A Case For Volt

[(PSN)AlaskeyLandshark]

I'm not an old guard player.  I'm not even one of the starters on PS4.  Though I got my PS4 on release, I didn't give Warframe a shot until this year.  Bad move, should have played it right away.  I love this game.  I'm horribly addicted to a video game again in ways I haven't been for years, which is awesome. 

 

I'm not gonna talk about (at least in this thread) my feelings on  the new player experience (which needs a lot of work, and I hear they are doing that... the sooner the better though!) or "endgame" weapon balancing (I love my Tigris, Hind, Soma, hell all of the guns I've tried are awesome, but they should stay awesome through endgame.) or some comfort of life tweaks to the PS4 (come on, I really need to open my pause menu, go to social, hit square AND THEN I can finally start typing on my keyboard?  Really?  Any keyboard input should open up chat while in game!   But I digress...)

 

No, this thread is about Volt.  Of the numerous frames I've got to 30, Volt is the most recent I tried, even though I've had him for a while now, because I always though I wouldn't like him.  He is amazing.   But with a few tweaks he could be as great endgame imo as any of the current, other great frames (Nyx, Rhino, Trinity etc etc, and hey even some of those could use some tweaks, energy bolts anyone?)

 

Now, let's start off with my build so you have an idea as to where I am coming from and how I play. 

 

Energy Siphon, Shock, Speed, Energy Shield, Constitution, Continuity, Redirection, Fortitude, Flow, Streamline, Fleeting Expertise.  He'll need 2 Formas, A Defensive, and a Tactical for Aura slot.  He's a caster.  In an ideal world I'd remove Flow and reslot Overload.  I'm hoping we get to that Ideal World.

 

On to his base stats.

 

Health: Perfect

Power:  Perfect

Armor: Perfect

Shields: Perfect

 

Speed:  This is the first problem, but it isn't limited to just Volt.  Bump it up.  Please.  Nothing obscene, 1.05 or maybe if you are feeling generous 1.1.  It's sad that when you pop Speed (the ability) you see Saryn and Rhino sprinting past you.  At least let us keep up with the rest of the pack.  As is, the only Warframe that is slower is Frost (which sucks, give him some serious speed love too).  But even then, this plays into the maneuverability aspect, it is enjoyable

. 

Stamina:  No Warframe should have 80 stamina.  Warframe is a game of movement and movement is fun.  It's not so fun when you're constantly running out of stamina due to melee attacks, wall run, sprinting etc.  Let us move like we're supposed to.  And for the love of whatever deity you do or do not support, don't make the solution a mod.  Those slots are precious.  We are already spread way too thin, with practically no room for one of the many "extras" after covering the needed basics. 

Polarities:  It's fine.  I question the purpose of a V attack polarity on the aura slot, but nothing a forma won't solve.

 

The meat and potatoes (boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew!) the abilities.

 

Shock:  Perfect.  Even at endgame, it's an easy aim-able, low cost, 2 second chain stun that you can use at any time, reloading, shooting, doin a dance it doesn't matter.  Bam.  Stun.  More basic abilities should act this way.  Great damage at low levels, great utility at high levels, castable anytime. 

 

Speed:  Perfect.  

 

Energy Shield:  Almost perfect.  Cost and ability wise it is great, but why... why, why, why, why, why would you have your vision blur when looking through it?  Is there any real reason besides visuals?  Make it blur a bit around the edges but the center nice and clear energy tint.  It only hurts you when you are aiming, I mean, come on.  When you need better vision, we make it worse!  If you must have it, at least give us the option (and not some overarching general solution like "turn off blur in the options" that'll reduce the other beautiful visuals in this game, something like "Remove Volt Electric Shield Blur").  With the build I'm using I can drop these 24/7, great for defense, great for survival, and it even adds  50% electric dmg... but no one cares about that because they can't see, and a limitation like that makes other +dmg abilities much, much more attractive.  Really, who wants to stand still and mess up their vision?  If we got rid of that obnoxious blur, it would be a tier 1 ability, just like they all should be.

 

Overload:  Oh my electric jesus.  This ability was awesome at first.  Lot of damage,  great for clearing space to revive, great for clearing rooms... but then.... the damage didn't clear rooms, the damage didn't help with that revive because you're suddenly getting shot and dying too.  But hey it gives a 2 second stun!...  At 4x the cost of the first ability, and with a longer cast time that makes you vulnerable and interrupts whatever you are doing (I heard this used to be much worse, I can only imagine the pain).  In general, damage abilities are not about the damage at high levels unless they can deal an epic S#&$ ton of damage.  Overload does not deal an epic S#&$ ton of damage.  It stops bugging heavies  real fast, and Corpus don't last that much longer.  So, solution?  Make it the electrical version of the new Avalanche.  Make the stun longer, say 4 seconds influenced by duration time.  Make Volt  invincible during its short cast time.  Bam, you have a viable, but not overpowering, special

 

That's all Volt needs.  Not too much in my opinion.  Increase his mobility, get rid of the blur for Energy Shield, and buff Overload a bit, but not with more damage, more utility instead.  Long winded, I know, but I wanted to explain myself thoroughly.   I've got a lot more suggestions, and I'll be putting them up soon.

[MegpoidBeetle]

agree with the speed and stamina, it's already bad enough that his Storm Helmet decreases his stamina

 

as for the blur of his Electric Shield, did you have motion blur turned on?

