Suggestions For Upcoming Boss Revamps

[DiabolusUrsus]

So Captain Vor and Lech Kril have gotten overhauled, and are much, much more entertaining bosses than they were before. I think it's safe to say that aside from the people who whine about invulnerability phases because they want to farm as efficiently as possible, we're all looking forward to the day when each and every boss is complete.

Sargus Ruk and Golem are reportedly in the works, and Jackal is already fairly unique. So aside from them, I figured it'd be nice to talk about what we'd like to see the other bosses develop into.

Councilor Vay Hek:

In keeping with his image of a completely corrupt "Uncle Hek" that  has political opponents assassinated, Hek would look great as a slightly smaller, heavily degenerated Grineer body fused into a mobile, crab-walker "throne" of sorts. Perhaps with deformed and malproportioned Grineer legs visible for maximum creepiness. Of course, his iconic Hek shotgun would be directly mounted onto the arm rest of his throne, with an obligatory mailbox-sized ammo drum being belt-fed into the gun. Aside from being completely awesome, this would explain why he doesn't need to reload. Since Hek is on Earth, bonus points for similarity to Teh Emprah.

In keeping with the apparently up-and-coming trend of bosses being themed to the Warframe prints they drop, Hek could make use of a modified use of Trinity's Link skill. When he summons his clones (which must be made visually indistinguishable, perhaps with some subtle visual cues that they are holograms...), all damage done to Hek is transferred to his clones first, and they take less damage than if a player were to attack the clones directly. I don't think we're in particular need of another healing-type enemy, much less a boss. Perhaps give him the ability to Link with nearby enemies as well, like the ruthless, self-serving jerk that he is.

Hyena:

While not a boss in the most need of an overhaul, who else is bothered by the fact that Hyena is a pack hunter that apparently hunts alone? Hyena should be reduced in size just a bit further, and given a more lithe and mobile chassis. Instead of one robot packed with machine guns, homing missiles, a shockwave generator and electric shields, divide the boss into four individuals with specialized weaponry. Most importantly, make Hyena a bit faster.

I figure Hyena can be divided up into four individual roles: suppressive fire, artillery support, crowd control/disruption and defensive support.

Give the individuals of the pack the ability to Switch Teleport. Think you've pinned down the artillery support individual with very little close combat capabilities? Well, suddenly you're staring the crowd control individual in the face seconds before getting thrown around like a ragdoll. Think you're in some decent cover? Suddenly the suppressive fire individual is in the perfect place to send you running again. Having the individuals support each other properly as well as working together to flush Tenno out of hiding should provide the true terror of being hunted by a group, as well as prevent the boss being separated into four individually weaker units resulting in a ridiculously short lifespan under focused fire.

Phorid:

What the infested bosses lack in number they should make up with in uniqueness. It was a disappointment that Phorid was just a scaled up Charger, but completely understandable. Personally, I'd like to see Phorid made into a quadrupedal, porcupine-quilled, tentacled Kraken monstrosity. It would  charge about its boss arena in a truly disgusting fashion, sweeping the legs out from under players with its tentacles before attempting to launch quills into them, or snapping at them with its beak. Speed up the projectile speed of the psychic bolts quills in exchange for reducing their homing capabilities a bit so that players don't need to rely on taking cover to escape them, and can dodge roll instead with the right timing. To further expand on the creature's Nyx influence, give it an "Absorb" period where damage taken results in an exponential increase in the number of spines Phorid spews out when the ability ends. Of course Phorid should keep its iconic scream, but make sure to include some shiver-inducing beak clicks as well.

Kela De Thaym (Courtesy of ValhaHazred):

Phase One- as is. She uses her Ogris, throws hand grenades and smoke bombs. When she loses one third of her health she shockwave stomps and regenerates her shield.

Phase Two- Kela begins deploying unique rollers that explode into toxic gas when killed or on impact with a player. Toxic rollers are much larger than the standard model and can only be deployed one at a time. When she loses two thirds of her health she shockwave stomps and regenerates her shield.

Phase three- Kela drops her Ogris and unfolds the massive sniper cannon from her concept art. It would take her a second to target the player and a laser sight would give the player warning. This is important because the sniper cannon deals acid damage and can kill the weaker frames in a couple shots.
She begins leaking poisonous gas and has the ability to drop "molt bombs" if somebody starts doing too much damage to her.
She is very hard to harm in this stage, the best way to hurt her is to destroy one of her molts before she can leap away because its acid explosion will harm her too.

