Hydroid overhaul by D20 : for a warframe like water.

[LascarCapable]

If I remember correctly, I already talked about Hydroid in one of my threads. But I think it's time to review him once again. That thread will remain fairly small though.

It's no surprise that a lot of people here are considering Hydroid as underperforming. Let's face it, Hydroid is a CC warframe who sadly lacks reliability to make him relevant compared to the most used Warframe with CC powers, like Frost or Inaros who also double as tanks. Well, Hydroid does not tank and all he seems to be able to do is non-reliable CC. Let's fix that.

There's many of you who suggest to downright rework the Warframe, but honestly when you think about it I don't think a massive rework is that necessary. With a few well placed quality of life changes and a single skill rework, I think we can make Hydroid both a fun warframe to play as and a useful one. For my overhaul suggestion, I would like to focus on an underexploited Hydroid trait : his ability to avoid damage.

Let's directly jump to the skill overhauls :

1. Tempest Barrage : cast is now one handed. The goal behind that change is to make sure that Hydroid is not an easy target anymore while casting the skill. Sure, it's a rather strong skill for a 1st power, but it's far from being "Inaros level" strong (and it shouldn't be that strong either). The casting time is already quite long. Making it one handed would be fair.
2. Tidal Surge : skill is now recastable. Wait... How is that useful ? Because with such a change, you would be able to cancel your current Tidal Surge instance for a new one, allowing you to manoeuver through the tileset without crashing on the walls ! Pretty fun QoL change.
3. Undertow : does not trap enemies anymore. Hydroid can now move while Undertow is used at normal run speed (not sprint speed). Hydroid cannot jump while undertow is active however. Cancelling undertow will trigger a geyzer at the player's location, ragdolling targets upward in a radius equal to the puddle's radius. Enemies stepping on the puddle will trip and fall on the ground (pretty much like Vauban's tripwire). You can cast Tidal Surge while undertow is active. Undertow now has a maximum duration of 8/10/12/14 seconds. See the logic behind that ? Once again it's all about being elusive. About to get downed by a gang of grineers ? Just cast undertow, tidal surge in the mass, pop back, kill the grineers. It's as fun and simple as that. Undertow would give Hydroid some survivability by allowing him to bypass damage in a pretty nifty way. Also, that small rework get rid of a very annoying trolling exploit.
4. Tentacle Swarm : tentacles now have limited hp and can be targeted by enemies. When a tentacle is killed, a new one will pop back at a the same location than the enemy who killed it. If you or an ally are aiming at a tentacle, it'll stop moving so you can aim the enemy stuck on it. There's two objectives behind that change : first it allows Tentacle Swarm to do a much better job at CCing targets by acting both like something that distracts enemies and being more reliable overall, second it makes the skill much more lively, like if it was a real beast, trying to seek out for things harming it. Tentacles have health for sure, but you shouldn't mind that at all since a "killed" tentacle would be quickly replaced by a new one.

That's about it. Those changes should, I hope, make Hydroid more fun to play while giving him a very welcomed boost. I await your opinions. :)

[SDGDen]

sounds great. exept maybe make it so ALL his skills are castable from undertow and keep it as a drain ability. 

 

masters of moist assemble!

[Synpai]

That tentacle swarm change would be amazing.

 

I would almost like to see tidal surge be toggle/duration based where it alters your other movement abilities.

Bullet jumping will cause you to become a wave.

Sliding would have a forward momentum that leaves a trail of water that speeds up teammates and has a chance of tripping enemies*.

 

Undertow should be a cast puddle(rather than Hydroid being the puddle) with a chance to trip enemies instead of consuming them*; however, Hydroid will cloak(preferred, so you can still play/use guns and other abilities :D)/melt when on puddles Then the augment can make it damage enemies overtime and heal allies!

 

There's also chance of Synergy with abilities:

Tempest Barrage could increase puddle duration.

Tempest Barrage creates a Geyser when aimed at a puddle.

Tentacles become frenzied when near puddles.

 

I hope they make another water themed frame, cause I really want water bubbles and hydroid doesnt quite fit the bill.

 

*OMFG just realized Sub-Zero reference; speaking of which the whole "tripping field" and sliding trail might be mechanics DE saves for a potential Ice Warframe

[dan.io.wal]

If these changes were implemented I would really want to pick him up. He seems like a fun frame, just broken mechanically.

[LascarCapable]

4 hours ago, SupremeDutchGamer said:

sounds great. exept maybe make it so ALL his skills are castable from undertow and keep it as a drain ability. 

 

masters of moist assemble!

That might be asking a for bit too much. Not sure though. Gotta see how it's going with the changes suggested in the OP first. Anyway, glad that you liked the suggestions. :)

3 hours ago, Synpai said:

That tentacle swarm change would be amazing.

 

I would almost like to see tidal surge be toggle/duration based where it alters your other movement abilities.

Bullet jumping will cause you to become a wave.

Sliding would have a forward momentum that leaves a trail of water that speeds up teammates and has a chance of tripping enemies*.

 

Undertow should be a cast puddle(rather than Hydroid being the puddle) with a chance to trip enemies instead of consuming them*; however, Hydroid will cloak(preferred, so you can still play/use guns and other abilities :D)/melt when on puddles Then the augment can make it damage enemies overtime and heal allies!

 

There's also chance of Synergy with abilities:

Tempest Barrage could increase puddle duration.

Tempest Barrage creates a Geyser when aimed at a puddle.

Tentacles become frenzied when near puddles.

 

I hope they make another water themed frame, cause I really want water bubbles and hydroid doesnt quite fit the bill.

 

*OMFG just realized Sub-Zero reference; speaking of which the whole "tripping field" and sliding trail might be mechanics DE saves for a potential Ice Warframe

Glad that you liked the tentacle swarm changes. :)

I will consider adding one or two more synergies if necessary.

2 hours ago, danthedapper said:

If these changes were implemented I would really want to pick him up. He seems like a fun frame, just broken mechanically.

Glad that you like the suggested changes. :)

 

EDIT : I forgot to add a small QoL addition to Tentacle Swarm. Now if you look at the tentacle, it will stop moving and let you hit the target. It also works with allies.

[Aquasurge]

i think we need to give tempest barrage a little bit of homing mechanics to make up for the inconsistency. i can be quite tedious to aim at a target and not see anything happen to them.

Edited January 17, 2017 by Aquasurge

[LascarCapable]

4 hours ago, Aquasurge said:

i think we need to give tempest barrage a little bit of homing mechanics to make up for the inconsistency. i can be quite tedious to aim at a target and not see anything happen to them.

It's not that bad if you consider that base explosion radius is 5m while the barrage radius is 10m, and power range will increase the explosion radius without touching the barrage radius. (source : http://warframe.wikia.com/wiki/Hydroid )

 

I added a small addition to undertow : enemies who walk into the puddle will trip and fall on the ground.

[MotherofHermes]

#taunttentacles2017

[LascarCapable]

Hey boys, you know what ?

Great news ! :)