Lightning Strike

Lightning StrikeAttack, Projectile, Melee, Strike, Lightning
Level: (1-20)
Cost: (6-10) Mana
Attack Damage: (198-456)% of base
Effectiveness of Added Damage: (198-456)%Requires Level 12Infuses your melee weapon with electrical energies as you swing. In addition to converting some of your physical damage to lightning damage, the stored energy is released from the weapon as projectiles as you strike, flying out to hit farther-away enemies. The projectiles cannot miss if the melee attack hit a target.50% of Physical Damage Converted to Lightning Damage
Fires 3 Projectiles

Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
Fires +(0.05-1) ProjectilesPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.

Acquisition
Drop level: 12Metadata
Item class: Skill Gem
Metadata ID: Metadata/Items/Gems/SkillGemLightningStrike

Lightning Strike is a melee strike attack skill that converts physical damage to lightning damage. It has a secondary effect where it launches projectiles that deal damage based on the player character's weapon damage with each swing.

Skill functions and interactions

An attack with Lightning Strike consists of two parts:

• An initial melee hit with the gem tags Lightning, Attack, Melee, Strike
• A projectile attack with the gem tags Lightning, Attack, Projectile

When the melee attack is made, a default of three lightning projectiles will shoot out in a ~85 degree arc, traveling in a straight line until they strike an enemy. Projectiles will do full weapon damage, of which 50% of physical damage is converted to lightning damage (the bolts benefit from added damage, e.g. as from aura's), against any target struck. Projectiles created by a melee strike that hit an enemy do not immediately hit that enemy (though one could through return). Linking a Lesser Multiple Projectiles SupportLesser Multiple Projectiles SupportSupport, Projectile
Icon: l
Level: (1-20)
Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 130%Requires Level 8Supports projectile skills.Supported Skills deal (15-6)% less Projectile Damage
Supported Skills fire 2 additional Projectiles

Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
Supported Skills deal (0.5-10)% increased Projectile DamageThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. or Greater Multiple Projectiles SupportGreater Multiple Projectiles SupportSupport, Projectile
Icon: P
Level: (1-20)
Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 150%Requires Level 38Supports projectile skills.Supported Skills deal (35-26)% less Projectile Damage
Supported Skills fire 4 additional Projectiles

Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
Supported Skills deal (0.5-10)% increased Projectile DamageThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. support gem will multiplicatively reduce the damage of each projectile and spread further projectiles out within the 85 degree arc.

Cannot Miss: This applies only to the projectiles launched after you initiated the strike. Swinging in enemies' general direction will result in projectiles with a hit/miss chance equal to that of the skill itself. Projectiles that miss will be dissipated without doing damage.

Damage conversion: Like all converted damage, the lightning portion of Lightning Strike's damage will be modified by both lightning damage and physical damage increases. Furthermore, the damage done by the lightning bolts is considered projectile damage (instead of melee), therefore any Strength bonus does not apply.

It is important to note that despite the confusing wording of this skill, the projectile portion of this attack in no way scales off the melee portion of the attack - in essence, the Lightning Strike skill does two completely separate things simultaneously, a melee attack (which deals x% of the base damage, and of which 50% of the physical damage is converted to lightning damage), and a ranged attack (which shoots projectiles dealing full weapon damage, and of which 50% of the physical damage is converted to lightning damage).

This means that increasing the melee portion of the hit through melee-exclusive means such as Melee Physical Damage SupportMelee Physical Damage SupportMelee, Physical, Support, Attack
Icon: M
Level: (1-20)
Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 130%Requires Level 18Supports melee attack skills.Supported Skills deal (30-49)% more Melee Physical Damage
Supported Skills deal (30-49)% more Damage with Bleeding and Poison caused by Melee Hits
Supported Skills have 10% less Attack Speed

Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
Supported Skills deal (0.5-10)% increased Melee Physical DamageThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. will not actually increase the projectile damage; the projectile damage is not "converted melee damage", a common misconception. Do not be deceived by the tooltip DPS of this skill which will change if you apply a melee-exclusive modifier; the tooltip DPS only shows the DPS of the melee portion of the attack and things that modify that, but not the projectile part of the attack.