(Potential for her acid cannon to spray acid streams, or perhaps function like artillery - similar to Golem's Torid but with a much faster projectile speed and a more visually developed explosion and decal effects. Turns the area around it into a hazard for a short period of time.)

 

That's what I've got for now, but I'd love to see anything everyone else can come up with for these or the other remaining bosses. DE has done a great job with all its overhauled bosses thus far, but these are things I'd really like to see.

Edited July 26, 2013 by DiabolusUrsus

[Rakleon]

nice , very nice although i would add Sgt.Nef Anyo into it . He's not much of a challenge for any1 

[PsychedelicSnake]

It should also follow the trend of phases, in which you move from one battle phase to another. Sure, it takes longer to farm, but entertainment and staying fresh are more important to gameplay and replayability.

[Shion963]

Councilor Vay Hek:

In keeping with his image of a completely corrupt "Uncle Hek" that  has political opponents assassinated, Hek would look great as a slightly smaller, heavily degenerated Grineer body fused into a mobile, crab-walker "throne" of sorts. Perhaps with deformed and malproportioned Grineer legs visible for maximum creepiness. Of course, his iconic Hek shotgun would be directly mounted onto the arm rest of his throne, with an obligatory mailbox-sized ammo drum being belt-fed into the gun. Aside from being completely awesome, this would explain why he doesn't need to reload. Since Hek is on Earth, bonus points for similarity to Teh Emprah.

 

Funny how you equated crab-legs throne to the corpse-emperor's Golden Throne. The image I get in my head seems more like Diablo2 Baal.

 

Well, it seems your terms.... are not acceptable. ;p

[NinjaSylvy]

Especially entertained by Vay Hek (Being the Emperors supporter) and Phorid! 

If we would have to add phases to the boss battles, then Id suggest making Phorid the degenerate creature it truly is! Like as the battle continues, Phorid starts to spontaniously mutate and thus gain different attacks or even change its fighting style completely. Plus, make it "limp", like an hurt animal. Would further strenghten the tortured image ^^

[stivoknis]

Great ideas +1.

 

I always thought that the Hyena should be many smaller enemies, but I wasn't sure how to get the balancing right.  Your idea, however, seems to work well.

 

Also, I wouldn't completely forget about the Jackal.  While it is fairly unique and cool as is, it needs a few balancing tweeks to make it a much better boss.

[Clazzeh]

Something for nef anyo they could do maybe is keep his assassination mission as it is, then &#! in a planet after it with him having cybernetic limbs, I mean imagine how badass it would be to fight him in a blizzardy valley with his stealth, using that in conjunction with some decked out moa-like legs to instantly jump to a better vantage point to snipe at you while he calls for reinforcements, maybe have a robotic arm too to allow him to fire his lanka one handed and not completely mess up the shot whilst keeping grip on a wall or something with his other.

 

Then as the fisght progresses give him different ways of attack, like in phase 1 have him stealth and try to choot you calmly from a long range, then phase 2 he goes more aggressive and also uses his stealth to close the gap between you and melee.

 

And then as a possible phase 3 when right next to death have him stagger towards you in an almost dead state trying to strike you but being to weak to do so, and then on death use a nade to try and bring you down with him o3o Who needs a boss "rage" when the boss can make you feel bad finishing him off.

[DiabolusUrsus]

Funny how you equated crab-legs throne to the corpse-emperor's Golden Throne. The image I get in my head seems more like Diablo2 Baal.

 

Well, it seems your terms.... are not acceptable. ;p

 

Well, yes, Vay Hek would definitely have more of a... personality similarity to Baal. (I haven't really been exposed to any of the Diablo games, so that's a shortcoming on my part as far as analogous material goes.) However, when I mentioned The Emperor I meant the manner in which Hek is fused into his 'throne' of sorts. As in, he's linked with it. It's like his life support, but also a symbol of his power. On his own, he is physically frail. But he makes up for it with sheer malice, and a very big gun.

 

Something for nef anyo they could do maybe is keep his assassination mission as it is, then &#! in a planet after it with him having cybernetic limbs, I mean imagine how badass it would be to fight him in a blizzardy valley with his stealth, using that in conjunction with some decked out moa-like legs to instantly jump to a better vantage point to snipe at you while he calls for reinforcements, maybe have a robotic arm too to allow him to fire his lanka one handed and not completely mess up the shot whilst keeping grip on a wall or something with his other.

 

Then as the fisght progresses give him different ways of attack, like in phase 1 have him stealth and try to choot you calmly from a long range, then phase 2 he goes more aggressive and also uses his stealth to close the gap between you and melee.

