(In depth) Fixing Oberon, by someone who actually plays him.

[batdan1]

Oberon is the frame that everyone likes to call bad, but in reality Oberon is on the cusp of being a really viable frame (Radiation always scales) but is held back by a few problems that has lead to him being slightly worse then the more traditional options. If you need hard cc Oberon's Reckoning is outclassed by the likes of Rhinos stomp or Nyx's Chaos and If you need heals Trinity has more and has it on speed dial. 

But every time I check the forums for Oberon reworks it's just some guy who probably played Oberon for a grand total of twenty minutes and decided they would change the entire theme of his character or just didn't get his problems. So, as I don't even want to risk the chance that DE might actually listen to some of these posts, I'll go over all of Oberon's problems and spitball some of the more reasonable solutions.

The problems:

• Horrible passive
• Augment dependent
• Long cast times
• Range issues

Now lets go over what can be done one by one.

Horrible passive:

His current passive "One with nature" is absolute garbo, it is almost never utilized and due to Oberon being a radiation based frame any enemy that would join your side would probably been radiated to begin with.

The solution:

Change the passive to "Uranium hunger." This passive could be one of two things.

First idea: enemy's affect by Oberon's radiation procs will heal Oberon/His allies for a percentage of their max health once killed (say 5%). Idea behind this is simple, scales well, and rewards killing high level units. (Also this ability only heals the frame that actually lands the killing blow)

Second idea: enemy's affect by Oberon's radiation procs will have an increased chance of dropping health orbs. Scales worse, but could be considered more balanced.

 

Augment dependent: 

Oberon's augments are really fantastic but they do unfortunately take up mod slots that Oberon sorely needs, Phoenix renewal is a necessity for high level missions and Hallowed Reckoning makes reviving downed teammates a walk in the park. There are some that prefer to ignore Oberon's augments but trust me, once you get to late game content these are a must.

Solution: I don't believe that these should be changed two much but this can be solved by a simple change that can also solve his other issues in range and cast times. (see solution for range and cast times)

 

Cast times: 

The main issue for Oberon, makes natural talent a necessity and without it I can guarantee that when you walk around a corner into a high level corpus tech he will drop you before you react.

Solution: The simple solution is to this is to buff his cast times, however the better solution for this doesn't involve Oberon at all and that solution is... Make Natural Talent an exilus mod, solves mod space, range issues and cast times. Easy.

 

Range: 

All of Oberon's abilities need range and all of them lack it, due to this you have to sacrifice suitability in order to mod in that additional range. But unlike Rhino or Nyx, Oberon has a hard time living long enough to get in range to use his cc, This causes Oberon to feel really squishy and makes it hard to actually benefit from Renewal.

Solution: Again, Make Natural talent an exilus mod, or buff his base range on his second ability and fourth.

 

And there you go, that's the 100% definitive solution. Hire me. 

_{also make his second ability more squarish or round, that would be pretty good}

 

 

[(PSN)CaptainIMalik]

Or his passive can be that supporting animals randomly join him like Batman Nolan trilogy where a swarm of bats came to help Bats

Another one people suggested is Oberon being allowed two companions at the same time in a single mission

Edited December 29, 2016 by (PS4)CaptainIMalik

[NinjaZeku]

While the casting animation for Renewal is indeed way too long,
I really don't see Natural Talent being an Exilus Mod as (necessary or) the fix to his biggest problems.

[BTW, Reckoning CC is pretty much instant.]

FWIW, here's what I might change:

His current passive could be tweaked to be permanent (with, say, a 5 pet limit),
assuming we're getting some more tameable wildlife etc in more tilesets Soon^TM.
Otherwise, sure, something like "irradiated enemies dying within X meters of Oberon drop Health X% of the time" could be neat.

Renewal needs a decision from DE whether it's a duration or toggle ability,
being both just doesn't work well (see the buff / fix for World On Fire).
Plus, that weird low Duration = longer-lasting heals (and thus Phoenix Renewal) mechanic needs to go.

Reckoning could definitely use more Range (and maybe damage),
the Health Orb thing should not depend on Reckoning itself killing stuff (see possible Passive).
Although ... if the damage / slam master part were to stay the same
but the blind radius got a significant boost and enabled Finishers, that might be pretty sweet, also.

