History Main / SwordBeam

** The Skyward Strike from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', the first 3D Zelda game to have this as a regular ability, can be used at any amount of health, though the sword has to be raised to the sky to charge up for use, leaving Link vulnerable to possible injury. The beam can be shot off vertically, horizontally, diagonally, and as a tiny bullet using a thrust, or used to power up the SpinAttack, extending its range.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'' allows you to do this when you equip the upgraded Spirit of Courage.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTriForceHeroes Tri Force Heroes]]'' requires you to wear special outfits on top of having full health to use sword beams, with the InfinityPlusOneSword outfit's special ability being to shoot four sword beams at the same time whenever you do a spin slash, regardless of health.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'', in one of many nods to the original game, reintroduces the sword beam as a basic ability that can only be used at full health, but is limited to the Master Sword, and uses the game's throwing mechanic to activate.
** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' is the first game in the Smash Bros franchise to reference Link's history with sword beams and allows the ''Breath Of the Wild'' incarnation of Link to shoot a sword beam when he does his forward smash attack at 0% damage (or full stamina).

* Your sword-wielding feline protagonist in ''VideoGame/BoundByBlade'' can spam energy bolts from his magic sword, non-stop as a projectile attack. Bonus points for having some of the projectile attacks sounding like ''gunshots''.

[[quoteright:270:[[Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kirby_sword_beam.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:270:[[GratuitousEnglish SODO BIMU!]]]]

[[quoteright:251:[[Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kirby_sword_beam.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:251:[[GratuitousEnglish SODO BIMU!]]]]

* In the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' novel ''[[Literature/ThousandSons Ahriman: Unchanged]]'', the Chaos Sorcerer Sar’iq can fire bolts of black lightning from the tip of his sword.

* In ''VisualNovel/MarcoAndTheGalaxyDragon'', Gargouille can project a giant blade of energy from her sword Coelacanth. She uses this to bisect one of Astaroth’s warships when it interrupts a baseball game.

** Asta's AntiMagic swords, particularly the Demon-Dweller Sword, can do this once he masters the properties of the weapons to unleash flying beams that cancel out enemies' spells.

** Yami uses his Dark Magic with his katana to shoot beams made of darkness as massive crescent waves. His spell Dark Cloaked Dimension Slash unleashes a vertical slash with great range and cutting power that is capable of cutting through [[SpaceMaster Spatial Magic]]. When combined with [[BackgroundMagicField Mana Zone]], its range and power become devastating.
** Licht's Sword Magic revolves around this, unleashing giant slashes of mana from his sword swings.

* Dante has this in the form of his "Drive" attack in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'' and ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'', which causes a shockwave to jet across the ground and damage all enemies in its path. In ''4'', Nero has Maximum Bet, a [[SuperMode Devil Trigger]]-exclusive move where he uses his sword(s) to fire off a wide X-shaped energy wave that also pierces through targets, but the crescent beam he uses is only seen during cutscenes. Vergil in ''3'' (and Dante in ''4'') has the Yamato, which can slash enemies far outside its normal range with a delayed effect. It does this for all of its moves, but Judgement Cut is the only one that's actually a projectile (to be precise, he does a quick draw slash and then a sphere of "slashes" appear in front of him).

* The [[WhipItGood Plasma Whip]] in ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal'' gains a similar ability after being [[EvolvingAttack leveled up]]. Yeah, it's technically not a ''sword'' beam, but it's close enough.

* Ryuuji from ''LightNovel/DragonCrisis'' uses these as his primary means of attack. Technically an example of 'Knife Beams'.

* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' Saber's [[InfinityPlusOneSword Excalibur]] can be used to unleash an enormous [[PillarOfLight beam of energy]] capable of [[PurposelyOverpowered annihilating anything in its path]]. [[spoiler:It is used during LightNovel/FateZero to literally [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punch out Cthulhu]]]]. Naturally, this ability takes an immense amount of energy to use and she can't spam it, especially when she's getting mana from Shirou. Gilgamesh's own sword ([[StormOfBlades the only one he actually wields, that is]]), Ea, is pretty much the same thing but more powerful. It's the only Noble Phantasm to be classified as "Anti-''World''", which means Gil can pretty much never unleash its full power for fear of an EarthShatteringKaboom, [[SuperpowerLottery not that he needs to]]. Even on its weakest setting, it can match the aforementioned sword with ease.