That said, passive points that grant Increased damage with one-handed melee weapons for example will in fact affect the projectile attack as well if one is using a one-handed weapon, since it is still an attack that is dealt with a melee weapon (though the damage you're dealing is not actually melee damage). However, Increased melee damage with one-handed weapons would only apply to the melee portion of the attack, as it increases melee damage.

Any flat elemental damage gains from gear, auras, weapons or any other source will apply to both the projectile and the melee portion of the attack.

• Dual Wielding: Dual wielding attacks with Lightning Strike will alternate the weapon being swung.

• Life on Hit: The stated amount of life on hit will be restored for the initial hit and each time a projectile strikes an enemy.

• Piercing Projectiles: Lightning Strike projectiles which pierce an enemy and strike another will do the usual projectile damage to all enemies struck.

• Point Blank: Projectiles are affected by Point Blank even though the melee attack is not.

• Iron Grip: Taking iron grip will apply Strength damage bonus to projectile portion of attack. Without iron grip only the melee portion of attack receives damage bonus from Strength.

• Reflect: Reflected attack damage (whether physical or elemental) can be evaded, blocked and dodged.

• Chain: Projectiles can chain (for example if linked with Chain SupportChain SupportSupport, Chaining, Projectile
  Icon: c
  Level: (1-20)
  Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 150%Requires Level 38Supports projectile skills, and any other skills that chain.Supported Skills Chain +2 times
  Supported Skills deal (30-11)% less Damage with Hits
  
  Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
  Supported Skills have (0.5-10)% increased Chaining rangeThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket.), however they won't chain if they pierce.

• The modifier x% of Physical Damage added as from things like Hatred and Added Fire Damage is based on physical damage before conversions. So it will be based on the full base damage, not just the 50% physical part. This applies to both - melee damage and projectile damage.

• Ancestral Call Support: If there are additional targets within range, Ancestral Call will target and attempt to strike additional enemies; these strikes will release projectiles in the direction of the target struck. Without additional targets, Lightning Strike will not swing aside from the main strike and thus not produce extra projectiles. However, against single targets, you can benefit from additional strikes from Ancestral Call Support and other similar bonuses by attacking outside melee range. This will create two lightning strikes, one from Ancestral Call which hits the target, and one from your own attack which will fire projectiles that can also hit the target. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxiBvBzunj8

• Behead SupportBehead SupportSupport, Melee, Attack, Strike
  Icon: H
  Level: (1-20)
  Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 130%Requires Level 38Supports strike skills.Supported Skills have +(0.2-0.3) metres to Melee Strike Range
  Supported Skills deal (30-49)% more Damage with Hits and Ailments against Enemies on Low Life
  Killing Blows from Supported Strike Skills with Melee Weapons against Rare Monsters grant one of their Modifiers for 20 seconds
  20% chance to refresh Duration of granted Modifier by up to 5 seconds when you Hit a Rare or Unique Enemy with Supported Skills
  
  Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
  Supported Skills deal (1-20)% increased Damage with Hits against Enemies that are on Low LifeThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket.: Lightning Strike can be linked with Behead Support. Both the melee strike and projectile portions of Lightning Strike can grant the Behead buff on killing blow as well as refresh the buff on hit.