Now we come to the big one, Hallowed Ground.
TBH, not sure how to properly fix this, there's so much wrong with it, might as well replace it entirely :P
[No, not with any Exalted Mace / Shield / whatever nonsense thankyouverymuch.]
But, I guess here are some ideas:
- bigger AoE (it's seriously tiny by default)
- longer base duration (see point above, Narrow Minded just isn't an option)
- circular AoE (make it fit nicely under a Snow Globe already dangit)
- spherical AoE (many tiles just aren't nicely flat), maybe with a Cataclysm-like positioning mechanic
- aura around Oberon (maybe with a press vs hold option to be able to also deploy stationary versions)
- flat (scaling with Strength) Armor boost so you can actually help out squishies
- synergy enabler, e.g. giving boosts to Smite and Reckoning when cast from / on enemies within HG
- better visuals (first Firewalker, now Ravenous, what the Hek)
- possibly remove the damage part and have it give more / bigger buffs plus some CC aspects instead

Also, that (bugged, I assume) delay between casting and having HG pop into existence when you have lots of Range
(my 235% Range build has a 3+ seconds wait time during which no abilities can be used at all,
and Hayden have mercy if I also get the +Range Fissure Corruption buff) needs to be gone yesterday.

Edited December 29, 2016 by NinjaZeku

[BeardyKyle]

as an Oberon player myself I'd say these are the changes he needs:

• Passive:  In addition to taking control of wildlife. Oberon gains increased max health while wildlife is in the area (including companions)
• Roll hallowed ground into Renewal - So Renewal orbs when reaching their target will "link" Oberon to his allies increasing his and their max armor by 20% of His base armor and also providing status immunity. Give it a set positive duration or full toggle.
• Increase hallowed ground's base range and give it a function to "link" with nearby hallowed grounds - essentially letting you stack it side by side in addition to overlaying. Enemies that die on Hallowed Ground have a 50% chance to drop health. Taking damage on Hallowed ground coverts a % of it into stacks that increase his power strength with a hard limit.
• Reckoning remains the same.

[Soulvengeance]

Been playing Oberon since his release, he was broken then and the status utility was simply a band-aid.  Over all, they need to decide now, Paladin, or Druid.  He can not fill both roles with out failing at both roles.  These Ideas are nice, but if DE really needs to stop producing new content for 1 month, no frames, no guns, nothing.  Focus all attention on the current warframes to bring them all into balance + or - 15-20%.  As it stands zypher, hydroid, Oberon, and many others are usless in later content compared to our flavor of the month frames.  Some like Chroma are beautiful concept but skills need mechanic rework such as channeling or simply can not be swiped by nullifier.  In total, what drove me away from this game keeps me from putting in anymore money and thats sever imbalance of the frames.  Who knows, its a new year, maybe they may change their ways and fix what has been released. 

[Insizer]

I don't main Oberon, but since the introduction of those butterfly wing syandana (which pair really well with his premium skin) I've started using him more.

• I agree his passive is rather annoying, having him spawn ethereal wildlife or that kills on radiation proc'd enemies = heals would be nice.
• Natural Talent should be an exilus mod (it is mandatory for many frames like Limbo and Titania), but I don't recall it being a must for Oberon (I can't recall my build atm).
• His augments by and large suck, with Phoenix Renewal being a prime example.
• I'd say a issue is how his defensive buff is limits his movement in some situations. I'd say allow him to carry Hallowed Ground like Electric Shield's Riot Shield function, but have someone not drunk design the drain costs. While carried Hallowed Ground (lets call it Hallowed Aura for this case, for clarity's sake) will be a radial area rather than a rectangular carpet. Seriously, being able to carry a deployed power is very good, and was a great buff mechanically for E.Shield (and would have been a great buff in reality if the cost wasn't completely unjustifiable).

