Shock And Awe / Video Games

Electrifying characters and items in Video Games.

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• The Adventures of Square: Square can use a defibrillator as melee weapon. It deals hefty damage to enemies, and knocks them away. Using it in underwater is probably not a good idea.
• Akatsuki Blitzkampf: Akatsuki and the Elektrosoldats wield lightning powers. So do, to a lesser degree, Adler and the Big Bad Murakumo. This is because of the Blitz Engines and probably some good ol' Playing with Syringes.
• Alisia Dragoon has the protagonist fighting with auto-targeting Thunder Magic, and one of her familiars has a total-screen-kill lightning attack.
• Arcana Heart: Saki Tsuzura has Bhanri, Arcana of Lightning, as the default Arcana.
• Asura's Wrath has Lord Deus, who seems to be channeling the likes of Zeus in that he's the most powerful of the Seven Deities and commands lightning.
• In Azure Striker Gunvolt, the titular Gunvolt possesses the coveted Azure Striker Septima, and his main method of attacking is to shoot lightning rods from his gun to tag enemies and then create a "Flashfield" of electricity that arcs towards them. This power can also heal his body, increase his attack and defense, activate machines, magnetize certain platforms and cause other reactions on things such as plant and buglife. Last but not least, Gunvolt can use special attacks that fill the screen with even more voltage than usual, such as floating spheres, lightning bolts, giant swords, and a swarm of chains. The final boss mirrors nearly all of Gunvolt's abilities on account of being another Azure Striker. Yes, including that.
• Baldur's Gate, as a Dungeons & Dragons adaptation, has lightning spells, of which the most accessible is the Level 3 Lightning Bolt. ^note Lightning Bolt has been known to rebound unpredictably off the scenery and may not be safe when used in enclosed spaces, such as dungeons, cities, or the Prime Material Plane. Lightning Bolt is used at your own risk and the risk of everyone around you. Do not get Lightning Bolt wet and never feed it after midnight.
• Battle for Wesnoth: While most Wesnothian mages cast fireball or lightbeam, Delfador from Heir to the Throne and Delfador's Memoirs can cast lightning from the sky instead, courtesy of a staff he encountered in the land of the dead.
• In the BioShock franchise:
  • The Electro Bolt ability in BioShock and BioShock 2, which is the first ability you learn in both games. Doesn't tend to kill but stuns the enemy (and can do high bonus damage if shot in water while an enemy's in it). Upgraded versions in BioShock 2 include Chain Lightning and a continuous damaging arc of Tesla's delight.
  • In the first game, the chemical launcher can shoot electric gel, and the shotgun can shoot electric shells. In the sequel, the final upgrade for the shotgun gives its normal shots a chance to shock the enemy.
  • In BioShock Infinite, Shock Jockey is the Columbia equivalent of Electro Bolt, expanded to be able to create lightning-making crystals.
• Seigen Suzunami in Bleach: The 3rd Phantom has several electrical attacks by way of his zanpakuto, Shiden. After Aizen transforms Seigen into a Hollow, he gains the ability to shoot electricity from his fists, and in his final form he gains the ability to fire it out of his mouth like a laser.
• Black Aura spells in A Blurred Line include two electrical attacks (PowerDrain and ShortCircuit), as well as the ability to control machines. The rest, though, is Dark Is Evil nastiness, like Infect, summoning a Final Lich or LifeForStrength (an Action Bomb attack where Talan dies to cause great damage.)
• Borderlands has a wide variety of elemental weapons with electric shock mods. Also, certain class mods can add bonus shock damage to shock elemental weapons. Electricity causes extra damage against shields, and in-game tutorials generally emphasize this point.
• Breath of Fire III:
  • Aside from Squishy Wizard Nina, Rei uses lightning magic. You won't use it a lot, though...
  • It's also the trademark move of Balio, a recurring antagonist in the early portion of the game.
• Bug gets the power to zap his enemies when he picks up a limited-use Zap Cap Power-Up. And then there were the lightning bugs in Splot, who fired electricity from their plug-like butt to electrocute Bug.
• In Castle Crashers, the Red Knight's magic is based around lightning.
• Castlevania:
  • In Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, there were Mjolnir and Gungnir. Mjolnir, named after Thor's hammer, looked more like a giant light bulb, but is apparently made out of lightning or something. It's the most powerful mace in the game and does damage over time.
  • Aria of Sorrow has two lightning weapons, Gungnir and Vajra, that are rather potent and deals multiple hits (like all lightning-based player attacks do in this game). There's also the Lightning Doll soul, which is very popular and almost gamebreaking because it has considerable range, deals high damage with multiple hits for a relatively low MP cost, and lets you feel like Emperor Palpatine (which might be helped by the fact that Soma is the reincarnation of the Dark Lord).
  • As part of the Fire, Ice, Lightning trio of elemental swords in Symphony of the Night, there's the Thunderbrand, which, according to its description, is the lightning sword of the Hindu God Indra.
  • Shanoa from Order of Ecclesia wields 2 magic glyphs the player finds in the game. Fulgur is a ball of lightning that travels a certain distance while blasting any enemy it comes across with multiple hits and Vol Fulgur fires a large thunderbolt that shoots straight to its target(s) and does multiple hits for a brief moment.
• Champions Online downgrades this to a single Electricity power set, mostly ranged attacks plus a couple of electric fields.
• Chrono Trigger:
  • Crono, the main character, though his powers being "Lightning" are a change caused by Nintendo's "no religious references" policy — in Japanese, it was "Holy", but in the DS remake, this was partly reverted back to "Light".
  • Robo gets a massive shocking attack called Electrocute as his ultimate skill, which he can then combine with Crono's lightning for an even more powerful attack called Super Shock.
  • Lavos has an attack called Heavenly Tears that hits a single character with a massive lightning bolt. If their magic resistance is not up to par this will be a One-Hit Kill even if they have maxed-out HP.
• City of Heroes has a variety of electric power sets, including ranged attacks, melee attacks, armor, crowd control (which included a pet made of electricity), and support (as part of a weather control set) among its many available superowers. At higher levels, all characters from any class could optionally learn electric attacks via various tertiary power sets. In addition, the Mu enemy group used red lightning exclusively.
• Soviet Tesla Coils in Command & Conquer: Red Alert.
  • Add-on pack Red Alert: Aftermath adds Tesla Tanks and Shock Troopers, who respond to you in Arnie-style zingers, including "Shocking! Hahaha!"
  • Tesla technology proved so popular with fans that the sequel Red Alert 2 used it a lot, including newer versions of the above and Tesla Bombs for the Kirov Airship. In one mission, the Soviets even turn the Eiffel Tower into a supersized Tesla Coil and lay waste to Paris in order to terrorize the European allies.
  • Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 has taken this to its logical conclusion by having Tesla everything. That's Tesla Troopers, Tesla Tanks, Stingrays...even the Japanese have a Tesla Mecha...a really huge one at that. The terror drone now has a Tesla secondary fire for disabling vehicles while the Tesla Troopers got an upgrade, switching their Tesla cannons into EMP mode and disabling nearby vehicles.
• Commander Keen: The fifth Episodic Game features the Shikadi and the Shockshund. The Shikadi are a species of blue beings made of electricity that walk around, and can touch the climbable poles to electrify them, potentially killing Keen if he's touching said poles. The Shockshund is a dog made of electricity that rapidly moves by leaping onto their preys, and can also shoot electric balls. The Shikadi Master is their King Mook, and appears in the final level to hinder Keen's progress by throwing very large electric balls at him and teleporting between spots.
• Comes loaded onto the Die Spinne 'Piranha' fighter in Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge.
• The Crown of Wu grants Sun Wukong the "Thunder" upgrade in it's last third, allowing him to blast electricity from his fists. Surprisingly it doesn't cause damage to enemies' health, only stunning them momentarily or for Sun Wukong to recharge generators to activate exits, making it one of few instances where lightning-based powers are used for defense.
• In Dark Souls, lightning is associated with Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight. It's effective against many enemies and is particularly effective against dragons. Awesomely depicted in the opening cutscene when Gwyn and his entire army fling lightning bolts to bring down a swarm of dragons. The miracles offered by the Warriors of Sunlight covenant allow a player to do the same thing. A player can also forge weapons with a lightning enchantment, enchant a normal weapon with lightning via the Sunlight Blade miracle, or use a gold pine resin to temporarily charge it up.
• Dark Souls II has the Looking Glass Knight. It's fought in a Battle in the Rain, and every so often it holds up its sword, allowing lightning to strike it, before using that lightning against you. Making it worse is that being soaked by the rain seriously reduces your electricity resistance.