 

And then as a possible phase 3 when right next to death have him stagger towards you in an almost dead state trying to strike you but being to weak to do so, and then on death use a nade to try and bring you down with him o3o Who needs a boss "rage" when the boss can make you feel bad finishing him off.

Nef Anyo is in definite need of an overhaul, and while I don't have any specific visions for him just yet, I am totally in support of him being a dedicated sniper boss. Especially one that makes dynamic and interesting use of invisibility. He could make interesting use of Mag's Pull to turn the tide in his favor... (pulling Tenno out of cover and into the line of sight of his suped-up Lanka) and Shield Polarize could be devastating under the right circumstances.

Still, as awesome as a refined Anyo in his current iteration would be, I can't help but think it might be nicer to see something that abandons his current invisible-sniper image. First, it doesn't really suit a Merchant boss, in my opinion, and second I'm toying with the idea of a boss with abilities that focus with interaction with the boss arena. I don't have a fully fleshed out idea just yet, but I am thinking it might be interesting to have the boss arena be a 3-D storage space for Corpus shipping containers, which Anyo would manipulate using Pull/Crush to attempt squishing Tenno between the various crates, re-arranging the arena floor that can be fought on, and dynamically creating cover for himself.

Still, your idea sounds pretty freakin' awesome, very reminiscent of the Predator.

[low1991]

cut

the above is speaking for the old & experienced players but not for the new player whom have yet to obtain the BP.

Edited July 25, 2013 by low1991

[DiabolusUrsus]

the above is speaking for the old & experienced players but not for the new player whom have yet to obtain the BP.

Could you clarify what you mean by that a bit? Which Blueprints? The Warframe blueprints dropped by bosses? Are you saying that the idea of revamping bosses is bad because it makes farming take longer? Or are you saying that not everyone will know how bosses should be themed since they don't know which bosses drop which blueprints?

If it is the fact that farming will take longer - yeah, but this is a process that is going to happen regardless of input. It is a decided intention of the developer team. This isn't "should all the bosses be revamped?" It is "all the bosses are going to be revamped, so what would you like to see them become when that happens?"

I don't have the blueprints for Mag, Saryn or Nova yet, but if it were possible I would love to see all of their respective bosses revamped into long, complex and entertaining fights immediately. I don't care that it'd take longer to get the prints. If the game is fun while you're playing it, what does it matter? It just makes working towards a distant goal more rewarding.

If it is the second... well, that's easily remedied by either getting to the boss fights, or simply looking up where each Warframe drops on the Wiki. It's not like there are really any existing spoilers for the game just yet considering that there isn't exactly a plot to speak of, and you can read which boss drops which blueprints without actually reading about the boss fight.

That said, if you really are trying to insinuate that I don't care about newer players, I will be rather amused. You will find that I am of the strong opinion that when discussing game balance, one of the most important things that the community tends to forget is how their proposed changes to weapons or enemy difficulty as a result of leveling will affect newer players. However, enemy complexity is distinctly different from difficulty. It just means they are more engaging to fight. I farmed Frost out of Lech Kril after his makeover... and it took me less time to complete than farming Bullet-Sponge-Regor for Ash. It's going to come down to chance regardless of how long a particular boss fight takes.

[The_Sharp_Demonologist]

May i suggest the Stalker as the next revamp? he has become kind of a joke

[ValhaHazred]

Snip awesome!

I approve so greatly I'm drawing your version of Hek right now.

As for my idea?

Kela De Thaym

Kela has 3 phases.

Phase one- as is. She uses her Ogris, throws hand grenades and smoke bombs. When damaged one third she shockwave stomps and regens her shield.

Phase two- Kela begins deploying unique rollers that explode into toxic gas when killed or on impact with a player. Toxic rollers are much larger than the standard model and can only be deployed one at a time. When damaged two thirds she shockwave stomps and regens her shield.

Phase three- Kela drops her Ogris and unfolds the massive sniper cannon from her concept art. It would take her a second to target the player and a laser sight would give the player warning. This is important because the sniper cannon deals acid damage and can kill the weaker frames in a couple shots.

She begins leaking poisonous gas and has the ability to drop "molt bombs" if somebody starts doing too much damage to her.

She is very hard to harm in this stage, the best way to hurt her is to destroy one of her molts before she can leap away because it's acid explosion will harm her too.

Her phase 3 weapon would be a new Clantech weapon.

Jormungandr - the acid howitzer

Dmg: 200 direct damage, 50 AOE

Dmg type: Acid

Speed: not charged, but a slower refire rate than Lanka

Ammo: 8

Reload: fairly slow, maybe 1.4 seconds?

