Is A Proto Skin A Deluxe Skin?

In 2017, Volt got a deluxe skin called Proto Volt. Honestly, I wasn’t that big a fan of it. While most deluxe skins tend to go for a completely different look at a Warframe, the Proto Volt skin is just… Volt. Volt but unfinished. Back then, I wrote an article about it, saying how it was mostly alright. At the end of the article however, I asked whether Proto Skins counted as deluxe skins or not.

There were three Proto Skins.

Well, four if you include the Glaive skin. When it comes to Warframes though, we had the two Dark Sector-inspired skins for Excalibur and Nyx, and the unrelated Proto skin for Volt. Funnily enough, the Dark Sector skin for Excalibur is probably my favourite skin for him, since it got a texture update a few years back, making it a proper separate model. The Nyx Nemesis skin is still kinda… eh, but it’s still serviceable. It’s just more like an Immortal skin than a Deluxe skin.

That was back in 2017. Things have changed since then.

In Volt’s case, he got some buffs that removed the damage cap from Discharge, making him a good nuker. Volt also found a role in Eidolon hunts, with Electric Shield buffing Space Kid damage. Heck, here in 2021, Hydroid has a cool deluze skin and Zephyr has FINALLY gotten her deluxe skin, a real banger. Mirage is soon to get hers, and plenty of newer frames have also gotten deluxe skins too.

In that same time though, both Excalibur and Nyx have received real Deluxe skins, both of which are absolutely amazing.

Volt though just has his Proto skin, which is considered a deluxe skin, despite not really seeming like one.

“But Medic, Volt has lots of skins, you’re being greedy!”

Correction: Volt has lots of Tennogen skins. He does have the Amethyst and Immortal skins too, but all of these don’t affect his base body. All that changes is the base texture and the helmet. But Volt’s only Deluxe skin doesn’t really change that much either. It’s still pretty clearly Volt, it does nothing to expand or alter Volt’s theme.

If anything, the Proto skin is LESS than normal Volt. It’s a Volt that’s broken.

No reason not to have two deluxe skins!

Already having a Deluxe skin hasn’t really stopped other frames from getting one. Ash currently has two Deluxe skins for, well, just because, he can. And Ember is also getting a second Deluxe Skin alongside Revenant, who is getting his first one. Heck, Excalibur and Nyx both got second skins because the Proto skins were considered to not be deluxe skins.

Actually, now I think about it, the list of frames that don’t have deluxe skins is pretty small. Baruuk, Gauss, Grendel, Hildryn, Lavos, Protea, Wisp and Xaku. Mirage and Revenant have deluxe skins in the works, and we’ve seen some hints and traces of a Baruuk deluxe skin. However, all these frames are still pretty new. The oldest of the lot is Hildryn, released in 2019, compared to Mirage who was released in 2014.

On the flip side, Rhino is about to get another skin. He already has a Deluxe skin and the Rubedo skin, but he’s about to get a Dex skin as well.

Seems like Volt won’t ever get a deluxe skin though.

It’s pretty clear that DE considers Volt’s Proto skin as a deluxe skin. When Mirage’s upcoming deluxe was mentioned in Devstream 153, they asked whether it’s been the longest time between release and deluxe skin. Chat was, funnily enough, spammed with “What about Volt?”, but it was completely brushed off. So I’m not alone in thinking that a Proto skin is not a Deluxe skin. But it doesn’t matter to the people at the top.

Shame, really. Because electricity is such a cool thing, and you could do all sorts of cool thematic things with Volt.

Literally a week after I post this, turns out we WILL be getting an actual Volt Deluxe at some point!