• Victor von Gerdenheim of the Darkstalkers series is a Frankenstein's Monster whose body produces massive amounts of electricity, more than even a bolt of lightning. If you hold down any of his attack buttons, the attack will be charged with electricity.
• In Dead Rising 2 and related games, the player can make a variety of weapons that utilize electricity, like a makeshift taser (that doubles as an ATM hacking device), a Blanka mask attached to a car battery, and a Lightning Gun.
• Tesla towers in Defense Grid: The Awakening can chain to nearby aliens. They also charge up when not firing to unleash a stronger attack, making them good rear guard towers.
• Densetsu no Stafy 3:
  • Evil's magic mostly takes the form of lightning bolts.
  • Bulrun can conduct electricity, which they use as their primary method of attack.
• In Destiny, "Arc" is a form of Light that can be wielded by Guardians, taking on the form of lightning. The lore indicates that Arc Light is not so much electricity as it is a form of magic that manipulates the materials and forces making up atoms, which is expressed destructively in the form of lightning.
• In the Destroy All Humans! games, Crypto's basic sidearm is a Lightning Gun that doesn't need ammunition.
• Devil May Cry
  • Devil May Cry 1:
    • Trish is a demon who can fire lightning bolts from her hands and charge her fists and feet with electricity. Her playable apperances in later games have her channeling lightning magic into her guns for extra damage, similar to how Dante charges his guns with red demonic energy. She even advertises her affinity with lightning by wearing a corset top with a lightning symbol over the cleavage.
    • The power of lightning is quite common among Mundus's servants. Besides Trish, there is also Griffon, who fires red lightning; Plasma, a type of enemy demon made of electricity and possessing the ability to copy their opponents' abilities and physical form; and Nelo Angelo, who can enhance his attacks with blue flame and electricity. Mundus himself uses lightning bolts, among other things, when he fights Dante.
    • Dante's Alastor weapon also channels electricity.
  • Devil May Cry 2: Lucia and Dante have access to the Electro Heart, a Power Crystal that enhances their Super Modes with lightning magic
  • Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening: One of the bosses is Nevan, a demon who fights with lightning and bats. After she is defeated, she becomes a Devil Arm that takes the shape of a guitar scythe.
  • Devil May Cry 4: The Blitz infuses its whole body and claws with lightning in order to teleport around the area, perform sneak attacks, or zap the playable character with a beam.
  • Devil May Cry 5: In Mission 11, Dante fights a demon named Cavaliere Angelo who possesses the power of lightning and is using Trish as a battery source. Later, Dante acquires a Morph Weapon named King Cerberus whose three forms each have their own elemental power. One of these forms is a three-section staff that generates electricity.
• In Dex, there’s the electricity damage inflicted by certain weapons/attacks, and Dex can be augmented with Electrostatic Conductors to make her immune to electrical damage.
• The Warslug monsters (which look like chubby, bipedal salamanders with horns) in the Disgaea series specialize in electrical attacks.
• Some enemies in Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories use an attack that involves them tying up a player with an electric rope.
• Distorted Travesty 3's first major boss starts with a few stray bolts to supplement her fireballs, and quickly ramps up to calling down more lightning then should be considered fair in a platformer.
• Dodgeball Academia: Mina is capable of doing this with her Balltimate move, which is shooting dodgeballs to the sky and lighting comes down.
• Any .hack spell with the word "Rai" in it. (Rai Rom and its upgraded forms are one of the more impressive variations, creating a lightning tornado.)
• Dragon Age:
  • Lightning is one of the elemental magics a mage can use in Dragon Age: Origins. The spell combination of Spell Might + Blizzard + Tempest (in that order) = Storm of the Century, which summons a massive lightning cyclone that will probably kill anything without full boss-level hp that's stuck in it for the entire spell duration. Morrigan comes with both lightning and ice magic by default, making her a natural user of this combo.
  • Dragon Age II groups earth and lightning spells together in the "Primal" tree.
  • Named lightning mages are more common in Dragon Age: Inquisition than fire or ice. Dorian is usually shown using lightning in promotional materials despite displaying no particular preference in-game. Grand Enchanter Fiona and Warden Commander Clarel both use lightning magic when seen in battle. Morrigan also returns, wielding a lightning staff.
• Dragon Quest:
  • The Zap (Lightning) Spell from Dragon Quest III onwards. Probably the rarest element, as The Hero is usually the only playable character that gets it. Monsters that use it are to be feared as unlike other spells they deal full damage with it, and it's rare for equipment to grant resistance to this element.
  • Exceptions are Dragon Quest -where the Hero's only defensive magic are fire spells-, Dragon Quest II -where the Hero lacks magic skills but the Princess of Moonbrooke can use the Lightning Staff to unleash lightning bolts- and Dragon Quest V where the Hero does not learn Lightning magic because he is not the Chosen Hero. His son is, hence Parry learns the Zap family of spells.
  • In Dragon Quest V, Bjorn's skill "Lightning" lets him pull down lightning bolts from the sky.
• Dragon's Crown:
  • After investing points in the Grand Smash skill, the Dwarf will be able produce lightning from his power smashes and hammer throws.
  • One of the spells available to the Sorceress is the Thunderhead spell, which conjures a thunder cloud that floats around the battlefield while randomly zapping things with lightning.
  • The Wizard has his own lightning spell in the Thunderbolt, which calls down several lightning bolts around him.
• In Dungeons II, one of the earliest spells the Horde can research is Lightning Bolt, useful to fry troublesome intruders to ashes. After further research, you can deploy electrical traps that shocks any intruder who goes too near.
• In Earth and Sky, one of the powers Emily gains from her skysuit is a directed lightning attack.
• The Elder Scrolls:
  • Throughout the series, Shock-based attacks are one of the primary forms of the Destruction school of magic, rounding out the Fire, Ice, Lightning trio. While it varies depending on the game, ranged shock spells sometimes strike instantly and sometimes drain Magicka in addition to damaging health.
  • Storm Atronachs are a form of unaligned lesser Daedra who are essentially the Elemental Embodiment of Shock magic. They appear throughout the series, typically being immune to Shock damage while dishing out powerful Shock spells of their own.
  • Aurorans are another form of lesser Daedra, associated with the Daedric Prince Meridia. They are "infused" with lightning magic, which allows them cast Shock spells while also resisting them.
  • Spider Daedra, as their name might imply, are a Spider People form of lesser Daedra. They are Magic Knights equally formidable in melee combat as well as when casting spells. They are known to favor various shock spells, in addition to poison spells.
  • Dreugh, a semi-intelligent race of aquatic humanoid octopi, undergo a process known as "karvinasim" where, for about one year of their lives, they transform into an unintelligent land-based creature in order to breed. These Land Dreughs come with a natural shock-powered melee attack.
  • In Daggerfall and Morrowind, Daedroths, a crocodilian form of lesser Daedra, are capable of using Shock spells. Later appearances would drop this trait and replace it with Playing with Fire, either giving them the ability to cast Fireballs or breathe fire.
• Escape Velocity: Nova:
  • The Triphammer, which proves that entirely too much firepower will never, ever go out of style.
  • If the player takes the Vell-os path, your final psychic "weave", Winter Tempest, is a Deflector Shields-piercing lightning bolt.
• Many classes in the Etrian Odyssey series have access to electricity-based skills, often alongside fire and ice. There are also enemies and bosses that attack this way, such as the Volt Squirrels and Megavolt Marmots (enemies) in Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth, as well as the Bugbeast (boss; it also has ice attacks) in Etrian Odyssey Nexus.
• Evolve gives us the Kraken, which can zap anything that gets too close or summon devastating lightning strikes at a distance.
• EXTRAPOWER:
  • One of the spells in Blackberry's repertoire in Giant Fist is to summon Chergov, a giant bulbous Eldritch Abomination that spews lighting in all directions periodically for as long as the spell lasts. Never long enough when you're playing Blackberry, viciously long when she's the boss battle.
  • Star Resistance's Walhalla is able to perform a pair of EXTRAPOWER attacks that first summon the other valkyries to her side to aid in combat, then optionally to combine them into a large Thunderbird to strike across the screen for massive damage. This also carries over to the Valkyries boss fight, used in the final phase of their fight when all four valkyries rotate through their most powerful elemental attacks.
• Fable: Lightning is the first spell the Magic Knight Hero learns, and it remains a Simple, yet Awesome option for the rest of the game — not only does it have a Knockback effect, it can be trained to a higher Spell Level to deal extra damage and strike more targets.
• Fallout: While lightning isn't classified as a separate element from normal energy damage, several electrical weapons do exist throughout the games:
  • Fallout 3 adds the Tesla Cannon in it's Broken Steel DLC. It will kill a Vertibird in one hit, and is arguably the game's Infinity +1 Sword.
