Volt: The definition of handiCAPPED (Rework to abilities/passive)

[dan.io.wal]

"A potent alternative to gunplay"

The only joke that's funnier than this in warframe is hydroid. 

I need to preface this by saying that I love Volt. He's one of my favorite frames. He's fast, versatile, and has CC for days. However, he feels severely handicapped, and this translates mostly to his passive: Static Discharge. 

Here's why

Static discharge, as we all know, is damage accumulated as Volt touches the ground. For every meter traveled, five points of electricity damage is added to his next attack, whether that be from his powers or weapons. The only power that doesn't expend this damage is speed, his 2nd ability. This damage is capped at 1000 damage, and is added before any multipliers and is not affected by power strength mods. 

There are a few main problems with how this works.

1. It's extremely rare that you can even get up to 1000 damage with his passive, considering how often you're using your powers and weapons. Volt is a caster frame, you need to be constantly using his abilities in order to get the most out of him. Thus, unless you're using speed and not attacking anyone on a capture mission, you're never going to get there. 
2. Due to the fact that this is added before multipliers and doesn't scale with power strength mods, it barely tickles enemies above level 20. BARELY. 
3. If you miss your shot on the first try, you lose all the damage and have to go back and reaccumulate the damage from static discharge. This makes the damage from this passive incredibly inconsistent. 

So how do we fix this? It's rather simple. 

1. Remove the damage cap. Or at least increase it. This is a no brainer
2. Allow the damage accumulated to be affected by multipliers and power strength mods. 
3. Increase the speed on how quickly the damage is accumulated. Instead of 5 points of electrical damage per meter, increase it to 10 points of damage per meter. That is necessary, because the speed at which damage is accumulated is much too slow as is. Maybe even 15 points per meter if the damage still can't (or won't) be affected by multipliers and power strength mods.

Another thought I had is the way static discharge synergizes with weapons. If the damage is allowed to multiply by the crit multipliers of the weapon used, it would allow for static discharge to actually be useful. 

Other changes I would suggest would be to remove the energy drain from picking up the shield, or at least decreasing it dramatically, and removing the fact that you move very slowly and can only use secondaries. 

Not only would these changes allow static discharge to be more affective with his entire kit, but also would enhance his augments, specifically Shocking Speed, Transistor Shield, and Capacitance. 

 

I have no complaints as to how his powers work. Like I stated before, I love volt. Capacitance is my favorite way to run him at the moment, that and a speed build. I don't use the shield because it's just not worth it at this point and time, not even with transistor shield. I would love him to be much more viable than he is, unfortunately his multiple handicaps limit his true potential. If you have any suggestions for Volt, please put them down below. Odds are he won't be looked at again for a while, seeing that he was looked at recently. So it'll probably be... "soon"-meaning it won't be fixed till trump is no longer president. 

Edited June 17, 2017 by danthedapper

[SenorClipClop]

 

[SenorClipClop]

8 minutes ago, danthedapper said:

• It's extremely rare that you can even get up to 1000 damage with his passive, considering how often you're using your powers and weapons. Volt is a caster frame, you need to be constantly using his abilities in order to get the most out of him. Thus, unless you're using speed and not attacking anyone on a capture mission, you're never going to get there. 
• Due to the fact that this is added before multipliers and doesn't scale with power strength mods, it barely tickles enemies above level 20. BARELY. 
• If you miss your shot on the first try, you lose all the damage and have to go back and reaccumulate the damage from static discharge. This makes the damage from this passive incredibly inconsistent. 

• It's not always useful, but there aren't too many Warframe passives that are. I find that the passive is good for a strong first hit on a new target when doing a speedrun, or by camping out and using the new Electric Shield augment (paired ideally with a crit-modded bow). In both of these situations, I don't often get up to 1000 every time , but hey, it's free damage and does make a difference, however slight.
• The damage is not always big, but when built correctly it gets a lot of mileage. The video I just threw up shows off some nice examples, and you can get a lot out of the passive with the augment. If you're "barely tickling enemies" with it at level 20, there's a chance you don't know what you're doing.
• Don't miss. If you're not a good shot, though, Shock almost always hits a target as long as you can see one on your screen. And even at like 300 stacks, Shock is doubling in base power, for free. I call that a good deal.

[dan.io.wal]

Just now, SenorClipClop said:

• It's not always useful, but there aren't too many Warframe passives that are. I find that the passive is good for a strong first hit on a new target when doing a speedrun, or by camping out and using the new Electric Shield augment (paired ideally with a crit-modded bow). In both of these situations, I don't often get up to 1000 every time , but hey, it's free damage and does make a difference, however slight.
• The damage is not always big, but when built correctly it gets a lot of mileage. The video I just threw up shows off some nice examples, and you can get a lot out of the passive with the augment. If you're "barely tickling enemies" with it at level 20, there's a chance you don't know what you're doing.
• Don't miss. If you're not a good shot, though, Shock almost always hits a target as long as you can see one on your screen. And even at like 300 stacks, Shock is doubling in base power, for free. I call that a good deal.

I can understand that. I just feel like the transistor shield augment is the only way to truly benefit from it. I will admit the dread is godly with it, but I do with it was a bit more consistent. It's not the damage itself that bothers me, it's the inconsistency of the effectiveness, you know? I do appreciate the well thought out reply and the video :D I do love me some Rob haha <3

[SenorClipClop]

1 minute ago, danthedapper said:

I can understand that. I just feel like the transistor shield augment is the only way to truly benefit from it. I will admit the dread is godly with it, but I do with it was a bit more consistent. It's not the damage itself that bothers me, it's the inconsistency of the effectiveness, you know? I do appreciate the well thought out reply and the video :D I do love me some Rob haha <3

Man, isn't it though? I don't really like the Dread myself (not a fan of the firing sound), but Transistor makes it so good that I'll happily put up with it.

