**Nevermind! Apparently, I'll have those next two posts up today on Sunday March 18th.
Hello, Warframe community, DE, and other poor bewildered
souls who somehow wound up on a video game forum. As we are all (hopefully)
aware, the last major update to Warframe added two new eidolons to the plains and
moved Arcanes from Trials into the eidolon drop tables. These changes, combined
with the recent hoopla surrounding this game will almost certainly lead to a
surge in eidolon hunting, which - by extension – should dramatically expand the
pool of players futzing with the focus system.
That’s all well and good. However, this is Warframe - more
players interacting with anything
means more people performing their best headless chicken impressions and
shooting themselves (and their teammates) in the foot if not the face. It is
not hyperbolic to say that most of the player base does not understand how the
focus system works, what they should be striving towards, or even what they are
capable of doing. And as such, all of us are still seeing regular ineffective use
of already inefficient eidolon hunting teams (most notably the Harrow, Volt,
Trinity, Damage Dealer combo) months after the eidolons’ arrival. That lack of
understanding is also holding back engagement with the focus system (beyond
Zenurik’s Energizing Dash), in addition to stymying the flow of constructive
feedback on how to improve the focus system. We need clarity. We need
comprehension. We need a manual.
So, since (apparently) I can’t count on anyone else to make
sense of this game’s systems and the piss-poor analysis on Tennoclock news
(this one https://www.tennoclocknews.com/analysis-focus-2-0/) is not only
outdated, but riddled with blatant inaccuracies, in this post I’m going apply
my skills as a systems analyst to cover every base – I’ll explain how the focus
trees presently work, the strengths and weaknesses of every ability in every
tree, how those abilities can currently be applied, the issues currently
plaguing the focus system, and ways those issues can be addressed in the future
(you get this one for free DE). This analysis will be divided into 3 parts: a
section explaining how the focus trees currently operate, a second section
highlighting immediate and necessary changes that would address the system’s
current flaws, and a smaller third section presenting possible advancements
after the initial problems are dealt with. And for those questioning
methodology, all findings are based on personal research conducted after
gaining access to all of the abilities in every focus tree. Thus, screenshots,
gifs, and an Excel sheet can and will be provided when necessary to illustrate
points.
And, in case that daunting list of features wasn’t forewarning
enough, I’ll say it plainly: this will probably be the largest wall of text you
see today (and perhaps for the next few weeks). But, fret not! There is a TL;DR
at the end of this monstrosity for those of you who are the reason I cry in
the shower have better things to do than read a thesis on the Internet. Without
further ado…
Section 1. The State of Inferiority
It’s no secret that a very vocal portion of the community
disapproves of operator mode (type “force” into the search bar if you want to
sigh exasperation), and for understandable (but foolish) reasons. It’s a
relatively new omni-present aspect of the game that is intrinsically tied to
three other features of the game – riven mods, eidolon hunting, and now arcanes
– and ignores nearly all of the effort people put into the core
warframe-centric gameplay loop. Some community members thus feel like Operator
mode, and indeed the entire Focus system, is holding those aforementioned
features hostage. What’s more, the transference of arcanes from Trials to Eidolons
has scared them and others into believing that operator mode is going to be a
gatekeeper for new content in the future, as well. If you are one of the
aforementioned community members and feel like that’s an inaccurate assessment,
by all means explain your feelings on the matter. I only bring these specific
complaints because at one point I shared them – well, one of them.
As of Focus 2.0, all of the complaints and fears listed
above are invalid. Kuva farming to enhance riven mods has only ever required us
to pop into operator mode for a brief moment and never depended on players
investing any points into Focus trees. Eidolon hunting requires us to use our
operators to drop eidolon shields and minimize chaos, but also “supposedly”
depends on warframes and weapons as well, in such a way that the operator is
almost secondary (I’ll cover why this is a misconception and not a fact when we
look at Madurai) – they do not ignore the warframe-centric gameplay loop. And
as for Arcanes, we always have and still can simply trade for them if we don’t
want to engage in eidolon hunting. So, at the moment, focus trees are still not
gatekeeping content.
But, even if they were to become a deciding element for
future content, that would not inherently be a bad thing because Operator Amps
and the improved Focus trees finally made using our Operators fun and rewarding
without disrupting the core gameplay loop. Back when Operator mode was first
unveiled, someone at DE ([DE] Scott, I think) stated that “the Operator is supposed to compliment the Warframe, not replace
them.” That was technically
correct in Focus 1.0 because Operators had laughably terrible combat prowess
and extraordinarily limited application as a universal tool on Spy missions, while
simultaneously possessing a handful of marginally useful passives (Mending
Unity, Mending Tides, Affinity Spike, Phoenix Talons, etc.) for standard play. However,
as my fellow support players can attest, active support is better than passive
support, and Focus 2.0’s active support options were either too limited or too
expensive to reasonably acquire. Enter Focus 2.5 and Magus Arcanes. These two additions alone addressed the basic
usability problems with the Focus system:
1. Operator amps have made the operator strong enough to
plough through the star chart without assistance, but not quite strong enough
to clean out sorties or endless missions. In other words, Operators are strong,
but don’t infringe upon Warframes’ dominance – exactly as they should be for
the moment. (I shouldn’t need to point this out, but in case you’re reading
this and don’t have an upgraded amp, these are the stats of the Opticor and
THESE are the stats of tier 2 & 3 amps. Opticor has mod support, so
obviously it will surpass the amps, but as you can see, amps have no problem
putting low-mid level enemies 6 or 20 feet under).
2. It is now possible for operators to survive a sustained
fight without incurring a void static penalty. And I can already see you
keyboard warriors lighting your pitchforks and sharpening your torches, so
please allow me to enlighten you.
BEWARE: The following paragraph contains MATH!!!
Default Operator Health is 250 and Armor is 25…as far as we
know; the game doesn’t actually say. Vazarin has a waybound Passive that adds
+150% total HP, and another that grants +4 HP regen/Sec. Unairu has a waybound
passive that adds +200% total Armor to the operator. With both of these, your
operator has 625 HP and 75 Armor resulting in an Effective HP of 625(1+75/300)=781.25
i.e. slightly better than garbage sorry Banshee. Decent, but it can be
better. A rank 4 Magus Husk arcane adds +100 Armor to Operators, while a rank 4
Magus Vigor adds 200 HP to Operators. These numbers are both affected by the
waybound passives. So, with 1 max Magus Husk and 1 max Magus Vigor your
operator can achieve 250+200+1.5(250+200)=1125 HP and 25+100+2(25+100)=375
armor for a total EHP of 2531.25. Alternatively, you can use two maxed Magus
Husks for 625 HP and 675 Armor granting 2031.25 EHP, but better EHP regen/sec.
[FYI never use Magus Vigor x2. You’d get 1625 HP and 75 Armor yielding 2031.25
EHP with goddawful EHP regen/sec]. You can make both numbers even larger by
taking either Vazarin (+20 HP regen/sec in void mode) or Unairu (+60 Armor =
2406 EHP w/ 2xHusk or 3206.25 EHP w/1 Husk+1 Vigor), but assuming you don’t,
your Operator can be roughly as tanky as a Valkyr with a maxed Vitality, but no
Armor mods (2220 EHP for those curious) regardless
of which focus tree you pick. [You can also find similar calculations on
the Warframe wiki in the comments section of the Magus Husk page - Nice work
anonymous contributor.]
The Operator is now officially made of bricks, making any
complaints about durability nothing short of ill-informed nonsense. What’s
more, at this point in time there is little reason to use any Operator arcanes
other than the two durability arcanes mentioned (and Magus Elevate if you’re
particularly paranoid), so there is no excuse not to use them.