3 hours ago, Soulvengeance said:

Been playing Oberon since his release, he was broken then and the status utility was simply a band-aid.  Over all, they need to decide now, Paladin, or Druid.  He can not fill both roles with out failing at both roles.  These Ideas are nice, but if DE really needs to stop producing new content for 1 month, no frames, no guns, nothing.  Focus all attention on the current warframes to bring them all into balance + or - 15-20%.  As it stands zypher, hydroid, Oberon, and many others are usless in later content compared to our flavor of the month frames.  Some like Chroma are beautiful concept but skills need mechanic rework such as channeling or simply can not be swiped by nullifier.  In total, what drove me away from this game keeps me from putting in anymore money and thats sever imbalance of the frames.  Who knows, its a new year, maybe they may change their ways and fix what has been released. 

I couldn't agree more. Seriously, like declare that every other month or one month every 2 months be devoted exclusively to bug fixes and reworks and such. In the meanwhile the Art department isn't under as much pressure.

[(PSN)Darth-Escar]

I really doubt your level of testing. Barring his passive, which is really just an incredible annoyance, those issues are trivial to get around, and can be done so in many ways. For augments, simply save the slot for more crowd control, so you have an easier time not getting hit. His cast times are usually problematic, because people spam Reckoning for the knock downs, which are the better form of CC, but keeping your distance makes the radiation procs highly viable as well, so you save time and energy. Seeing as he procs radiation, with Reckoning's and Smite's range, you shouldn't have any issues with even dealing with enemies further than that. His numerous bugs are really his biggest issue. (Also Hallowed Ground but that doesn't break him.)

[Soulvengeance]

Tested him a lot, out side solo play there is no reason to bring him over most other warframes.  Most players are die hard and do not want to give him up, I certainly do not want to give up on Oberon, but sadly, we do not fare well in later content.  This is not failure of the CC but more or less failure of our healing mechanics, lack of damage scaling, and a passive that is ......no comment.

The one trick he really has in group is radiation which, is nice, but useless in groups.  For this reason they usually go loki and Nidus/Vauben.   What most of us are asking  is to rework him so he scales better and is more group oriented in how the skill mechanics actually work.   (example, make renewal stay on until deactivated by player, not capped hp).  

[(PSN)Darth-Escar]

His healing is fine as is. It's effective, because it's available when needed. If Oberon's healing isn't enough for somebody, they're playing badly. People complain, because it may take 10 or so seconds to be healed by Oberon, but if they can't survive for 10 seconds after getting hit, they're playing badly. That means they'd be 100% reliant on healing or protection from a warframe like Trinity or Nezha, which is only acceptable if the squad is set up for that. For damage, melee is the best way to go. He can take advantage of ground finishers quite well. Reckoning, with enough power strength, can kill some of the lesser enemies, even at high levels, especially with Hallowed Reckoning, and a good amount of duration.

This shows Oberon healing, buffing, and doing some good damage with Reckoning. (Sadly, the first Renewal and maybe others glitch.)

This shows his great CC with high ground finisher damage. (Sadly, again, there's a glitch at the end, which in this case disables my melee.)

 

Edited December 31, 2016 by (PS4)Darth-Escar

[(PSN)CommanderC2121]

I just want renewal to be a toggle, no duration and doesnt get cut off when full hp. Then i can stack strength and outheal damage while using rage to get energy to out heal damage that then becomes energy to ...,.well, you get the idea. 

Smite is a great 1, hallowed ground is bad, but i dont really use it, so if it got a buff, great. If not, oh well. Make renewal a toggle, and maybe make the enemies affected by reckoning stay in the air longer with duration mods. 

[Soulvengeance]

When you post videos of runs pls include short description of who your running with (warframes) and the results page.  on lvl 40-50 trash mobs we do decent damage but so do all frames.  Here is the deal, you can give great weapons to any warframe and do well.  What most of us are talking about is the raw warframe.  The heal is great but really should remain on unless toggled.  Hallowed Ground waste of space. Going to give one more try to Hollowed ground augment spamming see if those 4k-6k per sec aoes are worth it.  Ty for the videos Darth, if you have the results would love to see what frames you ran with and relative damage/ability use.

[(PSN)Exia0321]

On 12/28/2016 at 10:48 PM, (PS4)CaptainIMalik said:

Or his passive can be that supporting animals randomly join him like Batman Nolan trilogy where a swarm of bats came to help Bats

Another one people suggested is Oberon being allowed two companions at the same time in a single mission

Yeah I really think Oberon would be a great frame to give this ability to--selecting 2 companions would be highly desirable. 

