapons, the Afterimage will strike the exact same point with all successive strikes without any penalties to recoil or accuracy, and melee attacks will cause the Afterimage to cycle the same animation from the same starting and ending points.

-          Weapons with player-activated delayed blasts (Penta, Castanas, Talons) will only create Afterimages upon detonation. Weapons with over-time environmental effects (Torid, Azima) will only fire an additional blast once the first is depleted.

-          Any damage or status effects, including the combo multiplier or Puncture status, that applied to Dust upon creation of the Afterimage will be retained by the Afterimage for its entire duration.

-          Hitscan and projectile attacks fired by the Afterimage will have Punch Through up to the maximum distance traveled by the initiating attack.

-          Maximum of one Afterimage active at once. Recasting Continuum does not return Power In Use, but will consume the active Afterimage upon creation of a new one.

-          Can be cast while airborne and without interrupting animations, a la Speed. The Afterimage can similarly be triggered from the air.

Augment: Reversal – Making contact with her own Afterimage will restore a percentage of Dust’s health and ammo from the time of casting.

Time Warp: Dust slows down time in an area, extending allies' Power and Status Duration, and allowing her to dodge incoming attacks within the field.

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-          Toggled, with a low continuous drain on energy while active. Dust may continue moving while active.

-          Upon activation, Dust creates a spherical field of ever-falling sand centered on her current location, with a radius affected by Power Range. While standing within the field, colors will desaturate, ambient sounds drop in pitch and volume, and a slow, faraway ticking can be heard by the player.

-          Hostile bullets that strike the outer edge of the field will be converted into projectiles (a la Bullet Attractor), and hostile projectiles (including powers) that strike the outer edge of the field will have their flight speed reduced (slow affected by Power Strength). Affected projectiles may also inflict friendly fire damage, or run into their own bullets. The flight speed of affected projectiles will increase upon exiting the field.

-          Allies will have increased Power Duration on all abilities and Status Duration on all attacks initiated from within the field, similar in principle to Provoke (Time Warp cannot benefit from itself, as it is activated before the effect takes place). This extension is affected by Dust’s Power Duration.

-          Maximum range of the field is affected by Power Range.

-          Two-handed cast, cannot be used while airborne.

Augment: Time Dilation – Time Warp also increases allies' attack speed for each enemy caught within the field.

-          For each enemy within the field, allies within the field will receive a stacking increase to firearm fire rate and weapon attack speed until Time Warp ends or the enemy leaves the field.

-          Speed conversion is affected by rank only.

Magic Hour: Dust creates a snapshot of the present moment, creating frozen images of her enemies and opening them to retroactive attacks.

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-          Enemies within a cone in front of Dust (affected by Power Range) leave behind stationary, intangible clones of themselves. These Snapshots share health with the target they are cloned from, as well as any buffs, debuffs or vulnerable spots (such as the Juggernaut’s underbelly or tendrils) that the target possessed upon creation of the Snapshot. Snapshots last for a period affected by Power Duration, or until their connected target dies.

-          Damage and debuffs dealt to the Snapshot will be dealt to the connected target and vice versa. Area-effect attacks can strike both simultaneously for additional damage toward the connected target.

-          In order to minimize clutter and performance issues: A maximum number of Snapshots are allotted per cast, affected by Power Strength. Recasting Magic Hour will remove all active Snapshots before selecting new targets.

-          An energy tether (similar to Link) is drawn between the Snapshot with its connected target if the two are within range of each other, affected by Power Range.

-          Snapshots are invisible to AI, but still show health bars when moused over. Snapshots are fully intangible to both allies and enemies, a la Snow Globes, and are semi-transparent to improve visibility.

-          Casting Magic Hour will not alert affected enemies. Snapshots of unalerted targets are vulnerable to Finisher attacks and will remain so until destroyed, but performing a Finisher will destroy the Snapshot. Surviving enemies will be alerted by damage dealt to their Snapshots.

-          Two-handed cast, cannot be used while airborne.

Augment: Critical Moment – Allies have an increased critical strike chance when attacking Snapshots.

-          This bonus is affected by Power Strength.

-          Bonus applies to weapons in the same manner as Argon Scope, etc.

Additional Notes

Author Commentary

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Dust: Dust to dust. Dust in the hourglass. Dust on the mantle. The passage of time itself is best signified by dust.

Time Warframes are probably the most highly requested concept since Atlas claimed the spot of the Earth Warframe, so the top challenge of Dust was getting her to stand out.

Originally I had Dust designed as a male Warframe focused entirely on your standard time-based gimmickry: speed stuff up, slow stuff down. The flaw with that design is that it was exactly the same approach as everyone else – make someone who can stop time and call it a day. Of course, a lot of these concepts fall flat because they add nothing new to the table; everyone and their dog (literally; see Raksas) can fire off some form of crowd control. Hell, Rhino of all frames can already stop time on his own!

Right off the bat, I wanted Dust to enhance the team’s Duration. I’ve been working on the concept for around a year and a half – before Equinox nabbed Provoke – and the big open niche at the time was to have frames who can buff allies’ abilities. This became especially prominent after the release of frames like Mesa who can buff the team’s weapon damage, leaving many abilities in the dust (pun not intended). In fact, this came to inspire the creation of Aether and completion of Revenant just to complete the set (more on that later).

What really helped Dust come to be was that question of what a Time frame could do differently; someone who has a unique relationship with the passage of time, someone to whom timing would be both more relevant and more forgiving. You want to dodge a bullet? Done, part of Time Warp. You’re at the perfect vantage point for a split second while falling through the air? Continuum, it’s like you never left, without the danger of staying. You want to be able to extend that brief moment Juggernaut is open to get shot? Snapshot it with Magic Hour – and double your nuke damage while you’re at it. You can even combine Continuum and Magic Hour, allowing you to retroactively murder a target by attacking it in the future! With that idea of extending the perfect opening, it almost seemed like nothing but a duelist would do as an additional theme. This caused her de-leveling ability to fall into place.

