Lightning storm has a problem. Well, it has several problems, but the problem I’m here to talk about is one that usually gets overlooked. Lightning storm doesn’t benefit from the paragon board.
“What?” I hear your incredulity. “No it’s a storm skill, it’s clearly buffed by the thunderstruck board. It’s nature magic, it’s a lot of things!” These are rational opinions to have. They’re well founded. Technically they’re even true. But I know things you don’t know. I know things you couldn’t know, things that should not be known.
You see, I’m not a rational man. I’ve been a lightning storm main since level 3. My eyes were blinded by lightning and it’s all I see. I’m here to teach you the truth behind this wild magic.
Lightning storm isn’t what deals damage in a lightning storm build. You can ignore the skill level. You can ignore your weapon power. You can ignore your weapon speed. You don’t even use willpower. What actually does damage in a lightning storm build are 3 aspects.
- Lightning dancer’s aspect
- Overcharged aspect
- Runeworker’s conduit
The damage on these abilities is 2-4 times higher than a level 9 lightning storm with similar item level. They have more reliable hitboxes and they all multiply off of each other. These are the only aspects that give you a reason to use lightning storm over tornado. These are the crux of any lightning build. And unfortunately, the only paragon board that benefits them is heightened malice (the poison one).
Lightning items are not core skills, they are not storm skills, they can never be shape shifter or nature magic. They do not have lucky hit chances. They have lightning damage. The paragon board has never heard of this term “lightning” except as a thing to resist.
What this means is by the time you reach level ~75 and go to pick your second board, your lightning storm builds will be as powerful as they will ever be. From then on no matter what you do your damage will fall behind mob progression.
I have no solution to this problem as answers are never easy. But my job is not to give answers. My job is to reveal the truth of heaven. The truth is as my blind eyes gazed skyward thunder called out to me:
𝔄𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔯𝔞𝔦𝔫 𝔣𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔰 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔨𝔶 𝔰𝔬 𝔱𝔬 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔩𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔯𝔪 𝔣𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔦𝔫 𝔡𝔭𝔰. 𝔗𝔲𝔯𝔫 𝔟𝔞𝔠𝔨 𝔶𝔢 𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔱𝔞𝔩 𝔪𝔢𝔫. 𝔉𝔦𝔫𝔡 𝔞 𝔟𝔢𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔟𝔲𝔦𝔩𝔡 𝔲𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔩 𝔥𝔢𝔩𝔩 𝔣𝔯𝔢𝔢𝔷𝔢𝔰 𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔯. 𝔘𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔩 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔩𝔡 𝔴𝔦𝔫𝔡𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔣𝔞𝔱𝔢 𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔯 𝔤𝔞𝔷𝔢 𝔲𝔭𝔬𝔫 𝔲𝔰. 𝔘𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔩 𝔅𝔩𝔦𝔷𝔷𝔞𝔯𝔡 𝔯𝔞𝔦𝔰𝔢𝔰 𝔩𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔯𝔪 𝔟𝔞𝔠𝔨 𝔱𝔬 𝔦𝔱’𝔰 𝔯𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔣𝔲𝔩 𝔭𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔢 𝔞𝔱𝔬𝔭 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔠𝔩𝔬𝔲𝔡𝔰.