[Reliant213]

Hey! Volt's finally gettin' some love. I find him to be one of the most underrated frames in the game. Most people use any new frame (Valkyr, Zephyr, etc) Rhino, Nova, and, actually I can't think of many other commonly used frames, and nothing else.

[EclecticDragon]

As some one whom has spent a great amount of time with my Volt, I no longer see Volt as your standard caster but as a jack of all trades that can support the basic play styles. What to snipe (with your shotgun)? use electric shield. What to become a living blender? Speed is your need but really only when. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

 

 I think the only thing I feel really needs to be added is the ability to select if I want to give allies speed or not. Because sometimes I'm with a bunch of speed demons and sometimes there happens to be a slow rhino/frost or a poor sod whom has to suffer with a hobbled dragon key and I'd like to help him. I think simply making speed a multi-cast ability like Zyphers first would be perfect fix for this issue.

[(PSN)AlaskeyLandshark]

agree with the speed and stamina, it's already bad enough that his Storm Helmet decreases his stamina

 

as for the blur of his Electric Shield, did you have motion blur turned on?

 

I was under the impression that turning off motion blur also effected other things, not just Energy Shield?  I don't want to diminish the rest of the game if need be,Visually it's beautiful.

[fatpig84]

I turned off Motion Blur and DoF.

So I can snipe like from miles out.

I prefer gameplay over visuals though but that is just me.

Perhaps due to me always playing a disarm loki (non cloak) so I tend to appreciate awareness.

[(PSN)Degausser781]

I have not played every Warframe to be had because Volt has ruined me. Completely. All other frames play as boring one pump chumps. As OP stated Volt really is a "jack of all trades" and he does it so damn well.

 

Balance wise Volt flows into every situation I have come across, mostly because every ability Volt utilizes is viable. I have played support on Defense by Electric Shielding the Relic while enemies pour out of the gate, gunning for it (this can be very important at higher tiers with no Vauban). I can zap an armies shields away allowing other players to get to the 'meaty' parts. Oops, army incoming between reload, *zap* to stun. Reloading done. Gorgon is back in action. Speed run this Alert? No problem. Tactical withdrawal? No problem, pop speed. Need to bunker a corridor to squeeze out minutes next to the Survival extraction? Done. Wall of shields coming up (jump and cast Shield to double the height). The list goes on, hindered only by your inventiveness. 

 

Granted, Overload is sub par after the lights have already gone out but, this is a coop game. My ult damage shouldn't be clearing rooms endgame. OUR ult damage combined should. Volt gives great moments of reprieve (barring glitches in enemy animations preventing stun) while setting armies up for his/her cell.

 

As OP stated brilliantly, Volt needs some more tweaks and additional bugs removed concerning some of his abilities. Along with adding base speed, which seems like a common sense statistic for a frame based upon electricity and better consistency with stuns (3 sec instead of 2?). Maybe also a tweak to Electric Shield actually shocking enemies as they close in. It is after all a wall of electricity...

[bl4ckhunter]

i agree, imo overload is simply crap becouse even taking into account the light-explosion thing (wich is a drawback comparing it to other short cc nukes) becouse the self centered aoe nuke concept is been abused by de to the extreme as we already have rhino, mag, oberon, frost, banshee, saryn and to some extent nova (loki's radial disarm it's also self centered aoe but i'm keeping it out of this becouse it's just cc)  , i would take the chance and turn it into a weapon override of some kind and make volt match it's description , i think some of the ideas here (can't really be bothered to make a summary) could be good candidates to replace  the current overload.

Edited February 24, 2014 by bl4ckhunter

[TunaMayo]

Stats :

Speed - needs a buff

Power - a caster frame with tank energy cap? Please.....

Stamina - design a frame for running fast, with no stamina? Please....

Powers :

Shock - lovely

Speed - melee buff on a low armour frame, with valkyr having a better version of the buff? Change the added buff to something more suitable.

Shield - still an immobile power on a mobile frame. I'd love this to be like a droideka shield that allies can shoot through for bonus damage. But if it is to remain immobile, can it have some defensive purpose? Perhaps becoming a solid object to block paths for infested, or shocking nearby targets, or buffing "shock" if used through it?

Overload - could use a little end game utility is all. One idea I had a while back is that enemies that don't die have a % chance to become "charged". A "charged" enemy has a % chance to send out chaining shocks that stun nearby enemies and deal low damage.

[Starender]

Stats :

 

Speed - big buff

Armor - small buff

Power - ok

Stamina - ok

 

Powers :

 

Shock - perfect

 

Speed - perfect (remove camera effect plz)

 

Shield - almost perfect, but a small effect on contact is needed

 

Overload - DELETE THIS CRAP ! and give him either more MOBILITY/CONTROL/SPEED

Edited February 24, 2014 by Starender

[(PSN)atpbx]

I got rid of speed and electric shield on my Volt.

 

Put fleeting expertise and Blind Rage in there instead.

[Starender]

I got rid of speed and electric shield on my Volt.

 

Put fleeting expertise and Blind Rage in there instead.

you should try the exact opposite, just remove overload (the worst power of warframe) and keep the rest for strategie/utility.

 

put power efficiency and duration in there instead

 

volt is a bad damage dealer, so he has to rely a lot on his weapons

 

he is average for team and good for solo, just be carefull tho cause he is so damn squichie