Gem level progression

Level				Mana Cost	Damage Effectiveness	Attack Damage	Exp.	Total Exp.
1	12	21	14	6	198.5%	198.5%	0	0
2	15	25	17	6	207.4%	207.4%	15249	15249
3	19	30	21	7	217.1%	217.1%	41517	56766
4	23	35	24	7	227.3%	227.3%	81983	138749
5	27	41	28	7	237.8%	237.8%	147968	286717
6	31	46	32	8	248.9%	248.9%	250557	537274
7	35	51	36	8	260.5%	260.5%	405086	942360
8	38	55	38	8	272.1%	272.1%	447718	1390078
9	41	59	41	8	284.3%	284.3%	615318	2005396
10	44	63	44	8	297%	297%	834639	2840035
11	47	67	47	9	310.2%	310.2%	1570760	4410795
12	50	71	49	9	324.1%	324.1%	1633987	6044782
13	53	75	52	9	338.5%	338.5%	2151030	8195812
14	56	79	55	9	353.7%	353.7%	2812189	11008001
15	59	83	58	9	369.4%	369.4%	5099360	16107361
16	62	87	60	10	385.8%	385.8%	9400731	25508092
17	64	90	62	10	402.3%	402.3%	15273366	40781458
18	66	92	64	10	419.4%	419.4%	26286582	67068040
19	68	95	66	10	437.3%	437.3%	62890590	129958630
20	70	98	68	10	456%	456%	212046017	342004647
21	72	100	70	10	475.5%	475.5%	—	—
22	74	—	—	10	495.8%	495.8%	—	—
23	76	—	—	10	516.9%	516.9%	—	—
24	78	—	—	11	539%	539%	—	—
25	80	—	—	11	562%	562%	—	—
26	82	—	—	11	586%	586%	—	—
27	84	—	—	11	610.9%	610.9%	—	—
28	86	—	—	11	637%	637%	—	—
29	88	—	—	11	664.1%	664.1%	—	—
30	90	—	—	11	692.3%	692.3%	—	—
31	91	—	—	11	734.8%	734.8%	—	—
32	92	—	—	11	750.4%	750.4%	—	—
33	93	—	—	12	766.4%	766.4%	—	—
34	94	—	—	12	782.6%	782.6%	—	—
35	95	—	—	12	799.3%	799.3%	—	—
36	96	—	—	12	816.2%	816.2%	—	—
37	97	—	—	12	833.6%	833.6%	—	—
38	98	—	—	12	851.3%	851.3%	—	—
39	99	—	—	12	869.3%	869.3%	—	—
40	100	—	—	12	887.8%	887.8%	—	—

Item acquisition

Lightning Strike can drop anywhere.

Recipes

Lightning Strike can be created from the following recipes:

Amount	Part	Description	Meta
6	The FoxThe Fox6Level 20 Gem"Masters of wit, strength and cunning. To survive the harsh winters, you must be like the fox." - Ezomyte Proverb	Random level 20 gem	A
3	Gemcutter's PromiseGemcutter's Promise3Gem Quality: +20%"I swore to use my position to help the people. What good is power when it just accumulates on the already-powerful?" - Erasmus, Imperial Gemcutter	Random gem with 20% quality	A
1	Gemcutter's IncubatorGemcutter's IncubatorStack Size: 10Adds an incubated Quality Gem item to an equippable item Item drops after killing {0} monstersRight click this item then left click an item to apply it. The Incubated item drops after killing a specific number of monsters.	Random gem with 1–20% quality	A
1	The VoidThe Void1Reach into the Void and claim your prize.	Random divination card set exchange	A

Quest reward

This item is given as a quest reward for the following quests:

Class →	Witch	Shadow	Ranger	Duelist	Marauder	Templar	Scion
Quest ↓
The Siren's Cadence Act 1

Vendor reward

This item can be bought at the listed NPC vendors, after completing the following quests:

Class →	Witch	Shadow	Ranger	Duelist	Marauder	Templar	Scion
Quest ↓
The Siren's Cadence Act 1 Nessa
A Fixture of Fate Act 3 Siosa
Fallen from Grace Act 6 Lilly Roth

Related helmet enchantments

The following helmet enchantments affect Lightning Strike.

Note that helmet enchantments are no longer obtainable since version 3.23.0 and can only be obtained in permanent leagues as already enchanted items from before this patch.

