Diablo – occasionally see lightning forks shoot out of the attacks

diablo-3

Sometimes when I attack with Fists of Thunder I see a few forks of lightning shoot forward, even though neither my weapons nor the active or passive skills I'm using list anything like that in their skill description.

What makes this happen, and how can I control it?

Best Answer

I've been playing a monk and, though the in-game skill doesn't appear to have this text, both the official Battle.net builder and the Diablo 3 database contain the following description for Fists of Thunder:

Generate: 6 Spirit per attack

Unleash a series of extremely fast punches that deal 110% weapon damage as Lightning. Every third hit deals damage to all enemies in front of you and knocks them back a short distance. Generates Spirit faster than other Spirit-generating skills due to the high attack speed.

It appears that the lightning animation is used to indicate the small AoE lightning damage and knockback in front of you on the third hit.