Crazy thoughts about Chroma : Remove spectral scream ?

[DeadScream]

Hi ! 

I was just thinking : Chroma's first ability is sadly underpowered and needs a change. However, we got much more complex warframes after he was out, which show DE's capability at making new things. 

Now here's the suggestion : 
what if we changed Chroma's number one by the ability to switch between 4 elements, the energy colour only determining which one is used at the mission start ? 

 

We can imagine new possibilities then : 

Fire Chroma summons Effigy, then switches to Ice Chroma, and when using His elemental ward in Effigy's range, it now allows a Blast ! 

 

What would the community think about it ? 

Edited June 13, 2016 by DeadScream

[(PSN)FriendSharkey]

So I basically swap in Equinox's Day and Night form power A/1 on Chroma so he could run Ice Tank, whatever green does, and Fire Healer. Sure. But  I'd go a little farther and combine Vex Armor and Elemental Ward into one power and open Chroma up to another option to be decided. 

[BeardyKyle]

Basically, yes. I'd like to be able to switch between modes during a mission. Thought that might make him OP - Ice Chroma is already pretty good tank, Fire chroma can heal. Electricity and toxin chroma are hardly used but do have some good abilities.

Then again seeing as the element only affects elemental ward and spectral scream and you can only have 1 instance of each active at a time and it could work out. 

[(XBOX)BURRITO DEVIL]

I mean,you could already add that to SP,there is no need to remove SP in itself,just buff it and give Quiver treatment 

[Gurpgork]

Okay, there's two main problems with this. 

First and foremost, you'd be giving Chroma an ability that does absolutely nothing by itself. That's a bad idea, especially for a first ability, which is the only one Chroma will have when he's leveling up. 

The second and probably bigger problem is that there's nothing really to balance this. Ivara and Vauban can justify having a bunch of abilities at once because none of the abilities packed into Quiver or Minelayer really merit their own ability slot. All of the elemental wards, however, are strong enough to stand on their own as abilities. This would be giving Chroma three more abilities on one slot, without the drawback of all of them being mediocre. 

Edited June 14, 2016 by Gurpgork

[DeadScream]

12 hours ago, Gurpgork said:

Okay, there's two main problems with this. 

First and foremost, you'd be giving Chroma an ability that does absolutely nothing by itself. That's a bad idea, especially for a first ability, which is the only one Chroma will have when he's leveling up. 

The second and probably bigger problem is that there's nothing really to balance this. Ivara and Vauban can justify having a bunch of abilities at once because none of the abilities packed into Quiver or Minelayer really merit their own ability slot. All of the elemental wards, however, are strong enough to stand on their own as abilities. This would be giving Chroma three more abilities on one slot, without the drawback of all of them being mediocre. 

You said exactly the reason why I named this thread "crazy thoughts", of course it's still open to discussion ^^ 

I myself don't know what I actually think about it, as I love the current Chroma (except spectral scream). 

 

However I wouldn't find it OP. Only Effigy would keep the "previous" element, while changing mode would change the elemental ward at the same time or cancel it. So basically it would make Chroma extremely polyvalent, but it would need time to apply different effects so it would still be kind of 'balanced'. Nah ? 

(don't bash pwease)

[Impulse_Nine]

Oh +1! I literally came on to suggest something similar to this.

Gurpgork is quite right in suggesting that the elemental rotator needs to have an actual ability tied to it

I think that ability should be Elemental ward. So when you change element by holding the key down, you cast (perhaps a cheaper version of) elemental ward for 25 energy. This would allow the fire element to be used as an inefficient, but operational, self healing tool too -which I think is neat and in character for him.

This also frees up Chroma to have a proper passive. I suggest mild resistance to whichever element he is imbued by as it fits in with his intro text "This is Chroma, an ancient legend, master of the elements. When all the land is in ruins, Tenno, only Chroma will remain" -Lotus

I also suggest that Spectral scream fill the void Elemental Ward would leave behind by being moved into the 2nd ability slot, having its damage doubled (maybe even more) and its status improved to 80-100%. Atlases "Petrifying gaze" shows just how effective a speed impairing control focused channelled abilities can be. A damaging (but less controlling) variant would, I think, be nicely different while still being intuitive and effective to use.

Of course, as with Equinox, his energy colour could still determine his initial element.

 

Not a big rework, but one that would bring use to Spectral Scream, as well as deliver what his namesake promises- someone who masters the elements to best his enemies.

But, of course, that's all just my opinion ;)

 

P.S. If you could make Toxin do something more noticeable, that would be great. I like faster weapon swaps and reload, but it pales in comparison to the three other elements. But if I could just swap away from Toxin when I didn't want it, maybe this doesn't matter so much anyway? Two birds, one stone!

[Sajochi]

Might I suggest reading some of the suggestions here:

This is a larger scale rework ( using the general term, it's more of a tuning) that I and a few members of the community thought would be nice changes for Chroma. We also ran into balancing elemental switching as it can lead to things becoming a bit OP.

The idea was to place the switch on EW. The problem that arises is switching elements for EW can cause serious issues in balance: heal with fire, switch, cast ice for armor. To circumvent this, I came up with an elemental lock "debuff" for EW. Once you cast a ward, EW cannot be refreshed for a short amount of time (10s) by switching elements. The old buff is overwritten by the new buff. This prevents buff stacking and quick switching while allowing for the other abilities to benefit from changing elements.

Give the thread a read, we touched on pretty much everything for Chroma.

[DrBorris]

You don't have to remove it, just make it like Ivara/Booben. Tap to switch elementals and hold to "scream".

 

Then make the proc chance 100% because reasons.