Phalanx - The Lone Hoplite Warframe - Concept

[Aj3108]

Heya folks, this is my concept idea although it may not be original. Ever since Tactical Potato put a video up asking what weapons we'd love to see in-game, I've been thinking about a Spear-Shield combo weapon. This eventually upgraded to a warframe concept as it wouldn't make as much sense having such a weapon wielded by some of the more squishy/mobile frames. This is how I envisioned a spear and shield wielding warframe however I'm sure there are similar ones out there. And as always, this is a concept for feedback and ideas. I'd love to hear feedback on it and get this into DE's sights for another awesome frame 😋

 

Warframe - Phalanx

Phalanx is a defensive Warframe based on the ancient Greek warriors of Earth known as Hoplites. Phalanx uses defensive abilities to protect and support his squad and wields a mighty Spear and Shield to punish enemies who stray too close. (Heavily armored and primarily health tanked)

 

Passive Ability - Retaliation

Phalanx gains increased attack speed and bonus damage for the next few seconds after successfully blocking several attacks in a short time. (This is obviously more of a melee based feature to be used with his exalted spear & shield but also with any melee weapon to lash out after blocking attacks)

Edit: Added extra damage bonus, increased from next atatck to next 2-3 seconds, and removed requirement of not being hit during blocking)

 

Ability 1 - Piercing Rush

Phalanx rushes forward with his Exalted Spear, dealing puncture damage and knocking back enemies. This ability can be charged to increase damage dealt and distance traveled. [Mod for range and power strength] (Originally I had thought of a chargeable spear throwing attack, however the theme would suit a lunging attack a little better)

 

Ability 2 - Hordebreaker

Phalanx summons a dome of spears, which then burst outwards in every direction, damaging nearby enemies and inflicting a puncture status effect on surviving enemies. [Mod for range and power strength]  (This is a short-medium range AoE damaging ability centred on Phalanx. I see this as a dome of shields around him briefly with spears between which then shoot out in all defections. He would be invulnerable while casting due to the shields around him which would only be a very short duration [like 1 second while casting] which ends as his spears shoot out.)

Edit: Combined with shield strike as an activeable ability while shield wall is active. Added new second ability.

 

Ability 3 - Shield Wall

Phalanx uses energy to form a shield barrier in front of him, sacrificing some of his mobility for defense. A defensive ability to project a shield of energy to deflect the incoming damage away from Phalanx and nearby allies behind the shield. [Mod for range and duration] (Think something similar to Volt's shield without the enhancements to projectiles)

When activated again, Phalanx' projected shield bursts forward, stunning enemies and opening them to finishers. [Mod for range and duration]  (This is a short range crowd control ability, much like Excalibur's radial blind and Inaros' desiccation which staggers/stuns enemies and opens them to finishers. It would be only usable while shield wall is active, and not consume the remaining time but will cost additional energy)

Edit: Added mobility penalty. (I realized this ability may be quite strong so I felt that a movement penalty might help balance it.)

Alternate Ability 3 - Defensive Stance

Phalanx shifts to a defensive posture, reducing incoming damage and redirecting damage from nearby allies to Phalanx. Allies will take reduced damage when in close proximity to Phalanx, offering greater protection the closer they are. [Mod for range, duration and power strength] (This is an alternative to the Shield Wall ability, reducing incoming damage and also redirecting damage from nearby allies to Phalanx, depending on their proximity. I envisioned this as a moddable [scaling from both power strength and armor] tanking ability while also helping nearby allies who may not be as durable, and promoting a closer grouped formation. Obviously this damage mitigation would need to be quite strong to tank both incoming damage to Phalanx and also his allies.)

