Chroma Changes

[(PSN)SupeBoss]

Chroma is my favorite Warframe (may soon be Nidus, though).
His parts awarded in junctions, he has his own quest, and he requires components from other Warframes to build. He's 375p in the market! Clearly, people want Chroma when they play this game, and I'm assuming that newbies are buying him outright.

But let's be real. Chroma has only 2 good abilities. He also has no passive (no, that is not a passive).
I just think that he needs a few small changes to become a very solid tank.

Passive - Increased threat level. When attacked via melee, Chroma gains +100 base armor for 5 seconds (does not stack, but can be refreshed with each attack).

1. Spectral Blast - Chroma's pelt unleashes a 360 degree blast of Toxin/Electicity/Fire/Cold damage with 100% chance of knockdown and 50% chance of proc (based on element) at max level. 8m range - not affected by mods.
2. Elemental Ward - Same as before, but also enemies within 10m of Chroma are taunted and will attempt melee instead of shooting. Remains a duration-based ability due to ally buff
3. Vex Armor - basically the exact same, but Vex armor is now a toggle-drain (3e/s). Interaction with nullifiers is similar to Nidus. The bubble eats away at his vex armor buildup percentages (at a much faster rate than they eat at Nidus' stacks) and increase energy drain rapidly, but does NOT "turn off" the ability (should be the case for all toggle-drain abilities). Note that he would need this interaction since he will draw nullifiers (within 10m) toward him with his 2.
4. Effigy - energy drain of 5 per second. Instead of targeted damage, Effigy breathes Toxin/Fire/Cold/Electricity into the ground to create an elemental AoE radius (think Zenistar). Casting Spectral Blast within range of Effigy will double the blast's range. AoE Range - 12m - not affected by mods.

With this change, I'd obviously have to re-forma my Chroma, but I would be able to use all of his abilities. I would like to put Vex armor and Ward together, but I'd assume that's too much to ask for.
Chroma would lose a bit of power strength, due to the toggle (no blind rage), so I think that this would balance Chroma to a good place in the game.

Edited January 19, 2017 by (PS4)SupeBoss

[(PSN)B0XMAN517]

I hate to scream "OP", but OP.

[(PSN)SupeBoss]

29 minutes ago, (PS4)B0XMAN517 said:

I hate to scream "OP", but OP.

in what way, exactly?

Possibly the effigy mechanics, yes (even though it isn't affected by range) - but other than that, I don't see much that can be exploited.

[Guest]

Providing some sort of synergy between his 1 and 4 isn't a bad idea.  His current 1 is already expensive and has a terrible base range.  Changing it to an AOE cc isn't a bad idea, but leaving its range unmoddable doesn't sound like the best plan.  His kit shouldn't favor as much min-maxing as it does now and there should be an incentive to spec range, as with electric ward.

Honestly I don't see why vex and ward can't be combined, providing space for a new ability.  Chromas kit has basically been about face tanking damage while buffing your own and has very little in regards to cc.  It's a major weak point in his kit, since he has no option but to retreat when his vex and ward are about to expire.  His effigy does a reliable 20m AOE stun shortly after cast, but it's slow to activate, expensive, brief, and not at all recastable.  This very unreliable cc can't provide Chroma with breathing room for refreshing his defenses like rhino can with stomp.

As I see it, he could combine vex and ward to get a bit of reliable, predictable, relatively-not-spectacular-but-acceptable cc.   Alternatively, his vex could be tweaked to apply mitigation to the attack that grants the mitigation, so that he no longer has to rely on self damage at high levels.  This would free him from the need to retreat and rebuff and he wouldn't need a cc ability.  This option is less team-oriented, however.  Making vex channeled could achieve the same thing, as it'd be persistent.  However, he'd need an overall energy rebalance, since he would no longer benefit at all from siphon or zenurik.

Giving ward innate threat, or making it act like djinn defeats the purpose of the ward, especially with the augment.  Why give allies bonus stats and reflective damage if everything just stops shooting and tries meleeing Chroma himself?  The only useful team buff becomes toxin, and that varies by weapon choice.

Effigy already does frontal AOE damage, with periodic 360 dmg, 360 stuns, and 360 knockdowns.  It could definitely stand to be a bit more controllable by the player, or to have some sort of synergies with his other abilities.  

[(PSN)B0XMAN517]

50 minutes ago, (PS4)SupeBoss said:

Passive - Increased threat level. When attacked via melee, Chroma gains +100 base armor for 5 seconds (does not stack, but can be refreshed with each attack).