Originally I wanted her to have a little bit more of a sand theme (name and all), although Inaros nabbed that before I got her polished. Still, as long as she’s not actively making sand golems or throwing sand in anyone’s eyes, it’s a fun little aesthetic element.

Signature Weapon: Destreza, or Corpus Radiation Laser-Rapier. Her passive is specifically designed with fast weapons in mind, so that equipping Berserker would allow her to speed up as her enemies slow down

Syndicates: Perrin Sequence appreciates her finery and elegance, while Cephalon Suda is curious as to the nature of her time-bending powers.

Aether (The Spatial Horror)

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Concept art by @MrPigman

Warframe Profile

This is Aether – a waking nightmare.
After eons of slumber, he returns to drag his enemies to the edge of reality.

Aether’s abilities twist space, infinitely expanding his reach:

Fracture creates a crack in reality. When multiple Fractures are present, attacks fired into one will be refracted out all others active. In the presence of some Warframe powers, Fractures can act as beacons to extend their range.

Event Horizon creates a field of intense gravity at Aether’s feet. Enemies who enter the field will be unable to escape while it remains active.

Twisted Path allows Aether to reshape space in his wake. Hostile attacks fired at Aether or through his trail will suffer reduced accuracy, while enemies who cross the trail will be turned around.

Is the room shrinking, Tenno? Inevitable Maw turns Aether into a black hole, dragging all enemies toward himself. The closer enemies come to Aether, the more damage they receive and the slower their attacks become.

Aether’s very presence warps the space around himself, increasing the range of his melee attacks and the speed of projectiles he fires.

Aether’s influence can be extended with the use of mods. Duration and Range mods will positively benefit all of his abilities, while adding a Strength mod will increase the damage of Twisted Path and Inevitable Maw.

The stars are right, Tenno – will you heed the call of Aether?

Stats, Abilities and Augments

Theme: Space/Gravity Manipulation, Lovecraftian Horror
Roles: Area Denial/Crowd Control, Allied Buffer

Health: 125 (375 at rank 30)
Shields: 125 (375 at rank 30)
Armor: 150
Power: 100 (150 at rank 30)
Speed: 1.0
Aura: Vazarin ()
Polarities: 2x Naramon ()

Passive – Endless Reach: Increased Melee Range and Projectile Flight Speed.

Fracture: Aether creates a portal to absorb allied attacks. Attacking the Fracture will copy and fire attacks through all other active Fractures.

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-          Aether creates a flat circle of translucent, thin, scar-like material in a fixed position in front of himself, a la Electric Shield. This tear is affected by Power Duration.

-          Fractures are invisible and intangible to enemies.

-          A single Fracture remains inert to Tenno until at least one more forms. When two or more Fractures are active, they all become connected. 

-          Shooting into the side of a Fracture that was facing the caster upon activation will fire an identical attack from the away-facing side of all other active Fractures created by the same Aether.

-          Any projectiles or bullets that strike the side of a Fracture will be consumed, copied, and fired out of the opposite side of all other active Fractures at the same angle. Attacks with Punch Through will still be consumed, but the projectiles will bear a corresponding amount of Punch Through instead. Enemies can receive multiple instances of damage from one attack fired through multiple Fractures.

-          Beam, shotgun or melee attacks that strike the side of a Fracture will be copied, consumed and fired out the opposite side of all active Fractures at the same angle. However, the maximum length or falloff of the copied attack is equal to the length of the original attack minus the attacker's distance from the initiating Fracture. Enemies can receive multiple instances of damage from one attack fired through multiple Fractures.

-          Warframe powers cast within range of a Fracture will use all other active Fractures as relay stations, applying their effects as if the Fracture was the origin of the cast with identical Power Strength, for as long as the effect remains active. The radius of effect around each Fracture is based on the attack or aura's initial radius, multiplied by an amount affected by Aether's Power Range. Targets standing in overlapping radii, including the original cast, will only receive damage or status effects as if standing in a singular cast.

-          One-handed cast, may be used while airborne.

Augment: Breach – Allies may use Fractures to travel, but there is now a limit to the number of Fractures Aether may have active at once.

-          If more than two Fractures are active simultaneously, Tenno will teleport to the next-most recently created Fracture.

Event Horizon: Aether creates an inescapable field of gravity, immobilizing any foes who enter.

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-          Aether creates a large spherical field at his current location. Enemies who pass through the field will be pulled to the ground, rooting them in place. Rooting field is affected by Power Range and Power Duration.

-          Enemies within the field upon activation are knocked down and alerted. Enemies who enter the field after activation will receive stagger once the root sets in, but will not be alerted to Aether’s presence, a la Radial Disarm.

-          Immobilized enemies can still attack, but have a limited turning radius; Tenno directly behind them are functionally invisible.

-          Ragdolling or movement effects inflicted upon immobilized targets will be reduced to knockdown.

-          An unlimited number of enemies may be immobilized within a single field; however, recasting Event Horizon will remove and replace the active field, freeing any enemies not within the new field.

-          Flying enemies who pass through the rooting field are pulled to the ground.

-          Two-handed cast, cannot be cast while airborne.

Augment: Singularity – Enemies within a field share a portion of all damage taken within the field.

-          Damage share is affected by Power Strength and rank.

-          Shared damage may originate from snared enemies or Tenno.

 Twisted Path: Aether's wake damages the fabric of reality, causing uncontrolled enemy movement and twisting projectile trajectories.

