Feedback on the new T4 Phahd Scaffold

[AEP8FlyBoy]

So, I'm probably not the only one right now who feels this way, but I'm just generally underwhelmed at how this new scaffold performs during Eidolon hunts.

Lemme break it down a bit, as to why I thought this scaffold would be able to outcreep the Shraksun (or at least compete with it), and why I'm a bit disappointed that it just can't because of how it functions. Here's a quick comparison of the T2 and T4 Scaffolds: (Note: the Lohrin Brace is being used on both of these example Amps.)

So, as you guys already know, the pretty neat function of the Phahd scaffold is that it shoots homing projectiles capable of bouncing between enemies before exploding in a 5m radius dealing damage.  The problem with this for Eidolons should already be quite apparent. You're going to only be dealing half of your damage pretty much anytime you press MMB, or whatever your secondary fire bind is.

Now, that wouldn't be so bad if it had the crit damage or crit chance to back up that you're dealing half of your overall DPS in these types of fights. But apparently, the Phahd was shipped with incorrect stats and now we'll never see that beautiful 56% CC and 3.8x CD again.

Wanted to go over some quick numbers to help get across what I'm trying to say here: (Note: These comparisons are not made with Arcanes in mind.)

For the Shraksun, you have a 100% chance to deal all of your potential damage to a target (whether it be single or crowd). 7,500 x 2 (if you crit) = 15,000 in an AoE and you can shoot 14 times with maxed Madurai Waybounds.

However, for the Phahd, you have basically no chance to deal more than 50% of your base damage (just for single targets, and especially in the Plains). 3,000 x 2.6 (if you crit, and not factoring in Arcanes) = 7,800... per shot.

So with flat stats, Shraksun gives 14 shots before recharge with at least 7,500 damage, with about 4 - 5 of them being double damage. So a theoretical total damage of 142,500 with 140 Void Energy.

The Phahd gives 7 shots before recharge with at least 3,000 damage, with about 3 of them being 2.6x stronger. So a theoretical total damage per 140 Void Energy of just 35,400. 75% LESS overall damage, having to give 6 seconds to let your energy charge back up again, while the Shraksun can continue firing for another 4 seconds or so.

Look, I'm not saying that the Phahd needs to be insanely strong, because combined with other players using them I could see it being broken. I just think that it's kinda crap that half of your damage is going out the window because of how it works against big, single-target Eidolons.  I'm suggesting that a sticky bomb mode could be added, or at least the ability to detonate the Void Glaive by tappin' alt-fire again while it's in the air. Sort of like how tapping the channel button for Glaives causes them to explode.

Also, I could be over analyzing this a bit, but the Phahd seems to have been designed with crowds in mind. Same could be said for the Shraksun, I just think that the 6,100 advertised base damage should actually be capable of being dealt to a single target if needed.

Edited August 20, 2018 by AEP8FlyBoy

[TheGrimCorsair]

Seems like it's for clearing Vomvalyst swarms, rather than nuking Eidolons.

Also sounds like they still need to quarter the Shraksun's damage output.

[Synpai]

2 minutes ago, TheGrimCorsair said:

Seems like it's for clearing Vomvalyst swarms, rather than nuking Eidolons.

Also sounds like they still need to quarter the Shraksun's damage output.

If you use it, you'll know that that's the last thing you wanna use it for. You're often lucky to hit more than two enemies with the targeting mechanic. Each of the prisms does a better job of clearing out Vomvs than the T4 scaffold.

[AEP8FlyBoy]

2 minutes ago, TheGrimCorsair said:

Seems like it's for clearing Vomvalyst swarms, rather than nuking Eidolons.

Also sounds like they still need to quarter the Shraksun's damage output.

Why would they need to change the Shraksun at all, being a T2 scaffold?
If the Phahd was capable of reliably dealing its overall damage potential to a single target, it'd be much closer in the overall Damage potential I listed than that huge margin of 75% less.

[AEP8FlyBoy]

Rip double post.

3 minutes ago, Synpai said:

If you use it, you'll know that that's the last thing you wanna use it for. You're often lucky to hit more than two enemies with the targeting mechanic. Each of the prisms does a better job of clearing out Vomvs than the T4 scaffold.

And yeah, I agree. The Rahn Prism (T4) is one of the best prisms to take out swarms of Vomvies quickly. While for Scaffolds, the Klebrik is arguably the best for doing that.

Edited August 18, 2018 by AEP8FlyBoy

[Urlan]

I have also noticed that any Phahd Scaffold shots that bounce around as allies stay around on the host, making their sounds for the rest of the mission. Could potentially lead to resource buildup I would think. From release to post nerf, I am sorta disappointed with the scaffold now, felt it was surprisingly stable as an alt fire beforehand with the 6100 damage, shame its now around 3000 and the bounces are not reliable it seems.

[Buttaface]

1 hour ago, Urlan said:

I have also noticed that any Phahd Scaffold shots that bounce around as allies stay around on the host, making their sounds for the rest of the mission. Could potentially lead to resource buildup I would think. From release to post nerf, I am sorta disappointed with the scaffold now, felt it was surprisingly stable as an alt fire beforehand with the 6100 damage, shame its now around 3000 and the bounces are not reliable it seems.

Yes. The perma sound seems to be a bug, and it's very annoying.

