Lightning

“Bolts of lightning damage and stun up to three enemy troops or buildings with the most hitpoints in the target area. Reduced damage to Crown Towers.”

The Lightning is an Epic card that is unlocked from the Frozen Peak (Arena 8). It is a multi-damage, air-targeting spell with a medium radius and very high damage. When used, it can stun enemies in its radius for 0.5 seconds. The three troops that are targeted are always the three that have the highest hitpoints within its radius. It is a light blue liquid encased in a large vial. A Lightning card costs 6 Elixir to deploy.

Strategy[]

For Battle Decks with this card, click here

Lightning does massive damage, though not as much compared to the toughest units such as Lava Hound or Giant. It is still useful as two of its strikes can cripple or obliterate support units.
The Lightning spell can be used to finish off Crown Towers with low health or to one shot all troops with less than or as much health as a Phoenix.
Lightning is extremely effective against the Wizard and Witch, especially next to enemy Crown Towers, as it will deal a sizable amount of chip damage for only 1 extra Elixir while also still being able to strike one more unit.
Lightning can be effectively used to counter Three Musketeers to create a 3 Elixir advantage. The player should keep in mind that they should avoiding hitting the Tower if they would like to hit all 3 of them.
Lightning is effective in Lava Hound decks as it can quickly one-shot multiple threatening ranged troops such as the Wizard and Archer Queen, both of which can quickly destroy the Lava Hound and any support units behind it.
- This can also be done against cheaper units like the Hunter or the Night Witch, but the high Elixir deficit that this would cause may or may not be worth the risk depending on the situation of the match.
As the Lightning strikes once on each target, it will strike fewer than three times if there are only 1 or 2 enemy troops or buildings within its radius, reducing its value. Thus, the player should try to use it only when there are sufficient targets in the target radius.
Since Lightning prioritises striking the targets with the highest health, placing a troop with more health next to a low health unit will block them from being struck.
- Royal Hogs can shield Three Musketeers from Lightning since each of them have higher health than a Musketeer.
- A Lightning spell might fail to defeat a Mother Witch as the Cursed Hogs it summons have more health than the Mother Witch.
When using the Lightning, it is important to designate the targets of the spell in its radius. It is best to refrain from showing the opponent the Lightning until the opportunity for the highest Elixir advantage possible arises.
If Lightning is used on a shielded unit, only the shield will be destroyed. This is because both the shield and the unit are both considered the same entity. This is not the case with units such as Battle Ram; Lightning will destroy the Battle Ram and then the Barbarians, as both are considered separate entities which Lightning can retarget onto.
When trying to destroy the enemy Crown Tower at the last few seconds of the game, be careful, as any medium-high hitpoint units in its radius will be targeted instead by the Lightning, as in such situations the Crown Tower will have relatively low health, possibly even lower than a Skeleton. Instead, cast the Lightning towards the corner of the Tower while it is within its radius to avoid targeting other units surrounding the Tower.
- As for the defending player, pay attention to the Crown Tower's health, and place a swarm card accordingly. Battle Ram and Zappies are especially effective, due to having a lower Elixir cost for the highest range of possible Crown Tower health that would be needed to finish it off.
The Elixir trade-off for using a Lightning can be very high, giving the enemy an Elixir advantage in most cases. However, the Lightning spell is ineffective against units with extremely high hitpoints such as the Giant or P.E.K.K.A.
An alternative to the Lightning is the Rocket. Although Rocket costs the same amount of Elixir, takes more time to deploy, has some travel time and has a smaller AOE, it does massive area damage that is capable of taking out or heavily damaging many more targets.
The Lightning is very effective against the Sparky as it will reset Sparky's damage while also dealing high damage to her and other supporting troops. However, a Lightning will not take out a Sparky of the same Level, meaning she is still dangerous if she is still being protected by a tank.
The Lightning is very effective against the Inferno Tower and the Inferno Dragon since it can not only heavily damage these units, but also reset their target lock on troops, thus making them take longer to defeat them.
- While the Lightning may stun and cripple an Inferno Tower, it is a negative trade since the Inferno Tower can still damage pushes and the building costs 1 less Elixir than the spell itself. Try also hitting something else to maximize the value.
Lightning can also reset charging troops with its stun, so can be used in a pinch to reset charges of the Prince, Dark Prince, and Ram Rider.
- However, with Dark Prince, you need to destroy his shield first, as otherwise Lightning will just have most of its damage canceled by the shield.
Lightning can immediately destroy an Archer Queen of equal level, although it is a negative Elixir trade. The player can hit 2 more units or buildings in its radius. Since it is a spell, Lightning can hit the Archer Queen even with her ability active.

