Lightning's Swift Strike

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SETUP

Put 2 Presence on your starting board in the highest-numbered Sands.

PLAY STYLE

Virtually all offense to start with: without a more defensive teammate, Blight may become a problem. Excellent at destroying buildings, less good at containing Explorers. Using Thundering Destruction tends to be a burst affair: a turn or two of position and build up Energy, followed by a really big turn.
Starting Powers are extremely focused on Air and Fire: good for Thundering Destruction, bad for Major Power versatility.

COMPLEXITY

LOW

GROWTH (PICK ONE)
Reclaimall.png
Reclaim Cards
Gaincardicon.png
Gain Power Card
Energy Plus 1.png
Gain 1 Energy
+ Presenceicon.png

2
Range

Add a Presence
+ Presenceicon.png

0
Range

Add a Presence
+ Presenceicon.png

1
Range

Add a Presence
Energy Plus 3.png
Gain 3 Energy
PRESENCE
Energy 1.png

Energy/Turn
Energy 1.png

1
Energy 2.png

2
Energy 2.png

2
Energy 3.png

3
Energy 4.png

4
Energy 4.png

4
Energy 5.png

5
Cardplay2.png

Card Plays
Cardplay3.png

3
Cardplay4.png

4
Cardplay5.png

5
Cardplay6.png

6

SPECIAL RULES

SWIFTNESS OF LIGHTNING
For every Air you have, you may use 1 Slow Power as if it were Fast. (Power Cards or your Innate Powers.)

THUNDERING DESTRUCTION
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Slow
Sacred Site1
Range
ANY
3 Fire 2 Air Destroy 1 Townicon.png.
4 Fire 3 Air You may instead destroy 1 Cityicon.png.
5 Fire 4 Air 1 Water Also, Destroy 1 Townicon.png / Cityicon.png.
5 Fire 5 Air 2 Water Also, Destroy 1 Townicon.png / Cityicon.png.

SUMMARY OF POWERS

 
         
         
         
         
         
Offense Control Fear Defense Utility
 
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Lightning's Swift Strike.png

From the Spirit Panel

The child of a passing storm-spirit, Lightning's Swift Strike danced off the shores of the island many ages ago, and liked it enough to stay. It spends much of its time resting and quiet, waking up to dance through the sky when the winds blow strong.

It only concerns itself occasionally with the Dahan, usually appearing out of nowhere to send them off on some obscure errand. The Dahan cooperate - partly out of wary respect for Lightning's power, but as much for the sake of the Thunderspeaker - Lightning's child - who is a patron and ally of their people.

Design Lore

Most spirits of storm travel the sky, never touching down or staying in any one place for too long, but a few find a place they’re sufficiently drawn to to stay - often a site with high winds or violent weather. Spirits of lightning are especially prone to this, finding the earth below more interesting than their cloud-formed bretheren.

Lightning’s Swift Strike was born long ago, of a storm-spirit off the shores of Spirit Island. It decided to stay in the instant it first struck ground, and has remained ever since. Lightning destroys with a fierce and glorious joy, not for the sake of destruction itself, but for the exultation of swiftness-in-power.
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Important note: If playing as Lightning's Swift Strike, you start the game with these Unique Power Cards in your hand.

0
1
No SunNo MoonFireAirNo WaterNo EarthNo PlantNo Animal
Harbingers of the Lightning.png
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Slow
1
Range
ANY
Push up to 2 Dahan.

1 Fear if you pushed any Dahan into a land with Town / City.
ArtistSymbol.png Rocky Hammer
1
1
No SunNo MoonFireAirNo WaterNo EarthNo PlantNo Animal
Lightning's Boon.png
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET
Fast
No Range
ANY Spirit
Target Spirit may use up to 2 Slow Powers as if they were Fast Powers this turn.
ArtistSymbol.png Rocky Hammer
3
1
No SunNo MoonFireAirWaterNo EarthNo PlantNo Animal
Raging Storm.png
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Slow
1
Range
ANY
1 Damage to each Invader.
ArtistSymbol.png Rocky Hammer
2
1
No SunNo MoonFireAirNo WaterNo EarthNo PlantNo Animal
Shatter Homesteads.png
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Slow
Sacred Site2
Range
ANY
1 Fear.
Destroy 1 Town.
ArtistSymbol.png Rocky Hammer
[edit]
#1.
1
1
SunMoonNo FireAirNo WaterNo EarthNo PlantNo Animal
Delusions of Danger.png
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Fast
1
Range
ANY
Push 1 Explorer.
Or

