Source: https://forums.warframe.com/topic/1366780-abyss-of-dagath-dev-workshop-hydroid-rework/

Tenno!

For those of you with an interest in the sea, who wish to use the murky depths to drown your foes, this workshop is for you! Hydroid is receiving a rework with the Abyss of Dagath update on October 18th! This Developer Workshop is focused entirely on what changes Hydroid will be receiving and why we are making these changes.

The goal of the Hydroid rework is to keep his unique style while making him both easier to use and bring his power more in line with other Warframes. This means changing how his abilities work through changes to their damage types, removing charging mechanics, and making enemies easier to hit while they are wrapped up in his abilities. Additionally, it means reworking his passive and removing the Undertow ability, replacing it with the new Plunder ability.

For a closer look at our deadly marauder of the deep, let’s dive right in!

Changing Impact Damage to Corrosive Damage and Status
Currently, Tempest Barrage and Tidal Surge both deal Impact damage. This is being changed to Corrosive Damage, which can apply Corrosive Status. Corroding Barrage is a widely used Augment Mod by those who play Hydroid currently, which causes Corrosive Status for Tempest Barrage, and due to its popularity, we looked to incorporate its effect into Hydroid at a base level. We felt changing Impact to Corrosive damage in Hydroid’s abilities makes them more thematic to the sea while also incorporating Corroding Barrage’s current effect in a meaningful way. With this change in mind, Corroding Barrage will now apply Viral Status instead of Corrosive - more details on that below.

Passive Changes
Hydroid’s existing Passive has a chance to spawn a tentacle when performing a melee slam attack. We are removing the existing passive entirely to be replaced by an entirely new effect.

The nature of Hydroid’s existing passive pushed players to a very specific playstyle (regular usage of melee slam attacks), while not guaranteeing anything useful from each individual slam. We wanted to make the passive feel more reliable and impactful.

Hydroid’s new Passive will affect an enemy once Hydroid damages them, lasting until their death. It makes the first instance of Corrosive Status on an enemy remove 50% of their Armor rather than 26%. Not only will this make the first Corrosive Status stronger, but it also means Corrosion Status can reach 100% armor reduction with full stacks!

To clarify, this means Hydroid does not need to apply all, or even any, of the Corrosive Status Effects on an enemy. As long as Hydroid has damaged the enemy, the Corrosive Status Effects can be applied from any source and will receive the benefit.

You can see the Passive in action in the Ability clips below.

Removing Charge Mechanics
In an effort to make Hydroid more approachable, we are removing the charge mechanic on Tempest Barrage and Tentacle Swarm. The full charge values will now apply baseline to each cast of the abilities.

For example, currently, an uncharged Tentacle Swarm will have 40% of the tentacles and 33% of the radius compared to a fully charged cast. With this change, both tentacle count and radius will always be the maximum, what a fully charged cast is currently.

This change makes Hydroid’s play more fluid, with more time spent attacking rather than charging abilities for their maximum effect.

Ability Changes

Tempest Barrage:

• Damage dealt will cause enemies to stagger, rather than ragdoll.
  • This should make enemies easier to kill, as they will stay in the range of Hydroid’s other abilities and be more open to Headshots.
• The Corroding Barrage Augment Mod has been renamed Viral Tempest and will have a chance to apply a Viral Status Effect, rather than Corrosive.
  • Changing the Impact damage of Tempest Barrage to Corrosive damage meant the Corrosive Status Effect from the Augment was already included. We changed this to Viral to maintain its relevance with the other changes.

Tempest Barrage will stagger enemies instead of ragdoll, making them easier to target.

Tidal Surge:

• Will allow some steering of the wave for more control over where Hydroid and his enemies end up when the ability is finished.
• Tidal Surge no longer violently flings carried enemies at the end of the surge, and will instead deposit them where the surge ends.
  • This should make Tidal Surge a better ability for grouping enemies and quick killing, as opposed to flinging them across the room.
• Tidal Surge will apply Corrosive Status Effects to enemies based on how long they are carried by its waves.
• Tidal Surge will cleanse all of Hydroid’s negative Status Effects.
  • This brings one of the benefits from the Tidal Impunity Augment Mod into the ability directly, to keep some survivability in Hydroid’s abilities with Undertow’s removal.

Tidal Surge will carry enemies with the wave, depositing them where the wave ends instead of throwing them forward.
 

Undertow:

• This ability is being removed and replaced with Plunder.
  • Undertow is an ability which we feel makes Hydroid a bit less fun to play as, or play with. There are two main reasons we decided to replace this ability:
    • It forces the player to be stationary, while many objectives rely on regular movement.
    • It absorbs enemies without instantly killing them, which can lead to instances of hiding enemies that a teammate was trying to kill.

Plunder:

• A new ability added to Hydroid’s third ability slot.
• All enemies in range will have Corrosive Status Effects remove their armor permanently, increasing Hydroid’s armor and granting bonus Corrosive damage to weapons.
  • This ability is stronger based on the number of Corrosive Status Effects applied to the enemies affected by Plunder.
  • This means with a full stack of Corrosive Status, their Armor will be removed permanently.
• The Curative Undertow Augment Mod is being renamed Rousing Plunder and will cause Plunder to heal Hydroid and his allies within Affinity Range.

Plunder removes Armor based on Corrosive Status Effects on an enemy. It also provides an Armor and Damage Buff, tracked in the lower-right corner of the HUD.
 

Tentacle Swarm:

• Will now hold enemies in a steadier position, making it easier to eliminate enemies locked down by Tentacles.

Tentacle Swarm will now hold enemies still for easy targeting, rather than violently shaking them about.
 

We look forward to seeing a wave of Hydroids drowning their enemies across the Origin System with the Abyss of Dagath Update on October 18th!

Don’t forget to check out the other Dev Workshops for the Abyss of Dagath Update!