*I strongly recommend allowing Operators more than two
arcanes, to accommodate future arcanes and any updates/changes to existing
ones, because players should never have to choose between a usable health pool
and basic functionality. Alternatively, you could create some new means of
improving Operator functionality, though that would take more work, and nobody
likes that.
3. All abilities are now reasonably priced, thanks to the
price drop and eidolons supplementing our already extended daily Focus income.
*In case you were unaware, converting eidolon shards does
NOT count against your daily standing total. So, you can - like me - earn a
million points or more every day.
4. All abilities in each tree are functionally useful
Again, the mob outside has already started throwing Anasa
sculptures through my window, so that last point is going to require some extreme crystallization - like, four Garas Mass Vitrifying on top
of each other extreme – via an in-depth analysis of every focus tree and their
abilities. But, as will soon become clear, all Focus tree abilities are
inherently tied to operator functions. So, before we begin, it is imperative
that we first go over the basic operator commands themselves.
Currently operators have four non-movement actions: Void
Beam/Amp Attacks, Void Blast, Void Mode, and Void Dash. More specifically:
Void Beam/Amp attacks
– Gun attacks with a fancier name. At the moment, this is the operator’s
premier attack option. These use energy from the Operator’s pool as ammo, until
an Amp is obtained. Said amps will change the way the attack fires (burst fire,
charge laser, mini-Arca Plasmor, etc.), affect its strength appropriately, and
grant it an alt-fire, but will not change the damage type which is limited to
Void (-50% damage against cloned flesh, fossilized & machinery; status
ailment = a Bullet Attractor). What’s more, the damage of this attack can only
be improved by Virtuous Strike, Fury, & Shadow (Amp Arcanes), Void Strike
(Madurai only), and the Unairu Wisp (Unairu only obviously). Finally,
despite Void damage existing outside of both IPS and Elemental damage types,
Armor still affects it normally – i.e. reducing its power to a fraction of a
fraction. The singular damage type, its relationship with Armor, and the
limited/unreliable damage boosting options all combine to make Operators
inherently ineffective against the Grineer & Corrupted factions, only
mildly effective against the Corpus & Infested, and – sans Unairu -
completely incapable of fighting enemies at sortie level or higher.
http://warframe.wikia.com/wiki/Damage_2.0/Void_Damage
*Again, this seems like more of an oversight than anything,
but Void Damage should just ignore Armor entirely. It’s held up in the lore as
some power beyond mortal comprehension, but in practice it’s the weakest damage
type in the game that is exclusively decent (not great) against a half-dozen
enemies. Ignoring armor seems like the obvious answer since amp damage has okay
base stats, but can’t be improved. Just a thought.*
Void Blast – A
crowd control attack that ragdolls all enemies directly next to (not necessarily in front) the operator – very
short range (4m radial AoE). Drains 20 Energy per blast (1/5th of the
Operator’s default energy pool). Its damage is a negligible 200 Void, but it
can inflict an Impact or Void proc for those with Virtuous Fury (Growing Power
procs do NOT transfer to the Warframe). This attack is the operator’s answer to
charging enemies, and it is actually freaking effective at telling them to SIT
DOWN. Unfortunately, the ragdoll effect is brief, and your Void Blasts are
exceedingly limited, so you better have an actual attack plan to follow it up.
Void Mode – The
Operator enters another dimension where they are invulnerable to attacks, but
can only walk, jump, or Void Dash. It drains 5 energy/second, meaning the
default maximum up-time is 20 seconds. However, the ability will cancel
prematurely if you Void Blast or attack with your Amp.
According to the wiki, Void Mode is supposed to make you
invisible, but personal experience says that the invisibility is a crapshoot –
sometimes grineer, corpus, and infested, will still attack or swarm you
regardless of the futility of their efforts, and the Eidolons’ super-explody-ground-pound-thing
will still target you in Void Mode. I did not have the patience to test my
visibility against every single enemy, though I did confirm that walking
through lasers during Sortie Spy Missions (Corpus, Grineer, and Orokin) will still trigger
alarms, so don’t do it.
Because Warframe is a horde shooter with limited
environmental puzzles and simplistic enemies, it’s best to think of this
ability as a glorified block button. Your inability to attack from Void mode
means that while the ability is active, you are literally doing nothing but
recharging your amp and slowly repositioning, so the damage avoidance is its
only practical function. For our purposes, it is also worth pointing out, that
Void Dash cannot be activated without entering Void Mode first, if only for a
moment – Void Mode is therefore a necessary condition for Void Dash, and by
extension all Focus Tree Void Mode
abilities are inherently Void Dash abilities.
Void Dash – And
finally, we have the Void Dash: a 12m dash in one direction that can only be
activated from Void Mode. It costs a bewilderingly expensive 25 Energy to use,
but each enemy hit by the dash restores 10 Energy to the Operator potentially
offsetting the cost.
Due to the dash’s camera-based nature, it often leaves you
exposed and ill-prepared after dashing; You can’t see any enemies you pass
after dashing and therefore are likely to die immediately after doing so. Thankfully,
enemies hit will also fly forward and fall giving you a moment of breathing
room to get your bearings.
It compliments the Operator’s innate short-range slide
nicely by providing you with a long-range option. But, because of the linear
nature of the dash and lack of supplementary movement options – the slide and a
single jump are literally all you have – it alone doesn’t quite solve the
problem of the Operator moving like she has gum stuck to her shoe.
---
Taken as a whole, the default Operator loadout contains the
tools to at least answer most of the game’s obstacles. There are three blind
spots in the lack of a close-range damage option, proper jump tools, or any
outright support abilities, but the CC, invulnerablity, customizable attack
options, and mobility functions still make the operator combat ready. That said,
Focus 2.0 clearly tried its hardest to ensure that the Operator could not
possibly outperform a Warframe in every
sense of the word – the Operator is weaker, slower, more fragile, less
maneuverable, and more limited in capability. Consequently, while Operators are
at least “playable” they are by no means desirable and cannot even passably
perform their function as a “compliment to warframes.” Enter the Focus trees:
Focus Trees: The Actual Reason You’re Reading This Post
The five Focus Trees – also called “Ways” by pretentious
tosspots and Tenshin, but I repeat myself – are what actually grant Operators
their supporting capabilities. Unlocking them can be prohibitively expensive
and time consuming for newer players with low Mastery Ranks. But, thanks to
Focus 2.5 and the Plains of Eidolon update, the in-game tools exist for more
advanced players to pay for all of these abilities in a FAR more reasonable
time than the Wiki’s absurd 212 days estimate (try a fifth of that).
*I won’t go over focus farming methods in this post as there are plenty of Reddit threads, youtube videos, and forum discussions ArounD thAt alReady do sO.
If we strip away all the aesthetic splendor and lore gobbledygook,
the five Ways are just fixed sets of mutators for basic Operator functions
packaged with two pairs of passives, one locked to the Way and another that can
be unlocked for all trees (Way-bound passives). These sets are equipped like
warframes, and their mutators are not interchangeable. Additionally, each tree’s
mutators also possess one additional ability that is dependent upon activating
the initial ability – you can activate one other ability provided that the
first one is active as well (these are NOT upgrades to the base ability, regardless
of what this dependency implies). The mutators tack properties onto the Operator
functions that enable the Operator to gain a specific playstyle, while enhancing
a specific core aspect of the standard gameplay. Meanwhile, the locked passives
(are supposed to) reinforce the Focus tree’s playstyle to improve the Operator’s
combat performance. These enhancements and playstyles are as follows,
respectively:
Madurai – Damage/Damage Dealing (really reinvented the wheel
with this one)
Vazarin – Health/Healing
Unairu – Defense/Support
Naramon – Melee/Close Combat
Zenurik – Energy/Crowd Control
In theory, each Focus tree’s abilities would work towards
its Focus tree’s…focus.