Name		Labyrinth	Stats	Spawn Weighting
Enchantment Lightning Strike Additional Pierce 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	Lightning Strike pierces 2 additional Targets	helmet 100
Enchantment Lightning Strike Additional Pierce 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	Lightning Strike pierces 3 additional Targets	helmet 100
Enchantment Lightning Strike Damage 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	25% increased Lightning Strike Damage	helmet 100
Enchantment Lightning Strike Damage 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	40% increased Lightning Strike Damage	helmet 100
Enchantment Lightning Strike Num Of Additional Projectiles 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	Lightning Strike fires an additional Projectile	helmet 100
Enchantment Lightning Strike Num Of Additional Projectiles 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	Lightning Strike fires 2 additional Projectiles	helmet 100

Alternate skill effects

Lightning Strike has the following alternate skill effects:

Item	Description
Myrmidon Lightning Strike EffectMyrmidon Lightning Strike EffectSkill Gem EffectYour Lightning Strike becomes a Myrmidon Effect.	Your Lightning Strike becomes a Myrmidon Effect.
Void Emperor Lightning Strike EffectVoid Emperor Lightning Strike EffectSkill Gem EffectYour Lightning Strike becomes a Void Emperor Effect.	Your Lightning Strike becomes a Void Emperor Effect.
Vulcan Lightning Strike EffectVulcan Lightning Strike EffectSkill Gem EffectYour Lightning Strike becomes a Vulcan Effect.	Your Lightning Strike becomes a Vulcan Effect.

