Lightning Strike
Lightning Strike is a melee Strike Attack skill that converts physical damage to Lightning damage. It has a secondary effect where it launches projectile that deal damage based on the player character's weapon damage with each swing.
Skill functions and interactions
An attack with Lightning Strike consists of two parts:
An initial melee hit with the gem tags Lightning, Attack, Melee, Strike
A projectile attack with the gem tags Lightning, Attack, Projectile
When the melee attack is made, a number of lightning projectiles (five at level one, increasing with gem level) will shoot out in a ~85 degree arc, traveling in a straight line untill they strike an enemy. Unmodified projectiles will do 75% of full weapon damage, of which 50% of physical damage is converted to lightning damage (the bolts benefit from added damage, e.g. as from aura's), against any target struck. Linking a Lesser Multiple Projectiles Support or Greater Multiple Projectiles Support support gem will multiplicatively reduce the damage of each projectile and spread further projectiles out within the 85 degree arc.
Cannot Miss: This applies only to the projectiles launched after you initiated the strike. Swinging in enemies' general direction will result in projectiles with a hit/miss chance equal to that of the skill itself. Projectiles that miss will be dissipated without doing damage.
Damage conversion: Like all converted damage, the lightning portion of Lightning Strike's damage will be modified by both lightning damage and physical damage increases. Furthermore, the damage done by the lightning bolts is considered projectile damage (instead of melee), therefore any Strength bonus does not apply.
It is important to note that despite the confusing wording of this skill, the projectile portion of this attack in no way scales off the melee portion of the attack - in essence, the Lightning Strike skill does two completely separate things simultaneously, a melee attack (which deals x% of the base damage, and of which 50% of the physical damage is converted to lightning damage), and a ranged attack (which shoots projectiles, which deal 75% of the attack damage of the attack each, and of which 50% of the physical damage is converted to lightning damage).
This means that increasing the melee portion of the hit through melee-exclusive means such as Melee Physical Damage Support will not actually increase the projectile damage; the projectile damage is not "converted melee damage", a common misconception. Do not be deceived by the tooltip DPS of this skill which will change if you apply a melee-exclusive modifier; the tooltip DPS only shows the DPS of the melee portion of the attack and things that modify that, but not the projectile part of the attack.
That said, passive points that grant Increased damage with one-handed melee weapons for example will in fact affect the projectile attack as well if one is using a one-handed weapon, since it is still an attack that is dealt with a melee weapon (though the damage you're dealing is not actually melee damage). However, Increased melee damage with one-handed weapons would only apply to the melee portion of the attack, as it increases melee damage.
Any flat elemental damage gains from gear, auras, weapons or any other source will apply to both the projectile and the melee portion of the attack.
Dual Wielding: Dual wielding attacks with Lightning Strike will alternate the weapon being swung.
Life on Hit: The stated amount of life on hit will be restored for the initial hit and each time a projectile strikes an enemy.
Piercing Projectiles: Lightning Strike projectiles which pierce an enemy and strike another will do the usual projectile damage to all enemies struck.
Point Blank: Projectiles are affected by Point Blank even though the melee attack is not.[1]
Iron Grip: Taking iron grip will apply Strength damage bonus to projectile portion of attack. Without iron grip only the melee portion of attack receives damage bonus from Strength.[2]
Reflect: Reflected attack damage (whether physical or elemental) can be evaded, blocked and dodged.[3]
Chain: Projectiles can chain (for example if linked with Chain Support), however they won't chain if they pierce.
The modifier x% of Physical Damage added as from things like Hatred and Added Fire Damage Support is based on physical damage before conversions. So it will be based on the full base damage, not just the 50% physical part. This applies to both - melee damage and projectile damage.
