Foreword

With this build you will instill a newfound fear of electrophobia within your enemies as you electrocute targets far across the battlefield, all the while bolstering the shields of yourself, your companion, and your entire team. Although this build is designed as a nuker build, it is very capable of surviving late endgame activities. I have only ever seen this build struggle once within a circuit run on steel path; even then, it offered effective crowd control capable of locking down targets across the majority of the map.

Core Mods and Arcanes

[Energy Siphon] may not be the strongest aura but any source of energy regeneration is quite welcome. [Capacitance] and [Rolling Guard] are the bread and butter of this build's survivability (the survivability loop of these mods is further explained later within this guide under the Gameplay section). [Cunning Drift], [Archon Stretch], and [Overextended] substantially [Extend] the [Reach] of your radial abilities; at 250% ability range, Discharge will affect all enemies within a staggering 50 meter radius. Additionally, [Archon Stretch] will further help with energy management and plays well into [Volt]'s playstyle. [Umbral Intensify] and [Transient Fortitude] raise your ability strength high enough for Terrify to fully armor strip with 2 tauforged crimson archon shards. Although ability duration has not been prioritized within this build, it is still very helpful. [Primed Continuity] restores your lost ability duration from [Transient Fortitude] and then some. Lastly, [Streamline] lowers the energy cost of your abilities allowing for even more ability spam.

I previously experimented with [Adaptation] but found [Rolling Guard] to be a more reliable tool for survivability. [Adaptation] did not appear to significantly reduce the amount of damage taken to your shields, but [Rolling Guard] can [Protect] you long enough to fully restore your shields and overshields with the help of [Capacitance]. It also provides you with the ability to purge negative status effects like poison or disrupt. Between the two, I decided that [Rolling Guard] would be more useful.

For arcanes, Arcane Energize is extremely valuable for any nuker build and will allow your ability spam to go even further beyond. As you get kills, Molt Augmented will gradually increase the potency of your abilities, including Discharge's damage total.

Focus School

I would recommend the Zenurik focus school for increased energy regeneration. As a Nuker build, you will require a large amount of energy to spam your abilities (namely, Discharge). Even with all of the energy regeneration/efficiency already present within this build, Zenurik serves as a stable source of emergency energy whenever you're struggling to find energy orbs.

Helminth

1. Ability Replacement

• Shock ---> Terrify

When compared to the capabilities of Discharge, Shock is (normally) an underwhelming and redundant ability. One thing that [Volt] struggles with is armored enemies; Terrify serves as an additional source of crowd control and, more importantly, a radial armor strip. At 167% Ability Strength, Terrify achieves 100% armor strip—which can be accomplished by building up Molt Augmented or at the very start of the mission with archon shards (see below).

You may consider Pillage instead of Terrify for additional range and status purge but Pillage comes with several caveats. Pillage will only begins to fully strip defenses at 400% Ability Strength. In addition to requiring multiple casts of pillage to remove a target's defenses, Pillage only affects enemies you have line of sight with; Terrify, on the other hand, does not require line of sight.

2. Archon Shards

• 2 Crimson (+10%/+15% Ability Strength)
• 2 Azure (+50/+75 Energy Max)
• 1 Amber (+30%/+45% Maximum Energy is filled on Spawn)

I highly recommend the inclusion of 2 tauforged crimson archon shards to increase your base ability strength to 169%. This gives [Volt] just enough ability strength to fully armor strip enemies with just one cast of Terrify. I also recommend some azure shards to increase your maximum energy capacity. This build is capable of substantial energy regeneration; increasing your max energy will allow you to store more of that energy. Lastly, I recommend 1 amber shard to boost your energy on spawn. While helpful, the true value of this shard becomes apparent within [Sanctuary] onslaught and eidolon hunts. A larger pool of starting energy allows you to more readily propel yourself into the fray.

Gameplay

Although overshields are nice, the majority of your survivability comes from not getting shot. This is accomplished with the help of your crowd control abilities: Discharge and Terrify. Discharge is your better option because, with [Capacitance], you can restore your shields and gain a substantial overshield to [Protect] against chip damage. After restoring your shields, you reset your shield gate, lending you a temporary period of invincibility next time your shields are depleted. When depleted, quickly roll to trigger [Rolling Guard] and purge yourself of all negative status effects while gaining an additional period of invincibility long enough for you to cast Discharge to restore your shields and begin the cycle over again.

When you encounter enemies with armor, cast Terrify to strip their armor and watch as Discharge makes quick work of them. Against shielded enemies, Discharge will tear through your enemies' shields and kill them twice as quick.

Closing Remarks

I originally designed this build, as well as my other [Volt] configurations, as a gift to my brother. He had just started playing Warframe and picked [Volt] as his first frame. Naturally, he wanted a good build for [Volt], so I challenged myself to learn how to play a new warframe in order to design a powerful build for him. I quickly fell in love with [Volt]'s playstyle and he became a favorite of mine as well. After a lot of testing and many reiterations, I strongly believe that this build is one of the best [Volt] builds that one could develop. Furthermore, I was able to develop several other configurations for different styles of play while maintaining the same polarities across each configuration. If you'd like to view my other configs, they can be found here:

• Storm King | Volt Prime: SO/ESO | Config B
• Storm King | Volt Prime: Eidolon Hunt | Config C