A beam of crackling, blue energy lances out toward a creature within range, forming a sustained arc of lightning between you and the target. Make a spell attack against that creature. On a hit, the target takes 1d12 lightning damage and the target cannot move further away from you for the duration of the spell. If you do not hit a creature, the spell immediately ends. On a critical hit, a target is dazed until the spell ends.

For the duration, you can use your action on subsequent turns to automatically deal 1d12 lightning damage to a target you initially hit with the spell. The spell ends automatically if you use your action to do anything else.

Cantrip Scaling. The spell can target more creatures within range when you reach higher levels: up to two creatures at 5th level, up to three creatures at 11th level, and up to four creatures at 17th level. All additional targets must be adjacent to at least one other target of the spell when you cast it. All targets you hit on the initial attack takes damage on subsequent turns when you use an action to maintain the spell.