Special: Rounds are fast (Seer speed) and arc slightly

Edited July 26, 2013 by ValhaHazred

[DiabolusUrsus]

May i suggest the Stalker as the next revamp? he has become kind of a joke

Yes, seeing the stalker get overhauled would be really nice right now. Do you have any ideas? I'm kind of at a loss for how they could change the stalker aside from giving him unique Warframe abilities (not just Slash Dash, etc.) since he needs to be simple enough that he can function properly in any of the rooms he happens to spawn in.

Unfortunately, though, DE is going ot be deciding which order boss characters get revamped in... and from what I hear Golem and Sargas Ruk are in the works. Particularly looking forward to what they do with Golem.

[DiabolusUrsus]

I approve so greatly I'm drawing your version of Hek right now.

As for my idea?

Kela De Thaym

Kela has 3 phases.

Phase one- as is. She uses her Ogris, throws hand grenades and smoke bombs. When damaged one third she shockwave stomps and regens her shield.

Phase two- Kela begins deploying unique rollers that explode into toxic gas when killed or on impact with a player. When damaged two thirds she shockwave stomps and regens her shield.

Phase three- Kela drops her Ogris and unfolds the massive sniper cannon from her concept art. It would take her a second to target the player and a laser sight would give the player warning. This is important because the sniper cannon deals acid damage and can kill the weaker frames in a couple shots.

She begins leaking poisonous gas and has the ability to drop "molt bombs" if somebody starts doing too much damage to her.

She is very hard to harm in this stage, the best way to hurt her is to destroy one of her molts before she can leap away because it's acid explosion will harm her too.

Her sniper cannon would be a new Clantech weapon.

Jormungandr

Dmg: 200

Dmg type: Acid

Speed: not charged, but a slower refire rate than Lanka

Ammo: 8

Reload: fairly slow, maybe 1.4 seconds?

Awesome, I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Your idea looks pretty bomb as well, though I'd like to suggest a few adjustments. For the toxic rollers... either slow them down or make them a bit bigger. You're taking the two things that everybody hates with a passion... Rollers and poison damage, and slapping them into one sub-enemy. I can already taste the rage.  Lastly, instead of an acid sniper rifle (as awesome as that sounds), I think a better version of the gun would be an acid hose... something with a long firing duration and a slight arc of fire... perhaps with a bit of AOE splash at the end of the stream. If you're dead-set on it being a sniper of sorts, perhaps have it fire explosive acid blobs that cover an area on impact and linger for a while. While other ideas I had fail me at the moment, I just wanted to say that I think there are plenty of awesome acid-themed heavy weaponry, having it be a sniper just seems out of place to me.

[ValhaHazred]

Awesome, I can't wait to see what you come up with!

-Snip stuff-

Good points. I meant for the poison rollers to be almost twice as large and one at a time, but didn't think to write it down. I like the idea of an Acid Howitzer now! I think in the warframe universe acid is the best choice for sniper weapons because most shields can't block it.

[The_Sharp_Demonologist]

Yes, seeing the stalker get overhauled would be really nice right now. Do you have any ideas? I'm kind of at a loss for how they could change the stalker aside from giving him unique Warframe abilities (not just Slash Dash, etc.) since he needs to be simple enough that he can function properly in any of the rooms he happens to spawn in.

Unfortunately, though, DE is going ot be deciding which order boss characters get revamped in... and from what I hear Golem and Sargas Ruk are in the works. Particularly looking forward to what they do with Golem.

Well i was working on a gun idea but yeah i had a few ideas about how Stalker could be. May post it in a few ideas

[The_Sharp_Demonologist]

I approve so greatly I'm drawing your version of Hek right now.

As for my idea?

Kela De Thaym

Kela has 3 phases.

Phase one- as is. She uses her Ogris, throws hand grenades and smoke bombs. When damaged one third she shockwave stomps and regens her shield.

Phase two- Kela begins deploying unique rollers that explode into toxic gas when killed or on impact with a player. Toxic rollers are much larger than the standard model and can only be deployed one at a time. When damaged two thirds she shockwave stomps and regens her shield.

Phase three- Kela drops her Ogris and unfolds the massive sniper cannon from her concept art. It would take her a second to target the player and a laser sight would give the player warning. This is important because the sniper cannon deals acid damage and can kill the weaker frames in a couple shots.

She begins leaking poisonous gas and has the ability to drop "molt bombs" if somebody starts doing too much damage to her.