Statistics

Cost	Radius	Duration	Stun Duration	Count	Target	Type	Rarity
6	3.5	1.5 sec	0.5 sec	x3	Air & Ground	Spell	Epic

Level	Damage	Crown Tower Damage
6	660	198
7	726	217
8	798	239
9	877	263
10	963	288
11	1,056	317
12	1,161	348
13	1,273	382
14	1,399	420
15	1,537	461

Card Mastery

Type	Level/Tier	Objective	Reward
Damage Dealer	1	Deal a total of 77,500 Damage to enemy Troops or buildings	20 Lightning cards 75
	2	Deal a total of 230,000 Damage to enemy Troops or buildings	6,000 75
	3	Deal a total of 385,000 damage to enemy Troops or buildings	150 75
Arena Destroyer	1	Destroy 180 enemy Troops or buildings	9,000 125
	2	Destroy 520 enemy Troops or buildings	20 125
	3	Destroy 920 enemy Troops or buildings	15,000 125

History[]

2016

The Lightning card was added with Clash Royale's game launch on 4/1/2016.
On 19/2/2016, the Balance Update, decreased the Lightning's Crown Tower damage to 40% of the full damage (from 50%).
On 19/9/2016, the September 2016 Update, allowed the Lightning to stun enemies for 0.5 seconds. The update also changed the description. Previously, it used to say "Bolts of lightning hit up to three enemy troops or buildings with the most hitpoints in the target area. Reduced damage to Crown Towers."

2017

On 9/10/2017, the Epic Quests Update, decreased Lightning's damage by 3% and its area radius to 3 tiles (from 3.5 tiles).
On 12/12/2017, the Electrifying Update, decreased the Lightning’s Crown Tower damage to 35% of the full damage (from 40%).

2018

On 25/4/2018, the Clan Wars Update, increased the Lightning’s area radius to 3.5 tiles (from 3 tiles). It also allowed the Lightning to be placed on the river.
On 20/6/2018, the Summer 2018 Update, moved the Arena to unlock the Lightning from Goblin Stadium to P.E.K.K.A's Playhouse.
On 3/9/2018, a Balance Update, increased the Lightning's damage by 5%.
On 5/9/2018, the September 2018 Update, changed it so that Epic cards start at Level 6 and end at Level 13 (from 1 to 8).
On 1/10/2018, a Balance Update, fixed a bug where troops that were spawned after their parent troops died would be immune to spell damage.

2020

On 4/8/2020, a Balance Update, decreased the Lightning's Crown Tower damage to 30% of the full damage (from 35%).
On 19/11/2020, a maintenance break, fixed a bug where using Lightning on an Electro Giant would cause the game to crash.

2021

On 7/6/2021, the Summer 2021 Update, moved the Arena to unlock the Lightning from P.E.K.K.A's Playhouse to Frozen Peak.
On 27/10/2021, the Champions Update, increased the Level cap of all cards to 14 (from 13).

2022

On 30/3/2022, the Miner Update, gave the Lightning a visual effect that shows even if it does not damage anything.

2023

On 19/6/2023, the Card Evolution Update, increased the Level cap of all cards to 15 (from 14).

Trivia[]

The Lightning is 1 of 7 spells which first existed in Clash of Clans, the others being Earthquake, Heal, Freeze, Poison, Rage, and Clone.
- It resembles the older iteration of the Lightning spell in Clash of Clans that took 2 housing spaces and fired multiple individual strikes. However, unlike said spell, the Clash Royale iteration fires up to 3 lightning bolts that could stun enemies and only targeted one enemy, whereas its Clash of Clans counterpart fired 6 bolts that could not stun enemies and could deal area damage.
The Lightning is 1 of 9 cards associated with electricity, with the others being Electro Spirit, Zap, Tesla, Zappies, Electro Dragon, Electro Giant, Electro Wizard, and Sparky.
- In the Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Malaysian, and Vietnamese language settings of the game, the Lightning's name translates to "Ray", "Lightning Magic", "Lightning Spell", "Bolt", and "Thunder" respectively.
- The Zap and the Lightning are the only electric-related cards to be spells.
The Lightning is tied with Rocket for the most expensive spell, costing 6 Elixir, not counting the Mirror as it does not have a defined Elixir cost.
Although the Lightning has a circular radius, it does not inflict area damage. Instead only the highest health troops there are targeted.
The Master 3 League badge resembles a Lightning spell bottle.
It is 1 of 12 cards that is unavailable in Chess Royale, the others being Royal Recruits, Rocket, Earthquake, Poison, Goblin Drill, Miner, Golden Knight, Skeleton King, Archer Queen, Mighty Miner, and the Monk.
The Lightning was featured in the winning decks of multiple Clash Royale Tournaments. More specifically:
- The Lightning was featured in the winning deck of the Super Magical Cup Tournament, by a player called CMcHugh.
- The Lightning was featured in the winning deck of the King's Cup Tournament, by a player called TMD YAOYAO.
Before the Lightning's card release, the Lightning's damage was increased by 8%.