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-          Toggled; Aether manifests a holographic "shadow" while active, similar in appearance to the overlays of Chaos only larger and off-kilter, toward his back. Aether cannot sprint while Twisted Path is active.

-          While Twisted Path is toggled active, Aether's movements leave a trail. This trail is affected by Power Duration and expands its width with Power Range.

-          Enemies that pass through the wake will receive Slash damage and be teleported back to the side they attempted to cross from, but be turned around. Affected enemies are confused for a brief duration, a la Switch Teleport. Damage is affected by Power Strength.

-          Hostile projectiles and bullets fired into or aimed through the wake will be displaced in a random direction, a la Turbulence. Any homing properties are lost, and all affected bullets and projectiles have friendly fire enabled.

-          Two-handed cast, may be used while airborne.

Augment: Twisted Visage – Enemies falter at the sight of your enhanced form.

-          Enemies within a limited range of Aether have a chance every second they remain within range to briefly panic and attempt to flee (ie Terrify). Panic radius is affected by Twisted Path's Power Range, while the panic duration and effectiveness are affected by mod rank only.

Conclave Augment: Mirrored Path – Enemies who pass through the wake have their controls reversed for a duration.

Inevitable Maw: Aether extends his grasp to draw enemies toward himself. Enemies dragged close will be frozen and suffer increasing damage over time.

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-          Toggled; Aether is unable to move or perform other actions while channeling Inevitable Maw.

-          Upon activation, Aether reaches out toward all enemies within range with shadowy tendrils, and slowly drags them toward himself. Enemies will be knocked down upon being ensnared by the effect. Energy drain increases with the number of enemies ensnared.

-          Ensnared enemies receive continuous Impact damage and reduced attack speed, each of which increases in effect the closer they get to Aether, affected by Power Strength.

-          Enemies who come within 5 meters of Aether are dragged no closer and completely frozen in a ring around himself. If an enemy cannot enter that ring, they remain slowed until room opens to drag them closer.

-          Travel speed is affected by Power Duration.

-          Deactivating the effect will stagger all affected enemies.

-          Casting Inevitable Maw in range of a Fracture will drag enemies toward the Fractures instead as if they are an Aether with reduced Power Range.

-          Cannot be cast while airborne.

Augment: Maw of Madness – Frozen enemies will serve Aether for a brief duration.

-          Enemies who have been drawn within 5 meters of Aether will become Mind Controlled for a brief duration. While Inevitable Maw remains toggled active, the effect will automatically refresh when it ends, allowing affected targets to shield Aether from damage. When the effect ends, affected targets are free to attack their former allies.

-          Affected targets will receive damage normally from Aether's allies, rather than storing it until the Mind Control ends. Unlike Confusion, affected targets will not target Tenno.

-          Maximum duration is affected by mod rank only.

Conclave Augment: Vertigo – Targets released from Inevitable Maw are flung back to their original location, dealing damage to enemies at their impact point based on their damage received.

Additional Notes

Author Commentary

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Aether: The heavenly air breathed by gods. The Hindus interpreted it as “Akasha”, referring to the open space above the world.

Aether has probably been the most difficult concept in this list to complete. He’s been through about a half dozen different iterations – each with different names even, from Syzygy to Quasar to Typhon, etc. It just goes to show the evils of trying to make a concept for the sake of completing a set, rather than for something you’d want to play in the game: you have no driving influence or set ideas. Luckily, we’re at a stage where I can say the extra effort was well worth it!

As I said in the Dust commentary, Aether came about when I thought of creating a Warframe who could enhance his allies’ Power Range. If you have someone who can manipulate Time, it’s only natural that you have someone who can manipulate Space too.

Aether spent a lot of time in limbo (not that one) until my old Tremor project was retired by the release of Atlas; from that jumping off point, I considered borrowing a few elements of Tremor that didn’t make it to the release of Atlas – though not one-for-one, of course. Doors the led to nowhere instead of walls, gravity missiles instead of rooting trenches, that sort.

Around the time Dust’s “duelist” theme finally clicked, I started to consider exactly what I wanted Aether to be. Initially, I thought of him as having a very dream-like quality to him, to match some of the more abstract qualities of his powers. I didn’t quite make the jump to “eldritch abomination” until I started to consider exactly what he should look like: twisted, not quite malevolent but not “right” either, something you would not imagine to find in any reality and would still run from if it was charging at you. From there, I scrapped every ability I had written for him and started from scratch with that goal in mind. The final changes presented here are barely a month old now!

Where I once considered having him simply warp reality in small ways, I came around to a more extreme approach: shattering it entirely, fraying it as he walks, making holes he could poke his fingers into and exert his influence at long distance. Someone who doesn’t simply make speed bumps, but tidal waves.

Signature Weapon: Elemental Cephalon Glaive. Functions nicely with his passive and Fracture, and creates this idea of him really reaching out to attack.

Syndicates: Steel Meridian appreciates his ability to entrap foes to protect his allies, while Cephalon Suda is willing to dig deeper into his mysteries than most.

Revenant (The Entropic Mage)

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[Art assets in production by tnccs215]

Warframe Profile

This is Revenant – the heretic, the destroyer.
Ruthless and dispassionate, he is an unpredictable assailant.

Revenant draws on entropy to tear his enemies – and himself – asunder:

While active, Invisible Edge causes all of Revenant’s attacks to strike nearby enemies with an energy blade. Enemies struck by the blade can be continuously staggered.

Sacrifice will drain some of Revenant’s health to restore energy to his allies. Using Sacrifice in conjunction with Invisible Edge will stun nearby attackers.

Unravel causes Revenant to come apart at the seams to get around obstacles. While he reassembles, he is momentarily more difficult for enemies to strike.