Ancestral Call Support: If there are additional targets within range, Ancestral Call will target and attempt to strike additional enemies; these strikes will release projectiles in the direction of the target struck. Without additional targets, Lightning Strike will not swing aside from the main strike and thus not produce extra projectiles. However, against single targets, you can benefit from additional strikes from - Ancestral Call Support and other similar bonuses by attacking outside melee range. This will create two lightning strikes, one from - Ancestral Call which hits the target, and one from your own attack which will fire projectiles that can also hit the target. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxiBvBzunj8
Version history
VersionChanges
3.20.0
Lightning Strike now Fires 2 additional Projectiles at all gem levels (previously 4 at gem level 1, up to 7 at gem level 20). Quality on Lightning Strike no longer provides 0-20% increased Damage.
Quality on Divergent Lightning Strike no longer provides "Fire 0-2 additional Projectiles." Instead, it now provides 0-20% chance to Shock enemies.
Labyrinth Helmet Enchantments that cause Lightning Strike to fire additional Projectiles now have values of 1 and 2 (previously 2 and 3).
3.19.0g
Reduced the terrain collision size of Spark and Lightning Strike projectiles by 50%. This also fixes a longstanding bug where Spark projectiles sometimes weren't created if cast up against a wall.
3.19.0
Fixed a bug where Lightning Strike could hit a single target twice from one attack. (This fixed the "triple hit" interaction; Lightning Strike's interaction additional Strikes is unchanged.https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/wm33rw/comment/ijx1qy4/)
3.15.0
Lightning Arrow and Lightning Strike have brand new effects.
Now deals 225% of Base Damage, and has 225% Effectiveness of Added Damage at gem level 20 (previously 180%).
3.13.0
No longer causes projectiles to deal 25% less damage.
No longer causes damage over time from projectiles to deal 25% less damage.
3.12.0
Now has alternative gem quality: Anomalous, Divergent or Phantasmal.
3.7.0
Now deals base damage equal to, and has an added damage effectiveness of, 135% at gem level 1 (from 130%), up to 180% at gem level 20 (from 176%).
Now adds 1 to 13 lightning damage to attacks at gem level 1, up to 9 to 179 at gem level 20.
Now gains 1% increased projectile speed and 1% increased damage per 1% gem quality (previously gained 1% increased lightning damage per 1% gem quality).
3.1.2
Overhauled the visual effects and audio of Lightning Strike in order to improve performance.
2.4.0
9% more damage at gem level 20.
2.1.0
Attack skills that have their damage based on the wielded weapon have their mana costs fixed in place from level 1 onwards.
Lightning Strike has been substantially reworked. It is now a Dexterity Gem that starts at player level 12. It shoots five projectiles at level 1, increasing as it levels. Its damage has been increased. It went from dealing 70% of base damage to 75% of base damage.
2.0.0
Now grants 2% chance to pierce per 1% quality (was 3% per 1% quality).
1.3.0
The mana costs of Elemental Hit, Glacial Hammer, Infernal Blow and Lightning Strike have been reduced.
1.2.0
Base damage increased from 120% to 130%. Mana cost reduced.
0.10.0
Fixed a problem with evasion related to Lightning Strike.
0.9.12h
Fixed a bug where Lightning Strike's projectiles would always miss when you use it for the first time in a while.
0.9.12b
Fixed a crash with Lightning Strike that would occur with specific two-handed mauls.
0.9.11
The damage penalty on its projectiles is now 30% rather than 20%.
0.9.10b
Fixed a bug where Lightning Strike's melee attack would always hit.
Lightning Strike's projectiles now always hit if the melee attack hits, otherwise they perform an accuracy roll.
0.9.10
Fixed a client crash that could occur when using Lightning Strike while standing on a patch of fire.
0.9.9
Reduced damage penalty on projectiles from -50% to -20%.
0.9.6e
Fixed a client freeze that could occur if a nearby party member was using Lightning Strike.
0.9.6c
Fixed a bug where Lightning Strike's damage was displayed wrong.
0.9.6
Lightning Strike has been added to the game