But that’s just a theory – a GAME theory.
The reality is that every Focus tree – excluding one – possesses
two monumental problems that inhibit their intended goals:
- Overgeneralized skillsets
- A lack of internal synergy
This is not to say that every focus tree (bar one) is bad.
In fact, all of them are quite good, and clearly show that DE learned from the
mistakes of Focus 1.0. Way-Bound passives in particular are a monumental step
in the right direction, and all of the ones that exist are excellent. They just
didn’t quite hit the mark on any tree in its entirety. Unfortunately (for me)
the only way to holistically explain the two problems above is to go through
every ability in every Focus tree, so…strap in and read the Excel sheet…………
*No, really. The Excel sheet cleanly lists the functions of
every ability in every tree, highlights which ones are in need of adjustments,
and even how significant those adjustments need to be. It’ll even walk your
dog, do your taxes, and fold your laundry! It contains more juicy goodies
on it than that, but we’ll visit those in the upcoming sections. For now, keep
the page open (on the Focus 2.5 sheet) in another window so you have a direct
point of reference for the abilities discussed.
-------
Unairu – The Redeemed
One
We’re starting here because I want to start out on a
positive note, and contrary to the mindless cawing of ill-informed parrots
widespread community belief, Unairu is easily the strongest, most practical,
and best designed Focus tree in the game. It alone exemplifies the two
“theoretical” purposes of the Focus trees I named above, and therefore best
embodies the spirit of Focus 2.0.
Way-Bound Passive 1:
Basilisk Scales – I already discussed how good this ability is in reference
to operator durability at the top of the section. If you skipped here you
soulless monster then just know that it helps turn your operator into the
juggernaut bitc-. Love it.
Way-Bound Passive 2:
Basilisk Gaze – This was difficult for me to properly measure given the
nearly arms-length 4m base radius of Void Blast, but it definitely works as
advertised, sending the Void Blast radius from 4m -> 6.4m. It also showed me
that the initial AoE of Void Blast is an actual radial rather than a cone.
Anyway, Basilisk Gaze only slightly benefits the Unairu Blast Void abilities,
but has a profound effect on those of every other tree.
Passive 1: Void Spines
– No, this does not redirect all damage taken back at the enemies – you still
take the damage, just so does the enemy. That should go without saying, since it
would be hilariously overpowered if it made you immortal, but apparently this
confuses people. As to the specifics of how the reflection works, it reflects
the enemy damage before ALL Armor
calculations. So, if the enemy does not have any Armor (read: Infested &
Corpus enemies), they will take more damage from their attack than you. Likewise,
if you have less Armor than the enemy (read: Grineer and Corrupted) then they
will take less damage from their attack than you. And, in the event that you
and the enemy have enough armor to cosplay as AT-AT walkers, neither you nor
the enemy will take much damage.
This ability is good in theory, but it needs a buff to be
useful. Reflecting Damage is a great idea for a defensive school. But, it’s
only effective if the ability accounts for the health-damage disparity between
Players and Enemies – Players can strike with well over 100x the force of
enemies (due to weapon mods), while enemies can take well over 50x the damage that
most Warframes can (due to Armor scaling). Now, as we outlined above, an operator
with Unairu abilities is actually tougher than most Warframes, so they benefit
from Damage Reflection a little bit more than most. However, Operators are
still nowhere near as durable as the premier tank Warframes, and are miles
behind the original user of this ability’s function: Chroma. Shock Chroma
players will note that his Damage Reflection from Elemental Ward is set to
1000% at BASE level and is
complemented by a high base Armor stat that gets further boosted by a Vex Armor
multiplier. Basically, Unairu’s reflection is slapping a guy with a dish rag
while Chroma is whacking them with a helicopter blade. A buff is clearly
needed. However, I recognize that this is a passive ability usable by any
Warframe, and it should not be as powerful as a dedicated Warframe power. So,
while 100% reflection is a good start – way better than what we had in Focus
1.0 – doubling that number to 200% at minimum,
would at least bring it up to a usable level.
Passive 2: Stone Skin
– It’s good. The flat Armor greatly benefits the glassy Warframes that need it
most and supplements the tanky Warframes who just want as much Armor as they
can get. It’s fine as is, though I would prefer that it capped out at 85 Armor
rather than 60. 25 additional Armor has almost no consequential impact on the
gameplay, but would have an impact on player psychology (provided that the
effects of Operator passives display in the Warframe stats screen. Get on it
DE). An 85 Armor boost would bring all Warframes with 15 Armor up to a clean
100, and all Warframes with 65 up to 150 which looks more aesthetically
pleasing to all players and simplifies Armor calculations for veteran players.
Void Mode: Void
Shadow/Dependent: Void Chrysalis – This is horrifically powerful, and a
strong candidate for the best Void Mode ability in the game. The base ability
provides a true cloak and will outright stop enemy aggro, even cancelling the
Teralyst’s most dangerous attack, while Void Chrysalis builds directly on top
of it by giving you the option to also grant all allies an 80% damage reduction for an additional Energy cost. The range of
both abilities is a fantastic 25m, giving allies plenty of room to maneuver and
continue playing normally.
The tooltip uses the always vague “allies” tag meaning the
only way to figure out what it covers is through testing, but fortunately I’ve
already done it for you, and the results are quite pleasing. With this ability,
“allies” refers to anything that moves – Warframes, Operators, companions,
Rescue Operatives, Defectors, Specters, and yes: Eidolon Lures. This ability
almost single-handedly invalidates Trinity on Eidolon Hunts and frees up teams
to take an additional damage dealer frame, making it extremely desirable for
speed-runners. It is somewhat limited outside of Eidolon hunts as it stops you
from acting and encourages passivity. But, like all Void Mode abilities, it
still synergizes well with Warframes that have Channeled or Timer-based powers
like Gara, Vauban, Ember, and Equinox. Congratulations DE: you finally made
Invisibility strong without being overpowered.
*And for all of you schemers out there, know that DE covered
their tracks. You cannot skip levelling Void Shadow and exclusively level Void
Chrysalis for the 25m of 80% Damage Reduction – it only affects cloaked allies,
just like the description says (and yes, I tried).
Void Dash: Sundering
Dash/Dependent: Crippling Dash – The Base removes up to 75% (of current) Armor,
while the Dependent slices enemy damage in half. In tandem the abilities act as
universal armor strip that dramatically enhances DPS against problem enemies,
while simultaneously increasing your survivability. For reference, with this
ability one Void Dash = 5 Corrosive procs worth of Armor reduction. Boring, but
extremely practical. Crippling Dash technically
interferes with Void Spines, but the armor strip from Sundering Dash is
stronger than the damage reduction, and will still result in increased damage
against most enemies regardless. It also helps solve the sturdiness issue
raised in the Void Spines discussion, so it helps facilitate the overall playstyle
as well. In short, both abilities work perfectly together and can help you in
almost any situation, especially against stronger enemies.
Void Blast: Magnetic
Blast/Dependent: Unairu Wisp – Considering when Focus 2.0 was unveiled, I
don’t understand why Magnetic Blast exists. The Void status proc - created at
the same time as this ability - is already a Bullet Attractor, so the ability
effectively just gives Void Blast a 100% Void status proc with a different
color. But, while the idea of Void Blast attaining a 100% status proc was good,
this is the wrong proc for a move with such a short range. The Bullet Attractor
proc virtually guarantees that your projectile will hit the affected target.
