Quote:- It alone means 1 race is unplayable in this current meta. Mechanations.

- It has the most game-changing status effect attached to it. (Interference is just nasty, you being a healer or not.)

- It can cause immense, unmatched damage, easier and with less setup than other things. (Charge Mind + Ryemei/Overload is the most known, but the list of exploits is just H U G E. And most of it lies on having a Kensei/Spellthief with Splash stolen. Or, how about we throw Death Knighting on top of it, for more damage?)

- It has multiple ways to have such damage multiplied by reducing the enemy's resistances. (Splash and Mercalan Mist is outright -40% Lightning Resist. Now be a Mechanation fighting against that? -65% Lightning Resist, and then you receive a critical hit on top of it... Omae wa mo...)

- Luck affects all combat statistics, making you both able to ignore Evasion sometimes, be dodgy, and have more reliance to proc its effect (unlike Cinders, where it requires the enemy to move/stay in them, or pull effects, which require Magnetize).

- It caused Crystal Rose to be nerfed wrongly, if the problem was the absurd critical damage it pulled. (And still does.)

- It gives you free movement with Thunder Hooves, making you able to kite the enemy. (Yes, nerfed, but gets on this list of 'why is Lightning so worth')

- It has 100% synergy with a material, Conduiz, making Lightning Mages able to use their element with literally anything they can shove Conduiz in.

Quote:-Mechanations aren't entirely worthless in the current meta. Ironically some of them are the ones running lightning, even. Odds are that if you're playing one with intent to PVP, you don't want to keep that lightning weakness, so you cover it up. If you're not doing so, that's asking for your enemy to abuse your elemental weakness. This is a common strategy with all other races possessing some kind of weakness - players cover it up so it can't be exploited.

-Lightning's major exploit comes from Charge Mind with Ryemei. Kensei/Spellthief generally does less lightning damage in comparison to a full shock-mage, not to mention that pulling off Death Knighting is difficult in most cases going off the current meta. Sometimes, you also even have to go to a corner to guarantee it, which buys the other setup time.

-Mercalan Mist rarely goes off in practice due to the common silence locks, Splash however is a big issue of its own, being 1M and giving significant effects overall as well as doing decent damage. Sometimes over 100.

-Luck targets Evade, Hit, Critical, and Critical Evade. People that stack LUC across the roof usually don't have many points to allocate for defensive stats, even with Fugu Katsu. At best they get -some- defenses or have to pump up CEL. Which leads them to being more prone to getting shredded in the autohit meta.

-Crystal Rose's size change was unnecessary in my opinion, but its own scaling feels way too high.

-Most people building Thunder Hooves auto-enchant Talvyd instead of Redgull and opt for Wind anyway. It's either that, or a Soldier with Charge, or a Rogue with Western Wind. Kensei/Spellthief with Thunder Hooves and Redgull isn't common at all - in fact, only three people actively run it as of recent times.

-Conduiz is also an issue of its own, and should have less effectiveness compared to other casting tools.