When absolutely everything must die, accept no substitutes: Obliterate can channel a beam of Void energy that will cut through barriers to atomize Revenant’s enemies, restoring his lost health as they perish. Revenant may continue to Unravel himself to evade attacks while channeling Obliterate.

Revenant becomes stronger as he comes closer to oblivion. As his health decreases, his Power Strength will grow, amplifying the effects of his abilities.

Revenant can better exterminate foes via the use of mods. A Range mod will affect all of his abilities, while a Duration mod will extend the use of Sacrifice, Unravel, and Obliterate. Finally, Power Strength will increase the effectiveness of Invisible Edge, Sacrifice and Obliterate.

The closer things come together, the easier they come apart. Will you break under pressure, Tenno?

Stats, Abilities and Augments

Theme: Entropy, Black Magic, Malevolent Spirit
Roles: Caster Damage (Glass Cannon), Energy Replenishment, Air Support

Health: 150 (450 at rank 30)
Shields: 75 (225 at rank 30)
Armor: 15
Power: 150 (225 at rank 30)
Speed: 1.1
Aura: Naramon ()
Polarities: 2x Madurai ()

Passive – Spite: Power Strength increases based on health lost.

Invisible Edge: Revenant creates an energy blade that copies his damaging attacks onto nearby enemies.

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-          Soft-toggled skill, a la Provoke/Artemis Bow: only drains energy when the blade activates. Revenant can regain energy from Energy Vampire, Energy Siphon, Sacrifice and Energy Restore totems while Invisible Edge is toggled active. No maximum duration.

-          While active, each time Revenant deals direct damage, an energy blade will manifest near the damaged target and cleave around them, dealing stagger and a percentage of the damage as Slash to surrounding enemies based on Power Range.

-          This damage has a flat minimum amount of Slash damage it can deal per instance; both the minimum and percentage are affected by Power Strength.

-          Invisible Edge does not deal additional damage to the target that the attack initiated against. However, attacks that simultaneously damage multiple enemies will cause the blade to deal radial damage and stagger from each affected enemy, a la Molecular Prime.

-          Strikes that hit a single enemy multiple times in one frame (ie Multishot and high pellet counts) will count as one attack for the purposes of cost and effect activation, in the same vein as Nullifier bubbles are calculated.

-          Invisible Edge can activate off of weapon attacks, explosive effects or ability damage, but cannot activate off of Status effects (ie Heat, Toxin, Electric, Gas, Slash procs) or cause a chain reaction off of its own damage.

-          Invisible Edge will not activate when dealing damage to environmental objects, a la critical strikes.

-          Initiating Invisible Edge is a one-handed cast, and may be done while airborne.

Augment: Invisible Wound – Damage done by Invisible Edge has a 100% chance to cause bleed enemies.

-          Bleeding targets are staggered for up to the first 6 seconds, a la Maim.

Conclave Augment: Bloodied Blade – When Invisible Edge is deactivated, Revenant fires energy blades based on the number of enemies slain while Invisible Edge was active.

Sacrifice: Revenant drains his own health to restore his allies’ energy.

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-          Revenant pushes his hand into his own chest and removes what appears to be an energy-colored heart, before crushing it in his hand to release a pulse of energy. This pulse is affected by Power Range.

-          The caster instantly regains an amount of energy, while allies struck by the pulse gain a buff to energy generation for a brief period. Both instant and periodic energy gain are affected by Power Strength, while the allied buff is affected by Power Duration.

-          Activating this effect costs Revenant’s health instead of energy, affected by Power Efficiency. This health cost bypasses any mitigation, and can activate Invisible Edge at no energy cost.

-          Allied buff provides no benefit to players channeling toggled abilities such as Sound Quake, Absorb, Exalted Blade, etc. a la Energy Siphon. Recasting Sacrifice will overwrite the previous application of the buff.

-          One-handed cast, cannot be cast while airborne.

Augment: Worthy Sacrifice – Casting Sacrifice restores an amount of Shields to Revenant.

-          Overflow can contribute to Overshields.

-          This effect does not apply to allies.

Unravel: Revenant disassembles himself, and reassembles at the target location. While reassembling, Revenant is harder to hit.

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-          Revenant breaks apart into an amorphous cloud of wrappings and parts, then instantly surges in the direction of his crosshairs and begins to reassemble at his destination. Distance traveled is affected by Power Range.

-          When Revenant exits the teleport, he temporarily increases his Evasion to up to 100%, unaffected by Power Strength. This Evasion rapidly diminishes over time as he reassembles, a la Metamorphosis, affected by Power Duration.

-          Revenant may continue attacking while reassembling.

-          Unlike Blink, Unravel travels as far as Power Range and the boundaries of the map allow toward his destination; Revenant will “punch through” enemies and some environmental objects, such as handrails and fire walls. Revenant is also immune to damage and status effects during the surge, and will not trip any alarms he passes through.

-          Revenant is considered invisible during the surge; enemies will not be alerted if he passes through them or their line of sight until he begins to reassemble. However, enemies he passes through may be moved to investigate his location.

-          Can be used while airborne, and does not interrupt other actions.

Augment: Unsettle – Enemies near Revenant's arrival point are exposed to finishers.

-          Finisher damage deal to targets is increased by Power Strength and rank.

-          Effect radius is affected by Power Range and rank.

-          Affected targets are staggered and alerted to Revenant's presence.

Obliterate: Revenant rips enemies apart with a beam of untempered Void energy. Fallen enemies will restore Revenant's health.

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-          Toggled skill; Revenant is unable to move or use items while active, but can turn freely in the direction of his crosshairs. Additionally, Revenant's weapons are replaced for the duration, a la Spectral Scream.