  • Fallout: New Vegas's Old World Blues DLC has the Laser Assisted Electrical Rifle, and a prototype Tesla Cannon.
  • Fallout 4:
    • The Automatron DLC adds the Tesla Rifle, which has the Chain Lightning effect. Automatron robots can also have alightning gun as an arm weapon. The Tesla Cannon returns in the Creation Club, and is game-breakingly powerful.
    • Many melee weapons have an upgrade that adds electrical damage.
    • The game gives the player the ability to mod power armor to deal electric damage to nearby enemies, as well as to add bonus electrical damage to the player's punches.
  • The Medic model of Protectron uses its defibrillator pads in combat.
• The Final Fantasy games tend to have a lightning attack as a spell.
  • Golbez from Final Fantasy IV has the ability to shoot lightning out of his hands
  • Final Fantasy Tactics had the Blast Gun, a member of a trio of strangely named elemental-magic guns (the others were the Blaze Gun and Glacier Gun, which did exactly the opposite of what you would expect).
  • In the Final Fantasy games, lightning also tends to be the most powerful element. An example would be the Blast Gun, the most powerful one of the three, and the Thunder Spell in Final Fantasy XI. Byakko's Haidate (the most powerful leg piece in the game) is lightning-aligned and gives a healthy chunk of resistance against electric attacks.
  • Also, there's the summons Ramuh, Ixion, Quezacotl, Adramellech, and one incarnation of Odin. Ramuh's the one member of the Power Trio of summons most likely to be replaced.
  • Final Fantasy II's guest party member Leila starts out with a Thunder spell, which is more than most of your other guest party members, barring Minwu. The first time you fight the Big Bad, The Emperor, he will use Thunder spells almost to the point of exclusivity.
  • As you might expect from her nickname, Lightning uses the Thunder series of spells a little bit more than the others — she starts with Thunder, learns Thundaga, and has Odin (who is Lightning-based in that game) as her Eidolon.
• Fire Emblem:
  • In the series overall, Thunder magic is pretty important. It tends to have the highest raw power of the three Elemental Magic types, relatively low hit rates, but much higher critical ratings (It should be noticed that the Lightning spell is associated with light magic and is nothing like the lightning element).
  • Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War and Fire Emblem: Thracia 776: Thunder magic is the trademark magic of the Thrud bloodline - with Thrud himself, Tailtiu, Tine and Linda as heroic examples, Ishtore and Ishtar as anti-villainous ones, and Reptor and Bloom as full-on villains. Non-Thrud examples include Elia, Olwen and Reinhardt.
  • Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, and Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones: Thunder can be used by any Anima magic user, and integrates into the Anima Magic Triad alongside Wind and Fire. Particularly remarkable is how the bosses specializing in Magic (like Ursula, Sonia and/or Selena) possess almost inevitably a tome named Bolting, which can deal massive damage from a long distance.
  • Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn: The infamous Big Eater Ilyana only uses Thunder magic, and at her highest level (Archsage) she's the only one able to use Rexbolt, the most powerful thunder magic in the Tellius series.
  • Fire Emblem: Awakening: Though what Robin (the player avatar) wields is technically up to the player, they start out as a Magic Knight with access to a single Bronze Sword and a Thunder tome. Furthermore, cutscenes imply that Thunder magic is their favored attack of choice. In their appearance in Super Smash Bros., while they have at least one tome for each element that appeared in their debut game (including darkness), they use all the common Thunder tomes (Thunder up to Thoron) and also come with the Levin Sword, a magic weapon capable of slinging Thunder magic.
  • Fire Emblem: Three Houses: If Dimitri is trained in Reason, he will learn several Thunder magic spells those his growths are rather poor. He makes up for it in Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, however, where his personal ability allows him to imbue all his attacks with lightning and gives him amazing combo potential and damage.
• The Force Unleashed: Starkiller makes excessive use of Force Lightning, primarily because it's got a very useful stun effect.
• Gacha World:
  • DJ Lyte first calls down lightning from the skies via his mixgear, then wraps himself in said lightning before tackling his enemies which transfer that lightning to those enemies when summoned.
  • Kilios rams into its enemies with a lightning axe causing thunder to crash down from the skies at the moment of impact.
• Genshin Impact: anyone with an Electro vision. Electro users are great at using their lightning powers to trigger elemental reactions that aid other elements in dealing their damage. A few, like Fischl and the Raiden Shogun, can also make solid DP Ses.
• Golden Axe 1: Gilius Thunderhead uses lightning magic. In part 2 he has switched to Dishing Out Dirt though.
• Golden Sun: The Jupiter class of adepts use meteorological phenomenon such as lightning to attack, and indeed, lightning is some of their most powerful attacks. Jupiter lighthouse also features lightning puzzles.
• Grand Theft Auto 2: The electric gun. All that's left of the poor sap you fried is a blueish skeleton.
• Grow:
  • The King from Grow RPG have electricity powers and use them on a dragon.
  • The kid in Grow Cannon can find a thunder staff in a chest.
• Guilty Gear: Ky Kiske rides the lightning. His half-Gear son Sin in Overture has similar powers though he refuses to acknowledge that he has anything in common with Ky.
• Half-Life: Electricity is the main attack of the Vortigaunts (and the Voltigores in Opposing Force). You can play as a Vortigaunt and use this attack yourself in the bonus level of the PlayStation 2 expansion pack, Half-Life: Decay.
• Heretic has the Gauntlets of the Necromancer. And, if the Tome of Power is used, the electrified staff.
• Heroes of Might and Magic: The Titans, the traditional ultimate unit of the Wizard/Academy/Tower faction since the second game, are giants that fling lightning bolts at their unlucky foes. The Titans of the fifth game take it even further; the default Titans can call lightning from the sky to strike their enemies (useful in situations where a ranged attack wouldn't be as effective) and the alternate upgrade, the Storm Titan, can summon stormclouds on the battlefield. And the more magic oriented Heroes can make good use of the lightning bolt and chain lightning spells available in most of the games.
• Hollow Knight: Uumuu, the boss of the Teacher's Archives, is an Electric Jellyfish with two main attacks. One covers most, but not quite all, of the boss room in electrical sparks, forcing the player to seek a safe spot. The second one continuously summon electricity on the Knight's position, forcing the player to constantly move.
• Hong Kong Ninja: Scorpion, the Final Boss, has the ability to generate electric blasts and hurl lightning balls as his main attack.
• Iji: In Version 1.7, Iji projects electricity out of her hand when she attempts to crack or activate technology. But, it isn't an attack by itself.
• inFAMOUS: Cole McGrath, the protagonist, commands all manners of electricity based attacks, from grenades and shields to localized lightning strikes. You'll need all the powers you can get as the enemies are NOT pushovers. There's also unique electric powers for the good and bad skill trees, and rail grinding and levitating to boot. There is even a Trophy labeled "Shock and Awe" in the sequel, where you Thunder Drop onto a group of five or more enemies.
• Jet Set Radio: Some of the enemies at Grind Square continuously spread electricity through some of the rails. In Jet Set Radio Future, every time you get into an encounter with the cops, they will put up electrified fences to make sure you can't escape.
• KamuiPacificators fighters use homing lightning extensively as attacks.
• Killzone 2 gives us the VC5 Arc Rifle, a modified welding tool that shoots giant arcs of lightning at things. It can only be found in the single player campaign, during a single level. It requires no ammunition and, instead, draws charge from the surrounding air via a special ore.
• Kingdom Hearts:
  • Borrowing from Final Fantasy's magic system, Thunder spells are available to the heroes and some enemies. It's one of the more useful ones, too, with good area damage.
  • The Ax-Crazy Larxene from Chain of Memories specializes in lightning attacks.
• Kirby. The eponymous character can acquire electric abilities with the proper copy ability since Kirby's Adventure:
  • Plasma/Spark Kirby can generate electricity by moving around to use for attacking.
  • The Beam ability allows Kirby to attack with a shocking whip.
  • There's also Kracko, a recurring boss who is a lightning cloud.
  • In Kirby Star Allies, Zan Partizanne, the eldest of the Three Mage-Sisters, uses electric magic.
• Knights of the Old Republic, as expected given the source material, allows you to shoot Force Lightning at people. Combining this with a stun power is great for wiping out rooms full of mooks...
• League of Legends:
  • Kennen incorporates electricity into all of his abilities, including one where he turns into a mass of lightning and can damage units by running through them.
