Imagine you’re locked in a ferocious duel with a wizard and he mutters a spell that shoots out a lightning bolt which instantly knocks you to the ground. As the electric current makes its way through your body, you writhe in agony, hoping for the pain to go away. After a few moments, the pain finally subsides and you get back up, ready to do battle. Before you make your move, the wizard unleashes another bolt on you and you’re back on the ground once again, crying out in pain. Congratulations, you’ve just experienced the power of lightning magic.
Lightning, one of nine branches of elemental magic, is known for its ability to inflict a great deal of damage, far more than fire. In fact, this element is considered by many people to be the one with the highest damage output. Lightning can end someone’s life just like that. In addition to causing massive damage, lightning magic can leave scars like fire that never wholly heal.
In many cases, aware of their deadly effects, many lightning users use weaker spells to mitigate the damage as they prefer not to have to kill unless they’re forced to. While not as potent as their stronger versions, many of these spells still hurt, though the pain is usually only temporary.
As a member of elemental magic, lightning follows the same rules as the others, having both strengths and weaknesses. It’s great against water and wind but it only has one vulnerability and that’s earth.
This is the fifth in a series of articles examining the different types of elemental magic. If you’re interested in looking at the ones we’ve already gone over, check out our blog. Like the four before, this article will cover spells to use for attacking and defending, as well as the character of someone who wants to learn lightning magic.
Without further ado, let’s roll into learning about this remarkable element, shall we?
It comes as no surprise that with the highest damage output, lightning is dominant in terms of attacking power. Nearly all of its spells cause damage of some kind, some aren’t so bad, others are so painful you can’t believe someone actually invented a spell of such excruciating agony.
We begin with the standard spell of this element: the bolt. A wizard simply mutters an incantation and presto! a bolt flies out of his wand. It soars in midair at an incredible velocity and crashes into his opponent. The impact of the collision causes him to fall to the ground. Depending on the bolt’s intensity, the opponent may get back up to continue the fight or he may never make it off the ground. Going forward, every other spell of lightning magic incorporates the bolt in some capacity.
The most powerful form of lightning magic is the feared thunderstorm. The warlock just mutters an incantation and a dark cloud looms ominously above the battleground in just seconds. The cloud then unleashes a series of lightning bolts, all aimed at his opponent. His foe has to either seek shelter immediately or find a way to resist the storm so the battle can continue. If he doesn’t, it’s inevitable that one bolt will strike him and the fight’s over.
The secondary effect of lightning magic is its paralysis ability. While every spell here comes with the potential to paralyze someone, there are some that were designated specifically to inflict paralysis.
For instance, if a witch is dueling with an aggravating foe who keeps evading her attacks, she might opt to use a bolt that does no damage whatsoever to keep him in one place. The bolt strikes him, paralyzing him, which makes him very vulnerable to attacks since he has no way to defend himself. This is called a paralysis spell and it’s used in conjunction with another spell to inflict damage on opponents.
Lightning magic’s forte is in the offensive, so it comes to no surprise that there’s not many spells to use when a wizard is on the defensive. Paralysis spells, while they’re mainly used on the offense as a combo with other spells, are superb in guarding from attacks. For example, a wizard may cast such a spell to escape from someone he has no interest in fighting as they enable a quick getaway from an immobilized opponent.
Suppose a witch finds herself locked in an intense fight against someone who’s applying tremendous pressure? She could cast a lightning shield where a large bolt appears between her and her rival. The bolt can send out sparks to slow him down, but it’s main use is to stay between the two combatants, buying her more time to catch her breath or launch a counterattack without fear of being hit in the process.
Similar to the shield in the last paragraph, the witch could summon a dome-like object filled with lightning bolts that’s impervious to damage around her. That means nothing could penetrate it. Throwing an object or sending a spell to the dome would cause it to ricochet off, making it fly back to where it came from.
Lightning and healing don’t usually go hand-in-hand but there’s a spell that does both, and quite well in my opinion. A warlock can perform a ritual that electrifies the battleground. The electrifying atmosphere provides great fuel for him to heal as he’s using the charged atmosphere to recover. Such spells don’t last very long.
To want to master lightning magic takes someone with either no fear or someone who’s supremely confident in his abilities. Working with lightning is far more dangerous than working with another element like fire. At least with fire, should the flames get out of control, they’re easy to get under control. Not so with lightning.
It’s the most unpredictable branch of elemental magic, which means those wishing to learn it recognize that its volatility is par for the course and they accept it. If the unpredictability of lighting makes you uncomfortable, then it would be wise to switch to another element.
Due to its great power, lightning magic draws a lot of powerful wizards. While fire is one magic used by the servants of evil, lightning is another. Its high potential to harm people is a main draw by the forces of evil, who delight in inflicting pain upon their enemies. However, many good wizards learn this magic and put their knowledge to good use, helping people out.
Truly mastering lightning magic puts you in a category above the vast majority of wizards and witches. For lightning is considered to be the personification of power. You see this in Star Wars with Darth Sidious, who is arguably one of the most powerful Sith Lords of all time. While he’s adept in many things, his deep knowledge of the Dark Side enables him to shoot lightning out of his hands.
Magicians who consider themselves a step up over their peers endeavor to learn lightning magic to demonstrate that they are indeed superior to them. So sure of themselves, they delve deeply into this form of magic to unlock its secrets so they can share it with the world and get the credit for their discoveries.
Out of the nine branches of elemental magic, lightning is one of the most powerful, capable of causing damage in ways the others can’t. It’s brutal, savage, and doesn’t offer mercy to those in its path. In the wrong hands, lightning magic ends lives in an instant.
Amidst its brutality, this magic has a sense of regality to it. It radiates power and the wise understand the limits to which it can be controlled willingly. They also recognize that only fools believe that it can be controlled at a whim.
Lightning magic is a must-have to bring into your world. There’s nothing people love than to see someone unleash lightning bolts on their opponent. All you have to do is use your creativity to come up with fresh, innovative spells and develop characters capable of wielding such power, both for good and bad.
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Sunfire
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