Storm Giant 5e: Lightning, Spells and Fighting the Strongest Giant

The storm giant is the strongest giant in the SRD: CR 13, AC 16, 230 hit points, Strength 29, and immunity to lightning and thunder. Unlike the other giants it is an artillery piece as much as a melee fighter. It can call down a recharging bolt of lightning on any point within 500 feet, and in the 2024 rules it also flies, sees through invisibility at close range, and throws Thunderbolts that leave a target Blinded and Deafened. It is chaotic good, so a party may meet one as a patron or an oracle before they ever fight one.

Table of Contents

• •Storm Giant Stat Block (2014)
• •Storm Giant in the 2024 Rules
• •How Storm Giants Fight
• •How It Differs From Other Giants
• •Running a Storm Giant Encounter
• •How Players Beat a Storm Giant
• •Storm Giant Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Storm Giant Stat Block (2014)

This is the SRD 5.1 storm giant, the same as the 2014 Monster Manual.

The numbers to notice:

• •+14 to hit. Against AC 18 it hits on a 4 or higher, 85% of the time. Heavy armor barely matters.
• •Lightning Strike (Recharge 5–6). 54 (12d8) lightning damage in a 10-foot radius around any point it can see within 500 feet, DC 17 Dexterity save for half. It's an action of its own, so on a turn it uses Lightning Strike it doesn't swing its sword.
• •Spells for utility, not combat. At will: Detect Magic, Feather Fall, Levitate, Light. Three times a day: Control Weather and Water Breathing. None of these deal damage. Water Breathing lets it give up to ten willing creatures the ability to breathe underwater for 24 hours, which makes a friendly 2014 storm giant a way into an undersea adventure.
• •Amphibious, with a 50-foot swim speed. It fights as well underwater as on land.

Its saves are strong where most spells aim: Strength +14, Constitution +10, Wisdom +9, Charisma +9. Dexterity (+2) and Intelligence (+3) are its weak points.

Storm Giant in the 2024 Rules

SRD 5.2.1 keeps the AC, hit points, CR and immunities. Almost everything else changes.

What these changes mean at the table:

• •It can stay out of reach. A 25-foot fly speed with hover lets it rise above the party's melee characters and fire Thunderbolts from the air. A 2014 storm giant has to stay on the ground (or in the water) and deal with whoever closes on it.
• •Thunderbolt is a turn-wrecker. A Blinded character has Disadvantage on its own attacks, attackers have Advantage against it, and it can't target anything with a spell that requires seeing the target. The condition lasts until the start of the giant's next turn, which means it covers the victim's entire turn.
• •It sees invisible enemies up close. Truesight 30 feet beats the Invisible condition, so an invisible rogue who walks up to stab it is seen.
• •Less magic utility. The 2024 giant loses Feather Fall, Levitate and Water Breathing and can cast Control Weather only once a day. If your adventure relies on a storm giant handing out water breathing, use the 2014 version or give it a magic item instead.

How Storm Giants Fight

A storm giant has three modes, and choosing between them each turn is what makes it dangerous.

Damage per round. Against AC 18, a +14 attack hits 85% of the time.

The area attack is the big one. A 10-foot radius covers a 20-foot circle. If three characters are standing close together, one Lightning Storm deals around 145 damage in total. It recharges on a 5 or 6, a one-in-three chance each round, so expect it about every third turn after the first.

Open with the storm. The area attack is ready at the start of the fight. Use it first, against the tightest cluster of characters, ideally while they are still approaching and can't spread out.

Then pick by range. If anyone is in melee, swing the sword twice. If the party is spread out at range, the 2014 giant throws one rock (or moves in), while the 2024 giant throws two Thunderbolts, ideally at the two spellcasters. A blinded cleric can't cast a spell like Healing Word, which needs a target it can see. A blinded wizard loses every spell that targets "a creature you can see" and makes its attack rolls with Disadvantage.

Fly (2024). With 25 feet of flight and hover, the 2024 giant can lift out of reach of a melee-heavy party and fight with Thunderbolts while it waits for the Lightning Storm to recharge. Combine that with its 500-foot ranges and the party's fighter has nothing to do but find cover.

Fight in water. Both versions swim 50 feet and breathe water. A storm giant fighting from a lake, harbor or reef turns most of the party into slow swimmers. Under the SRD underwater combat rules, a creature without a swim speed has Disadvantage on melee weapon attacks unless the weapon is one of the exceptions (2014: dagger, javelin, shortsword, spear or trident; 2024: any piercing weapon). The giant's sword swings take no penalty, and its area attack doesn't use an attack roll. Only the 2014 giant's thrown rock suffers.

Set the weather first. Control Weather takes 10 minutes to cast and another 1d4 × 10 minutes to take effect. It isn't a combat spell. It is a warning sign and a scene-setter: if the party sees the sky darken over half an hour, the giant has been preparing for them.

Know when to stop. A good-aligned giant fights to make a point, protect something or punish a wrong. When it is below about a third of its hit points, or when the party offers it a reason to talk, it should talk.