-          A circle of runes forms in the air in front of Revenant, and once he puts his hand in the middle of the circle, a massive beam of energy (about 2 meters wide) erupts forward toward his crosshairs. The beam deals continuous Finisher damage to enemies caught in the blast, and enemies who remain within the blast will receive a multiplier on damage received from the next tick of Obliterate; this effect stacks, but only lasts 2 seconds. Length of the beam is affected by Power Range, while its base damage is affected by Power Strength.

-          Each time an enemy is slain by Revenant while Obliterate is active, Revenant will automatically regain a percentage of his maximum health, affected by Power Strength.

-          The beam has Punch Through up to its maximum length.

-          The beam can deal damage to environmental objects, including Antimatter Drop and Nullifier bubbles.

-          Can be used while airborne; Revenant will cancel all momentum and hover in place while channeling, immune to gravity.

-          Two-handed cast, but Revenant may cast Unravel without interrupting Obliterate. The effect of Obliterate will pause and consume no additional energy while Revenant is in transit via Unravel.

Augment: Oblivion – Heavy and Eximus units struck by the beam lose access to abilities and auras for a limited duration.

-          Affected by rank and Power Duration.

-          Enemies that receive damage from Obliterate will be instantly debuffed. This effect will refresh every time they receive damage from Obliterate.

-          Until duration ends, this effect will prevent Grineer Heavy units from activating their slam attacks, prevent Corpus units from releasing Ospreys, and dispel Eximus and Ancient aura effects while active. If it hits the unit directly, this effect will prevent Nullifier units from reactivating their protection spheres until duration ends.

-          This effect will not prevent affected enemies from using their weapons.

Additional Notes

Author Commentary

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Revenant: From the French “revenir”, meaning “To come back.” Fitting for one who returned, however barely, from the Void.

Revenant may technically be the oldest concept here, at least until I needed to dust him off. Paradoxically, he was also probably the easiest one to nail down, as he’s the one I’ve been the most excited for.

Not too worried about him sharing the name with a mod, since half the elementals can say the same, and Oberon/Nyx share names with nodes. I swear he’s not named after the movie.

Something I’ve wanted in this game since the release of toggled powers, before an Earth frame or a Time frame, is probably the most anime-esque power we still have yet to see: a massive disintegration beam cannon attack. Before Limbo and Mirage, I wrote a concept named Bessel, someone who connected Radiation damage with its seemingly arbitrary status effect: a stage magician-themed illusionist who could create prisms to refract attacks, and fired a beam that would be redirected through the prisms (the execution of these prisms would go on to influence Aether’s kit). The concept fell apart when Mirage came out.

When I heard on Reddit that the DC was working on a Void Sorcerer, I privately wrote my own concept that included the beam attack and what would become Unravel. When Limbo was unveiled, I put the concept on the backburner since it was… a different interpretation of the given theme. Maybe I’m just biased by the use of the word “Sorcerer” as an old D&D nerd, but I expected something a bit more high fantasy.

Once I had started on a Time and a Space frame, a Void frame seemed to be the perfect avenue to increase allies’ Power Strength (after all, where do we get our powers?), so I revived the old concept. When Equinox took that role, it was a simple shift to allow him to provide an alternative route towards energy a la Trinity, especially as he was intended to be a damage caster. Naturally, once Focus came out, the use of the term “Void frame” seemed a little redundant, so I decided to give him the Entropy theme instead.

The initial idea was simple: anything he did was to fire the beam. Eat health to charge the beam (which inspired his passive), avoid damage to preserve health. Originally, Sacrifice was a projectile attack that would generate energy orbs from damaged units at the cost of health; however, this seemed easy to finagle into a free-cost effect with Equilibrium and Efficiency, so the energy orb was scrapped. I didn’t actually intend for Revenant to be able to heal the effect at all; as long as he didn’t have a feedback loop, it couldn’t be abused in lootcaves. However, since players can just use Life Strike anyway, I came to a compromise by allowing kills with his ultimate to refund health lost, and slowing the energy restoration to allies. Given what we’ve seen with Mesa, since he can only point it in one direction at a time, he’s unlikely to be the top choice in Draco.

Perhaps what will come off as the most “problematic” effect of his ultimate is that it deals a continuous stream of Finisher damage. Part of the problem with most Warframe abilities as-is is that they lose scalability as enemy levels increase, and without scalability the beam would just be a gimmick plastered on a free energy source. Finisher damage provides the ultimate in scaling damage, as it provides a hard counter to armor and shielding which cause effective health to increase exponentially. Adding to this is Invisible Edge, which can multiply his damage output based on the number of targets caught in the beam.

Signature Weapon: Electric Hand/Footwraps. Just saying, punching a guy in the face with a taser to cut his buddy in half is exactly the kind of chaos that fits an Entropy theme.

Syndicates: The Arbiters of Hexis see his raw power and connection to the Void as a prime case for Tenno ascension, while the Red Veil see his ability to move as a ghost and purge foes in wide swaths as an asset in assassination.

Scathach (The Kinetic Warrior) _{(Pronounced SKAH-thik)}

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Concept art by @MrPigman

Warframe Profile

This is Scathach – the proud, the champion.
Rumored to be immortal, she is an unstoppable huntress.

Scathach absorbs and discharges kinetic energy to amplify devastating blows:

Shattering Blow strikes the air with enough force to create an explosive gust. Armored enemies caught in the blast suffer reduced armor, while unprotected victims will be blown away.

Salmon’s Leap allows Scathach to rocket forward at high speed. Upon deactivation or impact, she will release a shockwave that becomes more powerful with her distance traveled.

Catch & Release emits a field that draws incoming attacks toward Scathach, draining their energy to multiply the damage of Scathach’s subsequent strikes. Dealing a Shattering Blow while Catch & Release is active will convert it into a radial blast.

