Shadows of the Dead Recast is Broken (And Should be Changed)

[DiabolusUrsus]

How is it broken?

It doesn't work half the time. Occasionally, a Shadow will die during the recast animation, and won't be replaced until the next recast. More frequently, Shadows will fail to be summoned to the player if the player traveled a significant distance.

As you should be able to tell from the images, I have 10 Shadows (from a Hyekka Master), but after repeated re-casts of SoTD only 4 Shadows teleported to me after repeated casts. This is crippling to Nekros's survival, especially for Shield of Shadows builds.

NOTE:

• Shadows will also sometimes fail to spawn entirely on first cast if the AI can't find a suitable place to place them. This can sometimes happen due to being high off the ground, or over a bottomless pit. It's not 100% reproducible, though.
• Recasts cost the full amount of energy, severely punishing non-efficiency builds when they fail.

How should it be changed?

Simply teleport Shadows to Nekros beyond a certain range the way Rescue targets, pets, and Syndicate allies do.

Reasoning:

Nekros already has to recast periodically to keep SoTD running and avoid losing powerful Shadows. There is no defensible reason why Shadows should require re-cast to ensure they keep pace. Large maps like the Plains combined with Warframe's fast-paced mission progression have made this an even more important QoL change. I'm also not happy about wagering my mission effectiveness on how long it takes for this bug to be fixed when it inevitably crops back up.

"But I like casting SoTD near a defense objective and leaving on occasion to retrieve items, etc."

Okay, so if necessary allow Nekros players to mark an objective (like a Console or VIP) and have Shadows avoid teleporting to stay near that target. Otherwise, Shadows should be expected to keep pace normally.

Don't forget...

SoTD recast cost should be reduced to 1/4 of its normal cost if no Shadows are replaced. It's fine to scale up the cost for each Shadow that must be replaced, but the logic needs work.

[motorfirebox]

5 minutes ago, DiabolusUrsus said:

Okay, so if necessary allow Nekros players to mark an objective (like a Console or VIP) and have Shadows avoid teleporting to stay near that target. Otherwise, Shadows should be expected to keep pace normally.

Press-hold to mark a target (defend if friendly, attack if enemy) would be frickin awesome, and applicable to a bunch of other frames.

[DiabolusUrsus]

7 minutes ago, motorfirebox said:

Press-hold to mark a target (defend if friendly, attack if enemy) would be frickin awesome, and applicable to a bunch of other frames.

Agreed. It would also be applicable to pets and Sentinels if it could be applied to the player's G marker... though it should require a mod or toggle option for players who want to keep the default functionality.

Still, for actual Warframe powers, there's no reason (I can think of, anyway) to be against a change like this. Use it if you need it, don't if you don't.

[o.0-]

I agree, that Nekros's 4th needs a tad bit more.

There are a few threads, that I can search for and link that have neat ideas that has stayed with me for Nekros.

A poor Synopsis follows: 

• SotD always grants Seven Shadows when cast, that may be 2-D sprites for the benefit of a full squad, using reduced stats (as determined by the devs).
• Kills then transform these Shadows into taken enemies and grant the Shadows modifiers.
• Whatever is worthy,  adds to how shadows appear and work.
• Soul Punch detonates and allows players to cycle through these options based on how existing enemies are saved for SorD, a minor system that works for like 20 SotD entities.

I'd like to think that this may function for Nekros in the long run.