Thunderbolt

Thunderbolt
Standard Damage	30 per bolt 17-1,750 (self) on discharge 35-3500 (others) when discharged
Ammunition Type	Cells
Maximum Ammo	100
Fire Mode	Automatic, Direct fire
Rate of Fire	600 rpm
Muzzle Velocity	Light Speed
Range	23 meters (600 Quake units)
Found in	Quake
[Source]

The Thunderbolt, also known as "Lightning Gun" or simply "LG", fires a steady stream of electricity. It can do incredible damage if it stays on a target. The Weapon will instantly hit the target it's pointed at, making it easier to use than the Nailgun or Super Nailgun.

If the Thunderbolt is used in Water, Slime, or Lava, the gun will discharge all charges of the Ammo currently in use at once and cause all within sight, both in and even near the liquid, to explode (including the player). This can be an effective strategy if one has a Pentagram of Protection.

The Thunderbolt is the only gun in Quake that can shoot through walls. The electricity fired from the Thunderbolt will travel through a wall and possibly enter another point of the map if shot at the right point. The Thunderbolt has been recorded as being able to shoot an Unholy Altar through a wall.

Strategy

Single Player

• The Thunderbolt is the most effective weapon in the game and the last one to be obtained. It's so powerful that it can destroy a Shambler in two seconds, making it just as useful as the Super Nailgun. Like the SNG, its two downsides are that its ammo is somewhat rare, so it's recommended to only use the Thunderbolt against dangerous enemies such as Shamblers and Vores, and that it depletes ammo rather quickly. However, the Enforcer drops five Cells when they're killed, so you'll have a decent collection of Cells by the time you get a Thunderbolt.
• The Thunderbolt is not available in Episode 1: Dimension of the Doomed or the Quake Shareware. In the Shareware version, it can be obtained through a cheat code.
• With the Quad Damage, the LG becomes a diabolic weapon; it deals 120 HP of damage per cell or 1200 DPS, so it can kill a Shambler in 5 hits (0.5 second).
• When the cheat code to obtain all Weapons is activated, the ammunition capacity of the Thunderbolt is doubled, meaning you will have 200 cells. However, picking up a cell box when above the usual maximum of ammo will reset your amount of cells to 100.
• Despite the power of this Weapon, it is absolutely worthless against Zombies (assuming that they're not under Water during a discharge or the player isn't under the effect of Quad Damage), because they can only be killed if Gibbed.

Multiplayer

• In MP, the LG can take down an unarmored target within two seconds. Even with Red Armor, a target won't last long.
• With the LG, you need to learn how to keep following a target with it, or else you'll be frequently firing into the air while the enemy attacks you. This is pretty difficult due to how jumpy players can be, so you'll need some practice and predicting skills in order to get good with it. If you feel that you can't figure out how to use the LG, don't worry about it, because the Rocket Launcher can do a ton of damage as well.
• The Thunderbolt can also be used to finish off an enemy that's been critically injured by a rocket and knocked back by it, but is too far away for a follow-up rocket to be effective.

Death Messages

Death by Own Discharge

• Player discharges into the water

Death by Enemy Discharge

• Player accepts Attacker's discharge

Death by Enemy Lightning

• Player accepts Attacker's shaft

Trivia

• The Thunderbolt is perhaps the oldest weapon to be thought up for Quake as it is traceable back to the days of Invasion of the Vorticons, the first game of the Commander Keen series. An extremely early advertisement for "The Fight For Justice", the precursor to Quake, talks about the player-controlled character "Quake" starting with a Hammer of Thunderbolts. ^[1]

Sounds

Sounds
Thunderbolt commencing
Thunderbolt being used

Gallery

Thunderbolt on first-person view.

Thunderbolt firing effect.

Texture map of world model

Texture map of view model

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References

1. ↑ [1]