  • Volibear possesses power over lightning that he obtained after getting struck by a magical bolt of lightning on a trek up a mountain. Unlike Kennen, he only uses this ability in his Limit Break, where he buffs his basic attacks to electrify his target and other units nearby.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • A common electricity-based enemy is the jellyfish-like Bari and Biri, who reside in underwater areas such as A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds's Swamp Palace, Ocarina of Time's Jabu-Jabu's Belly, Oracle of Ages's Mermaid's Cave, Jabu-Jabu's Belly and Ancient Tomb, and Twilight Princess's Lakebed Temple. Attacking them directly will deal damage to Link, so projectile weapons such as the Boomerang, Arrows/Slingshot or Hookshot/Longshot/Clawshot will take them out easy.
  • Another common enemy is the ChuChu, and some are protected by electricity that can harm direct-attackers, so Link has to stun them before he can attack them. These make appearances in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Blue and Yellow) and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
  • Tailpasarans, a bobbit worm-like enemy found exclusively in Ocarina of Time's Jabu-Jabu's Belly. Its Enemy Scan mentions that the tail is its weak point, but it's best to attack it from a distance, such as with the Boomerang, since doing so on contact will deal damage to Link in return. However, the Spin Attack is the only sword technique that can defeat a Tailpasaran without dealing damage to Link.
  • The Legend of Zelda: In the Broadcast Satellaview remake, beams from the Magical Sword are a little different from those of the Wooden and White Swords, which appear to explode in four directions after hitting something. Instead, beams from the Magical Sword explode into lightning.
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past:
    • Agahnim can summon lightning from his hands◊. However, it's easy to dodge, which is good since unlike his other attacks it can't be deflected, because he only fires it when standing in the northern part of the room and he doesn't turn to aim it at Link like he does with his other 2 attacks, so Link can just move to the side of the room when he starts charging an attack on the northern side of the room.
    • Vitreous' most powerful attack in its first phase: Summoning lightning that looks like Agahnim's own.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening: If you're so foolish as to return to the shop in Mabe Village after stealing from the place, the shopkeeper will sic his lightning powers on you until you are dead, after which your save title will be renamed to "THIEF".
  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: The boss of Jabu-Jabu's Belly is Barinade, a parasitic monster that unleashes powerful bolts like there's no tomorrow, and is the King Mook of the electric-based Biri and Bari (even its Boss Subtitles say so). The game also has the boss of the Forest Temple, Phantom Ganon, and Ganondorf himself; the two throw electric balls at Link, who in turn has to throw them back in Tennis Boss form, but in Phantom Ganon's case, before he and Link play their game of Dead Man's Volley, the first phase involves him jumping into paintings of a spooky road all over the arena, and Link has to determine which one the real one will pop out of, while a fake one will keep him distracted long enough for the real one to deliver a devastating shock to him. Phantom Ganon retains the Tennis Boss feature when he reappears as a miniboss at the Forsaken Fortress and Ganon's Tower in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, while Ganondorf does in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess while possessing Princess Zelda's body.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask:
    • Zora Link is capable of creating an electric barrier around his body while swimming, or using his guard stance on foot. This ability consumes magic.
    • Goht, the boss of the Snowhead Temple, attacks with lightning strikes from his horns should the player get too far, even when attacking him while going in the opposite direction.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages has two electricity-based bosses to count: Smog of the Crown Dungeon and Plasmarine of Jabu-Jabu's Belly. Smog is a living storm cloud that spits into smaller clouds which spit fireballs, but when Link forces him back together, he spits lightning bolts at him. Plasmarine is a giant jellyfish whose electric body can shock its opponents on contact, and when he fires a ball of electricity at Link, the player must switch sides with him, making it change to the opposite color, dealing damage to it.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Along with the Tennis Boss portion of the final battle with Ganondorf while he is possessing Zelda's body, the game also features Twilit Parasites, as well as the Twilit Bloat, who serves as the King Mook to the aforementioned Parasites, which hold Tears of Light taken from the Light Spirits by the Shadow Beasts, which caused Hyrule to be engulfed in darkness. During his quest for the Fused Shadows, Link has to collect 16 Tears of Light^note 12 in Twilight Princess HD to awaken the Spirits of Light in each affected province. Faron and Eldin Provinces had Link successfully collect them all, but in Lanaryu Province, the location of the final Tear suddenly appears on the map after Link collects 15 of them^note 11 in HD, forcing him to fight the Twilit Bloat to get the last one.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: A large part of the bestiary in Lanayru Province can trigger this with their attacks. This is also why it's advised to never bring the iron shield to this area. Also in this game, the second half of the battle with the final boss is fought amidst a thunderstorm, which the Big Bad uses to electrify his sword and fry Link. Link can do the same, by charging a Skyward Strike when the sky flashes.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has electricity as a primary element. It stuns any creature hit by an electric attack and causes them to drop any objects they are holding, and creates splash damage if it electrifies water or metal. There's a whole array of examples:
    • Link can stock up Shock Arrows to fire lightning from his bow. The Zora race can't touch these arrows since they are people of water and they don't mix well with electricity. Lynels will make heavy use of Shock Arrows as well, including in their Rain of Arrows attack.
    • Electric weaponry is semi-common; there's a whole line of Thunder swords, greatswords, and spears. All of them charge up electricity over time when wielded, and zap enemies when charged fully. In addition, there is the Lightning Rod (and its more powerful version the Thunder Rod) which fire balls of Lightning that explode in a wide AoE on impact.
    • Multiple enemies have this power as well, such as Electric Wizrobes which exclusively carry Lightning or Thunder Rods, and Electric Lizalfos, who can unleash a sustained radial discharge that will heavily-damage Link and make him drop whatever weapon he's carrying if he's not insulated. The biggest example, of course, would be Divine Beast Vah Naboris, who is surrounded by a perpetual lightning storm, and can conjure massive lightning bolts from its Tesla coil "humps" that are so powerful, they'll even kill Link through Electric resistance and immunity — only the Thunder Helm can resist them (hence why he needs the support of the Gerudo to even attempt to challenge Vah Naboris).
    • The Gerudo Champion Urbosa specialized in Lightning, able to call down thunderbolts with — literally — a snap of her finger. After freeing Vah Naboris, Link can borrow her power every so often, fries every enemy in a wide radius with a web of lightning.
  • Hyrule Warriors: Lightning-elemental weapons include Link's Gauntlets and Spinner, Sheik's Harp, Lana's Book of Sorcery, Zelda's Baton, Ganondorf's Trident, Linkle's Boots, and Yuga's Picture Frame.
  • Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity: In the second chapter, the party unlocks the ability to use Lightning Rods in battle. But the undisputed master of lightning is Urbosa who uses it for all her powerful attacks, including her signature move Urbosa's Fury.
• Marvel's Avengers: Stiletto robots fight with a pair of electrified batons and can create electrical shocks.
• Mass Effect:
  • Mass Effect 2:
    • The Arc Projector heavy weapon is a chain-lightning gun used to overpower non-armor defenses.
    • The Soldier and Infiltrator can shoot "lightning bullets" by using Disruptor Ammo, and some of the Engineer and Sentinel classes can use Overload, which delivers a powerful electromagnetic pulse that makes short work of rynthetic enemies.
  • Mass Effect 3:
    • There are "lightning bullets" called Disruptor Ammo.
    • The Engineer and Sentinel classes can use Overload, which delivers a powerful electromagnetic pulse at a specified location.
    • There are several quarian-designed electrical weapons, such as:
    • Arc Pistol
    • Reegar Carbine
    • Adas Anti-Synthetic Rifle
    • Certain classes (such as Infiltrator Shepard) have electrified omniblades — which is lightning added to a disposable monomolecular glowing orange blade.
• Mega Man:
  • The electric-oriented Robot Master from classic series:
    • The original Mega Man game features Elec Man, who is the first electric-oriented Robot Master.
    • Spark Man from Mega Man 3
    • Cloud Man from Mega Man 7
    • Even though he doesn't look the part, the Robot Master Clown Man from Mega Man 8 can launch an "elastic" beam of electricity.
    • Dynamo Man from Mega Man & Bass
    • Plug Man from Mega Man 9
    • Sheep Man from Mega Man 10, using his wool to charge up static electricity.
    • Fuse Man from Mega Man 11
  • Mega Man Battle Network applies the lightning descriptor to Magnet Man, Bright Man, Flash Man, and new Navi Thunder Man as well as Elec Man and Spark Man themselves. Toadman's song is also electric elemental. Rock himself can use an electric Style, Thunder Soul, Magnet Soul, or Elec Cross, depending on game, and electricity-based paralysis control folders popped up every metagame during the series run.