As far as the topic, I didn't see the low range of the Shraksun added into the equation, that's necessary context.

[Kaotyke]

5 hours ago, AEP8FlyBoy said:

The Phahd gives 7 guaranteed hits

I have to disagree with this. Even in a cluster of enemies, there is a good chance it will fly away from the enemy group. I tested it in this Sortie's Infested Interception, it didnt lock on and flew away after hitting the first one.

Those hits are no granted.

Aside from that, yeah: it does NO do 6100 damage. Only on the final bounce, which I've NEVER seen it happen on an enemy and many times on ME.

[Kaotyke]

I would like to note that, the Phahd Scaffold is a worse Raplak Prism in Eidolon battles:

It has a sightly lower fire rate.

Its a projectile while the Raplak is hitscan.

And the kicker: Uses 20 energy when the Raplak uses 5.

3 strikes, you are out of those battles.

[WhimsicalPacifist]

I'll be Gilding my 443 as "Regret" and selling it.  The Phahd's bounce is not reliable and far too overpriced in energy for the amount of damage it's been reduced to.

[Loza03]

The Phahd amp is not designed for taking on Eidolons. The numbers and mechanics make that abundantly clear to me. Its design works best against large numbers of targets in enclosed spaces, which don't happen in Eidolon fights.

And, whilst I praise DE for taking a step away from just having Operators being for Eidolons, one that works pretty well on unarmoured targets... Armour still exists and it still affects void damage fully, so Operators STILL cannot effectively play many of the games missions, neutering their potential as an alternate playstyle to frames, even against Sentients.

Seriously, start firing this into  a swarm of Sortie Infested. Just a couple shots will bounce between them and do pretty damn good damage over more or less the whole group, CC'ing them in the process. This would be an effective weapon if it wasn't severely hamstringed like it is now.

And yes, it is also bad against Eidolons, as many people have pointed by now. Right now, it has a purpose, one that it cannot fulfill thanks to deeper-seated problem that DE haven't addressed since the 'Warrior Operator' mechanics were introduced.

[RS219]

I built two new amps with the Phahd scaffold right as it came out. Was really happy that I had a tool that could let me reliably solo triple eidolons now.

Utterly disgusted with this nerf.

[Vafthrudnir]

On 2018-08-18 at 8:46 PM, AEP8FlyBoy said:

Rip double post.

And yeah, I agree. The Rahn Prism (T4) is one of the best prisms to take out swarms of Vomvies quickly. While for Scaffolds, the Klebrik is arguably the best for doing that.

The stats make it a worse raplak, negative status chance is a joke.

9 energy to do the same damage with worse stats. The pew pew sounds fun.

[AEP8FlyBoy]

On 2018-08-18 at 7:09 PM, Kaotyke said:

I have to disagree with this. Even in a cluster of enemies, there is a good chance it will fly away from the enemy group. I tested it in this Sortie's Infested Interception, it didnt lock on and flew away after hitting the first one.

Those hits are no granted.

Aside from that, yeah: it does NO do 6100 damage. Only on the final bounce, which I've NEVER seen it happen on an enemy and many times on ME.

By 7 Guaranteed hits, I really meant you can only shoot 7 times before recharging, not that the shots will even hit.
Probably going to reword that a bit.

And yeah, the fact that a bit more than half of your damage is coming straight back at you most of the time just makes it much more of an insult to have crafted this amp just to have it changed because its damage was 'unintended' less than a day later.

Edited August 20, 2018 by AEP8FlyBoy

[Redfeather75]

I got this part free from twitch drops. It is not useful, but I'm sure a lot of time and thought went into programming it only to not playtest it then nerf it after a bug. Now it's just really pointless.

[Lutesque]

1 hour ago, Redfeather75 said:

I got this part free from twitch drops. It is not useful, but I'm sure a lot of time and thought went into programming it only to not playtest it then nerf it after a bug. Now it's just really pointless.

The Phahd Scaffold Actuall is usefully.... It can One Shot The Pylons in the Profit Taker Bounty.... Which is nice if you don't have The Zenith that can Shoot Through Almost Anything...

What's not nice however...is that for some Inexplicable reason this Scaffold now inflicts Self Stagger 🤔....why !!  

[shut]

Yeah, the self stagger is really annoying. The AoE damage is definitely appreciated, but I would love if it didn't detonate within the first 0.05 seconds of being launched or something.

On 2021-11-27 at 7:03 AM, Redfeather75 said:

I got this part free from twitch drops. It is not useful, but I'm sure a lot of time and thought went into programming it only to not playtest it then nerf it after a bug. Now it's just really pointless.

Ah yes, the "Phahd glaives do a free Void Blast after every collision with an enemy or surface" bug. I only enjoyed that for like a day before it got fixed, but it was fun while it lasted 😂

It sucks that that bug was (understandably) fixed, but in that same patch they added a feature where glaives (including Phahd) are now affected by bullet attractor bubbles. So if you're able to proc Void on an enemy, you can actually get each glaive to hit it like 10 consecutive times, making it ludicrously strong on single targets compared to nearly every other amp. Also an excellent weapon to use against Teralysts, surprisingly! (Although it sadly isnt nearly as good against gantulysts/hydrolysts for some sad reason...)