1. Spectral Blast - Chroma's pelt unleashes a 360 degree blast of Toxin/Electicity/Fire/Cold damage with 100% chance of knockdown and 50% chance of proc (based on element) at max level. 8m range - not affected by mods.
2. Elemental Ward - Same as before, but also enemies within 10m of Chroma are taunted and will attempt melee instead of shooting. Remains a duration-based ability due to ally buff
3. Vex Armor - basically the exact same, but Vex armor is now a toggle-drain (3e/s). Interaction with nullifiers is similar to Nidus. The bubble eats away at his vex armor buildup percentages (at a much faster rate than they eat at Nidus' stacks) and increase energy drain rapidly, but does NOT "turn off" the ability (should be the case for all toggle-drain abilities). Note that he would need this interaction since he will draw nullifiers (within 10m) toward him with his 2.
4. Effigy - energy drain of 5 per second. Instead of targeted damage, Effigy breathes Toxin/Fire/Cold/Electricity into the ground to create an elemental AoE radius (think Zenistar). Casting Spectral Blast within range of Effigy will double the blast's range. AoE Range - 12m - not affected by mods.

With this change, I'd obviously have to re-forma my Chroma, but I would be able to use all of his abilities. I would like to put Vex armor and Ward together, but I'd assume that's too much to ask for.
Chroma would lose a bit of power strength, due to the toggle (no blind rage), so I think that this would balance Chroma to a good place in the game.

 

[-N7-Leonhart]

13 minutes ago, (PS4)SupeBoss said:

in what way, exactly?

Possibly the effigy mechanics, yes (even though it isn't affected by range) - but other than that, I don't see much that can be exploited.

Possibly in the sense that even now while I play Chroma I feel that it's so OP it's unfair? With the right build, not even 20 lvl 145 Heavy Gunners at the same time in the Simulacrum couldn't kill be before I killed them.

I love Chroma, but I know that more power than this will be excessive and it will have the exact opposite effect.

Edited January 19, 2017 by -BM-Leonhart

[(PSN)SupeBoss]

5 minutes ago, TheDefenestrater said:

Providing some sort of synergy between his 1 and 4 isn't a bad idea.  His current 1 is already expensive and has a terrible base range.  Changing it to an AOE cc isn't a bad idea, but leaving its range unmoddable doesn't sound like the best plan.  His kit shouldn't favor as much min-maxing as it does now and there should be an incentive to spec range, as with electric ward.

Honestly I don't see why vex and ward can't be combined, providing space for a new ability.  Chromas kit has basically been about face tanking damage while buffing your own and has very little in regards to cc.  It's a major weak point in his kit, since he has no option but to retreat when his vex and ward are about to expire.  His effigy does a reliable 20m AOE stun shortly after cast, but it's slow to activate, expensive, brief, and not at all recastable.  This very unreliable cc can't provide Chroma with breathing room for refreshing his defenses like rhino can with stomp.

As I see it, he could combine vex and ward to get a bit of reliable, predictable, relatively-not-spectacular-but-acceptable cc.   Alternatively, his vex could be tweaked to apply mitigation to the attack that grants the mitigation, so that he no longer has to rely on self damage at high levels.  This would free him from the need to retreat and rebuff and he wouldn't need a cc ability.  This option is less team-oriented, however.  Making vex channeled could achieve the same thing, as it'd be persistent.  However, he'd need an overall energy rebalance, since he would no longer benefit at all from siphon or zenurik.

Giving ward innate threat, or making it act like djinn defeats the purpose of the ward, especially with the augment.  Why give allies bonus stats and reflective damage if everything just stops shooting and tries meleeing Chroma himself?  The only useful team buff becomes toxin, and that varies by weapon choice.

Effigy already does frontal AOE damage, with periodic 360 dmg, 360 stuns, and 360 knockdowns.  It could definitely stand to be a bit more controllable by the player, or to have some sort of synergies with his other abilities.  

All good points, but I would like to limit range on Chroma, as I think it best suits him as a tank instead of using him for constant knockdown spam at range. If it was affected by mods, then it would have to be within reasonable range, or maybe line of sight.

Agree with the point on the threat as well. Chroma isn't very team oriented, plus I like the usage of Everlasting Ward. I didn't want to try to combine that with Vex Armor, unless it was his ultimate.

[(PSN)SupeBoss]

Just now, -BM-Leonhart said:

Possibly in the sense that even now while I play Chroma I feel that it's so OP it's unfair? With the right build, not even 20 lvl 145 Heavy Gunners at the same time in the Simulacrum couldn't kill be before I killed them.

