Chain Lightning

Chain Lightning
Chain Lightning Level 24 shaman ability 40 yd range 2 sec cast Hurls a lightning bolt at the enemy, dealing (47% of Spell power) Nature damage and then jumping to additional nearby enemies. Affects 3 total targets. Generates 4 Maelstrom per target hit. If Chain Lightning hits more than 1 target, each target hit by your Chain Lightning increases the damage of your next Crash Lightning by 20%. Rank 2: Chain Lightning jumps to 2 additional targets. Rank 2: Each target hit by Chain Lightning reduces the cooldown of Crash Lightning by 1.0 sec.
Usable by
Class	Shaman
Properties
School	Nature
Cooldown	None/Global Cooldown
Other information
Level learned	24
Rank levels	42 / 52 (rank 2)
Improvements	[Maelstrom Weapon], [Storm Elemental], [Stormkeeper]

Chain Lightning is a level 24 shaman abiilty that deals direct damage to up to 3 targets, or up to 5 targets as elemental.

Improvements

Specialization

• [Maelstrom Weapon] (Enhancement)

Talents

• [Stormkeeper] (Elemental and Enhancement)
• [Storm Elemental] (Elemental)

Notes

• All three hits are calculated individually. As such, it possible (and fairly common) that only one or two hits critically hit.
• Unlike [Lightning Bolt], which has a travel time, Chain Lightning instantly hits all targets.
• The spell first appeared in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos as one of the hero spells of orcish Far Seers.

Tips and tactics

• If fighting a single target, use Lightning Bolt instead.
• Be careful when using this spell if more mobs are nearby. While Chain Lightning may be more tempting to use for its higher damage output, it can easily cause unintended additional pulls.
• Do not use this ability if there are nearby CC'ed targets.

Trivia

• Chain Lightning is one of the spells available to the Thrall and Far Seer hero units in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.
• Chain Lightning is one of Thrall's basic abilities in Heroes of the Storm.

Patches and hotfixes

• Patch 9.0.1 (2020-10-13): Available to all Shaman as a baseline ability. Elemental and enhancement shaman have received an additional unique rank.
  
• Hotfix (2017-09-08): "Restoration and Elemental Shaman's Chain Lightning spells should now use a consistent casting animation."
  
• Hotfix (2016-09-23): "
  • Chain Lightning Maelstrom generation increased to 6.
  • Chain Lightning (Elemental) damage increased by 23%.
  • Chain Lightning (Restoration) damage increased by 23%."
    
• Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): No longer available to Enhancement. Damage increased by 106% for Elemental and 185% for Restoration.
  
• Patch 6.2.3 (2015-11-17): Damage has been increased by 4%.
  
• Patch 6.0.3 (2014-10-28): Now costs 50% less mana.
  
• Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): Damage has been increased by 50%.
  

No longer has any cooldown.

• Hotfix (2013-09-17): "Glyph of Chain Lightning should now be properly reducing the damage of Chain Lightning."
  
• Patch 5.2.0 (2013-03-05): Will now deal the same damage to subsequent targets as it does to the first.
  

This was initially not reflected in the tooltip.

• Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Cooldown reduced to 3 seconds, down from 6.
  
• Patch 2.3.0 (2007-11-13): Cast time was reduced to 2.0 (from 2.5), mana costs reduced, benefit from spell damage reduced appropriately.
  
• Patch 1.11.0 (2006-06-19): No longer chains onto nearby targets that are stealthed or invisible to the caster.
  
• Patch 1.6.0 (2005-07-12): Chain spells cast on PvP targets by an unflagged Shaman will now properly bounce to other PvP targets.
  
• Patch 0.9 (2004-08-17): Cast time slightly reduced, damage increased, now deals less damage to each target after the first.
  
• Patch 0.7 (2004-06-15): Moved to level 32.
  

See also

• Chain Lightning TCG card

External links

Base spell	Rank 2	Rank 2
Wowhead WoWDB	Wowhead WoWDB	Wowhead WoWDB