Summary
Mastery of the elements is a common theme forRPGpowers, and it’s not just limited to mages slinging spells, either. Plenty of RPGs use elemental magic as a way to augment attacks and introduce variety in what the player can do, and how they can control the battlefield. These elements all come with their own tropes: ice to freeze enemies, lightning to stun them, and so on. Still, some RPGs manage to shake up the formula and interpret these powers in unique ways.
Sometimes, RPG players want to hone in on one particular skill, damage type, or element and see how far they can push its effectiveness by focusing on that alone. It’s one of the pillars of building a thematically consistentcharacter in an RPG, but not every game allows players to focus that intimately on one single thing. The following RPGs all allow for specific focuses when building a character, and treatmastery of lightning magicwith the respect it deserves.
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfireis Obsidian’s 2018 follow-up toPillars of Eternity, a CRPG similar toBaldur’s GateorPlanescape: Torment. Unlike those games,Pillars of Eternityisn’t based on an existing tabletop game and uses its own world and systems, despite itsclasses and mechanicsbeing functionally similar toD&D-inspired games.
One thing thatPillars of Eternity 2did better than its predecessor was its subclasses, allowing for more specialized character creation. This means that players can create some highly focused and highly efficient lightning-based builds. Lightning skills aren’t limited to one class, but Druids probably get the easiest access to high-tier lightning spells. The Fury Druid subclass in particular can make great use of lightning by literally becoming a storm, teleporting around the battlefield and chaining lightning between foes.
WhileWo Long: Fallen Dynastygot a little less attention from gamers than Team Ninja’sNiohseries, it’s stilla solid action RPGwith a similar combat style, as well as a few of its own ideas. The setting takes players to China, and is loosely based around the 14th-Century novelRomance of the Three Kingdoms. While a lot of games have used this setting (and this inspiration), Team Ninja’s take on the time period is as fantastical asNioh’s take on Japan was, with some interesting enemy, boss, and stage designs.
Stat leveling inWo Long: Fallen Dynastyrevolves around five phases, or “Virtues:” Wood, Earth, Metal, Fire, and Water. Each virtue governs stats like HP, weapon damage, and so on, as well as being associated with a specific type of elemental magic. The Wood virtue governs lightning magic, so strong lightning builds need to heavily spec into this stat.
Lightning spells inWo Longdon’t tend to do as much up front damage as the other elements, but they do heavily damage enemy Spirit, which will stagger enemies faster and leave them open to “fatal blows” more often. Players that want to focus on slinging lightning spells like Heaven’s Rage or lightning enchantments will also want to make their secondary stat the Metal virtue to decrease Spirit costs. Using the Qinglong spirit and these spells, players can constantly dish out lightning damage.
Players who enjoyedBaldur’s Gate 3would do well to check out Larian’s previous game,Divinity: Original Sin 2.It’s a similarD&D-inspired CRPG in many ways, and one that allows for a huge amount of flexibility in character creation. Air is the element that governs lightning damage inDivinty, and the Aerotheurge discipline has a multitude of lightning-based spells.
Some of the most interesting mechanics inDivinty: Original Sin 2come from environmental effects, and how different elements interact with each other in combat. Lightning, for example, will interact with any liquid on the battlefield, spreading its shocking effect over a larger area. Since this includes things like pools of blood, lightning needs to be carefully managed. Spreading shock will stun enemies, which is obviously quite powerful, but it can easily backfire if the player’s characters are standing in the wrong spot.
Diablo 4’s Sorcerer class has some unbelievably strong lightning spells, and the game’s system of build-defining legendary aspects can help create some end-game clearing lightning builds. What’s really handy about focusing on lightning damage, and specifically Chain Lightning for the Sorcerer, is that the build comes online early, making it great for leveling early while maintaining relevance in the end game.
It’s perfectly possible to focus on lightning damage only, using mostly Chain Lightning combined with the Aspect of Splintering Energy and Aspect of the Unbroken Tether, but players can also pile on more DPS by combining skills like the Familiar and the explosiveFireball Enchantment, letting them use multiple-element synergy skills like Enlightenment for damage and Elemental Synergies for crits. This allows for the efficient use of other elements while also boosting the player’s lightning DPS.
Grim Dawnis anunderrated ARPGthat gives players a lot of freedom in character building with its dual-classing system. The Shaman, Demolitionist, and Inquisitor classes all have access to powerful lightning skills, and combining any of the two will allow players to create a lightning-focused build with a wide variety of available playstyles.
The flexibility ofGrim Dawn’s class and itemization systems means that players can spec into lightning damage and have a good time whether they want to play an up-close melee character or a ranged caster. The Warder, with a combination of the Shaman’s lightning skills and the Soldier’s durability, is another good choice for lightning melee. There are a lot of combinations available inGrim Dawn, even if players want to focus on a single damage type like lightning.
The Faith stat inElden Ringgives players access to a myriad of elements and status effects, but one of the most iconic is lightning damage. Many Faith character players have been relying on the damage of the humble Lightning Spear since the firstSoulsgames, andElden Ringgives players a lot more options for outputting flashy, screen-filling lightning-based attacks.
The red lightning, associated with the ancient dragons and the capital’s dragon cult in-game, has some spectacular attacks associated with it. Faith Spells like Lansseax’s Glaive and Ancient Dragon’s Lightning Strike can output lightning damage with huge AoE range, and there are still reliable lightning damage spells like Lightning Spear to fall back on.
TheShadow of the ErdtreeDLC added even more ways to create thematic and effective lightning builds, adding the Death Knight’s armor set, the Knight’s Lightning Spear spell, and the Death Knight Twin Axes, among other items.
Not every player going intoBaldur’s Gate 3is going to want to min-max their stats and focus their character around efficient damage output, but being that it’s based onD&D’s5th Edition ruleset, it’s perfectly reasonable to do just that. Focusing on lightning in this CRPG will usually involve investing in either the Tempest Cleric or Storm Sorcerer builds, but given the multi-classing flexibility ofBG3’s leveling system, players can comfortably focus on lightning damage while dipping into other classes, too.
Using interactions between elements inBG3can help boost the damage of lightning builds. Making enemies wet means they take four times the damage from lightning spells, so it’s very handy to be able to combine spells like Create Water with Chain Lightning and other lightning damage options. Conversely, players looking for maximum lightning damage output should avoid trying to build around lightning charges, as the inconvenience of keeping them active with gear and specific actions outweighs their scant benefits.
Lightning damage, and its associated status effects shock and electrocute, have proven to be one of the most effective damage types inPath of Exile 2’s Early Access period. Thanks to the game’s skill tree and Skill Gem flexibility, there’s more than one class that can take advantage of focusing on lightning elemental damage, too.
The Sorceress, Ranger, and Monk are all capable of highly effective lightning damage output. It takes a bit more work, but the Mercenary can be specced into lightning damage as well. Whatever class players want to work with, making lightning damage effective will normally require investing in passive stats like lightning damage, increased shock chance, increased magnitude of shock, and increased electrocute build-up.
Some of the most popularlightning-focused buildsthat have emerged in the early meta include the Lightning Arrow and Magnetic Salvo-based Deadeye Ranger build, The Stormweaver Sorceress using skills like Spark and Orb of Storms, and the Invoker Monk using Storm Wave and supporting skills to get maximized DPS.