How It Differs From Other Giants

Players who've fought a hill giant, frost giant or fire giant will expect a big creature that walks up and hits them. The storm giant breaks that pattern:

• •Range. Hill, frost and fire giants throw at 60/240 feet (the 2024 frost giant's bow reaches 600). The storm giant's area attack reaches 500 feet and its 2024 Thunderbolt reaches 500 feet with no long-range penalty.
• •Area damage. It's the only SRD giant with a big area attack. The others hit one target per attack.
• •Mobility. 50-foot walk and swim, plus flight in 2024. A fire giant walks 30.
• •Spellcasting. Fire, frost and hill giants have none. The cloud giant is the other spellcaster in the family (in 2024: Fog Cloud, Gaseous Form, Telekinesis and a Misty Step bonus action), but its spells are about concealment and repositioning. The storm giant's damage comes from actions, not spells.
• •Alignment. Chaotic good, while hill, frost and fire giants are evil. Fighting one should have a reason.

A rough damage ladder (2024, two melee hits): hill giant 36, frost giant 56, fire giant 62, storm giant 72, before counting the storm giant's 55-damage area attack.

Running a Storm Giant Encounter

A storm giant is worth 10,000 XP. With the 2024 SRD 5.2.1 budget for four characters:

The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines rate a lone storm giant as a Hard fight for four level 11 characters (10,000 XP against a 9,600 Hard threshold) and Medium at level 13. Adding three air elementals makes it four monsters, so the total XP is doubled: 30,800, past Deadly for the same party. Check your own party in the encounter calculator.

Advice that the XP math won't tell you:

• •A single storm giant has one turn per round. A level 13 party gets four or five. If you want a solo giant to last, give it terrain (water, a cliff, a storm) and the 2024 flight.
• •Elementals pair naturally. Air elementals and water elementals fit the theme and fill the gap the giant leaves: they chase the party down while the giant fires from range.
• •Spread-out parties neuter the area attack. Two characters 20 feet apart can both be caught by a storm centered between them. If your players keep 25 feet apart on the grid, Lightning Storm only ever hits one of them. That's fine, it still deals 55.

How Players Beat a Storm Giant

Lightning and thunder are useless. It is immune to both. Leave Lightning Bolt, Call Lightning, Shatter and Thunderwave out of the plan. It also resists cold, so Cone of Cold does half.

Use fire, force, radiant and Dexterity saves. Its Dexterity save is +2. Fireball against a DC 17 lands for full damage 70% of the time. Force and radiant damage go through unaffected.

Spread out. A 10-foot radius hits everyone within 10 feet of one point. Two characters standing 20 feet apart are both inside a 10-foot radius centered between them, so keep at least 25 feet between characters on a grid, or accept that two will share each storm.

Don't stack Strength, Constitution, Wisdom or Charisma saves. At +9 to +14, it shrugs off most control spells. Banishment (Charisma +9) fails only about 35% of the time against DC 17.

Take away the sky (2024). A flying storm giant hovering 25 feet up is out of reach of most melee characters. Fight it under a low ceiling, in a cave or inside a building, where flight barely matters and walls block its 500-foot lines of sight. If the fight is outdoors, the melee characters should switch to thrown weapons or ranged options rather than waiting for it to land.

Talk first. It has Intelligence 16, Wisdom 18 or 20, and a good alignment. With Arcana +8 and History +8, it is a natural sage. A party that negotiates may get an ally or a quest instead of a fight.

Storm Giant Encounter Ideas

The concentration watch. A storm giant is holding back a hurricane over a coastal town with Control Weather, which needs concentration for up to 8 hours. Sahuagin raiders know that if they break its concentration the storm hits the town. The party's job is to protect the giant for one night, which turns a CR 13 creature into the thing everyone else is attacking.

The drowned oracle. The party needs an answer only a storm giant's knowledge can give. It lives in a sunken temple. The 2014 giant offers Water Breathing to the party for 24 hours and asks a price: recover something from a kraken's territory. The 2024 giant can't provide water breathing, so the party has to arrange their own way down first.

The misjudged party. A storm giant believes the party is responsible for a crime one of their patrons committed. It attacks from a storm cloud, using Thunderbolts on whoever looks like the leader, and stops to ask questions only after it's taken damage. Win the argument, not the fight.

When a storm giant becomes a recurring ally or enemy, Loreify's session notes keep a record of what it promised and what the party owes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a storm giant in 5e?

A storm giant is CR 13 and worth 10,000 XP in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. It has AC 16, 230 hit points and Strength 29.

Can storm giants fly in 5e?

Only in the 2024 rules, which give it a 25-foot fly speed with hover. The 2014 storm giant walks and swims at 50 feet but has no fly speed.

How much damage does a storm giant's lightning do?

The 2014 Lightning Strike deals 54 (12d8) lightning damage in a 10-foot radius, DC 17 Dexterity save for half. The 2024 Lightning Storm deals 55 (10d10) in a 10-foot-radius, 40-foot-high cylinder, DC 18. Both recharge on a 5 or 6 and reach any point it can see within 500 feet.

What spells can a storm giant cast?

In 2014: Detect Magic, Feather Fall, Levitate and Light at will, plus Control Weather and Water Breathing three times a day each (Charisma, DC 17). In 2024: Detect Magic and Light at will and Control Weather once a day (Wisdom, DC 18).

Is a storm giant good or evil?

Storm giants are chaotic good in both editions. They are often allies, patrons or sources of knowledge, and a fight with one usually needs a misunderstanding, a curse or a conflict of interests behind it.

What is a storm giant immune to?

Storm giants are immune to lightning and thunder damage and resistant to cold in both editions. They have no condition immunities.

Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.