But, if you’re only 4-6.4m away from your target, you would never miss them in
the first place making the proc redundant. It’s possible that because Unairu is
the support school, the proc was intended to benefit teammates rather than the
user; you run forward, draw aggro, and set up the enemies, then the rest of the
team safely guns them down. But if that’s the case, then it makes little sense
for the VASTLY superior dependent ability to spawn on affected enemies – those
within arms-length of you - and be usable by allies. Anyway, regardless of why
it exists, Magnetic Blast is inherently extraneous due to Void procs both being
universal and better utilized (because range) by all amps. There is no reason
to invest in this.
The Dependent ability on the other hand is so good, that months later I am still
scratching my head as to why it isn’t the main ability. As I mentioned earlier,
this is one of the three abilities in the entire game that can boost (read: STRAIGHT-UP DOUBLE!!) amp damage (the other two being Madurai’s Void Strike and
Volt’s Electric Shield for some reason), making it indispensable on
Operator-focused missions (read: Eidolon Hunts) and one of the most valuable
abilities in the entire Focus system. And yet, as amazing as this ability might
be, it could still use some slight tweaks. The wisp spawned by this ability is
almost identical to a Cetus Wisp and unfortunately shares almost all of the
same annoyances – they’re hard to see, have the attract radius of a geometry
kit ruler, hover barely a foot off the ground (assuming they’re not careening
down a cliff), and can only be picked up by the Operator who never remembers to
pack his Dirt Devil *though insultingly ironically conveniently, Sentinels
CAN vacuum up Wisps and “hold” them for you though I’m 99% certain they just
clog up the hose making them easy to find with your Warframe.* They also
don’t seem to have client specific instances, so if one person “accidentally”
eats all the wisps (and gets nothing for it since the duration & effects
only refresh and don’t stack), then the Unairu user has to Void Blast everything
again to feed everyone else. Even with all of these annoyances, the ability is
still fairly easy to use since it spawns one wisp at the feet of EVERY enemy
hit by your Void Blasts, and can spawn a seemingly infinite amount of them per
enemy.
It goes without saying that a better attract radius, unique
instances, slightly higher spawn/float position, and a brighter vibrant color would
all make this ability more user-friendly and ally accessible. However, in the
context of this tree there’s one other function that this ability is missing to
make it truly perfect: a Warframe effect. You astute readers may have noticed
that this is the only ability in the Unairu tree that has no effect on
Warframes. And while that’s not necessarily bad, part of the value of the
Unairu tree is that any move you make as an operator helps the rest of the team
regardless of what mode they themselves
are in. I’m not saying it should grant Warframes +100% Power Damage or
anything so ridiculous, but it should do something
for them that preferably reinforces the defensive nature of the playstyle. As
it stands, this is still an amazing ability that nicely rounds out the Unairu
school’s kit.
Conclusion:
Unairu is the closest thing we have to a generalist focus
tree. Void Mode gives the entire team effective invincibility and plenty of
space to take advantage of it. Void Dash lets the team cut through enemy offenses
and defenses. And Void Blast dramatically boosts the team’s amp damage to press
those advantages as far as possible. These abilities don’t possess any hard
synergy with one another, but each is so effective on its own that the user and
their team can conquer every obstacle the game currently has to offer. Best of
all, the abilities in this tree all manage to be effective without stepping on
the toes of existing Warframe powers or hindering team play. Outside of a few
minor oversights, Unairu is perfect as is.
Vazarin – The Sickly
Imitation
One of the two weakest trees in the game, and the clearest
example of the role redundancy caused by overgeneralizing each focus tree’s
skill sets. Vazarin is widely recognized as the “healer” tree, and rightfully
so due to it being the only tree with health restoration capabilities. Unfortunately,
said healing functions are underwhelming, impractical, and surprisingly limited
due to the unnecessary inclusion of offensive and defensive abilities (which
are barely usable, of course). At least the passives are good.
Way-Bound 1: Enduring
Tides – It dramatically increases operator Health and even affects magus
arcanes. It’s great, ‘nuff said.
Way-Bound 2: Rejuvenating
Tides – The health regen is ALWAYS active whether you’re under fire, in Void
Mode, or even back in your Warframe, though it may not seem like much it never
stops paying for itself. Plus, it can be more substantive than it looks when
combined with Magus Husk and Unairu’s 200% Operator Armor boost. Good ability,
though not as high of a priority as its predecessor due to how negligible
Transferrence Static penalties are.
Passive 1: Mending
Unity – No abilities improve Affinity Range, let alone passively, so this
sits pretty in a niche of its own…that niche just happens to be about three inches
wide, as Harrow and Trinity are literally the only two frames with an ability
that benefit from this. It has no relation to any other skill in this tree
either, so it was likely left in the game because it was one of the few skills
from Focus 1.0 that people liked. At the moment, this ability is inoffensive; there
are many more pressing skills in need of fixes, and for that reason I have left
it as green on the excel sheet. But, if/when the Focus system changes in the
future, this ability must not be forgotten.
Passive 2: Mending
Soul – It’s okay. Free revives are always helpful. Perhaps because of a
design oversight, the ability actually gives you 8 revives – 4 for the
Warframe, and 4 for the Operator – making it much better than it looks. It
lacks the sustainability to get you out of trouble more than once on an endless
mission, so some sort of side function for when the revives run out would be
preferred. Otherwise, like I said, it’s just okay.
Void Mode: Void Regen/Dependent:
Void Aegis – The idea of the base
ability is okay; Simple health restoration for the Operator is valuable for a
tree that boosts your maximum HP, and in line with its purported function as a
healer. The actual numbers DE settled on, however, leave much to be desired.
25HP/sec is, with no HP boosters, the equivalent to 10% HP/second – okay, but
unimpressive. With Vazarin’s Waybound Passive however, that drops to 4%
HP/second. And with just one Magus Vigor it falls to an abysmal 2.2% HP/second.
Needless to say, this ability in its current form is too weak to be of any
practical benefit to the Operator, and since this is also the only ability in
the tree that lets you self-heal, a buff is deeply desired.
The upgrade Void Aegis, doesn’t do it any favors either. The
ability blocks ALL incoming enemy damage from outside the bubble, which can be
invaluable against foes like Kela De Thaym and the Hydrolyst. However, the
bubble size at maximum range is big enough that enemies will regularly find
their way inside of it, rendering the ability moot. At the same time, the range
is limited enough that allies seeking to benefit from it are all but forced to
stand still and cling to you. These drawbacks along with the surprisingly long
ramp up time and extreme energy cost, all result in a clunky ability with
limited usefulness, that’s blatantly overshadowed by Unairu’s Void Chrysalis
(same price, twice the range, better defense, offensive utility, and zero
drawbacks). Worst of all is that the ability is easier to manage at lower
levels than when maxed. At the first two levels, the bubble is small enough
that you can serve as a portable bulwark against incoming projectiles for a
longer period of time, at almost half the cost of the fully upgraded version. Rather
than simply wasting points, Void Aegis is one of several abilities that
actively punishes you for levelling it up, which in combination with every
other problem it comes with, makes it one of the most heavily flawed skills in
the game…
…But, flaws can be fixed, and I still believe that this can
become a good ability with minimal effort. After all, the idea of this ability
was good – block all incoming damage and heal while you’re doing it. The
problem is really just that its execution failed to create any synergy with the
base ability, and arguably works against it due to the increased energy cost.
