How to Get the Cloudstrike Exotic Sniper Rifle in Destiny 2

The Cloudstrike is an incredibly powerful arc exotic sniper rifle in Destiny 2 that can unleash lightning storms on enemies. With the right perks and mods, it’s a top-tier choice for PvE and PvP activities. This guide will walk you through all the steps needed to acquire the Cloudstrike in Destiny 2.

Key Takeaways:

• Cloudstrike is an arc exotic sniper rifle obtained as a random drop from Empire Hunts on Europa.
• To unlock Empire Hunts, players need to complete the Beyond Light campaign and finish Variks’ sabotage missions.
• The drop chance for Cloudstrike increases at higher Empire Hunt difficulties.
• The weapon has unique perks like Mortal Polarity and Stormbringer that cause lightning strikes.
• Completing the catalyst objectives gives it enhanced stats and the Triple Tap perk.

Unlocking Empire Hunts to Farm for Cloudstrike

The only way to get the Cloudstrike exotic sniper rifle is as a random drop from the Empire Hunts activity on Europa. However, these hunts don’t unlock until later in the Beyond Light campaign. Here are the steps to make Empire Hunts available:

• Own the Beyond Light expansion and complete the “Reclaiming Europa” questline. This finishes the main story campaign.
• Finish the “Empire’s Fall” post-campaign quest from Variks. This unlocks the ability to replay story missions.
• Replay and beat the “Dark Priestess” campaign mission. This unlocks the first Empire Hunt.
• Complete sabotage missions for Variks until he offers the quest “Europan Explorer II.” This enables adjusting the difficulty and drop rates for Empire Hunts.

Once you finish all that, Empire Hunts will become selectable from Variks in the Charon’s Crossing area. The higher the difficulty, the better chance of the Cloudstrike dropping.

Farming Empire Hunts on Europa for the Cloudstrike

With Empire Hunts unlocked, it’s time to repeatedly run them until the Cloudstrike sniper rifle finally drops. Here are some tips for efficiently farming Empire Hunts:

• Focus on the Technocrat, Warrior, and Dark Priestess hunts since they can drop Cloudstrike.
• Run them on Master or Grandmaster difficulty for the best exotic drop chances.
• Use Destiny Item Manager to quickly switch gear between runs.
• Equip anti-champion and arc mods to quickly burn through enemies.
• Team up with others to speed up completion times. Call out champion spawns.
• Take advantage of elemental burn modifiers when available for fast clears.
• Use Finest Matterweaves to generate enhancement cores from boss kills.

The Cloudstrike has around a 5% drop chance on Master. It may take dozens of runs before finally getting it as a random post-activity reward. Don’t get discouraged! Keep at it and eventually you’ll hear that exotic engram drop sound.

Cloudstrike’s Unique Perks and Capabilities

The Cloudstrike lives up to its name with some fitting storm-themed perks:

• Mortal Polarity – Precision final blows create an arc bolt at the target’s location, chaining damage to nearby enemies.
• Stormbringer – Rapid precision hits summon a damaging lightning storm.

It also comes with these great stats:

• High impact, range, and aim assist for consistent headshots.
• Fast reload and swap speeds enhanced by snapshot sights.
• Decent stability and handling.

The catalyst boosts handling and adds Triple Tap for ammo return on rapid precision hits. Overall, Cloudstrike competes with the best exotic snipers for PvE and PvP.

Recommended Perks and Mods

While its curated roll is already great, you can build around Cloudstrike’s strengths using perks and armor mods:

• Snapshot Sights for faster ADS
• Vorpal Weapon to increase boss DPS
• Boss Spec or Major Spec mods to push damage vs tougher enemies
• Ammo Finder, Scavenger, and Reserves mods to keep your ammo stocked
• Sprint Grip for snapshotting out of sprints
• Freehand Grip for enhanced accuracy when firing from the hip
• Targeting Adjuster for stickier aim assist
• Thunder Coil to amp up arc melee damage

Take advantage of seasonal artifact mods like Particle Deconstruction too. The Cloudstrike thrives with the right supplemental perks and mods to maximize its add clearing and single target damage.

Is the Grind for Cloudstrike Worth It?

Absolutely! Once you finally get Cloudstrike to drop, all that farming will feel worthwhile. Its potent mix of high damage and AoE clear from the lightning storms make it a top-tier pick for all PvE content. It’s also strong in PvP with the ability to shut down supers and wipe teams clustered on objectives. The grind may be long, but the power you wield with Cloudstrike is worth it.

FAQ

How do I increase the drop rate for Cloudstrike?

Setting the Empire Hunt difficulty to Master or Grandmaster drastically raises the chances for Cloudstrike to drop. It may take many runs, but the drop rate does go up at those high difficulties.

Does Cloudstrike work against raid bosses?

Yes, precision hits will activate its lightning storm perk against raid bosses and do increased damage. Paired with sniper rifle damage buffs, it can be very effective.

What’s the best subclass to use with Cloudstrike in PvE?

Arc subclasses nicely complement Cloudstrike’s storm theme. Middle tree Arcstrider with Raiden Flux maximizes its damage output. Bottom tree Stormcaller has great synergy too.

Is Cloudstrike good in PvP?

With snapshot sights and high aim assist, it can be extremely potent in PvP. Team wiping lightning storms and super shutdowns are possible. Just be wary of flinch.

Conclusion

The unique Cloudstrike sniper rifle is well worth the effort needed to acquire it. Completing Beyond Light and grinding Empire Hunts will eventually reward Guardians with this exotic beast. Making enemies vanish in lightning storms never gets old. Cloudstrike adds a fresh and powerful option to your arsenal for all content. Brave the grind, and you too can harness the storm with this amazing weapon.