The Atlas Rework: You Missed a Trick

[(PSN)CrysJaL]

The Atlas Rework was recently showcased in a stream. I was excited for the rework though I didn't see much of anything that impressed me or wwas along the lines of what I expected to see. Regardless I believe the current proposed rework is a good start, but that so much more could be relatively easily be done, even alongside the current proposed changes.

Let's look at Atlas as he is now. Landslide is currently the best part of his kit, it's arguably the only good part of his kit bar the use of Tectonics to create barriers and chokepoints. Rumblers are sub par at anything approaching high level but function well otherwise and the less said about Petrify the better in its current state.

Now let us look at the proposed changes. Rubble, is created by killing petrified enemies or from killed/despawned Rumblers or Tectonic walls. It grants health or armour depending on Atlas' current Hp level in a mechanic not unlike a health equivalent to overshields in a way. It's good, great even. A new addition to Atlas that will see him better able to compete with other tanks like a Saryn built for Molt. I do not think it will allow Atlas to compete with say Oberon, Nidus or Inaros for survivability. 
I'd like to see some sort of scaling up with the Rubble where Atlas can build himself up with stacks of rubble, then lose them due to damage received or as part of a timer. Having Armour flake off as Atlas receives damage would create an interesting mindset where you can build up your armour, but you'd still actively want to avoid taking damage, not simply facetanking an enemy because you can (looking at you, Phoenix Renewal Oberon).

Anyone looking at this new Rubble mechanic can immediately tell that Atlas is being redesigned around his 3, Petrify. Well, other than the fact you can't carry enemies with you in the puddle (still) Hydroid's rework was pretty good so lets hop in.

Landslide, has not changed. This is good. 

Tectonics can now be made stronger by applying Petrify on them. Petrify will also grant greater velocity to the Tectonics when fired at enemies. it's a tiny bit of synergy that builds around Petrify. Nothing great on its own but it encourages players to use petrify more, which is in keeping with the current focus of the rework.

Petrify is the focus of this rework. Turning enemies into stone, then killing them to create Rubble. It's a good idea on paper and suits Atlas' theme.

Rumblers has always been my favourite ability of Atlas whenever I've used him, but only as a concept. Giant rock golems running at enemies and catapulting them into space? What's not to like? The only thing not to like currently is their AI and their health and damage scaling (so... everything?). The current proposed changes to Rumblers are merely sidenotes to the changes to the rest of Atlas. Rubble being produced from downed Rumblers merely encourages a fire and forget approach, letting Rumblers spawn repeatedly only to die shortly after and provide you with a tiny bit more armour or health, which actively encourages the healing ability granted by Petrify to be ignored. We can now Heal Rumblers with Petrify, which doesn't fix the damage issues and leaves you effectively babysitting them, with one little rock baby running off in one direction to certain death and the well behaved one inexplicably staying by your side, this isn't the kind of gameplay I want. I'm too young to be a father. The change to Rumblers does have one standalone change to the ability itself. When cast it auto petrifies enemies nearby. Again however, this merely encourages repeated casting to benefit the Rubble and petrification mechanics. 

Rumblers has so much potential though! I want to suggest two potential ideas for Rumblers which tie into each other or could be implimented on their own. This is intended to create a kind of scaling for Atlas' Rumblers which they sorely need.

1. Have Rumblers be produced in an area from Rubble on the ground with a set amounts of Rubble producing a Rumbler. In turn, the Augment could then allow you to create a super Rumbler You could from this have multiple Rumblers created from hte remains of many petrified enemies and create a short lived army of stone soldiers to pummel the enemy. This would necessitate either a cap on the number of available Rumblers that can be made (similar to Nekros' ultimate) with recasting refreshing the lifetime of the Rumblers, or impose a non refreshable time limit on each Rumbler you produce.

2. Alternatively have Rumblers produced directly from petrified enemies. With health and damage scaling off of enemies, this would grant Rumblers the scaling it sorely needs. As part of this, drops from the enemies would be delayed until the rumbler was killed or despawned. It would be a strange meld overall between Nyx's mind Control ability and Nekros Shadows which would be both unique and entertaining.

3. Stacks of Rubble could be invested in a Rumbler to grant increased health and or armour in the exact same way it would work on Atlas. This would effectively create a golem that you could heal (with petrify) and make more durable over time. By holding the casting of the ultimate to invest more Rubble into the Rumbler it could become a bulwark and a scaling companion as you progress longer into a game. I would not grant the Rumbler additional damage from this mechanic, only increasing health and armour as I would not want it to scale with damage aswell. The Augment here would add the taunt effect to the single stronger Rumbler which would be more effective a distraction tool as a result.
This change would encourage the player to use Rubble for other reasons than simply armour or health and make them think tactically about Rubble while also encouraging more use of petrify.

Please, share any thought to these proposed changes you like. I really feel like more can be done with Atlas to make him a useful warframe.
 

Edited February 7, 2018 by (PS4)CrysJaL
Was unaware of recent changes to the proposed rework. Edited for those.

[Genitive]

3 minutes ago, (PS4)CrysJaL said:

honestly expected any Atlas rework to include the ability to move much more freely while using Petrify.

Have you seen the new dev workshop?

 

[(PSN)RenovaKunumaru]

7 minutes ago, (PS4)CrysJaL said:

Please, share any thought to these proposed changes you like. I really feel like more can be done with Atlas to make him a useful warframe.
 

Reb posted on Twitter Atlas new Petrify as a single cast. It changes the game.

[AweMuse]

His rumbler augment needs some number adjustment dear lord ..