Void Dash: Protective
Dash/Dependent: Sonic Dash – Protective Dash sounds better than it actually
is. The effect is undeniably powerful, providing straight-up damage Immunity
for 5 seconds and an objective heal - kind of like if both of the Void mode
abilities were combined properly. However, it is extremely difficult to use,
especially with Mind Sprint, due to this being a game where flipping out and
bouncing off the walls is standard operating procedure. It’s also equally
limited in application; “Allies” here only seems to refer to Warframes and
Operators – tested on: pets, specters, eidolon lures, excavators, and defense
targets; none worked. And, like seemingly every skill in this tree, the
dependent has no effect on it either.
In its current state, Sonic Dash is arguably a downgrade to Void
Dash – it loses the ragdoll effect built into the ability and replaces it with
a shockwave that knocks enemies over in front of you at the end of the dash. The shockwave can
technically incapacitate more enemies than the original ability, but due to the
game’s relatively cramped level design and the long distance you can cover with
a single void dash (especially with Mind Sprint), it’s nigh unheard of for you
to Void Dash 25m into an 8m line of enemies patiently waiting in front of you. I
appreciate the fact that it fundamentally changes the way you think about Void
Dash (finish in front of the enemies rather than behind them, or finish behind
your allies), but again, the lack of synergy with the base ability and the
Waybound passive (and anti-synergy with Void Mode), make it just annoying to
use. Both the Base and Dependent need improvements and are thus orange on the
excel sheet.
Void Blast: Guardian
Shell /Dependent: Guardian Blast – It’s not great. This is pure
speculation, but I believe the base ability was supposed to be the
justification for fully levelling Void Aegis. It creates a frontal shield that
blocks all incoming damage, exactly like the base Void mode ability. The
difference is that this ability drains Energy per 400 damage taken, meaning it
has a damage ceiling of 400*100= 40k damage/A LOT. Or at least on paper. In
practice, the ability requires you to Void Blast once before the effect kicks
in dropping the max shield health by 10k (40k->30k), which is noticeably
less impressive. The bigger problem however is that Void Aegis – awful though
it is – requires you to use Void Mode to activate it i.e. become outright
invincible, while Guardian Shell leaves your flanks exposed. And, though a 30k
damage ceiling is high, it will still get breached fairly quickly on higher
level missions unlike Void Aegis which has no ceiling whatsoever. The lack of
any secondary benefits and inactive playstyle both make it a little
underwhelming. Note however that Guardian Shell benefits from Basilisk Gaze,
Void Flow, and Void Siphon allowing you to improve the shield health by 36k,
the range by a few meters, and increase the likelihood of recharging the shield
while its active. It’s not bad, just outclassed.
The Dependent - Guardian Blast – is not outclassed, but
just…weird. It gives allies (and your Warframe if you strike it)
Shields/Overshields which, as all players should
know, are of extremely dubious value unless someone has objective damage
resistance to beef them up (of which this tree offers none). It can be somewhat
useful, for Gara and Harrow, but is generally weak because the Shields it
grants are not very large and come at a disproportionately high energy cost (a
single cast can burn ALL of your energy for a pathetic 160 Overshields to all
teammates). It doesn’t talk to the base ability in any way but can potentially
weaken the Guardian Shield if you accidentally hit an ally. So, it’s
technically in the correct position as a dependent. However, it doesn’t feel like it should be because it’s the
only instance of a base ability adding new behavior while the dependent just
adds properties to the original behavior. Like I said, it’s weird and obviously
in need of an upgrade.
Conclusion:
This tree’s playstyle has an identity crisis. It has an
offensive ability that’s too cumbersome and paltry to be useful. Multiple
defensive abilities that both try to do the same thing and thus step on each
other’s toes, all while both are simultaneously outclassed by a single ability
in Unairu’s tree. Most offensively the healing that is supposed to be at the
tree’s core is overshadowed by a lack of tools to make it practical. It doesn’t
have a focus and just gets outclassed in nearly every area by Unairu.
It should go without saying, but seeing how this tree came
together, I guess it’s not obvious: the reason why Unairu can get away with
being offensive, defensive, and supportive simultaneously is because it’s
achieving its goals through incidental buffs and debuffs – things which
everyone on the team can benefit from without dictating anyone’s playstyle including the user. Vazarin is
currently trying to achieve the same results but failing spectacularly because it’s trying to do each function actively.
This shackles the effectiveness of its abilities to the operator’s base kit,
and as we’ve already discussed that kit is missing some critical tools for
every role, most notably a supporting one. That dearth of tools forces Vazarin
to invent new ones for each of its basic commands (Void mode=a force field,
Dash= a shockwave, Blast = a shield) that all enforce another restriction upon
its playstyle. And while that’s not inherently a bad thing, in this case the
restrictions don’t work together to proliferate a single unified playstyle;
they just narrow the effectiveness of your original kit’s functionality. The
tragedy of this tree is that for half of the abilities players are better off
taking nothing at all Nothing At All NOTHING AT ALL. Where Unairu
gives you options, Vazarin takes options away. This. Is. Not. Okay.
Madurai – Yo Dawg, I
Heard You Like Damage, So…
I like it. A damage dealing tree is an excellent complement
for Warframes that lack damage abilities themselves. Madurai is not perfect,
however. The tree is nearly useless against half of the enemy factions due to all
of its damage possessing Fire element, and it contains several questionable
decisions in the placement of its abilities that undercut the dps playstyle.
But, at least it has a clearly defined playstyle that doesn’t force the team to
play along…though said playstyle might surprise players because it’s not what its
theme suggests.
Way-Bound 1: Inner
Gaze – It’s great, and it does stack with the Juttni Brace. It’s essential
just like all the other Way-bounds.
Way-Bound 2: Eternal
Gaze – Also good, though to clarify the text a bit, this ability does not
decrease the time it takes for Amp regeneration to kick in. It only reduces the
time it takes for the amp energy to fill up to max. It’s still essential, but
prioritize Inner Gaze first.
Passive 1 & 2: Phoenix
Talons/Phoenix Spirit – Bundled because they’re two halves of the same
effect. 25% may not look like much, but the boost is multiplicative like
Rhino’s Roar (which grants a 50% boost to all damage at base level) and affects
the various abilities in this tree due to all of them possessing the Fire
element. That’s pretty damn impressive for a pair of passive abilities. Bear in
mind however that this does NOT apply to amp damage because Void damage is
neither Physical nor Elemental. It’s still strong, but this seems like an
oversight considering this is the DPS school.
Void Mode: Void
Radiance/Dependent: Void Strike – The base ability isn’t bad, but this is
the absolute worst place for it. Void Radiance has a short radius that
encourages you to stand VERY close to the enemies when you leave Void mode. The
problem is that regardless of whether you blind anyone, it adds a flat 25
Energy expenditure every time you leave Void mode, which actively contradicts
the vastly superior Dependent ability that otherwise runs the entire playstyle.
Based on my assessment of the Vazarin tree (and what we’ll see in Naramon and
Zenurik), this ability appears to be here solely to give the tree a defensive
skill so that it can be “well-rounded.” And like every other token “generalist”
ability, it ignores the fact that either the tree or the core moveset already
has a tool that does the ability’s job better. In this instance, Void Radiance
stops enemies for a few seconds to protect you after leaving Void Mode (and
open enemies to finishers, I guess), yet Madurai’s Void Dash already stuns them
for about the same time (3-4 seconds due to the Fire proc)…also Void Mode just
is an Invulnerability button, eliminating the need for more protection in the
first place. Please move this somewhere else.