When all else fails, Scathach can equip the legendary Bellows Spear to cut down her enemies. Scathach can perform aerial attacks with the spear, while charged attacks will throw the spear for unblockable damage.

Though her armor weighs heavily, Scathach is strong enough to increase the momentum of her parkour maneuvers and charged attacks.

Scathach will become far stronger through the installation of mods. Strength and Duration mods will benefit all of her abilities, while a Range mod can extend the reach of Shattering Blow, Salmon’s Leap, and Catch & Release.

Scathach was once a great hero – and in the hands of a true Tenno, she can be again.

Stats, Abilities and Augments

Theme: Kinetic Energy, Protector, Grineer Augmentation
Roles: Tank, Melee Damage, Enemy Debuffer/Crowd Control

Health: 150 (450 at rank 30)
Shields: 150 (450 at rank 30)
Armor: 350
Power: 100 (150 at rank 30)
Speed: 0.95
Aura: Madurai ()
Polarities: 2x Vazarin ()

Passive – Momentum: Increased Parkour Velocity and Charged Melee damage.

Shattering Blow: Scathach strikes the air with force enough to shatter bone and armor.

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-          Scathach punches the air with her armored hand, dealing Impact damage to all enemies in a short cone in front of herself. This damage is affected by Power Strength, Range and melee mods, and decreases with distance.

-          Enemies struck will also be debuffed for a duration to lose a flat amount of Base Armor, affected by Power Strength and Duration. If this effect reduces a target below 0 Armor on application, that target is ragdolled. This Armor debuff stacks.

-          If used within Catch & Release, Shattering Blow will deal its full damage throughout the affected radius of Catch & Release, and will not decrease with distance.

-          All enemies struck by Shattering Blow will contribute to the Melee Combo Counter.

-          Two-handed cast, as Scathach rears up to punch; may be used while airborne.

Augment: Shattering Blast – Thrown enemies will become missiles, dealing additional Blast damage to nearby targets at their destination.

-          Blast damage is based on a percentage of the excess armor reduction, and decreases with distance from the impact point, a la explosive weapons .

-          Blast radius is affected by mod rank and Power Range.

Conclave Augment: Concussive Blow – Enemies struck have a chance to lose all active ability buffs.

-          Functions similarly to a Nullifier bubble.

Salmon’s Leap: Scathach propels herself at ballistic speed. Striking a surface releases a shockwave.

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-          Toggled; Scathach rockets towards her crosshairs at high speed, a la Tail Wind. Scathach will continue traveling in a straight line until deactivated, unaffected by gravity. Scathach is unable to perform any other actions while traveling via Salmon’s Leap. Travel speed and cost over time are affected by Power Duration.

-          Upon striking a surface or enemy, or toggling the effect off, a shockwave of Blast damage is instantly released from Scathach’s current location, with its damage and radius increased based on the distance traveled. Base damage and radius are affected by Power Strength and Power Range. Damage is split evenly amongst all targets struck and affected by line of sight.

-          Upon colliding with an enemy directly, Scathach mirrors the full damage of the shockwave as Impact damage against the target, in addition to the Blast damage.

-          Targets caught in the shockwave will all receive knockdown.

-          May be used while airborne.

Augment: Collateral Damage – The shockwave will kick up a cloud of dust and debris.

-          The dust cloud only exists within the shockwave’s base radius.

-          Enemies within the dust cloud are considered blind until leaving.

-          Allies within the dust cloud are considered invisible until leaving.

Catch & Release: Scathach draws on surrounding kinetic energy, robbing the force from incoming attacks and adding it to her own.

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-          Scathach creates a mobile field centered on herself that draws all hostile bullets and projectiles toward her, a la Bullet Attractor. This field is affected by Power Range and Duration.

-          While this field is active, Scathach gains mitigation against all Physical damage types and immunity to all status effects. This mitigation is affected by Power Strength, up to 95%. Elemental damage is unmitigated by this effect.

-          Each time Scathach receives Physical damage during Catch & Release, she gains a buff that multiplies the Physical damage of her next attack (a la Ballistic Battery) based on the original damage of the incoming attack. This buff stacks until Scathach attacks or the field is disabled, and is affected by Power Strength.

-          The damage multiplier is only cleared when Scathach deals Physical damage; for example, an Ogris rocket cannot benefit from the damage multiplier, but will not clear it either. Likewise, the damage multiplier will not be cleared on missed shots.

-          Allied bullets are unaffected by Catch & Release. Allies attempting to shoot at Scathach while Catch & Release is active will yield no result, unlike Absorb.

-          Catch & Release may be disabled at any time by recasting the effect, a la Rift Walk or Cataclysm. Doing so costs no additional energy, and energy generation proceeds as normal while Catch & Release is active.

-          Two-handed cast, may be used while airborne.

Augment: No Release – Enemy movement within the absorption field will contribute to Scathach's damage multiplier.

-          Damage conversion per second of movement per enemy is affected by mod rank.

Bellows Spear: Scathach wields a javelin of legend. Charged attacks will throw the spear for heavy damage.

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-          Toggled; Scathach loses energy every second she wields the Bellows Spear, and cannot use her other equipped weapons until she disables the effect. Cost over time is affected by Power Duration.

-          As with Exalted Blade and the like, Bellows Spear’s damage is affected by Power Strength and whatever mods are equipped to your current melee weapon, and its attack radius is affected by melee Reach.

-          Unlike other polearms, the Bellows Spear has its own unique stance:

• Hound’s Bite (EEEE): Scathach performs a series of circular two-handed slashes, striking a cone in front of herself, ending with narrower and more forceful strikes. Hound’s Bite (EEEE): Scathach performs a series of circular two-handed slashes, striking a cone in front of herself, ending with narrower and more forceful strikes.