  • The Mega Man X series has its own share of electric-oriented Mavericks:
    • Spark Mandrill from the original Mega Man X.
    • Although his preferred method of attack is with his Strike Chains, Wire Sponge from Mega Man X2 has a Desperation Attack that lets him cast down bolts of lightning when he Turns Red.
    • Volt Catfish from Mega Man X3.
    • Web Spider from Mega Man X4
    • Squid Adler/Volt Kraken from Mega Man X5.
    • Tornado Tonion from Mega Man X7.
    • Wild Jango from Mega Man X: Command Mission.
    • Gigabolt Man-O-War from Mega Man X8. Vile's 3rd incarnation as seen in the same game showcases a Desperation Attack where he discharge electricity out of his body.
  • Rockman 4 Minus ∞ Game Mod gave Bright Man the ability to use electricity.
  • The Zerker form in Mega Man Star Force 2 rewards you for taking lots of electrical attacks with a twenty-point power increase to each shot. Including, with a particularly swish counterattack, the Thunder Bolt (TB) Blade, which is a very unpleasant experience for everything on the screen except you.
• There's the electrical damage type in Mercenary Kings. It can be applied to certain weapons you use, and there are a couple of enemies (like the memorable Electrocutioner) who specialise in electrical powers. Lastly, there are Yellow versions of Patrols, Guards and Shield Guards are electrical in nature and so are immune to it (as well as having much greater health than the regular versions), and similarly upgraded electrical version of Walker boss.
• Metal Gear:
  • Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty features Fortune, who has a rail gun that in addition to flinging chunks of metal at insane speeds also has a tendency to let off arcs of electricity from the rails.
  • Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater has Colonel Volgin, who can generate static electricity through his body and channels it through held rounds of ammunition. He can also launch said ammunition like a rail gun. However, he’s a deconstruction, as he doesn’t have the Required Secondary Powers needed by this trope. Because of this, he’s covered in scars from the previous times he’s used his power, has to wear a rubber suit to prevent further damage, and is terrified of lightning.
  • Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker has Snake use an electric stun rod for incapacitating enemies.
  • Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain allows you to equip a prosthetic arm that shoots lightning. In its base form it functions just like the the stun rod from Peace Walker. Upgrade it to Grade 4, and you gain a Charged Attack that allows you to call down lightning from the sky and knock out every enemy around your position, even through buildings no less. (It's been nerfed down somewhat however, thus you need to make sure you "center yourself" right as you act as the "eye of the storm", thunderstorm that is).
• Zeta from Metaloid Origin has the Thunder Wall, which allows him to shoot two walls of electricity in two opposite directions.
• Metroid:
  • Super Metroid: Samus can shoot open the turrets mounted on Draygon's boss room, leaving an electrified open socket. If Samus then allows herself to be grabbed by Draygon, she can electrocute him by latching on to the exposed wiring with the Grapple Beam. This damages Samus slightly but defeats Draygon much more quickly than she would with any of her other weaponry.
  • Samus's Wave Beam and Wavebuster combo in Metroid Prime and Grapple Voltage in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
  • Two weapons in Metroid Prime: Hunters are electric: Sylux's Shock Coil, which drains its target's health, and Kanden's Volt Driver, which causes an Interface Screw.
• Mike Shadow: I Paid for It!: Lightning attacks. Lv.1 is a large thunder summoned from the sky. Lv.2 connects the machine to a ginormous shockwave with Mike's punch. Lv.3 summons a thunderstorm that electrifies him and makes him strike the machine like a humongous thunderbolt.
• The Monster Hunter series has the various Thunder-element monsters:
  • Monster Hunter (2004): There's the blind, serpentine Khezu and its red-colored subspecies (which debuted in the game's first Updated Re-release, Monster Hunter G), as well as the Elder Dragon Kirin (the Oroshi subspecies, introduced in the fourth generation, is An Ice Person instead). Khezu and Kirin can shoot lighning bolts, and the latter can even use electricity as a barrier to protect its body, thus only leaving the head as its weak point.
  • Monster Hunter 2 (dos):
    • The online campaign (no longer available) has the horned ape Rajang, which can shoot fast yellow electric bolts as well as unleash a fully charged electric beam when it's angry (signaled by its black fur turning yellow, Dragon Ball Z style). Rajang reappears in later games via quests that can be played offline, including Freedom Unite which introduces the powerful variant Furious Rajang.
    • The online-exclusive White Fatalis can summon powerful red electric beams from the skies, as well as hover in the air to shoot red electric balls at the hunters.
  • Monster Hunter 3 (Tri): Lagiacrus is a large, aquatic crocodile-like monster capable of unleashing electricity from its body, though it fares better at fighting underwater than on land. The Updated Re-release 3 Ultimate introduces two cousins: Ivory Lagiacrus (which spends far more time on land but is better adapted at fighting outside the water) and Abyssal Lagiacrus (which can only be found in the deepest aquatic areas and has a repertoire of electric attacks with unprecedented power). Lastly, there's Alatreon (an Elder Dragon), which has electricity among its list of elemental attacks.
  • Monster Hunter Portable 3rd has the wolf-like Zinogre (the subspecies Stygian Zinogre in 3 Ultimate relies on the dark-themed Dragon element instead), and subspecies like Crimson Qurupeco and Baleful Gigginox (their respective normal counterparts rely on Playing with Fire and Poisonous Person instead). All the Zinogre inherit the power of electricity via a diet of Thunderbugs, and during battle it periodically prepares its recharge of electric energy to put it into use. After being fully charged, Zinogre are capable of doing backflips that unleash electric bolts that partially home at the hunters.
  • Monster Hunter Generations: One of the Elite Four monsters you'll face over the course of the game is Astalos (a Flying Wyvern), while its Boltreaver deviant debuts later in Generations Ultimate; both monsters can not only charge at hunters (which inflicts electric plague), but also shoot electric bolts that move through the floor, and can also unleash an electric beam from its tail. The game also introduces the deviant Thunderlord Zinogre, whose electric shots are far faster than those of the standard Zinogre.
  • Monster Hunter: World: The base game introduces Tobi Kadachi which has elements of a snake, a wolf, and a flying squirrel and can charge its fur to give some electric zaps, and the Iceborne expansion features Fulgur Anjanath, the first Brute Wyvern in the series to employ electricity.
  • Monster Hunter: Rise:
    • Thunder Serpent Narwa is a slender, hovering Elder Dragon and the female partner of Wind Serpent Ibushi. She is capable of using her thunder sacs to float in the air and shoot electrical blasts, as well as balls of purple energy. She can also emit electromagnetic waves that resonate with all sorts of creatures in the wildlife, which is what causes the Rampages that endanger Kamura Village. As part of a natural process, at one point she devours her partner and utilizes the gained bioenergy to become Narwa the Allmother, a variant of exceptional strength whose electrical powers are faster and have a wider range.
    • Unlike in all its previous appearances, Amatsu in Sunbreak can now incorporate electricity into its repertoire of wind and water attacks.
• Modnation Racers has the Bolt Power-up that can level up from a linear attack, to a bolt that does splash damage, and then to a lightning storm attack that shocks every racer in front of the user.
• Mortal Kombat:
  • Raiden is the God of Thunder and Lightning and thus his attacks revolve around electricity.
  • Also, although his powers over water have been emphasized in some installments, Rain has always had the ability to call down lightning from above.
  • Nightwolf can call down lightning from the sky to either strike his enemies or augment his weapons.
  • Takeda's Whip Swords can channel an electrical current through them for extra damage.
• All three games in the Mother trilogy feature the PSI attack PK Thunder. Unlike most examples, this attack cannot be controlled and targets a random enemy. And as of Mother 3 it is one of the two PSI attacks not affected by PSI Shields or PSI Counter Devices. Super Smash Bros. reverses this by making PK Thunder the most controllable move Ness and Lucas can use, and it's just as easy to block as any other projectile.
• Myththe Fallen Lords: Fetch shoot lightning from their hands.
• The short range "lightning" weapon in NeonXSZ is a burst-fire variation on this trope.
• Klarann from Ninety-Nine Nights, although it's referred to as "Spirit" rather than "Lightning".
• Odin Sphere: Cornelius can use Lightning Attacks in the remake.
• Ōkami has Gekigami, the god of storms. He is a celestial tiger who fires arrows with a back-mounted bow and his tail, and grants Amaterasu the ability to manipulate electricity to attack enemies or recharge certain gizmos. There's an unlockable secret technique that allows Ammy to cast a powerful (albeit ink-costly) lightning.