I do agree that Oberon's cast times and low range when combined into one frame are a deal breaker.

I really hope when it is time for his prime he gets a ton of tweaks and upgrades to his current kit. 

[(PSN)Darth-Escar]

@Soulvengeance what exactly are you asking for? I understand showing the mission results and squad, but am I really expected to do well without good weapons? If so, to what degree are we talking about here? There are plenty of good warframes, like Chroma, Nyx, and Loki, who can only really deal as much damage as their weapons allow.

[Soulvengeance]

No just what you were running with, what kind of weapons you were using ect.   Gives general idea of how your doing in relations to the other guys your with.  These results are all relative but it gives some sense of placment.  Ty for the uploads.

 

20 minutes ago, (PS4)Darth-Escar said:

@Soulvengeance what exactly are you asking for? I understand showing the mission results and squad, but am I really expected to do well without good weapons? If so, to what degree are we talking about here? There are plenty of good warframes, like Chroma, Nyx, and Loki, who can only really deal as much damage as their weapons allow.

 

[(PSN)lhbuch]

On 29/12/2016 at 0:37 AM, batdan1 said:

Oberon is the frame that everyone likes to call bad, but in reality Oberon is on the cusp of being a really viable frame (Radiation always scales) but is held back by a few problems that has lead to him being slightly worse then the more traditional options. If you need hard cc Oberon's Reckoning is outclassed by the likes of Rhinos stomp or Nyx's Chaos and If you need heals Trinity has more and has it on speed dial. 

But every time I check the forums for Oberon reworks it's just some guy who probably played Oberon for a grand total of twenty minutes and decided they would change the entire theme of his character or just didn't get his problems. So, as I don't even want to risk the chance that DE might actually listen to some of these posts, I'll go over all of Oberon's problems and spitball some of the more reasonable solutions.

The problems:

• Horrible passive
• Augment dependent
• Long cast times
• Range issues

Now lets go over what can be done one by one.

Horrible passive:

His current passive "One with nature" is absolute garbo, it is almost never utilized and due to Oberon being a radiation based frame any enemy that would join your side would probably been radiated to begin with.

The solution:

Change the passive to "Uranium hunger." This passive could be one of two things.

First idea: enemy's affect by Oberon's radiation procs will heal Oberon/His allies for a percentage of their max health once killed (say 5%). Idea behind this is simple, scales well, and rewards killing high level units. (Also this ability only heals the frame that actually lands the killing blow)

Second idea: enemy's affect by Oberon's radiation procs will have an increased chance of dropping health orbs. Scales worse, but could be considered more balanced.

 

Augment dependent: 

Oberon's augments are really fantastic but they do unfortunately take up mod slots that Oberon sorely needs, Phoenix renewal is a necessity for high level missions and Hallowed Reckoning makes reviving downed teammates a walk in the park. There are some that prefer to ignore Oberon's augments but trust me, once you get to late game content these are a must.

Solution: I don't believe that these should be changed two much but this can be solved by a simple change that can also solve his other issues in range and cast times. (see solution for range and cast times)

 

Cast times: 

The main issue for Oberon, makes natural talent a necessity and without it I can guarantee that when you walk around a corner into a high level corpus tech he will drop you before you react.

Solution: The simple solution is to this is to buff his cast times, however the better solution for this doesn't involve Oberon at all and that solution is... Make Natural Talent an exilus mod, solves mod space, range issues and cast times. Easy.

 

Range: 

All of Oberon's abilities need range and all of them lack it, due to this you have to sacrifice suitability in order to mod in that additional range. But unlike Rhino or Nyx, Oberon has a hard time living long enough to get in range to use his cc, This causes Oberon to feel really squishy and makes it hard to actually benefit from Renewal.

Solution: Again, Make Natural talent an exilus mod, or buff his base range on his second ability and fourth.

 

And there you go, that's the 100% definitive solution. Hire me. 

_{also make his second ability more squarish or round, that would be pretty good}

 

 

You have really good points. Can you please show your build for phoenix renewal end game?