Version history

Version	Changes
3.25.0	No longer has Added Lightning Damage at all gem levels. It now has 198% Effectiveness of Base and Added Damage at gem level 1 (previously 135%), scaling up to 456% at gem level 20 (previously 225%). Now has a Mana cost of 6 at gem level 1, scaling up to 10 at gem level 20 (previously 6 at all gem levels)
3.23.0	Quality now causes the skill to Fire +0-1 Projectile, instead of providing 0-20% increased Projectile Speed.
3.20.0	Lightning Strike now Fires 2 additional Projectiles at all gem levels (previously 4 at gem level 1, up to 7 at gem level 20). Quality on Lightning Strike no longer provides 0-20% increased Damage. Quality on Divergent Lightning Strike no longer provides "Fire 0-2 additional Projectiles." Instead, it now provides 0-20% chance to Shock enemies. Labyrinth Helmet Enchantments that cause Lightning Strike to fire additional Projectiles now have values of 1 and 2 (previously 2 and 3).
3.19.0g	Reduced the terrain collision size of Spark and Lightning Strike projectiles by 50%. This also fixes a longstanding bug where Spark projectiles sometimes weren't created if cast up against a wall.
3.19.0	Fixed a bug where Lightning Strike could hit a single target twice from one attack. (This fixed the "triple hit" interaction; Lightning Strike's interaction additional Strikes is unchanged.)
3.15.0	Lightning ArrowLightning ArrowAttack, AoE, Projectile, Lightning, Bow Level: (1-20) Cost: (6-10) Mana Attack Damage: (149-177)% of base Effectiveness of Added Damage: (149-177)% Projectile Speed: 3260Requires Level 12Fires a charged arrow which damages enemies by causing them to be struck by a bolt of lightning, which also damages a number of surrounding enemies.50% of Physical Damage Converted to Lightning Damage Hits up to 3 additional enemies near the target Shocks Enemies as though dealing (100-290)% more Damage Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality: Hits up to (0.1-2) additional enemies near the targetPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. and Lightning Strike have brand new effects. Now deals 225% of Base Damage, and has 225% Effectiveness of Added Damage at gem level 20 (previously 180%).
3.13.0	No longer causes projectiles to deal 25% less damage. No longer causes damage over time from projectiles to deal 25% less damage.
3.12.0	Now has alternative gem quality: Anomalous, Divergent or Phantasmal.
3.7.0	Now deals base damage equal to, and has an added damage effectiveness of, 135% at gem level 1 (from 130%), up to 180% at gem level 20 (from 176%). Now adds 1 to 13 lightning damage to attacks at gem level 1, up to 9 to 179 at gem level 20. Now gains 1% increased projectile speed and 1% increased damage per 1% gem quality (previously gained 1% increased lightning damage per 1% gem quality).
3.1.2	Overhauled the visual effects and audio of Lightning Strike in order to improve performance.
2.4.0	9% more damage at gem level 20.
2.1.0	Attack skills that have their damage based on the wielded weapon have their mana costs fixed in place from level 1 onwards. Lightning Strike has been substantially reworked. It is now a Dexterity Gem that starts at player level 12. It shoots five projectiles at level 1, increasing as it levels. Its damage has been increased. It went from dealing 70% of base damage to 75% of base damage.
2.0.0	Now grants 2% chance to pierce per 1% quality (was 3% per 1% quality).
1.3.0	The mana costs of Elemental HitElemental HitAttack, Melee, Strike, Fire, Cold, Lightning, AoE, Prismatic Level: (1-20) Cost: (6-10) Mana AoE Radius: 10Requires Level 12Each attack with a melee weapon will choose an element at random, and will only be able to deal damage of that element. If the attack hits an enemy, it will deal damage in an area around them, with the radius being larger if that enemy is suffering from an ailment of the chosen element. It will avoid choosing the same element twice in a row.(21-609) to (40-1133) Added Cold Damage (26-748) to (49-1389) Added Fire Damage (4-118) to (80-2287) Added Lightning Damage Only Deals Damage of the chosen Element Deals no Damage of other Damage Types (30-49)% chance to Freeze, Shock and Ignite Base radius is 1 metre 80% more Area Radius against Enemies affected by an Ailment of the chosen Element 10% more Damage for each type of Elemental Ailment on the Enemy Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality: +(0.25-5)% more Damage for each type of Elemental Ailment on the EnemyPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket., Glacial HammerGlacial HammerAttack, Melee, Strike, Cold Level: (1-20) Cost: (6-10) Mana Attack Damage: (218-622)% of base Effectiveness of Added Damage: (218-622)%Hits enemies, converting some of your physical damage to cold damage. If a non-unique enemy is frozen and is on less than one third life, they will shatter when hit by Glacial Hammer. If striking three times in a row, the third strike will freeze enemies more easily. Requires a Mace, Sceptre or Staff.25% chance to Freeze enemies 100% of Physical Damage Converted to Cold Damage Every third successive strike Freezes enemies as though dealing (200-390)% more Damage 35% increased Duration of Cold Ailments (10-29)% increased Effect of Cold Ailments Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality: Every third successive strike Freezes enemies as though dealing (5-100)% more DamagePlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket., Infernal BlowInfernal BlowAttack, AoE, Melee, Strike, Fire, Duration Level: (1-20) Cost: (6-10) Mana Attack Damage: (164-377)% of base Effectiveness of Added Damage: (164-377)% AoE Radius: 15Requires Level 12Attacks with your weapon, applying a charged debuff to enemies hit by your strike, and an uncharged debuff to any other enemies hit. Upon reaching 6 charges, expiring, or the enemy's death, the charged debuff is removed to damage that and other surrounding enemies. Enemies with either debuff explode when they die, damaging other surrounding enemies. Damage from this explosion cannot be reflected. Requires a Sword, Axe, Mace, Sceptre, Staff or Unarmed.Base duration is 0.80 seconds Explosion deals base Fire Damage equal to 6% of the corpse's Maximum Life 60% of Physical Damage Converted to Fire Damage Base radius is 2.4 metres Base explosion radius is 1.8 metres Debuff deals 66% of Damage per Charge Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality: Debuff deals +(0.5-10)% of Damage per ChargePlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. and Lightning Strike have been reduced.
1.2.0	Base damage increased from 120% to 130%. Mana cost reduced.
0.10.0	Fixed a problem with evasion related to Lightning Strike.
0.9.12h	Fixed a bug where Lightning Strike's projectiles would always miss when you use it for the first time in a while.
0.9.12b	Fixed a crash with Lightning Strike that would occur with specific two-handed mauls.
0.9.11	The damage penalty on its projectiles is now 30% rather than 20%.
0.9.10b	Fixed a bug where Lightning Strike's melee attack would always hit. Lightning Strike's projectiles now always hit if the melee attack hits, otherwise they perform an accuracy roll.
0.9.10	Fixed a client crash that could occur when using Lightning Strike while standing on a patch of fire.
0.9.9	Reduced damage penalty on projectiles from -50% to -20%.
0.9.6e	Fixed a client freeze that could occur if a nearby party member was using Lightning Strike.
0.9.6c	Fixed a bug where Lightning Strike's damage was displayed wrong.
0.9.6	Lightning Strike has been added to the game