[Volt's Overload Rework - Abilities Power-Up Mechanic]

Hello and welcome to yet another Overload rework suggestion.

 

I'll start by saying that yes, I main Volt and I have a love/hate relationship with his Overload. It is actually possible to deal a really good amount of damage with it by taking advantage of the electric status proc on big and compact crowds of enemies; the problem is: it's really situational.

So, considering that:

- All of the other damage dealing 4th abilities aren't "only if.." based;

- Volt is a caster frame and as such, he relies on his abilities all the time (a gunmage, as many says, sure.. but still a caster);

- And that the electronic devices that should explode are more rare than neural sensors (entire tilesets without them);

- In the end, Overload is another plain and simple aoe damage;

I came up with the decision of completely trashing away Overload and give poor Volt something special.

 

My new 4th for Volt is a two staged ability that is divided in a set of passives (first stage) and an optional power-up for one of Volt's other abilities (second stage)

 

Name: Overload / ElectroMaster (yay if you get the reference)

 

Cost: 50

Duration: 10/15/20/25 seconds (affected by power duration)

 

Upon activating Overload/Electromaster Volt gains these passives:

- 20/30/40/50% bonus electric damage on any weapon equipped;

- x2 shield recharge rate;

- all the electronic devices in a 10/12/14/16 meters range start overloading and discharge on enemies close by for 250 damage. Note: the affected electronic devices should not explode (make them flicker, which would also look pretty badass), and have a, let's say, 3 second cooldown before hitting the same enemy again.

 

After activating Overload/Electromaster Volt gains the ability to use his exceeding energy to power-up one of his other abilities, the window of time for this second part ends as the timer of Overload/Electromaster reaches 0. Casting a power-upped version of an ability deactivates Overload/Electromaster.

 

Overcharged Abilities:

 

Overcharged Shock

Cost: 50 (affected by affinity)

Damage: 1250/1500/1750/2000 (affected by strength)

Range: 12/14/16/18 meters (affected by range)

 

Volt jumps leaning slightly backwards and uses both hands (no more electric jesus please) to unleash a quick but extremely violent thunderstorm in front of him.

-The range is cone shaped;

-The thunderstorm does not inflict electric status procs;

-The casting time is composed of a 1.5 seconds jump animation and a 0.5 seconds thunderstorm animation;

-Enemies who aren't killed by the damage of this ability are stunned by electricity for 4/6/8/10 seconds;

-All the damage dealt to an enemy while stunned by the Overcharged Shock is stored and explodes in a AOE electric explosion when the enemy dies or the timer of the stun reaches 0.

 

Overcharged Speed

Cost: 25 (affected by affinity)

Duration: same as normal speed

Range: same as normal speed

Strength: an additional 10/15/20/25% strength compared to normal speed

 

-Volt gains movement speed, holster speed, reload speed (team members in range also receive this buff) and an innate Retribution effect (electric proc when hit with melee weapons).

-When Volt uses a melee weapon with channeling active, hitting an enemy will make 3 electric shocks spread from the melee target chaining to up to 5 enemies (same as shock basically) dealing 7.5/15/22.5/30% of the original melee damage.

-Every channeled melee attack, while affected by Overcharged Speed, will cost an additional +150% energy based on the original channeling cost of the weapon.

 

Overcharged Electric Shield

Cost 75

Duration: same as normal Electric Shield

Range: same as normal Electric Shield

 

This Overcharged version of the Electric Shield should be recognizable by a stronger glowing pattern on the outside border and maybe a more acute version of the sound.

-Brings back the old range buff for beam weapons with limited range;

-Maintains the same electric damage buff and critical damage buff;

-Absorbs 20/30/40/50% of the splash damage from explosion weapons when hit directly by them

-Volt and allies projectiles shot through the shield will have a 100% chance of electric proc but will lose the ability to deal any other kind of status proc.

 

The End

 

About balance and late game:

So, at first glance this may look like a lot of buffs and damage (and maybe you're right, i'm no expert about these sort of things) but i want you to remember this:

-Electric damage is only effective against robotic: grineer rollers (pretty much useless), moa & ospreys (ok, but nearly all of them have way more shield than robotic health).

-With the speed you still have to go in their face, making yourself open to grabs, knockdowns, sapping mines, nullifiers and stuff.

-Overcharged shock has a slow animation which can be dangerous if used brainlessly.

-As you can see: this new Volt is really energy hungry when using his new 4th. Which is ok with the energy pool of Volt prime, maybe buff a little the normal Volt one.

 

As you can see i tried to maintain his GunMage status and give him better scaling with late game (stored aoe damage for first, aoe based on the melee weapon for second, reliable aoe damage and stun based on the weapon for third) but it is still electric damage, so it shouldn't be way too powerful since corpus have shields and nullifiers, grineer are resistant and infested have psionic and healers ancients.

 

Please feel free to suggest and give your opinions on the % i used, as i said, i'm not an expert and i may have made terrible mistakes.

Thank you for your attention Volt fans!