Shadow Bladestorm Rework Concept

[(PSN)RenovaKunumaru]

This idea is generally based off of which is not getting the love it deserves.

 

I just wanted to reiterate on how much I love this idea and what I envision for it.

Ash's Bladestorm allows him to summon his clones to fight as well as use his Exalted Daggers.
Exalted daggers use the same animations as Blade Storm's current animations but are performed through combos. Bladestorm is the stance. 

Main_antogonist suggested that Bladestorm gives Ash damage reduction. I agree. Here's what I think should be tweaked:

1. Ash gets damage reduction like Mesa, based on power strength.
2. Ash casts 2 clones at a time. This action is performed by smokescreen. Ash can no longer use smokescreen to go invisible during Blade Storm. 
3. Ash's clones seek out nearby targets (based on power range of initial cast area) inflicting slash damage scaled with power strength and potentially melee mods* for the duration of the clones (which is seperate from bladestorm). 
4. Clones do not do finisher damage
5. Each clone pair cast reduces Ash's damage reduction by 20%*, maximum of 6 clones. (Gotta keep it low for framerate).
6. Ash himself with the exalted daggers still does finisher damage. 
7. Final attack in a Bladestorm combos procs a finisher attack (so you can still proc arcane trickery).

_{*Not being able to go invisible with smokescreen during bladestorm is part of the cost you pay for damage reduction and clones however you can still cast teleport to close the gap between you and your foes.}

                                                                                     

• Power Range: Effects the Distance in which clone will travel from the initial cast radius to attack. Also effects teleport distance
• Power Strength: Effects the Strength of Clones damage and Health as well as Ash's Exalted Daggers and Damage Reduction
• Power Duration: Effects the Duration of Ash's Clones available time active as well as the drain on Exalted Daggers
• Power Efficiency: Effects the Drain per Second on Exalted Daggers. 

 

Main_ was on to something here:

Something of this nature should serve the community on both sides. Ash gets to keep his cool animations and decimating power but cannot nuke the entire map.  He must be interactive in the fight or consider hiding in the shadows while his clones fight for him. The more Ash's clones fight for him, the more Ash opens himself up to damage. Also you wont have to worry about Ash's clones one shotting everything if they are no longer doing finisher damage. 

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How this leads to build variation:

• He can chose to fight himself with no clones and use the exalted daggers, (given the damage reduction of the op). Spam melee? He does the exact same combo from blade storm where he hits an enemy from the front, proceeds to backstab them, then finishes then with the double slice from the front. Of course this would be without the zoomed in camera angle.
• Ash can run a duration build for clones and invisibility. Of course you could use high range to have the clones go out and fight for you exposing yourself to more damage from less reduction. Or you could have a moderate range so you can summon clones to help you fight with while you fight.
• Fatal teleport build would still be viable if you wanted instant kills without energy drain of a 4.

 

How this works in conclave:

My vision for the move in conclave is that the AI hides in smoke and then performs one of Ash's current bladestorm animations once dealing slash damage. You don't have to worry about the AI being stupid, however you should be concerned with the placement of the AI clone. Clone deactivates after a single use or destroyed.

                                                                                     

I've answered an arsenal of questions pertaining to broken build potential so I'd like to address the one's I would consider common:

 

Question: "So  you can build a max effi, then hide to cast clones or go Valkyr Hysteria with superb damage reduction to maul everything. How is that interactive in an engaging non-mindless key-spam way exactly?"

Answer: 

Clones only fight enemies within the initial cast area based on range stat. The more clones you summon the more Ash becomes vulnerable as he loses 20% of damage reduction. 

Sneaky style:

So yes you can hide however if you're not close enough to enemies your shadows won't attack them. Of course maxing out your range offers a reduction to power strength from overextended which lowers the damage of the clones themselves. 

Beserker Style:

As for the Valkyr style of gameplay, having a strong power strength build for that massive hysteria style of gameplay comes with its own weaknesses as well. High drain cost for blade storm if you utilize too much power strength from blind rage. You are not immune to poison (toxin) just like Mesa who gets easily wrecked by it despite shatter shield because it doesn't affect it. 

You also don't benefit from lifestyle like Valkyr does.

Question:  -So Ash becomes more vulnerable when he summon clones, but he can't become invisible while Bladestorm is active, therefore losing it's ONE defensive ability, how does that make sense?

Answer:  Ash gains defensive capability from damage reduction by power strength. The more clones he has active, the less damage reduction is available as a trade off.

I'd love to post more Q&A but for the sake of this post length I'll like the original discussion. https://forums.warframe.com/topic/687236-ash-bladestorm-rework-idea/

 

TL:DR: Ash Uses Blade Storm as a stance keeping his current animations without the camera angle in combos. Blade Storm keeps finisher damage so it is strong. Ash can summon 2 clones at a time to patrol an area but they no longer inflict finisher damage (Slash for them). 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2016 by (PS4)RenovaKunumaru
Removed "Exalted" They're just his hidden blades.

[PsychedelicSnake]

Whenever people want Ash to have an Exalted Weapon, I personally wish for him to have some super radical bladed whips like Takeda from MKX. Because rule of cool.

[(PSN)RenovaKunumaru]

2 minutes ago, PsychedelicSnake said:

Whenever people want Ash to have an Exalted Weapon, I personally wish for him to have some super radical bladed whips like Takeda from MKX. Because rule of cool.

Exalted weapon is just Exalted in name. I wanted Ash to use his 2 hidden daggers. Whether they are referred to as exalted or not is just semantics.

[Nazrethim]

9 minutes ago, (PS4)RenovaKunumaru said:

Exalted weapon is just Exalted in name. I wanted Ash to use his 2 hidden daggers. Whether they are referred to as exalted or not is just semantics.

Also, people have been asking DE to make Ash's blades usable as weapons way before Exalted Blade showed up, at the time it was actually compared to Old Hysteria, since he was the First warframe with inate weapons.

[(PSN)RenovaKunumaru]

12 minutes ago, Nazrethim said:

Also, people have been asking DE to make Ash's blades usable as weapons way before Exalted Blade showed up, at the time it was actually compared to Old Hysteria, since he was the First warframe with inate weapons.

That's perfect then! This serves directly at that purpose.

It's important to me that the concept stays true to the original concept of clones and hidden blades while giving this a more interactive approach.

[main_antagonist]

Woah just read the update on your concept this is looking great! :)

[(PSN)RenovaKunumaru]

8 hours ago, main_antagonist said:

Woah just read the update on your concept this is looking great! :)

I appreciate the feedback. I thought this was a concept so I reposted only to have it brought back here. 

I'm not really getting further criticism on the build though.

I'm thinking finisher damage might be too high on Ash for all attacks however it the base damage is low to begin with, it should scale with the progression of mods accessable to playing keeping him respectable.