First Impressions: Volus Adept

Ignore this build. I've recently tested the Volus Adept to see how he stacks up in the current state of the game. Simply put, he doesn't. If you want to use a Volus, go with the Engineer.

Ok, I have to admit that when I heard that Volus would be included in the new DLC, I thought that Bioware was trolling us with a joke character. But after unlocking the Ultra-Rare Volus Adept, I can tell you that while Volus are still kind of a joke, they are not joke characters. They definitely have their place on any team, any difficulty. Sure, they may be so short that you don't need to take cover. They may be so round that if they fall over, you can't tell the difference from when they're standing up. They may be more fragile than a Drell with the weapons capabilities of an Asari. But that's not the point. As Bioware said, the Volus are not frontline soldiers, but full-on support characters. If you're an altruistic soul who doesn't mind not topping the scoreboards, than you will love the Volus. Even if you're not the support type, playing as a Volus is a nice change of pace from all the shoot-all-the-things characters.

The Volus Adept has two major powers that can be evolved into two distinct play styles. As such, I have created two separate builds.

Edited 10/15/12

Shield Volus
Stasis: 4-stasis strength, 5-bonus power, 6-bubble
Biotic Orbs: 4-damage, recharge speed, 6-orb count
Shield Boost: 4-shields, 5-regeneration*, 6-protection
Volus Training: 4-damage & capacity, 5-shield boost
Fitness: 3

*If you choose to take a heavy weapon, it may be better to take recharge speed for evolution 5.

The Shield Volus focuses on Shield Boost, acting as a mobile shield pylon for the team. A good Shield Volus will be greatly appreciated by your team. They are particularly good for Escort and Upload objectives.

I would take Stasis because it is useful both offensively and defensively. You can use it for pesky Phantoms, mobs, etc. As a fragile Volus, you need to make sure your enemies can't shoot back, so this helps a lot with most enemies. Also, it synergizes well with Biotic Orbs, which I will explain in the next paragraph.

For this build, I spec Biotic Orbs for recharge speed, rather than debuffing. This lets you spam Stasis and Shield Boost more often. This recharge speed is especially important with Shield Boost, since you can generally recharge your shields whenever they go down. If you don't throw your orbs, you'll have a total of 60% recharge speed bonus for Stasis and Shield Boost. With a 200% cooldown and without choosing recharge speed for evolution 5, you'll have a 3 second recharge speed for both Stasis and Shield Boost. Maximum spam-ability.

With Shield Boost, I take the quick-boost approach, choosing shields and protection evolutions for maximum initial shield boost, and regeneration for faster shield recharge in case a teammate strays from your protective range. You can choose recharge speed instead, though. It's really a choice of shields now-or-later.

For Volus Training, I chose damage & capacity for more weapon weight. Normally, I would skip evolution 5 if it were a choice between headshots and power damage, but the Volus has Shield Boost instead of headshots. Definitely choose that.

Finally, I put 3 ranks into fitness. The Volus is pretty fragile, so it doesn't seem to matter much, but it's better than nothing. If you want, you can replace it with evolution 6 of Volus Training. Alternatively, you could skip Stasis and fill out Fitness. Your choice.

Debuffer Volus

Stasis: 4-stasis strength, 5-bonus power, 6-bubble

Biotic Orbs: 4-damage, 5-damage, 6-expose

Shield Boost: 4-shields

Volus Training: 4-damage & capacity, 5-shield boost, 6-weapon damage

Fitness: 4-durability

Whereas the Shield Volus focuses on Shield Boost and protecting teammates, the Debuffer Volus focuses on, well... debuffing enemies. You'll still be using Shield Boost, just not as often. As a result, I have chosen different evolutions to reflect this play style.

Stasis is the same. This is generally a good way to evolve Stasis.

For Biotic Orbs, we're going with all-out damage. With the expose evolution, each orb increases damage done to the enemy by 15% for 6 seconds, and this effect can stack up to three times, meaning that you can throw all three orbs at a target for a total of 45% damage bonus. That's like throwing three Warps in a row! The only downside is that the cooldown is pretty long for Biotic Orbs.

For this build, I spec Shield Boost for a more long-term effect, since you will be using it less often. I choose impact radius so that I can cover my allies better. With the Shield Volus, you don't need radius because you can run around spamming Shield Boost every three seconds. But with the Debuffer Volus, every Shield Boost has to count because you don't have the same cooldown. I choose recharge speed for evolution 5 just to improve the cooldown time a little. Finally, I choose duration for evolution 6. I know that the shield boost evolution looks a lot better than duration, but this way Shield Boost slowly regenerates your shields over time for 6 seconds instead of 3. It would be nice if Bioware buffed this to maybe 10 seconds, but regardless, this is a good evolution because you won't be using Shield Boost as much with this build so every one has to count. However, both are good choices. Ultimately, it's up to you. I promise I won't be mad if you choose protection instead.

*I've decided to max out Volus Training instead of Shield Boost. This allows you to have decent weapon damage and still maintain a strong shield boost. It's a little more selfish now, since you won't be covering your teammates as much, but this build was never meant to be a medic anyways.

For Volus Training, I take damage & capacity for weapon weight and to boost Biotic Orbs a little. Finally for Fitness, I go up to durability for evolution 4 to make up for less frequent shield boosts.

And some final tips for the Volus race in general. Voluses (Volusi?) don't have melee. It would be a pretty funny sight to see, but the melee button serves a different function. Tapping the melee button will give you a very short tactical cloak, great for reviving a teammate or avoiding enemy fire. Holding the melee button will give you a bubble shield. As someone on BSN said, it will make you assume pooping position. So you will squat down with this bubble shield, which I am told negates every other hit and damages enemies who get close. I'm not sure about the function, but it is not a Paladin Shield. In other words, don't squat in front of a Cerberus turret. You will die. I know from personal experience.

Here is some gameplay of a Debuffer-style Volus Adept, by INVADERONE.

I hope you all found this guide to be helpful. Now go out and have fun with the new Volus Adept! Peace.

-MACave11i