Why Volt is one of the Best Warframes…

… Well, in my opinion of course. It seems that a lot of people see Volt as a bad frame in desperate need of a rework. I don’t think that’s needed. Just because one frame doesn’t have its own niche or isn’t the best ever at a specific thing, doesn’t mean that they’re bad. Probably just in need of some tweaks, like reverting the halved duration on Discharge.

He’s Versatile

Sure, Volt’s not the strongest frame, but you can take him anywhere. He’s useful in Capture and Exterminate missions, giving the team a speed boost to get the mission done faster. He’s useful in defensive missions like Defense, Mobile Defense and Excavation missions because of his Electric Shield (which is also useful for temporary defense whenever you need to hack something) and he’s got pretty good crowd control for everywhere else. Sure, Volt’s not useful in Spy missions, but it’s only Limbo, Nova, Ivara, Loki and Ash who are, and Void Mode gives everyone a chance to do vaults regardless of frames.

He’s the second best frame for Eidolon Hunts

Every other frame in an Eidolon Hunt is replaceable, except for Volt. Sure, Volt’s only there because of Electric Shield, but ask yourself why the other frames are there. Chroma and Rhino are only there for 1-2 abilities and Trinity’s only there to babysit the lures and stop them from dying. Harrow is only there for one ability. Really, Oberon’s the only frame who can do everything, and is the best choice if you’re going to solo frames. But a Volt with Electric Shield can hugely decrease the time it takes to destroy an Eidolon’s shields.

He’s the best fisher

Volt don’t need no stinking multiple fishing spears. Just shuffle about a bit and any fish you want can be caught by Volt and his amazing basic fishing spear. Because his passive applies to any attack, not just guns. And throwing fishing spears counts as an attack. I recommend a charge of 20 or so when you go for large, rare fish.

Electrocuting fish is a perfectly legitimate way to fish.
Electrocuting fish is a perfectly legitimate way to fish.

He’s one of the best frames for the Plains of Eidolon in general

I’ve got a whole article about that here.

He was useful in the Law of Retribution

Volt’s high energy pool (on Volt Prime at least) and boosts to movement speed always made him handy in the early parts of the Law of Retribution. More importantly, his good old Electric Shield has saved so many tritium batteries from blowing up.

There are multiple builds for Volt that all work in their own fun ways

I actually am leveling up another Volt because I need more loadout spaces. You see, I’ve got like seven or eight builds I use for Volt. As well as my general use, jack of all trades build, I have builds for nuking defense maps like Hydron, maxing out Speed, going out to fight Eidolons, high range and duration for maximum crowd control (and blindness), melee-based fighting, low level content and my favourite dual-augment build that uses Shocking Speed and Capacitance together. And these are all builds I use without having used a billion forma or anything.

A Volt Prime slamming down his massive sword-axe.
A Volt Prime slamming down his massive sword-axe.

His augments aren’t that bad really

Sure, Shock Trooper and Transistor Shield have really niche uses, but they’re not exactly detrimental or anything. Both have some use in Eidolon captures, I guess, and Shock Trooper can give a lot of extra damage. Capacitance is great for those focusing on shields (mainly normal Volt because he lacks the energy pool for Quick Thinking) and Shocking Speed is pure fun. It’s also incredibly good when it comes to melee-orientated builds.

Volt’s weaknesses are the same as everyone else’s

Sure, Volt will struggle when it comes to level 150+ enemies. But you know what? Most frames do. As armour increases on enemies, you find that nothing but armour-stripping abilities work. After a while, you find that the only way to keep enemies down is to use a lot of crowd control or a very select number of abilities, or making sure that everyone’s using Corrosive Projection and Coaction Drift. And really, when you think about it, it’s the guns that kill enemies, not so much your Warframes. One of Volt’s biggest weaknesses is that he’s not one of the few frames you can do hour long survivals with. Normal Volt does have the weakness of a low energy pool and non-existent armour, but Volt Prime doesn’t have the same issue.

He’s super easy to acquire

Normal Volt is one of the easiest frames to obtain. All you do is join a clan that has his research, spend about 100k on blueprints, go back to your ship and craft him. Most clans have Volt’s research, and once you have your blueprints, you can always just leave again (after saying thank you, I hope). Volt’s crafting materials are rather cheap as well, cheaper than the other frames available from clan research.

He’s available from the very start of the game

This amazing frame is one of the STARTER CHARACTERS. Sure, it takes effort to obtain the mods needed to make Volt strong, but he’s right there, from the beginning of the game, waiting for you to choose him. And with Excalibur and Mag both easier to obtain, if you decide you don’t like Volt, there’s always a new Warframe just around the corner.

The three of us Volts
Look, we’re all Volt.

This could apply to every frame

At the end of the day, any frame can be one of the best Warframes! I love Volt and I’ve adapted to his weaknesses, so really I’m rather biased. But that’s what you do with any Warframe you use. Really, as you should. Because a Warframe with no weaknesses has no challenge, and no challenge is often no fun!

Every Warframe deserves someone who loves and cares for them.

Medic

Medic, also known as Phovos (or occasionally Dr Retvik Von Scribblesalot), writes 50% of all the articles on the Daily SPUF since she doesn't have anything better to do. A dedicated Medic main in Team Fortress 2 and an avid speedster in Warframe, Phovos has the unique skill of writing 500 words about very little in a very short space of time.

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