Anyway, the ability we need to deeply discuss here is the Dependent,
because as I said it runs the entire tree, and is currently defining Eidolon
Hunting speed runs. Void Strike grants the user a damage multiplier (again,
applied after mods, just like Rhino’s Roar) for the next 8 attacks after
leaving Void Mode. Seems awful, but it’s actually the single most powerful
ability in the entire game. Why? There’s no ceiling to the strength of its
damage boost and many ways to circumvent its limitations. First, let’s note how
the stacking works: When you leave Void mode for the first time, you will have
8 charges and a damage multiplier. This damage multiplier will continue to tick
up every time you reenter void mode
until those charges are spent. This means that you can realistically achieve a
damage multiplier above 20x during an eidolon hunt through standard play. To
put that number in context: this is essentially the same damage boost as
pre-nerf Chroma’s completely busted elemental multiplier. And unlike Chroma,
this damage boost can be applied to both Warframes AND OPERATORS!! Yes, this
ability is the secret sauce you need to drop an Eidolon’s shield in one hit,
solo. Don’t believe me? Observe: [Gif will be here]
But, all power has a price and this ability…kinda doesn’t. The
charges from Void Strike can’t be replenished until they are all spent, so if
you want a huge multiplier, you are going to have to sit in Void mode “doing
nothing” for a long time. However, there are ways around this. Warframe powers
are unaffected by Void Strike and consequently do NOT consume charges when used.
This heavily incentivizes you to play Madurai along with a damage frame, which
just happens to work nicely for both the build (since that’s the point of the
tree) and eidolon hunting where it’s the focus school you would naturally be
drawn to. For those without a damage
dealing Warframe, Void Dash, contrary to what the wiki just posted today (at
the time of writing), also does not consume charges…or at least not on console;
it could have been patched in a build I haven’t played yet. In any event, the
only things you have to avoid are weapon attacks and Void Blast…and “item
weapons” like the Nosam Cutter and Fishing spears (or not, if you’re too lazy
to earn a better stick).
As far as strategy is concerned, Void Strike pairs best with
weapons that have a “high damage to ammo ratio” (exactly like the ones you’d
take to an eidolon hunt) and is at its absolute worst with beam and rapid-fire
weapons. The buff also appears to stack with Unairu, but more testing is
required to confirm whether Unairu doubles the damage of Void Strike or simply
adds an extra +100% (I’m fairly certain it doubles the damge though, given that
the Unairu Wisp seems to double the damage of the amp, not the total damage of
the attack). Anyway, the only problem with Void Strike is that it’s inexorably
tied to Void Radiance. Void Radiance’s constant drain on your energy pool
punishes you for going in and out of void mode, making Void Strike more
difficult to use correctly. Reversing the two or replacing Void Radiance
entirely would smooth out the ability as well as the Madurai playstyle.
*Also bear in mind that Void Strike does not affect
multi-shot and is not affected by it either.*
Void Dash: Blazing
Dash/Dependent: Meteoric Dash – The base is acceptable, but the Dependent
has a glaring oversight. Blazing Dash leaves a trail of Fire, stuns enemies,
and always procs Fire allowing you to both directly and indirectly stun
enemies. The trail is a bit narrow making it hard to hit multiple enemies, but it
still gives you a way to damage enemies without wasting Void Strike charges.
It’s good. ‘Nuff said, right? Almost; the problems are that the damage is not
that great to begin with (1k/second against unarmored enemies, WAY less against
Grineer and Corrupted), and Meteoric Dash does nothing for the fire trail. Instead
it adds a laughable 400 damage to the Void Dash itself because…reasons? The
obvious fix is to add damage to the Fire Trail, though personally I don’t think
that’s sufficient enough of a change to warrant a separate ability slot. After
all, DE could also just raise the damage of the original ability to achieve the
same effect. Accounting for the Fire
Trail’s shortcomings or giving it another property would be preferable.
Void Blast: Flame
Blast/Dependent: Rising Blast – This is the exact ability that should be here…but it’s not strong enough to
matter against anything except Infested and fleshy Corpus that…doesn’t sound
right for some reason. The base ability has good range allowing you to CC
with through Fire procs with moderate efficacy, but the damage is just awful
due to the ability multiplying the base Void Blast damage and (again) being
affected by Armor, which as we’ve already discussed makes Operator attacks so
non-threatening to even lvl 20 Grineer Lancers that they’ll assume you brought
a water balloon to a gun fight. The Dependent ability tries to make up for this
however, by being one of the only abilities in this game that’s actually a hard
upgrade. It has a passive effect that boosts the damage of the Base’s fire
ball, and actively allows you to charge the Fire ball for 3x damage (and yes,
it is exactly 3x damage).
Now as underwhelming as I’m making this ability sound, it does
have a few things going for it that led me to my initial statement. The first
and most obvious is that because this ability is elemental, it gets boosted by
Madurai’s passive. The second and more consequential is that it also gets
boosted by Void Strike. Neither of those buffs are consequential enough to let
the Flame Blast punch through Armor, but the synergy they have is what - with
minor tweaks - should enable the tree to properly serve its function of giving
the player an alternative means of dealing damage irrespective of their
Warframe.
Conclusion:
Contrary to its DPS goal, this is a largely passive tree
that rewards well-timed heavy hits over relentless offense. I’m struggling to
determine whether this is the 2nd or 3rd best tree in the
game. On the one hand, the contradictory Void Mode abilities and weak Void Dash
Dependent both limit the school’s potential as a damage dealer. But at the same
time, the (potential) power of the Void Blast, Void Strike, and its Passives
are great enough to let it still perform its job well enough to maintain value
at the lower and higher levels of play. Regardless of where it falls, Madurai
is definitely usable in standard play and only needs a few changes to go from
being acceptable to good. Not bad, DE.
Naramon – I Am Ninja,
He Is Ninja, She is Ninja too!
Obscure Internet jokes aside, this tree is just terrible. Its
abilities don’t contradict each other, like some of Madurai’s but they have
zero synergy, some are self-redundant, and the ones that aren’t are basically
worthless. Despite this supposedly being the “Melee school” it barely pushes any particular playstyle and is without
a doubt the biggest victim of the over-generalization problem. Naramon is
completely overshadowed by Madurai, and is beyond a shadow of a doubt the worst
Focus tree in the game – Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Waybound 1: Mind Step
– Fortunately the Passives were spared from the travesty that is Naramon’s
actives. Mind Step is the only way to increase your Operator’s movement speed,
so like everything else this is essential. Just like rush, it’s not a high
priority, but worth grabbing. You gotta scrape the gum off at some point.
Waybound 2: Mind
Sprint – The text on this ability needs serious clarification. Increasing
the Void Dash “speed” also buffs the distance and the momentum – the force of
your Void Dash/how far enemies fly when you dash through them. It’s a CRITICAL ability that improves
the performance of all Void Dash abilities, and allows you to traverse open
spaces extremely fast, without spending finite resources. If you’re spending a
lot of time on the Plains, get this ASAP.
*Zenurik users note that the increased momentum makes it
more difficult to use Energizing Dash at pointblank range. You have to give
yourself some room to dash for it to go off.