She is very hard to harm in this stage, the best way to hurt her is to destroy one of her molts before she can leap away because it's acid explosion will harm her too.

Her phase 3 weapon would be a new Clantech weapon.

Jormungandr - the acid howitzer

Dmg: 200 direct damage, 50 AOE

Dmg type: Acid

Speed: not charged, but a slower refire rate than Lanka

Ammo: 8

Reload: fairly slow, maybe 1.4 seconds?

Special: Rounds are fast (Seer speed) and arc slightly

Wow i would love to fight her like that

[DiabolusUrsus]

Good points. I meant for the poison rollers to be almost twice as large and one at a time, but didn't think to write it down. I like the idea of an Acid Howitzer now! I think in the warframe universe acid is the best choice for sniper weapons because most shields can't block it.

Sorry, I guess you wrote in the bit about the larger rollers to begin with. I was a bit tired when I read it, so I must have missed that bit. I've added your suggestion to the original post. Do you have any ideas as for a visual overhaul of Kela? As it is now she's kinda just a suped-up Grineer Heavy gunner. That might fit considering she went through the same training program, but I like the idea of the bosses being more unique.

[ValhaHazred]

Sorry, I guess you wrote in the bit about the larger rollers to begin with. I was a bit tired when I read it, so I must have missed that bit. I've added your suggestion to the original post. Do you have any ideas as for a visual overhaul of Kela?

No you're not crazy, I edited it :D

I think the model should start the same, but as she progresses through her phases she would kinda "rupture" from the inside due to internalizing Saryn powers.

Phase 2 changes- her armour has cracked, revealing glowing green skin. Wisps of acid smoke escape sporadically.

Phase 3 changes- the cracks have widened, acidic pustules and mutated anemone-like polyps seep from her exposed flesh. She is constantly surrounded with an aura of swirling acid.

[DiabolusUrsus]

No you're not crazy, I edited it :D

I think the model should start the same, but as she progresses through her phases she would kinda "rupture" from the inside due to internalizing Saryn powers.

Phase 2 changes- her armour has cracked, revealing glowing green skin. Wisps of acid smoke escape sporadically.

Phase 3 changes- the cracks have widened, acidic pustules and mutated anemone-like polyps seep from her exposed flesh. She is constantly surrounded with an aura of swirling acid.

Ah, that's a relief.

That idea sounds pretty amazing, actually. As though she's a normal Grineer soldier, but gets more and more horrifying as you chip away at the shell. :O

[ValhaHazred]

Ah, that's a relief.

That idea sounds pretty amazing, actually. As though she's a normal Grineer soldier, but gets more and more horrifying as you chip away at the shell. :O

Yep! My idea came from Saryn being a bridge between Infested and Tenno, so after studying it and using it's power Kela has become a singular semi-Infested being, still loyal to the Grineer. It even suits her wierd voice patterns.

[ValhaHazred]

I just found this in the art forum. It's by a guy named Jalaskosi and it needs to be a boss right now!

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/86268-silly-comic-experiment-gore-bad-taste-etc/

WARNING-kinda gory!

[ValhaHazred]

T-T-T-Triple post! Sorry for kinda spamming this thread, but I'm done old uncle Hek!

I have no idea at what point it morphed from guy in crab mech to dude with enormous hands, but I like it. XP

Edited July 29, 2013 by ValhaHazred

[DiabolusUrsus]

Well, ValhaHazred, that definitely looks pretty damn awesome. Not quite what I had envisioned in my mind, but of course I never really expected to see what I had pictured anyways. Your take on it is... intriguing to say the least, and I really like the idea of the hands making up the components of the legs... very stylized.

I'll get around to doing a rough sketch of what I'm thinking about sometime after this weekend event, when I get my tablet back from my brother.  Also, don't worry about posting a bunch of times... it keeps the thread alive, and it's not like I don't frequently do the same exact thing on many of my own threads.

[Destro6677]

May I add a suggestion for Sargas Ruk?

 

If he is the main artifact hunter, and also sees flesh as a flaw, I think that he should have bionic replacements to his arms and legs, maybe even have his entire body replaced with a metal exosuit of some sort. If he's going to be raiding asteroids, void bases and other dangerous locations, he probably expects to get buried in rock, hit by all kinds of traps etc.

 

Also, his weapons should probably be functional in archaeology as well as war.

 

Maybe a sort of sledgehammer fist or drill for melee combat and a rocket launcher to replace his Gorgon. A flamethrower would somewhat make sense because he might want to get to frozen artifacts. 

Edited August 16, 2013 by Destro6677