• Semi-obscure PC fighting game One Must Fall features the Electra, a several-stories tall robot whose fighting style largely centers around the fact that, in place of hands, it possesses spikes which are conductors for its electrical attacks. These include small sparks fired by arcing electricity between them, forming ball lightning, just touching the opponent with both hands (and thus completing the circuit), and, finally, firing an electrical blast into the sky that summons lightning to destroy its opponent. Blatantly unrealistic, but definitely one of the most awesome kills to watch.
• The titular character in Otto Matic has a weapon called Supernova which electrocutes everything in sight. Also used to activate doors and teleporters in one level, and it activates automatically if you step in water, but that won't do you much good because water makes you die.
• Painkiller has a gun that fires shurikens and lightning. Yahtzee was impressed.
• Grohk the Lighting Orc from Paladins is a weird blue orc shaman who shoots beams and balls of lightning from his staff, with his ultimate calling down a small storm that zaps enemies and heals allies.
• Phantasy Star Online has the Zonde spell line which is one of the more useful spell lines. (Though Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors is very important in this game.)
• Um Jammer Lammy has Teriyaki Yoko, an insect-like idol who will make lightning come down from the ceiling and shock Lammy or PaRappa if they are playing badly. The skull faces on each side of the stage also have electricity shoot out of their eyes and zap the entire audience.
• Phantasy Star Online 2 also has the zonde spell line with more spells included. Despite Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors being largely downplayed compared to it's predecessor it's generally considered less useful compared to putting class points into the Foie spell line.
• Pikmin: Electricity is a common hazard beginning in the second game. Yellow Pikmin are immune to it in the second game and can conduct it in the third game. In 2, it will instantly kill any non-immune Pikmin that comes in contact with it; in 3, it instead only stuns Pikmin until a captain rallies them. Several enemies can also produce electricity, like the Anode Beetle, the Electric Cottonade, and the Bearded Amprat.
• Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time has an entire category of electric plants whose powers can be boosted by a Fila-Mint:
  • The first one introduced is Lightning Reed, which attacks nearby zombies with lightning bolts that chain from one enemy to the next.
  • The Electric Currant is a living electric fence, creating a wall of electricity whenever two of them are planted across from each other.
• Pokémon:
  • Electric Pokemon, on the whole, tend to favor high Special Attack and Speed stats, making them great for Special Sweeping in competitive play. Pure Electric-types only have Ground attacks as a weakness, but Ground attacks are so ubiquitous that it keeps it from being a total gamebreaking typing. The notable exception of electricity-wielding Electric Pokemon is Voltorb/Electrode. Despite being Electric-type, it did not learn any Electric-type attacks naturally until Gen III... at which point it was presented with 2, one of which was a mere stat-boosting move.
  • Pikachu, the series' mascot, is an Electric-type. Every successive generation has introduced another Electric-type rodent as well.
  • The Gym Leaders Lt. Surge of Vermillion City in Kanto, Wattson of Mauville City in Hoenn, Volkner of Sunyshore City in Sinnoh, Elesa of Nimbasa City in Unova, Clemont of Lumiose City in Kalos, and Iono of Levincia City in Paldea, as well as Trial Captain Sophocles of Alola all specialize in Electric-type Pokémon. As is usual for this trope, most of them have blond hair, and they tend to be engineers.
  • A handful of Legendary Pokémon are Electric-type: Zapdos from Gen I, Raikou from Gen II, Zekrom and Thundurus from Gen V, Tapu Koko and Zeraora from Gen VII, Regieleki from Gen VIII, and Miraidon from Gen IX. Arceus from Gen IV can also be an Electric-type if it holds the Zap Plate or, in Legends Arceus, is equipped with the Legend Plate and uses Judgment against a Pokémon weak to Electric moves; Gen VII's Silvally, based on Arceus In-Universe, can also be an Electric-type if it holds an Electric Memory.
• Both Sonia/Chris Ryan and Might in the Psychic Force series.
• Quake:
  • The Shamblers' main attack is a lightning stream that reaches you almost instantly.
  • At an advanced point of the game, you can find the Thunderbolt. It can not be used underwater without killing yourself and everyone around you.
• Ratchet & Clank has the Tesla Claw in the first and second games, the Tesla Barrier and Plasma Coil in the second and third, the Spitting Hydra in the third, and shock mods from the second game on. Both PlayStation 3 entries feature the Lightning Ravager/Shockwave Ravager, a lightning whip!
• The Arc Welder weapon in Red Faction: Guerrilla, a flamethrower that shoots lightning instead of flame and can kill a vehicle's pilot without damaging the vehicle.
• Arc Charger in Resistance: Fall of Man.
• The Tesla guns from Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
• Jaster Rogue in Rogue Galaxy has the ability to make electricity generate from his sword and deal lightning damage during the duration of the spell. Useful for taking out mechanical Mooks.
• The various Lighting Wave Cannons in R-Type count, and oddly, the series includes a Tesla weapon, Hyper Tesla Pile Bunker, which doesn't produce lightning.
• We have RuneScape's Saradomin Strike attack. It summons a nice, harmless thunderbolt...
• SALVATOR: SALVATOR's special attack has him unleash a field of lightening around himself that destroys every asteroid within it. He uses it whenever he reaches a level 6 combo.
• Galford D. Weiler in Samurai Shodown is a lightning user, while Kafuin Nocotin is both a lightning and a fire user.
• Ginchiyo Tachibana in Samurai Warriors 2 has a sword with a serrated blade which generates powerful pulses of lightning that electrocutes her foes as she slashes them, and can also call down waves of lightning from the sky as a special ability. Her musou attack allows her to create a powerful electromagnetic shield which damages all enemies in her immediate vicinity.
• In Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, this ability is generally associated with beings from the Fountainhead Palace and the Divine Realm. It can be countered by leaping into the air before the lightning strikes you and redirecting it at an enemy before you land.
  • Wolf's first encounter with lightning attacks is atop Ashina Castle, when Lord Genichiro sheds his armor to wield the Lightning of Tomoe, which he channels through both his sword and his bow. It's later revealed that he learned this technique from Tomoe herself, who came to Ashina from the Divine Realm.
  • The final boss of the non-Shura endings, Sword Saint Isshin, will channel lightning through his spear in his final phase.
  • Several of the Okami Warriors guarding Fountainhead Palace (specifically, the ones dressed in purple and wearing a black cap) can channel lightning through their weapons, whether it be sword, naginata, or kemari ball. One of their leaders, Shizu, is particularly deadly with her lightning balls, to the point where the Great Lake is straight-up impassable until you kill her, as her vantage point atop a giant sakura tree allows her to strike you down no matter where you are in the lake, even if you're underwater and on the other side of the map. If that's not enough, the dogs residing in and around the palace can also shoot lightning.
  • The only way to defeat the Divine Dragon is to grapple to a root that's being hit by lightning so you can redirect the electricity towards it.
• ShadowCaster: Both certain enemies and the player—the latter via artefacts or the powers of certain forms—can project flying balls of electricity by which to damage their opponents.
• The indie game Shadowgrounds has a Lightning Gun as your final weapon. You can upgrade it to have more bolts and give it a slowly recharging ammo supply. The alt-fire shoots a REALLY powerful blast of electricity.
• The Shantae series has the Storm Puff, a buyable item/spell that Shantae uses to summon a small, floating thundercloud that zaps enemies under it after some delay.
• Shin Megami Tensei:
  • The franchise in general has the Zio family of lightning spells, plus some thunder-based physical attacks, weapons, and the high level spells Thunder Gods and Thunder Reign (the latter particularly noticeable as the signature move of Thor in the Persona sub-series). Curiously enough, the Heroine of Shin Megami Tensei I, Hiroko and Beth of Shin Megami Tensei II, and Isabeau of Shin Megami Tensei IV all have Zio spells.
  • Persona:
    • Akihiko Sanada in Persona 3 has an Emperor Arcana Persona that specializes in Lightning. Later, you get Ken Amada, a Justice character who can use Lightning and Light.
    • Kanji Tatsumi in Persona 4 is more of a physical person, but most of his magic is Lightning-based. Like Akihiko, his Persona is also of the Emperor Arcana.
    • An unusually high amount of the Persona 4 protagonist's high-level Personas, such as Yoshitsune and Kohryu, learn more lightning spells than any other element, and his initial persona Izanagi has Zio right from the start. Although the main character can equip Personas of any elemental affinity, half of most players' final Persona lineups will have Ziodyne.
    • Ryuji Sakamoto (a.k.a. Skull) in Persona 5 serves as the team's lightning user, but his low Magic stat means he'll generally favour using his hard-hitting physical attacks instead, much like Kanji. Unlike the previous two, he's the Chariot Arcana; this game's Emperor is An Ice Person instead.