Passive 1: Affinity Spike
– It’s sort of useful but doesn’t make much sense why it’s in this tree. It
affects melee weapons, technically, but it doesn’t improve any of their
capabilities or affect their performance (outside of syndicate melees if you
squint hard enough) so it’s not supporting a melee-heavy playstyle. Also, the
text is misleading. Affinity Spike increases the affinity gained by melee
weapons, including the affinity
gained from melee kills. Basically that just includes Bonus Affinity into the
description. I’ve personally taken advantage of this ability more than anything
else the tree has to offer, but only because I (used to) Focus farm daily and
this sped up the process. Like Mending Unity, I suspect that this ability was
kept because it was one of the few abilities people liked in Focus 1.0, but it
needs to go somewhere else – Naramon needs a lot more than a half-affinity
booster for one weapon type.
Passive 2: Power
Spike – The only outright useful ability locked to the Naramon tree and
currently the only thing justifying its existence. In tandem with Drifting
Contact or Body Count, Power Spike essentially lets you maintain your melee
combo indefinitely. It’s exceedingly powerful for endless missions, especially
with Relentless Combination, but not so useful for anything. This is one of two
abilities in the tree that supports the melee playstyle which is why it’s
invaluable. But it is also a little sad that the best ability in the tree is
basically just a handy upgrade to the combo counter.
Void Mode: Void
Stalker/Dependent: Void Hunter – Both abilities are bad, but Void Stalker
is at least briefly usable. The Crit Chance boost is additive just like the Adarza
cat buff allowing it to become equally significant. However, it takes a while
to charge, and decays too quickly to be useful beyond the first 10 seconds. A
simple but effective update would be to make the maximum boost smaller (30% perhaps)
but with a much longer duration (min. 40 seconds) so that players don’t have to
keep going back into Void Mode 2-3 times per minute. The execution is the only
serious problem here, otherwise this was a good idea.
The Dependent on the other hand is just bad across the board.
Highlighting enemies through walls provides zero tactical benefit since we can’t
hit them with anything save for a long-range melee and should already be aware
of them thanks to Enemy Radar – a current staple on all companion builds thanks
to Animal Instinct. Heck, it’s not even as good as radar mods either, since it
expires after a brief period of time and requires you to waste time setting it
up. I understand that the assassin aesthetic of this ability falls in line with
Naramon’s melee focus, but the functionality simply isn’t there; this will never
be useful. Please replace it entirely.
*A fun little observation I made is that the 30 second decay
rate of Void Stalker is consistent regardless of how long you charge the
ability for; For example, if you charge the ability only up to 30% it will
decay at a rate of 1%/second instead of the 1.66%/second if you had fully charged
it. It is never advantageous to take a short charge over a full one, because
math, but if you’re strapped for time and need a quick boost, this is one way
to get it. Also, the crit chance boost resets early if you try to charge it
again, so don’t bother trying to stack a bigger multiplier.*
Void Dash: Executing
Dash/Dependent: Surging Dash – These are two of the worst abilities in the
Focus system at the moment. Executing Dash opens enemies up to Finishers for an
indeterminate length of time* and doesn’t displace or even stop them for a second, so after exiting Void Mode, you’ll invariably
turn into swiss cheese. The measly 35% Finisher damage boost is not only laughably
small in comparison to every other Finisher damage booster (Most notably the
500% damage boost from Radiant Finish), but generally unwanted because
Finishers already inflict a stupidly huge
amount of damage to begin with – if something survives a Finisher, players
should probably be rethinking their mod arrangements, not kicking the can
down the road looking for Finisher damage boosters. It makes sense why this
kind of ability would be in this tree since it only affects melee. But just
like Void Hunter, it has next to zero tactical value…
…And somehow, as bad as Executing Dash is, the Dependent
arguably still got the shorter end of the stick. It has a VERY strong property
dramatically widening the range of your Void Dash, and is plainly better than
Executing Dash for providing a basic damage booster, but alas it’s a Dependent:
you have to waste Focus and Capacity points picking up the Base first, and the
effects of Surging Dash only affect Executing Dash – an ability that barely
benefits from it due to the unreliability of landing Finishers. Ostensibly, the
Base ability is a flat downgrade to the basic Void Dash, while the Dependent would
be an improvement if it were in literally any
other tree – or even better – a Way-bound Passive. DE, I am disappoint.
*Enemies appear to be open to finishers forever, but there’s
no indicator showing it and the activation is “shaky” at best.
Void Blast:
Disorienting Blast/Dependent: Disarming Blast – Of the three Mutators this
is the only one that’s almost passable. Disorienting Blast’s “Confuse” proc
does not have a visual indicator which made testing it a nightmare nor does it count as a
status ailment for Condition Overload, but it has exactly the same effect as a Radiation
proc, making it at least potentially
useful when it goes off. That said, half the time it does nothing, and even
when it does work it requires multiple nearby enemies to draw the confused
target’s attention (just like a Radiation proc).
The Dependent (more of an Upgrade, really) loosely attempts
to make up for the Base’s inconsistency with an additional property. And
fortunately, that property, disarm, is both helpful and permanent if it goes
off - “If.” The problems are that it too has a 50/50 chance of doing nothing,
and just like its Base, Disarming Blast has little to do with melee combat. If
your operator is in melee range of enemies and you don’t want to leave Operator
mode, then - statistically speaking - these abilities will usually be helpful.
However, logically speaking, if you’re
in melee range of enemies, and playing a melee-oriented school, you probably
want to melee those enemies with your warframe, not gesture menacingly as a
child.
Conclusion:
The pendulum swung from one extreme all the way to the other
- Naramon is still broken, and not in a good way. It has a hodgepodge of abilities
composed of bizarre indirect properties that don’t have any synergy and, most
importantly, don’t directly improve melee performance in a usable or consistent
way. It was clearly designed with Madurai in mind, avoiding any functions that
would directly increase melee damage output, but offers little offensive value
in their wake. As such you’d still be better off taking Madurai for the flat 25%
Damage boost, monstrous damage boosts (Void Strike), and easily usable (and
spammable) short-range Blind (Void Radiance), than Naramon’s Combo Counter
Upgrade and less consistent Finisher enabler. Make no mistake, I was all for
Naramon receiving a nerf from the beyond broken pseudo-god mode it had in Focus
1.0, but it needed to be replaced with something
sensible, or else the tree would just wither and die like it currently has.
Zenurik – Old Spice
Time to close this 8,000-word compliment sandwich. Zenurik
is a strong contender for the 2nd best tree in the game for being
the only other school where all of the actives and their dependents have powerful
properties. However, once again the over-generalization issue limits its
potential as an energy school by devoting a portion of Zenurik’s ability pool to direct damage and
crowd control. It is however, the only Focus tree in the game whose abilities
have any degree of synergy, which also makes it an excellent test-case for the
ideas we’ll be discussing in the next section.
Waybound 1: Void
Siphon – It does exactly what it says, almost doubling the speed of your
Operator’s energy regeneration. It’s not actually an essential pick for Void
Flow users due to the way Operator energy recovers (gradually speeding up), but
still is worth unbinding early despite its cost.
Waybound 2: Void Flow
– Contrary to the wiki’s user-notes, this ability does work as advertised; It
increases your Operator’s energy capacity by 90%. Since Operator Energy cannot
currently be improved by other means, this translates to +90 Energy. Due to the
cost of Focus tree abilities increasing at higher levels, this becomes an
essential skill to keep those abilities usable. If possible, try to get this
ability as quickly as possible. It is the most important ability of Focus 2.0.
Passive 1: Energy
Pulse – Fantastic. It’s a consistent, but less significant, personal Arcane
Energize. Energy Pulse is one of two abilities in the tree that helps Warframes
with Energy and complements the other energy booster by improving the efficacy
of something unrelated to it. The downside is that the energy regen from this
ability does not affect channeled abilities, despite energy orbs being the
catalyst. Regardless, it’s a solid passive and I have no real complaints.
