Thunder Bolt

Spell effects
Thunder Bolt causes a bolt of lightning to shoot down from the skies and strike a nearby enemy or ally in the direction the wizard is facing with a maximum range of 16. This Magick can only be cast outdoors and has no effect when used indoors. Thunder Bolt deals 5000 damage to unarmored units and deals 7500 damage to armored (wearing metal) units. If the target is wet, damage is doubled to 10000 and 15000 damage respectively. Frozen targets do not receive any additional damage.

The target selection of Thunder Bolt is fairly predictable:
 * Thunder Bolt will always hit the shield bubble the caster is standing in, if one is active.
 * Otherwise, it will target the most elevated unit (but not the caster) within a radius of 8 distance at the location that is 8 distance away from the caster's direction. (That is, the target is selected from those inside a circle of radius 8 right in front of the caster.)
 * Units in a shield bubble are not considered eligible targets by Thunder Bolt nor is the shield bubble itself. Grease patches on the floor are considered targets but they do not catch on fire when hit. Line of sight with the caster is not required.
 * If no targets are found within the circle, it hits the floor at the center of the circle.
 * Elevation, metal and height contribute to target selection, in that order. Lightning bolt should NOT be used on goblins except in specific circumstances.

Achievements
The following achievement requires the use of Thunder Bolt:

Pros

 * Particularly lethal if the target is wet, especially with the Rain Magick.
 * Can hit targets out of direct line of sight. Eg, enemies on parparets.
 * Can kill allies and minions, allowing you to steal their stuff.
 * Can kill Grimnir in 3 hits.Period.
 * The largest enemies are usually the most dangerous. This means Thunder Bolt nearly always hits the target it should.
 * Wizards love to kill something giant, powerful and scary with just one blow.

Cons

 * Can be countered with a lightning immunity aura (+Self) or a shield bubble (+Area).
 * Can only be used outdoors.
 * The targeting selection is predictable, but can be annoying because it will often not hit the target you want.
 * Very easy to kill yourself.
 * Can kill allies and minions, making them angry.

Trivia

 * Thunder Bolt is used by Grimnir.
 * The elemental combination of Thunder Bolt is a subset of Thunder Storm  with one less Steam element.  is also the strongest beam spell in the game and its area cast version is the strongest AoE spell in the game. However, +Area is often preferred because trading the steam and lightning elements for arcane increases the radius significantly in exchange for slightly less damage.