• Seven Barbs (E Pause+E EEE): Scathach follows up a slash with an upward strike with the tip of the spear that propels her target into the air, jumps up after them, rapidly stabs them several times before directing them to the ground with a downward impale.

• The Shadow (E RMB+E EEE): Scathach uses the momentum of a slash to revolve the spear around her neck to strike surrounding foes, stopping the spear with her offhand, then firing it from her fingertips with a kinetic blast (catching it before the end of the shaft) and striking with a downward slam as she returns it to her main hand.

• Mortal Pain (EE Forward+E EE): Scathach walks forward, revolving the spear around herself at blinding speed to form a sphere of cuts, ending with a sweeping horizontal slash for maximum reach.

• Twin Leviathans (Counter+E): Scathach wields the spear from the center of the shaft and spins it like a baton, striking the target with both ends for alternating Slash and Impact damage, before ending with a horizontal slash to the throat.

• Gae Bulg (Hold E): If used on the ground, Scathach dips back into a one-handed handstand while putting the Bellows Spear between the toes of one of her feet, then spins on one hand to face her enemy, throwing the spear from her toes with the momentum of the spin. If used in the air, Scathach tosses the spear up, dips back and kicks the spear toward her target before landing on her feet. Targets impaled by either version of this strike will receive Finisher damage and Bleed, but only one target can be struck per throw before the spear reconstitutes in Scathach’s hand.

-          Bellows Spear does not have aerial melee or ground slam attacks; each melee attack she performs while airborne keeps her in the air a few seconds longer. (Note that Salmon's Leap can compensate for the aerial mobility provided by these attacks.)

-          Two-handed cast, may be used while airborne.

Augment: Spear Barrage – Throwing the Bellows Spear will fire additional javelins.

-          Charged attacks will summon additional spears that deal its damage to surrounding enemies as Puncture damage, without Bleed. Number of spears is affected by mod rank.

Additional Notes

Author Commentary

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Scathach’s just designed to be a badass. That’s really all there is to say on the matter.

Originally, I didn’t plan to release a Kinetic Warframe with this list at all. However, a friend of mine asked me to make one (it’s a superpower he’s dreamed about for a few years now), and I felt like I’d been leaning too much on making male casters after Revenant and Aether. If Aether was designed to be the natural opposite to Dust, then it was only right to have a positive Energy-based opposite to an Entropy Warframe as well.

And of course, it would be an excellent opening for a Grineer-based Warframe. Said friend’s a big fan of Jat Kittag.

Coming up with the first three powers was easy: break stuff, and don’t break yourself. It was the ultimate – and the name – that was tricky, as I’d been using the generic production name “Rocket”.

Once we got to the naming process, I was initially set on making a warrior woman from mythology, such as Hippolyta or Atalanta. Of course, I sickened quickly of Greek mythology due to its overuse already. Given the vague Grineer elements, it seemed only right to turn to Celtic mythology instead, as it gave the namesake to their most terrible weapons: the Fomorians.

And then I found her.

Scáthach. The teacher of all of the heroes of Ireland and Scotland, who demanded that those who sought to be her pupils first jump from the mainland to her island in a single bound without touching the water to be worthy, and was able to best all of them in combat. She taught Cú Chulainn (the man who would become the greatest hero of Irish mythology) in both magecraft and martial arts, and she created the spear Gáe Bulg, which was guaranteed to kill a target when thrown from the user’s toes, filling their entire circulatory system with metal barbs in a horrifying manner. Oh, and she gave Cú Chulainn said spear in the hopes that he could use it to kill her, because nothing less would suffice (and he lost the spear and died before he could).
In short, a badass. And it would only do her justice for her Warframe to be no less.

Initially I had this idea (as I’m sure many others had) of the Grineer-themed Warframe being experimented on by the Grineer in an attempt to recreate the Warframes for their own purposes. Of course, since it was a matter of splitting hairs to claim this wasn’t the origin of Valkyr, it never completely sat right with me. Once she was named, I leaned more towards the idea of her instead looting the armor from fallen foes, as trophies from all of the battles from which she returned undefeated.

Signature Weapon: Jat Kittag. Catch & Release was specifically designed with slow, powerful hits in mind.

Syndicates: Steel Meridian have the utmost respect for her willingness to sacrifice herself for her allies, while New Loka see her as a Grineer-slaying saint.

Feel free to leave feedback and constructive criticism, and be sure to check back for art updates and additional commentary!

Very nice designs. I quite like all of these frames. Especially Dust.

 

[Psychic]

#MakeDustAthingAgain Love the concept for dust, I think a time based warframe is an amazing idea, both as a warframe and even for a quest. also this line -->

This is Dust – the seer, the duelist.
Quick and calculating, her first blow is also the last.

Dust rends the barrier of time itself to strike down her foes at the best opportunity

It just makes me want to shell out 250p and have the frame in my inventory.

The concept art is also fantastic @arch111                                      @[DE]Rebecca  make this a thing, talk to your DE friends :3

Edited June 13, 2016 by Lyntrox

[Archwizard]

Saving this for posterity as I replace it in the OP.

 

-          Toggled; Aether manifests a holographic "shadow" while active, similar in appearance to the overlays of Chaos only larger and off-kilter, toward his back. Aether cannot sprint while Twisted Path is active.

-          While Twisted Path is toggled active, Aether's movements leave a trail. This trail is affected by Power Duration and expands its width with Power Range.

-          Enemies that pass through the wake will receive Slash damage and be teleported back to the side they attempted to cross from, but be turned around. Affected enemies are confused for a brief duration, a la Switch Teleport. Damage is affected by Power Strength.

-          Hostile projectiles and bullets fired into or aimed through the wake will be displaced in a random direction, a la Turbulence. Any homing properties are lost, and all affected bullets and projectiles have friendly fire enabled.