Passive 2: Inner
Might – I’m just going to cut to the chase; this is useless because the
value isn’t high enough to offset mods with channeling cost increases or make
channeling cheap enough to use semi-regularly (+80% would have been passable). It
also has nothing to do with CC, little to do with Energy, and bolsters one of
the most mechanically irrelevant aspects of the game. I have no idea why this
ability was made.
*Sidenote: Making Channeling mechanically relevant isn’t
that hard, either. All it needs is to improve Melee range and attack speed by 30-50%
& 15% respectively, on top of its current damage boost (or perhaps a drop from
+50%->+30% if balance dictates). Damage isn’t everything; making a weapon
perform better – “feel” better – is far more desirable for extended play than
simply seeing bigger numbers (though that sure doesn’t hurt either). The
mechanic would still likely go ignored by a fair chunk of the community due to
its high cost and the general avoidance of dedicated melee, but if Inner Might
were a little bit stronger, it would at least be considered a reasonable option
instead of an energy sink for people too lazy to maintain their combo meter.
Void Mode: Void
Static/Dependent: Void Singularity – “Interesting” is unfortunately the
most accurate word I can use to describe these abilities. Void Static inflicts
negligible damage and would be hard to use given how slow the operator moves in
Void mode. However, the ability is electric-based and regularly procs Electric,
stunning enemies to buy time for Void Singularity to round them up. What’s more,
Void Singularity has a larger range than Void Static allowing you to drag
enemies into your electric field as well. Granted, it’s only five meters larger
and fast enemies such as Chargers will still outrun the vacuum effect. But,
regardless of its limitations, these abilities have clear positive synergy and
- as we’ll see in a moment - setup both the Void Dash and Void Blast.
Void Dash: Energizing
Dash/Dependent: Lightning Dash – The time has finally come to talk about
the meta. After hundreds, no- thousands
of hours of painstaking research I can authoritatively say……………it’s okay.
Energizing Dash is better than what we had in Focus 1.0 in that it restores 20%
more energy/second and can be passed on to allies, circumventing the need for
everyone to take Zenurik for more Energy. This comes at the expense of the
indefinite duration, but also with the benefit of being usable at the start of
the mission instead of 180 seconds into it. In my opinion, the perks outweigh
the losses, so I have no interest in seeing this ability change further.
Energy per second is also a blatantly more useful perk than
every other Void Dash ability (other than Unairu’s), as well as two entire
Focus trees - Vazarin & Naramon – so, it’s no surprise that this skill
would be the one that ascended to meta status. That said, one ability does not
a focus tree make, and in the context of the Zenurik focus tree, Energizing
Dash is a largely redundant ability.
Despite being the “energy” tree, Zenurik only has two tools that
help with restoring it: Energizing Dash, and Energy Pulse. Both of these
abilities confer energy regeneration, meaning both have overlapping utility,
and neither is particularly effective for warframes that cast many times in
quick succession (Ember, Zephyr, Mag, Hydroid, etc.), rely on sustained
abilities (Ivara, Oberon, Excalibur, Ember again, etc.), or use energy
inefficient builds (Nidus, Chroma, Octavia, Ember- you get the idea; Zenurik
SUCKS for Ember). Such Warframes make up over half of the roster making this
ability – and by extension, Energy Pulse and the entire Zenurik tree – only
valuable for under half of all Warframes.*
This ability exemplifies the difference between a powerful ability and an
effective one: it provides a utility with potentially game changing implications,
yet still doesn’t make much of a difference in player performance in a majority
of gameplay scenarios.
*I can provide a more complete list of Warframes along with
specific argumentation if anyone wants it, but it’s a bit too off-topic to be
worth discussing further in this post.
And, as usual, the Dependent does absolutely nothing for it
either. The Lightning Ball summoned by Lightning Dash moves surprisingly fast,
not taking more than a few seconds to catch up to your Operator. However, the
damage it deals is nothing short of pitiful, making this exclusively a (poor)
CC option. It synergizes well with both Void Blast abilities and both Void Mode
abilities by providing an alternate source of damage against the many enemy
you’ll group up. But even with all three abilities active simultaneously, you’re only accumulating 1600 damage/second in an
ideal scenario and much less than that if the enemies have Armor. Though this
sounds good on paper, it doesn’t help the tree do its purported job, nor does
it create a new niche in its stead. It’s just unnecessary.
Void Blast: Temporal
Blast/Dependent: Voltaic Blast – It’s an amazing base with an irrelevant
upgrade. The end…
…Fine, let me clarify. Temporal Blast slows enemies down to
the same level as Nova’s Molecular Prime and Equinox’s Pacify and Provoke
augment at maximum strength. Considering how Nova is used almost exclusively
for M.Prime alone, I’d say this is a pretty freaking good ability. If only the
same could be said for the Dependent. As I already mentioned, Voltaic Blast
adds damage to your Void Blast that will never be consequential enough to
matter even with two other abilities worth of support. It synergizes with
Temporal Blast by leveraging the speed reduction to artificially extend the
duration of the electric proc stun. However, Zenurik has two other abilities
with a guaranteed Electric proc and this one is the weakest of the three. It’s
worth getting the first level for the proc, but not worth upgrading beyond
that.
Conclusion:
Like I said at the start, Zenurik is technically the second-best
Focus tree, however that’s essentially saying nothing considering the chasm
between it and Unairu. The abilities can
work together, which is a rarity among Focus trees, but they have little reason
to other than to futilely attempt to match Madurai’s damage output. Its
capabilities as an energy tree are grossly overstated and criminally
under-developed considering the value such a utility could provide. As it
stands, this is yet another tree that is stretched too thin to be effective at
anything. DE, I strongly recommend that you pick ONE of its effects to
prioritize and base the rest of the tree around it. And if that’s somehow too
“unreasonable,” then at the very least swap its Void Mode abilities so that all
of its abilities perform Crowd Control by default and have damage as an option
instead of this annoying hodgepodge we’re dealing with now.
-----------------
Overall Conclusions:
If you somehow waded through that ocean of information
above, thanks for being a good noodle you might have drifted off course
and lost the point we were trying to prove. I don’t blame you, as I did
several times while writing it, so to briefly reiterate and abbreviate
for that inevitable bunch of degenerate book-phobes: every Focus tree –
excluding Unairu – has two major problems preventing them from performing their
intended goals:
1. Overgeneralized
skillsets
2. A lack of
internal synergy
The first problem (i.e. offensive abilities in defensive
trees and vice-versa) inherently limits the number of abilities available for
the tree’s primary function, because no tree (other than Unairu) has the stated
purpose of conferring both offensive and defensive utility simultaneously.
Meanwhile, the second problem prevents the focus trees from adopting any cohesive playstyle because
(excluding Zenurik) none of the abilities incentivize each other. Alone, these
problems both yield focus trees wherein only one skill is practically &
tactically viable for players (obvious examples include: Zenurik’s Energizing Dash, Naramon’s Affinity Spike, Vazarin’s free revives, & Madurai’s Void
Strike). Together however, and in the context of Warframe’s current content,
they create the current (sad) state of operator usage – sniping one ability,
while ignoring the rest – as well as the negative (but not unfounded) player
perception that operator combat is “being forced upon us.”
I can only speak for myself, but I don’t believe that either
of these scenarios should be acceptable, especially
considering how much obvious thought and hard work you put in to making this
system functional, DE. So, as a founder on PC, I’d like to do whatever part I
can in helping you make this system something ALL players want to engage with.
CONTINUED IN PART 2:
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