2 Fear.
ArtistSymbol.png Moro Rogers

#2.
1
1
SunNo MoonFireNo AirNo WaterNo EarthNo PlantAnimal
Call to Bloodshed.png
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Slow
1
Range
Dahan
1 Damage per Dahan.
Or

Gather up to 3 Dahan.
ArtistSymbol.png Jorge Ramos

#3.
3
1
SunNo MoonFireAirNo WaterNo EarthNo PlantNo Animal
Powerstorm.png
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET
Fast
No Range
ANY Spirit
Target Spirit gains 3 Energy.
Once this turn, target may Repeat a Power Card by paying its cost again.
IF YOU HAVE
2Sun 2Fire 3Air:
Target may Repeat up to 2 more Power Cards by paying their costs.
ArtistSymbol.png Nolan Nasser

#4.
1
1
SunNo MoonFireAirNo WaterNo EarthPlantNo Animal
Purifying Flame.png
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Slow
Sacred Site1
Range
ANY
1 Damage per Blight.

If target land is Mountain/Sands, you may instead Remove 1 Blight.
ArtistSymbol.png Jorge Ramos

#5.
5
1
No SunNo MoonFireNo AirNo WaterNo EarthNo PlantNo Animal
Pillar of Living Flame.png
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Slow
Sacred Site2
Range
ANY
3 Fear.
5 Damage.

If target land is Jungle/Wetland, add 1 Blight.
IF YOU HAVE
4Fire:
+2 Fear and +5 Damage.
ArtistSymbol.png Jorge Ramos

#6.
1
1
No SunMoonNo FireAirWaterNo EarthNo PlantNo Animal
Entrancing Apparitions.png
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Fast
1
Range
ANY
Defend 2.

If no Invaders are present, gather up to 2 Explorer.
ArtistSymbol.png Moro Rogers

#7.
0
1
SunNo MoonNo FireAirNo WaterNo EarthNo PlantAnimal
Call to Isolation.png
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Fast
1
Range
Dahan
Push 1 Explorer / Town per Dahan.
Or

Push 1 Dahan.
ArtistSymbol.png Graham Stermberg

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General Strategy

Some things of note:

  • Growth: It can play two Presence/turn. Not all Spirits can manage this! Lightning can spread quickly, setting up a new Sacred Site (two Presence in one land) in a single turn, even 2 lands away.
  • Growth: It only gains new Power Cards when Reclaiming / not placing new Presence. So it’s not going to be gaining huge numbers of new Powers unless it Reclaims a lot - which would limit its expansion.
  • Presence track: It has a slow Energy ramp-up, but incredible Card Plays - better than any other Spirit in the game.
  • Special Rules: Swiftness of Lightning - For every Air it has, Lightning’s Swift Strike can make one of its Powers Fast - that is, use it before the Invaders go rather than afterwards. That seems pretty good, but we’ll have to see how many of its unique powers are Air-aspected before we know how often it’ll be useful in practice.
  • Innate Power: Thundering Destruction - That’s a lot of wrecked buildings at higher levels! It’ll take playing 4-5 Fire to reach the best effects, but Lightning has that awesome Plays track, so playing 4-5 Power Cards in one turn isn’t as distant a feat for it as for others. The targeting is a bit restrictive, though: it must strike from a Sacred Site, and can only reach a single land away. And we don’t know how readily it has access to Air and Fire - so let’s look at its Unique Power Cards!

Before we go into specific cards, we can see two things right off the bat:

  • Every single Power has both Air and Fire - which makes sense; that’s Lightning for you. That means it’ll have a really easy time finding the Elements to use Swiftness of Lightning and Thundering Destruction!
  • A couple of those Power Cards cost 2 or 3 Energy to play - destructive power takes some oomph! Playing both of those together would require 5 Energy, far more than Lightning starts out getting in a single turn. So Lightning is going to be somewhat Energy-hungry, and may want to occasionally hold some Energy in reserve to build up for a massive strike the following turn.

