Thunder Poniard

A Thunder Poniard in The Stygian Study.

The Thunder Poniard is the strongest variant of the Static Blade that can be encountered only as a Commander or in NG+. It attacks by charging at the player, or by throwing daggers at them from a distance.

## Behaviour

The Thunder Poniard is a flying melee/ranged hybrid enemy that always try to move towards the player. As the ultimate evolution of the Static Blade, it has an upgraded form of its thrust attack, and a new ranged dagger throw attack. While it's rather slow during normal movement, it will move faster during its thrust attack.

It has a good knockback resistance and cannot get hurt by spikes & environmental damage (water/clouds) if it flies into them.

## Attacks

When attacking the player, the Thunder Poniard will use its thrust attack at close range a lot more often than its ranged one. At medium range, the difference is less pronounced but it will still prefer using its charge.

### Double Thrust Attack

The Thunder Poniard charges its attack by going backward a little, then thrusts forward rapidly over a long distance. Once it stops, it **does the same attack again** but with a much shorter wind up.

The Thunder Poniard accurately aims at the player during both wind up, but the thrusts then follow a linear trajectory.

New compared to the weaker Static Blade's version of the attack, the Thunder Poniard fires 4 lightning balls at the end of each thrust in all 4 diagonal directions.

These lightning balls that travel in a straight line over a short distance are Mid-sized Projectiles that can be countered by a lot of means, like the  Crescendo talent or
 Shield of Thorns
.

They're also **resonant**, which means they can be destroyed by a Spin Kick.

While this attack is relatively easy to dodge, be careful not to be surprised by the second thrust.

A Thunder Poniard's double thrust.
### Dagger Throw

After a long wind up, the Thunder Poniard throws **four red daggers** aimed at the player.

The daggers are fast Mid-sized Projectiles that travel in a straight line, cannot pass through walls and can be countered by a lot of means, such as the  Ivy Canopy talent,
the  Vanguard's Banner relic or
 Freeze Strike
.

The Thunder Poniard aims each dagger separately at the moment of the throw. Keep moving to dodge them all.

A Thunder Poniard throwing daggers.
## Location

Initially, Thunder Poniards can only appear as Commanders.

Once you reach NG+1, they can appear as regular enemies through the use of burdens: each level of the  Burden of Evolution enabled adds a 10% chance for a Shock Edge in The Stygian Study or Pishon Dry Lake to instead spawn as a Thunder Poniard.

## Variants

*Flying Swords are one of the few enemy families to also feature a Void Beast (story based mini-boss) variant.*

## Trivia

 Name in the game files | FlyingSword\_Expert

Eyeballs (Scout • Pupil • Visionary) -
Fire Elementalists (Flamelock • Blazelock • Sollock) -
Skeletons (Skeleton • Mr. Bones • McRib) -
Skeleton Mages (Staffens • Stavens • Stouffles) -
Sword Knights (Soldier • Champion • Royal Knight) -
Spear Maidens (Spear Maiden • Javelin Maiden • Partisan Maiden) -
Flying Axes (Ember Hatchet • Burning Axe • Molten Ono) -
Flying Swords (Static Blade • Shock Edge • **Thunder Poniard**) -
Flying Hammers (Earthen Maul • Rock Crusher • Land Cracker) -
Blob Fish (Blob Fish • Bubbly Fish • Bobble Fish) -
Lamp Ghosts (Lamps • Lights • Beacons) -
Rocket Boxes (Sentry • Defentry • Entry Preventry) -
Skeleton Archers (Skarcher • Skranger • Skranger Danger) -
Lightning Elementalists (Sparkologer • Thundologer • Stormologer) -
Flying Shields (Aqua Brace • Silver Shield • Oceanic Bastion) -
Ice Elementalists (Frosten • Icen • Glacien) -
Mushrooms (Mushboom • Portobellow • Trumpoot) -
Zombies (Risen • Re-Risen • Re-Re-Risen) -
Wolves (Warg • Wargen • Wargenflorgen) -
Wisps (Will'o • Wisp'o • Ore'o) -
Crossbows (Crass Bough • Rude Wood • Wicked Weald) -
Paintings (Doomvas • Doomtrait • Doomscape) -
Mimics (Mimic • Mimicant • Mimicrunch) -
Slugs (Slug • Sluug • Sluuuuuuuuuuug) -
Volcanoes (Ash • Lava • Magma) -
Flying Masks (Blink • Blank • Blonk) -
Fireballs (Charite • Pyrite • Infernite) -
Curse Elementalists (Cursor • Vilificator • Maledictor) -
Flying Skulls (Skubat • Boobat • Skubidydoobidyboobat) -
Axe Knights (Axe Forger • Axe Solder • Axe Welder) -
Void Elementalists (Voidist • Nulltist • Cosmotist) -
Knuts (Wall Knut • Chest Knut • Coco Knut) -
Plants (Weed • Tweed • Threed)