---
title: "Lightning Effects"
package: "@phaser-ae/vfx-lightning"
tier: Pro
version: 3.0.0-1
released: 2026-10-19
updated: 2026-10-19
description: "Twelve ready-made 2D electric effects, from strikes, forked and chain lightning to arcs, a tesla coil, ball lightning, static, zaps, auras and storms."
url: https://phaser.io/packs/vfx-lightning
site: Phaser - https://phaser.io
---

# Lightning Effects

Twelve electric effects, from a tiny zap to a strike from the sky. Everything is additive, so overlapping light builds
to white.

## What it does

A bolt is a chain of soft dots laid evenly along a jagged channel: a white-hot core inside a wider blue sheath,
flickering as real strikes do. A noise field bends each strike for its first instant, so no two bend quite alike, and a
strike adds a glow where it starts, a landing flash and sparks splashing up.

Spawn one with `game.particles.effect(name, opts)`. `scale` stretches every distance, so a strike reaches the top of
your screen and an arc spans two terminals, and `angle` aims a chain or an arc. One-shots remove themselves; the loops
step through several channels in turn, so they do not repeat a shape for long.

## Features

- **Strikes** — `lightning` about 210 units tall, `forked` landing in three places, and `groundCharge`, which crackles
  for a second before the strike comes down.
- **Chains and arcs** — `chainZap` hopping three targets along an angle, and `arc` crackling between two terminals.
- **Hazards** — a violet `teslaCoil`, `static` fizzing over a surface, and `ball` lightning.
- **Characters** — `electricAura` wrapping a body in cyan arcs, and a small `zap` for a hit.
- **Sky** — `sheetFlash` lighting a cloud from inside, and a distant `thunderstorm`.
- **Data you can copy** — a red strike or a green arc is a copied definition.

## Good for

- **Storms and weather** — a distant storm behind a level, a strike on the hero's path.
- **Spells and electric weapons** — chain lightning, stuns and shocks.
- **Hazards** — broken cables, tesla coils, electrified floors.
- **Boss fights** — `groundCharge` telegraphs where a strike will land.

## Make it yours

Aim with `angle` and size with `scale`: an arc between any two points takes their midpoint, the angle between them and
their distance over 96. A fantasy RPG aims the mage's `chainZap` at the first enemy, scaled to its distance, with a
`thunderstorm` behind the battlefield; a sci-fi base marks hazards with `teslaCoil` and `static` and joins two pylons
with an `arc` until the player cuts the power.

## A quick look

A strike scaled to reach the top of the screen, chain lightning aimed at an enemy, and an aura on the hero:

```ts
game.particles.effect('lightning', { x: target.x, y: target.y, scale: target.y / 210 });
const a = Math.atan2(enemy.y - hero.y, enemy.x - hero.x) * 180 / Math.PI;
game.particles.effect('chainZap', { x: hero.x, y: hero.y, angle: a,
    scale: Math.hypot(enemy.x - hero.x, enemy.y - hero.y) / 200 });
const aura = game.particles.effect('electricAura', { follow: hero, offset: { y: -40 } });
```

## Works with

- `particles-2d` and `particle-textures` — required; `core-2d` includes both.
- `lighting-2d` — to light the scene as a strike lands.
- `feel` — a screen flash with the strike.
- `audio` — for the thunder.
- `vfx3d-lightning` — the same twelve names in 3D.

## Good to know

- The channels are authored, not solved: a strike does not seek a target, so aim it with `angle` and `scale`.
- The effects light nothing: they do not brighten sprites or cast light on the scene.
- The heaviest moments stay under 1,500 live particles, but many strikes at once add up.

---

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