-          Two-handed cast, may be used while airborne.

Augment: Twisted Visage – Enemies falter at the sight of your enhanced form.

-          Enemies within a limited range of Aether have a chance every second they remain within range to briefly panic and attempt to flee (ie Terrify). Panic radius is affected by Twisted Path's Power Range, while the panic duration and effectiveness are affected by mod rank only.

Conclave Augment: Mirrored Path – Enemies who pass through the wake have their controls reversed for a duration.

[Rhekemi]

Aether and Dust** are the most appealing as complete warframes, but the effort across all four is good. Which is to say the other two don’t seem as solidly fleshed out.

Will elaborate when I have time.

Outside of my Nzeru concept, this is the first time I've seen a concept that extends the range of allies' powers. (Could be wrong and it's been a thing.)

Plus one for that.

**More time 'frames...

[arch111]

The great thing about you Archwizard, is that you seem to have the mental capacity and patience, to think like a developer.

That's to say, you don't just come up with a theme and powers and then call it a day.

I am happy that the thread is active and in motion.

[Archwizard]

On 6/16/2016 at 4:07 AM, arch111 said:

The great thing about you Archwizard, is that you seem to have the mental capacity and patience, to think like a developer.

That's to say, you don't just come up with a theme and powers and then call it a day.

I prefer to think that if a concept is getting views but no discussion, there's probably something about it that needs adjustment that people aren't saying.

Plus, nobody wants to play a frame that bores them.

[Elydir]

So something I just thought about, does Scath's first ability matter if her ultimate ignores armor anyway? Seems like bad synergy there.

[arch111]

On 2016-6-17 at 10:57 PM, Archwizard said:

I prefer to think that if a concept is getting views but no discussion, there's probably something about it that needs adjustment that people aren't saying.

Plus, nobody wants to play a frame that bores them.

I feel like many ttimes people comment that they like a concept,  or concept art, but they don't necessarily add anything to the thread.

Is that what you mean?

[AkerTheSpjot]

Well, for starters, I adore these concepts. And I'm especially enthralled by Dust and Aether, moreover by your commentary and motivation behind these projects

I mean, you managed to fulfill the need for a Power Duration Enhancer with a Time-manipulating warframe, one of the more popularly requested concepts on the forum, and a Power Range Enhancer, inspired by Lovecraftian Horror, no less!

The train of thought here is just astounding.

Edited June 28, 2016 by The_Vile_Blade
grammar

[Archwizard]

On 6/24/2016 at 0:38 PM, arch111 said:

I feel like many ttimes people comment that they like a concept,  or concept art, but they don't necessarily add anything to the thread.

Is that what you mean?

I mean more... the general statistics of it: This thread has over 3000 views, but less than 100 responses. Meanwhile, a thread that's been up half as long with the same number of views may have double the responses.

I'm not trying to be an attention seeker, but it can be disheartening when someone looks at the work and says nothing. I'm fine if you critique it so it'll get better, or keep the thread alive if you like it, but to say nothing at all just seems like nothing interested or excited you, that you just glossed it over and shrugged.

17 hours ago, The_Vile_Blade said:

Well, for starters, I adore these concept. And I'm especially enthralled by Dust and Aether, moreover by your commentary and motivation behind these projects

I mean, you managed to fulfill the need for a Power Duration Enhancer with a Time-manipulating warframe, one of the more popularly requested concepts on the forum, and a Power Range enhancer, inspired by Lovecraftian Horror, no less!

The train of thought here is just astrounding.

Thank you very much! Those two in particular were more personal challenges, to make something unique yet playable, so it means a lot that people are interested in them.

[arch111]

So first off,  yes I do know what you mean by views and no comments. It happens to alot of us.

It's hard to know exactly why this happens, but I think alot of it is timing and the right group of people seeing something at the same time.

I do wish more would leave a comment, just remember that there are alot of people who follow things and remain silent. That in itself do not mean they are uninterested. 

[arch111]

I have finished the artwork for Revenant!  I have been working on it for a while now and I am really happy with the end result.

Revenant's theme required an equally chaotic and twisted appearance, and the end result is the combination of our three minds; Archwizard, tnccs215 and me.

[Elydir]

Had a thought about Aether. What if his 2 swapped between heavy gravity and low gravity so enemies get knocked down or float?

[Archwizard]

On 7/6/2016 at 1:27 PM, Annon5150 said:

Had a thought about Aether. What if his 2 swapped between heavy gravity and low gravity so enemies get knocked down or float?

You mean a cycling effect like Quiver or Minelayer? It's an idea, but if one makes enemies float, wouldn't that just be Bastille, or maybe Rhino Stomp? And a better CC than the heavy gravity version? Would be a waste of an ability slot to just copy another frame's, and a waste of a cycled effect just to make one unambiguously better than the other.

Maybe it could reduce player gravity within the field instead? But I doubt that has many applications.

Probably better to leave his 2 as-is.

[Elydir]

On 7/7/2016 at 2:15 PM, Archwizard said:

You mean a cycling effect like Quiver or Minelayer? It's an idea, but if one makes enemies float, wouldn't that just be Bastille, or maybe Rhino Stomp? And a better CC than the heavy gravity version? Would be a waste of an ability slot to just copy another frame's, and a waste of a cycled effect just to make one unambiguously better than the other.

Maybe it could reduce player gravity within the field instead? But I doubt that has many applications.

Could have it be so the low gravity version gives players a bonus to jumping and causes enemies to be knocked back by any attack since theyre weightless. And if you chain it with the high gravity version, deal bonus damage.

Also, what do you think of Scathachs 1 having a "charge up" effect like Scarab Swarm? Hold down the button and release for a stronger blast.

Edited July 16, 2016 by Annon5150