As I stated at the beginning I have yet to complete my sprite so I'm not completely well versed in it yet... from what I have seen I am not impressed though... not as much as the others
It's good to know the Flame Barrier does some damage though you still won't see me... or rarely anyone else use it for dealing damage or for it's defense boost owing to the fact that in high tiers you basically get 3 or 4 shot by everything and putting yourself in melee range is super risky... I still would like for it to break through blocks and whatnot... and you can never go wrong with a little more damage, perhaps enough to actually encourage such a risky playstyle.... heck why not make the barrier actually a barrier in that it works like small orbiting shields blocking shots and attacks like a Gremlin Knocker shield?
As for Firestorm I rarely ever see the Explosive one and have little chance to see it in action, I don't doubt that the damage output is nice to finally have but it just needs... MORE.... good to know that it also finally flinches... TBH though if the base form was give the ability to deal direct damage I would want the Ultimate to deal even more and have bigger range
As for Frenzied, well it's meta for a reason.... even if the Explosive got a buff the ability to boost and then direct your attacks where you want (rather than trying to lay the Storm on a group and pray that more walk into it) is much better
I do look forward to finally completing the sprite but until then I don't see how anything (other than firebolt) is really that useful... and it's kinda bad when the first ability you have is your best one...
"The Flame Barrier is in my opinion a waste of time... the orbs don't deal direct damage"
That's untrue, Fire Barrier deals 101 damage per tick, in T3, level 75 (5*).
"The Firestorm is an equal waste of time"
Base Firetorm is absolutely bad, but it shines when you are in a freeze level without any fire weapons, otherwise, yeah it sucks.
There's also worth noting that Drakon deals Moderate fire considering you put all points on increasing the fire strenght.
"...the Scorching barrier on the other hand is hardly an upgrade but this goes back to the Barrier's inability to deal direct damage like the Barrier pickups... if that gets changed then I could see this ultimate being very useful for melee attackers"
Again, untrue, Scorching Barrier has a 50% base-ish increase, meaning that you'll still deal 101 damage in T3, level 95 (5*), but since you have an extra orb, they orbs rotate faster, and they are bigger (meaning you'll get more consistent damage) you'll deal much more damage overall.
" unfortunately it's entirely overshadowed by the Frenzied Firestorm, why deal damage with your sprite when you can get it to give you a boost to deal damage with your own weapons which are far more powerful than the Firestorm?"
Firestorm can flinchlock a lot of enemies, meaning that you can lock a lot of enemies and deal up to 2000+ damage overall with Explosive Firestorm, using the right harness, that's insanely good, of course Frenzied will deal more damage, but Explosive is useful if you want to flinchlock a group of enemies and deal with another one whilst the other group is being flinched to death.