But that's simply due to min-maxing Vex Armor/Elemental Ward.
I'm arguing that his other 2 abilities are terrible, and should be made more useful. (Effigy is good in niche situations and farming)

[-N7-Leonhart]

1 minute ago, (PS4)SupeBoss said:

But that's simply due to min-maxing Vex Armor/Elemental Ward.
I'm arguing that his other 2 abilities are terrible, and should be made more useful. (Effigy is good in niche situations and farming)

Yes, but you proposed buffs to even those already powerful abilities and the base armor. I agree the others may need a buff, but excesses are never good.

[Guest]

Speccing for big range will hurt his duration and strength, forcing him to rely more on a short spam cc than on tanking damage.  Even valkyr can do this with her shout, creating what used to be a very effective spammed stun.  It's not very fun gameplay though.  

It is a really cool idea to make casting from near effigy grant bonus range, since using effigy encourages you to camp, while the reduction to your armor means you need cc to prevent some incoming damage.  It would be cool if effigy could provide decent buffs to allies in range.

[RistN]

10 hours ago, (PS4)SupeBoss said:

in what way, exactly?

Possibly the effigy mechanics, yes (even though it isn't affected by range) - but other than that, I don't see much that can be exploited.

While having cold (white)energy on and active 2 and 3, on my build that is only 200%power strength + growing power ,i have 1000+% armor buff and 5x dmg buff with both buffs lasting 55 secounds.if 400 shields are damaged you get max armor buff and 100 health damaged give you max dmg buff.This can be easily achieved by using self-damage weapons.I use hikou prime with mod Concealed explosives mod on it.

All of that means that my Chroma with almost 9000 armor is one shoting half of the map with my ignis in high lvl mission.That's OP.

You should know all of this if Chroma is you're favorite frame.Effigy is good ability(that is 3,not 2 good abilities) but not the best,2 and 3 are.

Chroma actually has good passive because certain elemental dmg types have bonuses against certain faction(this applies most to abillity 4) and it also makes elemental ward work in 4 different ways(health,armor,shield,holster speed buffs and more) which is great.

I would suggest that players that start "rework chroma" topics learn first how it actually works so they can truly recognize it's power.

[(PSN)SupeBoss]

4 hours ago, RistN said:

While having cold (white)energy on and active 2 and 3, on my build that is only 200%power strength + growing power ,i have 1000+% armor buff and 5x dmg buff with both buffs lasting 55 secounds.if 400 shields are damaged you get max armor buff and 100 health damaged give you max dmg buff.This can be easily achieved by using self-damage weapons.I use hikou prime with mod Concealed explosives mod on it.

All of that means that my Chroma with almost 9000 armor is one shoting half of the map with my ignis in high lvl mission.That's OP.

You should know all of this if Chroma is you're favorite frame.Effigy is good ability(that is 3,not 2 good abilities) but not the best,2 and 3 are.

Chroma actually has good passive because certain elemental dmg types have bonuses against certain faction(this applies most to abillity 4) and it also makes elemental ward work in 4 different ways(health,armor,shield,holster speed buffs and more) which is great.

I would suggest that players that start "rework chroma" topics learn first how it actually works so they can truly recognize it's power.

Again...I've already stated that Chroma is my favorite frame. I've also agreed that he has two good abilities. 

You may disagree with me by thinking that effigy is a good ability, or that changing colors is a good passive, but you have contributed nothing to this topic other than arguing that vex armor is already overpowered with your build and insinuating that I "don't know" the frame.

If you've noticed, only one ability was completely changed in this idea, with a tweak to effigy. If you think that it's a bad idea, then by all means - tell me why. I'm here for feedback, not git gud.

[RistN]

2 hours ago, (PS4)SupeBoss said:

Again...I've already stated that Chroma is my favorite frame. I've also agreed that he has two good abilities. 

You may disagree with me by thinking that effigy is a good ability, or that changing colors is a good passive, but you have contributed nothing to this topic other than arguing that vex armor is already overpowered with your build and insinuating that I "don't know" the frame.

If you've noticed, only one ability was completely changed in this idea, with a tweak to effigy. If you think that it's a bad idea, then by all means - tell me why. I'm here for feedback, not git gud.

Well ok

First I said Chroma has three good abilities 2,3 and 4.

Passive. I still think Chromas passive is better now and better than most frames have.Chroma doesn't need more armor.He has so much armor that Valkyr is ashamed by him and 100 + or - actually don't make a difference if it doesn't stack.

I won't comment 1),2), and 4).It's just you're imagination runing wild.

3)Vex armor is too OP this way.Collecting energy orbs can make this last way too long.Primed Flow,arcane energize...endless duration with 700% armor buff and 5x dmg(build I'm using would have good energy economy).And you added Nullifiers not being able to reset it....way too op.It seems you want this to last forever.