 

Ability 4 - Doru & Aspis

Summon a Spear and Shield of power. [Exalted weapon - Mod Independently. Unique passive ability - Martial Reflexes - When this weapon is active, gain partial damage block when not actively blocking] (This is the trademark weapon of the ancient Hoplite, with high block value, longer reach and primarily puncture damage. Doru is the ancient greek name for the spear they used as Aspis is the name of their shields. I envisioned this with it's own stance mod employing lots of fast thrusting action 😉 ...with the spear of course, and a shield attack thrown in here and there for good measure much like with the current sword & shield stances but perhaps without throwing it around too much. The passive would be a reduced bonus compared to the actively blocking bonus, but still effective [25-40% vs Active 85-90% damage block])

Edit: Added new passive for exalted weapon.(TBH I struggled to come up with a good passive for this, I like the current passive but it might be a little strong. Still open to ideas)

 

Appearance

It's probably no surprise that I'd envision him as the classic hoplite with the armored helmet with cheek guards and the awesome Mohawk. The midsection would be well armored with splint armor like hanging from his waist to protect the legs like a mid-length armored kilt. The spearhead would be a a curved leaf design and the butt would feature a spike, and rocking it with a big old shield.

 

And there we have it. I tried to keep things from getting to overpowered or complicated while following the trend of our current warframes. I'd really love to see something like this in the game, so feel free to spam this post to DE. Haha! The names of abilities and descriptions are all placeholders, they can be changed/improved as needed but not super important. (Also apologies for any typos/grammar errors, it's getting late here and I'm falling asleep).

Thoughts, feedback and ideas for me below 

Edited June 22, 2018 by Aj3108
Combined shield abilites, changed passive, added new second ability, added bonus to exalted blade. Added Alternate third ability.

[DR.Noooooo_B]

Well to put my opinion simply, its just fine I guess. Its not bad nor great. Your abilities arent bad in any way but on the other hand to me they feel too obvious or maybe plain. 

I personally like abilities that feel like they can lead to interactive and fast gameplay so im more leaning to cast and forget abilities. Btw I also did a similar concept, a roman legion themed one, so in general im in favor of this concept :D.

As for suggestions this it what I got:

I feel like the passive is a bit hard to proc fo a attack speed boost in your next attack. How about have a special charged move for shield&weapon that can used after blocking enough hits and does a few quick hits that have increased crit chance.

Second, maybe fuse your shield abilities and make a place for a different one. It will help make the kit feel a bit more versetile. 

Exalted weapon is fine but maybe give it some inherit unique ability or move.

Thats all, overall you can easily make it better imo, but you do what feels best for you. Good job and good luck!

 

[Aj3108]

7 hours ago, DR.Noooooo_B said:

Well to put my opinion simply, its just fine I guess. Its not bad nor great. Your abilities arent bad in any way but on the other hand to me they feel too obvious or maybe plain. 

I personally like abilities that feel like they can lead to interactive and fast gameplay so im more leaning to cast and forget abilities. Btw I also did a similar concept, a roman legion themed one, so in general im in favor of this concept :D.

As for suggestions this it what I got:

I feel like the passive is a bit hard to proc fo a attack speed boost in your next attack. How about have a special charged move for shield&weapon that can used after blocking enough hits and does a few quick hits that have increased crit chance.

Second, maybe fuse your shield abilities and make a place for a different one. It will help make the kit feel a bit more versetile. 

Exalted weapon is fine but maybe give it some inherit unique ability or move.

Thats all, overall you can easily make it better imo, but you do what feels best for you. Good job and good luck!

 

Cheers for the reply!

Now, i agree with you that it's still a little plain and could use a little flair, I was a little stuck for ideas ahaha. Generally I'm also using the cast and forget stuff with mesa and chroma when I need a tanky frame =P And the build for this would be somewhat similar to that but trending more toward shielding allies at the same time with good positioning. 

The passive does seem a little rough, thinking back on it I didn't want it to be overpowered but you're right. I'll be changing that to a short duration for increased attack speed and damage and remove the requirement of not being hit during the block.

The combining is an excellent idea, which I'll be implementing, and that means I've got another ability to put in! I'm thinking an omnidirectional offensive ability.

Exalted weapon needs some flair, I'll add something in but I'm open to creative ideas. Thanks again for the feedback 

[Talon-Elke]

Damn. With Styanax coming in, you might be on to something.