  • Cielo and Roland in Digital Devil Saga.
• Lightning is the element produced from the Yellow Moon in Skies of Arcadia, and its spells can also sap power from opponents. Enrique, the prince of Valua (where the Yellow Moon orbits over — also, the Yellow Moon causes fierce thunderstorms to strike Valua most of the time), learns lighting spells faster than the other party members. The Valuan admirals that you fight also know most of the lightning spells. Vyse learns red spells the fastest, but his higher level killer moves have a strong lightning theme.
• Electricity isn't an element of its own in Skylanders. However, Skylanders across multiple elements are able to use some form of electricity in their attacks.
  • Zap and Punk Shock of the Water element are both able to fire electric bolts at opponents, and both have familial ties to electric eels (Zap was adoptive, Punk Shock is an electric eel princess). The Supercharged variant of Gill Grunt, Deep Dive Gill Grunt, is also able to fire lightning bolts out of his trident and can call down lightning as well, and Wham-Shell can slam his mace into the ground to generate an electric field.
  • Lightning Rod, Whirlwind, Free Ranger, Thunderbolt, Bad Juju, and Wild Storm, all of the Air element, all use lightning in some form, whether it be calling lightning from the sky, creating storm clouds to zap nearby enemies, or firing lightning directly. To a lesser extent, so can Boom Jet, Gusto, and Air Strike.
  • The Tech element also has a few electricity users, namely Jawbreaker, High Volt, and Chain Reaction.
  • The Magic element has Voodood use magical electricity by default in the form of tripwires and one upgrade path lets him also shoot out lightning when struck by enemies and surround his axe with electricity to hurt other nearby opponents. Additionally, on one upgrade path, Pain-Yatta (a living piñata who uses various types of candy as weapons, with them breaking to have different effects) can gain a trio of sour suckers that creates an electrical explosion.
  • Finally, Cynder of the Undead element can breathe out black lightning as her primary attack, and her Series 2 Wow-Power allows her to summon black lightning from above.
• Smite: This MOBA features several real life thunder gods as playable characters (note that all PCs are a mythological character of some sort), such as Zeus (who also doubles as Jupiter), Thor, Chaac, and Raijin. Susano is a general storm god, but in-game has no moves that utilize this trope. It's only referenced in a machinima and the splash art for his Scarlet Storm skin. More creatively, Ratatoskr has a move that wreathes him in lightning and his acorns also surge with it; he has no association with this trope in the source material.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Sonic CD: Being a robotic version of the blue blur, Metal Sonic can charge himself in electricity to increase his Super-Speed and destroy obstacles on his path.
  • Sonic Heroes: All Flying-type characters had the Thunder Shoot ability.
• Taromaru from Spiritual Assassin Taromaru is a "psychic" ninja who have mastered the powers of generating electricity, and can release lightning bolts Hand Blast style. He can even hold his bolts as a Charged Attack for taking down a whole row of zombies at once.
• Spyro the Dragon:
  • Spyro has access to electrical breath in Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly and Spyro: A Hero's Tail, which can defeat stronger enemies and be used to power up certain machines.
  • The Legend of Spyro: Electricity is the second element Spyro learns to use, taught to him by the Guardian of Electricity, Volteer. This lets him breathe out either homing electric orbs that launch opponents upwards or streams of lightning, and can additionally surround himself in electric orbs and vortexes.
• Star Wars: As a staple of canon, the Force Lightning power is naturally available in the Dark Forces Saga. In Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy, it's a Magikarp Power—at Level 1 you can only project a single low-damage bolt, but at Level 3 you can swiftly clear entire rooms of Stormtroopers with a sustained blast of electric death.
• Star Wars: The Old Republic: the Sith Inquisitor class can use several different versions of this. The Sith Warrior class has at least one attack like this. The Sith Inquisitor in particular gets multiple opportunities to shock people in conversations.
• Street Fighter:
  • Blanka and Necro can both generate electricity. And in later games in the series, Ryu has the Denjin Hadoken, which is an electric version of the Hadoken.
  • Urien, whose elements are earth and lightning. His two Super Arts, Temporal Thunder and Aegis Reflector, are lightning-based.
  • Crimson Viper wears gloves which allow her to electrocute her enemies whenever she punches them.
  • Laura, a Brazillian fighter like Blanka, also uses electric attacks, but not to his extent.
• Streets of Rage 4: Stage 1 boss Diva has a wide range electric attack. The Annes, in stage 11, also throw electric chemical vials.
• Subnautica:
  • The Ampeel^note formerly known as the Shocker uses this, similar to a real-life electric eel.
  • The Ghost Leviathan is stated to have electricity-producing organs left over from a common ancestor with the Ampeel, but it sacrificed its actual electric attack for increased mobility at its larger size at some point when the rubbery membrane that gives the Ghost its name covered the organs in question.
• Suikoden's Flik The Blue Lightning comes with the Lightning Rune by default, and he's got a pretty damn good magic stat for a Knight-type character, which means his magic will hit hard.
• The Aranea and Wurm enemies from Sundered both use electricity to attack the player character. Araneas envelop themselves in electricity before charging at you, while Wurms leap out of the ground and release an electrical discharge upon landing. Lith’ Wurms also generate a constant electrical halo around their heads, making it dangerous to attack them head-on.
• The Super Mario Bros. franchise has plenty of characters, whether good or evil, and items that possess electrical abilities:
  • Super Mario Bros. 2: Sparks, which originally debuted in Donkey Kong Jr., appear in this game. They're sentient electrical spheres with large eyes that move through walls, floors and ceilings (this mobility allows them to move periodically around the enclosed perimeters of solid terrain). In case they're not attached to anything, they'll simply spin while suspended in the air. Interestingly, they don't electrify the castles' chains, which allows Mario and his friends to stay protected in them while letting the Sparks pass by and wait for the best moment to move forward. A similar enemy made of fire called Li'l Spark appears in Super Mario World, alongside a Giant Mook version (Hothead).
  • Super Mario World: The Sumo Bro is an orange-colored relative of the Koopa Troopa with a black shell. It walks sideways while keeping a sumo-inspired pose (hence its name), and attacks by stomping its supporting ground or block with one of its feet. This drops a lightning bolt that goes through the solid terrain where the enemy is standing on, and upon touching the next ground the bolt explodes and leaves a two-sided trace of fire.
  • Super Mario 64 marks the debut of round, electrified enemies known as Amps. Some of them only rotate, while others move in a circular pattern (and in later games, some move back and forth in a straight line).
  • Super Mario Sunshine:
    • Electrokoopas have electrified shells, which they can use as projectile weapons. The key to defeat them is to spray them with water right after they throw the shell; this way, the electricity will creep onto their bodies, killing them. It's also possible to simply kick them out from below in fences (in fact, this is the only way to get rid of a larger-than-usual specimen that's overcharging the ferris wheel of Pinna Park).
    • Phantamanta is a ghostly manta ray that spreads electric paint as it moves. It also doubles as an Asteroids Monster, as spraying water will split it into smaller manta rays, and each of them will continue leaving traces of electric paint.
  • Super Mario Galaxy 2 marks the debut of Fizzlits, which are purple, malleable enemies that can blend with the ground's surface and electrifying themselves in the process.
  • Super Mario Maker 2: Zappa Mechakoopas are a blue-colored subspecies of Mechakoopas that attack by shooting a powerful electric beam capable of destroying weak blocks (or even harder ones if the Zappas are large enough, since the beams will also be larger).
  • Mario Party 5: The minigame Shock Absorbers pits two dueling characters in a zone surrounded by Amps which form an encasing electric barrier. In addition, several other Amps are placed in the central area alongside the characters, and once the minigame begins they'll begin moving in a slow, yet foreboding manner; and from time to time, two or more Amps will form an electric line. If a character touches any of them or their electricity, they'll lose and the other player will win.
  • Mario Party 6: The minigame Circuit Maximus has all characters traverse an octagonal circuit where many Amps roam. Being touched by one of them will electrocute the character and leave them stunned, wasting time. Whoever gets past all the Amps and completes the route first wins; if five minutes pass and nobody has managed to reach the end, the minigame ends in a tie.
  • Mario Party 8: The Cashzap candy allows its user to attack one of their rivals with a bolt of lightning. The unlucky victim will lose half of their coins.
  • Mario Party 10: In Bowser's Wicked Wheel, two pairs of Amps on either side of the eponymous wheel create electrical currents between them. Bowser spins the wheel to make Team Mario touch the currents to damage them, while Team Mario shakes their Wii Remotes to run against the spinning to avoid the current behind them, but if they run too fast, they might hit the current in front of them when Bowser suddenly stops the wheel.