I guess I just don't really have a huge expectation on the passive. It's free extra damage, but as a passive skill I don't think it should be something that hugely affects gameplay. I'm continually mindful of it, and it would certainly make Volt more powerful if your suggestions were implemented, but it's not like Volt's really struggling the way he is right now. They really oughta change his flavor text though, it's really outdated.

[Vafthrudnir]

Excalibur with chormatic blade(and without) does many times that damage without all that setup, Volt's passive should have no cap in pve.

[dan.io.wal]

6 minutes ago, SenorClipClop said:

Man, isn't it though? I don't really like the Dread myself (not a fan of the firing sound), but Transistor makes it so good that I'll happily put up with it.

I guess I just don't really have a huge expectation on the passive. It's free extra damage, but as a passive skill I don't think it should be something that hugely affects gameplay. I'm continually mindful of it, and it would certainly make Volt more powerful if your suggestions were implemented, but it's not like Volt's really struggling the way he is right now. They really oughta change his flavor text though, it's really outdated.

His profile video is as well. I've been using the Rakta Cernos with it, keeps up the energy and crit is high enough to make it viable. I really want to try the amperex with it though haha. 

[Jackviator]

While we're in the process of talking about caps being removed, figured I'd add that the damage cap on his Discharge should be removed as well, even if it means taking a hit to its duration for balance purposes. Because as-is it's very inconsistent CC.

Edited June 17, 2017 by Jackviator

[redeyedtreefrog]

Doesn't his 4th ability have a damage cap also? As in, once the ability deals, cumulatively, a certain amount of damage, the ability stops working and won't cc any more enemies? Unless I'm wrong about that, that would seem like a more pressing issue to me. After all, most frames' passives are pretty meh / only useful at low levels.

[Vafthrudnir]

5 hours ago, redeyedtreefrog said:

Doesn't his 4th ability have a damage cap also? As in, once the ability deals, cumulatively, a certain amount of damage, the ability stops working and won't cc any more enemies? Unless I'm wrong about that, that would seem like a more pressing issue to me. After all, most frames' passives are pretty meh / only useful at low levels.

Under some istances his ult can last about 1 second.

[Mudfam]

7 hours ago, Jackviator said:

While we're in the process of talking about caps being removed, figured I'd add that the damage cap on his Discharge should be removed as well, even if it means taking a hit to its duration for balance purposes. Because as-is it's very inconsistent CC.

 

5 hours ago, redeyedtreefrog said:

Doesn't his 4th ability have a damage cap also? As in, once the ability deals, cumulatively, a certain amount of damage, the ability stops working and won't cc any more enemies? Unless I'm wrong about that, that would seem like a more pressing issue to me. After all, most frames' passives are pretty meh / only useful at low levels.

 

14 minutes ago, giovanniluca said:

Under some istances his ult can last about 1 second.

 

What they said. Indeed this is a much bigger issue with Volt and caps.

Discharge's base duration is always 9 seconds, because of the cap: Cap / Dmg per sec. Both the cap and the damage per tick scale with power strength, so it has no effect. Duration also has no effect unless you're well below 100%.

Every target in range of another contributes damage, dividing the CC duration. More than 9 targets in range of eachother = less than 1 second duration

The description suggests there might be a minimum 4 seconds of stun, but there isn't. In densely packed crowds enemies will actually be shooting Volt before he's even finished the casting animation, making this more of a self-CC ability.

This "crowd control" ultimate can't control crowds, only scattered targets, making it a total liability when you would need it most.

Removing the damage cap and balancing the duration would fix this issue, and make the damage scale with crowd density like every other similarly themed ability in the game. There is abolutely no good reason why this particular 100 energy ultimate should be mechanically broken and worthless.

Edited June 17, 2017 by Mudfam

[Fallen_Echo]

1 minute ago, Mudfam said:

 

 

 

What they said. Indeed this is a much bigger issue with Volt and caps.

Discharge's base duration is always 9 seconds, because of the cap: Cap / Dmg per sec. Both the cap and the damage per tick scale with power strength, so it has no effect. Duration also has no effect unless you're well below 100%.

Every target in range of another contributes damage, dividing the CC duration. More than 9 targets in range of eachother = less than 1 second duration

The description suggests there might be a minimum 4 seconds of stun, but there isn't. In densely packed crowds enemies will actually be shooting Volt before he's even finished the casting animation, making this more of a self-CC ability.

This "crowd control" ultimate can't control crowds, only scattered targets, making it a total liability when you would need it most.

Removing the damage cap and balancing the duration would fix this issue, and make the damage scale with crowd density like every other similarly themed ability in the game. Rhere is abolutely no good reason why this particular 100 energy ultimate should be completely mechanically broken and worthless.

They might as well give us back the old ultimate. All they needed to add in an 3 sec stun what scales with duration.

Currently we have a first power what deals minimal damage and has too low stun, a shield what is only usable when placed down, a speed buff what annoys people and an useless ult.

[Vafthrudnir]

1 hour ago, Fallen_Echo said:

useless ult.

It can give you overshield but... poison and slash.

[Gravitus123]

Seriously who thought it was a good idea to put a cap on his passive and his 4.It makes Volt so incosistant with his CC and damage

[dan.io.wal]

It's consistency that's holding him back unfortunately. That's why I feel the cap removal on his passive and his 4 would severely help him in the long run.