The cards themselves:

  • Shatter Homesteads is a workhouse power, destroying those Towns that crop up all over the place in a particularly intimidating fashion. Like the Thundering Destruction innate, it must be used from a Sacred Site, but has better range.
  • Raging Storm hurts every Invader in a land, damaging buildings and wiping out Explorers entirely. The more Invaders there are, the more Lightning can pound on them - but it’s not cheap to do. It can be used from any of Lightning's Presence, though.
  • Lightning’s Boon grants Lightning’s overwhelming speed to other spirits, amping up their ability to pre-empt the Invaders. It could in theory self-target, but with Swiftness of Lightning, that’ll rarely be necessary!
  • Harbingers of the Lightning asks some Dahan to warn the Invaders about what Lightning’s Swift Strike is going to do to them if they stick around. It also asks the Dahan to move, setting up shop near the Invaders - perhaps simply a threatening gesture, perhaps a setup for a counterattack.

Overall: Most of Lightning’s Powers do a small amount of Fear, plus any Fear caused by destroying Towns and Cities - so we can expect that Lightning will be decent at helping frighten the Invaders. The only way it has to destroy Explorers is Raging Storm, which is expensive: Lightning isn’t good at wiping out small groups of people hidden away in the jungle. But while it has a hard time stopping the Invaders from Building, it’s really good at wrecking those buildings once they show up! It can do this best in bursts - playing lots of Power Cards to trigger Thundering Destruction - but setting those up may take a turn of gathering strength.

Links to Guides

Sacred Site Lightning's Swift Strike/Antistone's Opening[1]

Sacred Site Lightning's Swift Strike/Phantaskippy's Guide[2]

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Spirit Spotlight

Theme Music

Gallery

Lightning's Swift Strike Avatar.png
Island Avatar
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AN IMMENSE SPIRIT, TOWERING AND SLOW

Your top Presence track grants you twice as much Energy during the Spirit Phase. Any ongoing modifiers are counted after doubling.

Playing Power Cards during the Spirit Phase costs 2 Card Plays instead of 1. (So if you have 3 Card Plays, you will only be able to play 1 Power Card.) If you have any unused Card Plays at the end of the Spirit Phase, gain 1 Element of your choice.

For each Major Power you play, gain 2 different Elements of your choice.

PromoPack2.png
Replaces Innate Power: Thundering Destruction
Complexity Up.png
LIGHTNING-TORN SKIES INCITE PANDEMONIUM
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Slow
Sacred Site1
Range
INVADERS
3 Fire 2 Air 2 Fear. Add 1 Strife.
4 Fire 3 Air 2 Fear. Add 1 Strife.
5 Fire 4 Air 1 Moon 3 Fear. Add 1 Strife.
5 Fire 5 Air 2 Moon 4 Fear. Add 1 Strife.
Jagged Earth complexity 3.png
Replaces Innate Power: THUNDERING DESTRUCTION
Setup: Replace RAGING STORM with SMITE THE LAND WITH FULMINATION
Complexity Up.png
GIFT OF THE SPARKING SKY
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET
Fast
No Range
ANY Spirit
2 Sun 5 Fire 3 Air Once this turn, after target Spirit uses a Power that targets a land, they may do 1 Damage to each Invader in that land. (This is their Action and gets all benefits and penalties that apply to their Powers.)
2 Fire 2 Air Target Spirit gains a Minor Power.
1 Sun 3 Fire 2 Air Target Spirit may play a Power Card by paying its cost. (If you target yourself, its Elements arrive too late to apply to prior thresholds of this Power.)
Nature incarnate expansion symbol.png
Replaces Special Rule: Swiftness of Lightning
Complexity Up.png
EXALTATION OF THE STORM-WIND
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET
Fast
No Range
ANOTHER Spirit
1 Air You and target Spirit may each make one of your non-Major Slow Powers Fast.
3 Air You and target Spirit each gain Range Plus 1 with all your Powers this turn.
4 Air 1 Water You and target Spirit may each Push up to 2 Explorer from one of your respective lands.
5 Air 2 Water Repeat this Power.
Jagged Earth complexity 2.png

Rulings for Lightning's Swift Strike

Explorericon.png There are no rulings at this time. Explorericon.png