* Shannon does this in ''LightNovel/ScrappedPrincess'' when he's using Zefiris. An interesting variation, in that the beam extends from ''both'' ends of his sword.

* In the second season of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', Gourry's [[LaserBlade Sword of Light]] gains this ability. At one point it is used to blow up a ship.

*** {{Excalibur}} the Sword of Promised Victory, Saber's weapon, can release blasts of destructive power capable of annihilating entire buildings with ease and could wipe out a good chunk of a city if mis-aimed. Due to flawed summoning and Shirou's low prana capacity, Saber cannot use this attack freely. ''LightNovel/FateZero'' and ''VideoGame/FateExtella'' reveal that it's powerful enough to destroy [[spoiler:a literal Cthulhu and an alien superweapon powerful enough to defeat ''gods'']], and in the latter entry it can also fire smaller beams of lights combined with [[BlowYouAway explosions of wind]].

** ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha'':

* ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'': By shooting these, Kyril's [[SpellBlade Holy Moonlight Sword]] is able to [[HerdHittingAttack take out crowds of enemies at once]] from a distance.

*** Lost Belt 6.5 released a slew of mobs intended to be the Generic Servants on the backs of the Class Cards. The Generic Saber, of course, fires a sword beam for its Extra attack. It could be a reference to the joke below, given that these Servants represent the very base of their class.

* ''VideoGame/BugFables'': Stratos can fire shockwaves with his sword in his BonusBoss fight. Leif notes that it's not even magic; he does so via pure strength alone.

*** Caliburn, a lost Noble Phantasm that once belonged to Saber before she broke it, has a similar if less powerful attack. [[spoiler:When Projected by Shirou and wielded together with Saber, the resulting wave killed Berserker ''seven times''.]]

** In ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'', Squall, Cloud, Sephiroth and Gabranth return with their signature sword beams. Warrior of Light and the Onion Knight take it a step further with Radiant Sword and Swordshower. The latter has the Warrior swing his sword to create beams of light that look like swords, while Swordshower conjures a swarm of sword-shaped energy beams to hit the opponent from all angles. So yeah, not only do they use Sword Beams, [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment but their Sword Beams look like swords]].
*** [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/08/17/interlude-01-the-fighter-does-not-liek-the-robot/ He shoots laser beams powered with swords which are also laser powered.]]

* Your sword-wielding feline protagonist in ''Bound By Blade'' can spam energy bolts from his magic sword, non-stop as a projectile attack. Bonus points for having some of the projectile attacks sounding like ''gunshots''.

* Your sword-wielding feline protagonist in ''VideoGame/BoundByBlade'' can spam energy bolts from his magic sword, non-stop as a projectile attack. Bonus points for having some of the projectile attacks sounding like ''gunshots''.

* An EpicFlail version of this appears in Creator/{{Capcom}} game ''Black Tiger'', the protagonist shoots a 3 way stream of daggers out of his various flails.

A character will make a slashing motion with their CoolSword, but at a distance, optionally [[ChargedAttack charging the weapon with power right before this]]. What springs forth is a beam of PureEnergy, usually crescent-shaped. It travels through the air or on the ground, either keeping the original size and shape or covering a full sector of the swing, thus growing larger with distance. Often features AbsurdCuttingPower, allowing TheHero to fell entire companies of {{Mooks}} in one fell swoop. ArbitraryMaximumRange prevents it from cutting anything outside of the intended battlefield.

* Your sword-wielding feline protagonist in ''VideoGame/BoundByBlade'' can spam energy bolts from his magic sword, non-stop as a projectile attack.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', the Gunbreaker tank job's ranged attack, "Lightning Shot", takes the form of a sword wave that is launched from an upward slash.

* ''{{VideoGame/Deltarune}}'': Susie, the team's {{Fighter|Mage Thief}}, is capable of doing this by using, in a twist, [[AnAxeToGrind her ax]]. Her main Magic ability, Rude Buster, makes Susie swing her ax in the air, launching a purple energy crescent at the target; the spell eats up a large chunk of TP[[note]]Tension Points[[/note]], but also deals a lot of damage — even more than her already fairly beefy normal attack.