  • Super Mario Party:
    • In Lightning Round, players are given fifteen seconds to collect as many coins as they can as they appear around the arena, but they must grab them while avoiding electric sparks created when the Sumo Bros. above stomp on their platforms.
    • Half the Battle contains Amps that appear as enemies that must be avoided. Any characters that touch them will be stunned with an electric shock.
  • Paper Mario 64:
    • As far as items go, the Zap Tap Badge and Volt Shroom give Mario an electrical charge to damage enemies who attack on contact, as well as allow Mario to safely jump on electrified enemies without taking damage, and vice-versa, and reduce the damage of electric attacks by 2 HP. Other items include the Thunder Bolt and Thunder Rage, which each deal 5 points worth of damage to enemies, but it doesn't work on enemies who are either electrified, enemies with electricity-based abilities or cloud-based enemies (such as Huff N. Puff); the former item only attacks one enemy while the latter will attack them all.
    • Watt, the sixth party member to join Mario in his mission, has electric attacks to penetrate opponents' defenses and paralyze them.
    • Huff N. Puff, a giant Ruff Puff and the sixth Boss of the game, possesses powerful lightning attacks that can either strike the ground (which deals 12 points worth of damage) or attack Mario directly (which deals 10 points of damage), as well as powerful wind attacks. In addition, when attacked, Tuff Puffs break off of him, which he can then swallow to heal himself whenever possible.
    • Yellow Magikoopas have the ability to give their allies an electric charge, as well as its normal variant who possesses the abilities of all Magikoopas.
  • Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door:
    • The game has the big-boned Shadow Siren, Marilyn, who possesses powerful lightning attacks.
    • Despite making their debut in the first game, the Ruff Puffs (a species of living clouds) can now perform lightning attacks in this game, as do their weaker monochrome counterparts found in Boggly Woods, the Dark Puffs.
    • The Volt Shroom, Zap Tap Badge, Thunder Bolt and Thunder Rage return in this game, retaining their usual abilities.
  • In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Luigi gets to generate electricity in his hands as his specific power. The power returns in Mario Strikers Charged Football, where he can pull lightning from storm clouds. Becomes Fridge Brilliance when you realize that one of the first people to study electricity was Luigi Galvani.
  • Wario Land: Wario uses it pretty often in the spin-off games, such as Wario: Master of Disguise. Mario Power Tennis implies that he uses a special machine to do it.
  • Wario Land Shake It: The Shake King has the ability to do this, shooting lightning bolts in an attempt to fry Wario (as well as just shooting giant laser beams and energy balls in general).
• Super Robot Wars:
  • The RaiOh and DaiRaiOh of Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 elevate this to new heights by combining this trope with Extremity Extremist. It being a walking Shout-Out to Kamen Rider also helps.
  • In the same franchise, variations of the mass-produced original mecha Gespenst is armed with plasma stakes that generate and store electricity that discharges following a Megaton Punch.
  • What Warth Dienvel, The Rival Original Generation mecha in Super Robot Wars X, uses to attack its enemies.
• Sword of the Stars: Emitter-class weapons. Emitters shine when facing large groups of small, evasive, fast-moving enemies, like the Swarm, targets that are otherwise quite capable of dodging weapons fire from conventional ballistic or energy weapons, and too numerous to tackle with slow-firing missile weapons. The 'crowd control' potential from the accuracy and the chaining means an entire cloud of bugs can be wiped out with only a few blasts.
• Syphon Filter has the much beloved Air Taser, which sends electrical shocks down a long-ranged probe and into a poor Mook's body until they combust.
• Tales Series:
  • A recurring powerful attack is "Indignation," generally reserved as a charater's ultimate attack; the move is a bolt of lightning called down from the heavens. While it generally only lands one hit, that one hit is extremely powerful. It even uses a similar incantation every time.^note "I, who stand in the full light of the heavens, command thee, who opens the gates of Hell! Come forth, divine lightning! This ends now! Indignation!"
  • Tales of Destiny: Although more specializing in multiple elements, Philia Felice's Swordian Clemente is designed as the 'Lightning Swordian'.
  • Tales of Hearts: Shing Meteoryte is technically Light-tilted, but a lot of his techs that deal light damage have "lightning" in the name somewhere and/or create waves and bolts of lightning. The exceptions have "star" in the name instead. Spark Web is also one of the Light spells, and the favored move of a late-game Light monster. Lightning is apparently a subset of Light here.
  • Tales of Symphonia has the Super Lightning blade as a weapon, while two of the game's boss fights — Yuan and Kvar — use the lightning element exclusively. Although Colette prominently uses Angel-aligned powers, she also uses plenty of lightning-based powers as well, such as Para Ball, Torrential Para Ball, and Grand Chariot.
• Tekken: Hit someone hard with a Mishima character (Jinpachi, Heihachi, Kazuya, Jin/Devil Jin, Lars, or Reina) and you'll see an aura of lightning around their limb. This doesn't actually do any electrical damage, however (although Lars has some attacks that seem to produce an actual current, though to what extent is unknown). Kazumi also has the electric aura on her power hits, despite not being a blood relative of the Mishimas.
• Temtem: Electric-type moves include chaining lightning around the entire battlefield and calling down a flurry of lightning bolts. In the game's setting, Electric-type Temtem were revered as kami (nature spirits) in the highlands of Cipanku, a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Japan.
• Total War: Warhammer:
  • The Lore of Heavens, a generic magic lore available to multiple factions, revolves around a collection of atmospheric and celestial phenomena. As such, characters that use have access to spells such as Chain Lightning, which creates a freely roving ball of crackling electricity, and Urannon's Thunderbolt, a bombardment that blasts a target area with a powerful bolt of lightning.
  • Total War: Warhammer III: The Cathayan lord Miao Ying makes heavy use of electricity in her powers and general theming. In the Cathay trailer, she wreathes herself in crackling electricity as she descends to battle Kairos Fateweaver. In gameplay, when in human form she uses electricity to levitate and attacks in melee by electrocuting enemies.
• Touhou Project:
  • Iku Nagae in the spinoff fighting game Touhou Hisouten ~ Scarlet Weather Rhapsody uses lots and lots of lightning attacks.
  • Soga no Tojiko from Ten Desires shoots "thunder arrows" in her Mid-Boss fight. Mononobe no Futo from the same game uses the same arrows as part of one of her spellcards.
• Treasure of the Rudra had this, which had a side effect of confusion if a certain Lightning Mantra was used.
• Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004 have a more powerful version of the sniper rifle — the Lightning Gun. Despite the name, it's a fictional version of the Electrolaser. In exchange for being more powerful, it gives away your position. It also, if you land a headshot, sets the victim's neck stump on fire.
• Visions & Voices: Alphonse is the only playable character who can use Shock spells.
• Warcraft:
  • Far Seers have Chain Lightning spells.
  • Naga sea witches (neutral heroes from The Frozen Throne), Lady Vashj in the Blood Elves campaign.
  • And the shaman class in World of Warcraft. Especially when specialized in elemental combat.
  • Some raid bosses have lightning abilities, Lady Vashj from Serpentshrine Cavern and Akil'Zon from Zul'Aman, to name a few.
  • Druids get the Hurricane spell, but that's the only one for them that has lightning.
  • Hunters have two pets with lightning-based racial attacks: Wind Serpents and Chimaeras (paired with Frost in the Chimaera's case).
• Warframe: Electricity is one of the four base elemental types, and has a chance to stun and arc to nearby enemies. Any weapon can be modded to deal electricity damage, many guns come with it by default, and the warframe Volt uses it almost exclusively.
• Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader: Electricity is indeed a weapon to make use of, especially as a psyker. Starting psyker staffs even give you access to such a power: Idira's ability to call Chain Lightning is a great way to clear out gangs of mooks.
• Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Earthblood: Some Endron exos are equipped with electrical weaponry with which they can electrify large patches of ground around themselves.
• WildStar has Stormtalon, a massive dragon-creature that uses electricity and wind to produce lightning, deadly static discharges, and summon massive tornadoes.
• A Witch's Tale: Dorothy's doll ability is to cast a powerful Thun spell.
• X Com Enemy Unknown: The vanilla game downplayed this trope with the Arc Thrower, which was only useful at stunning weakened enemies, repairing your drones or hacking enemy ones. Enemy Within turns that around with the MEC Trooper's "Electropulse" Tactical Subsystem, a close-range electric attack that fries any unit unlucky enough to be within a few tiles of the MEC, in addition to shutting down robotic units for a whole turn.
• Zero K: Bantha, Panther, Scorpion, and Zeus sports a Lighting Gun that shocks and stuns targets.

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