Destiny 2 Cloudstrike Exotic Guide – How To Get The Thunderlord-Like Sniper Rifle

The Deep Stone Crypt raid introduction in Destiny 2’s Beyond Light expansion has made several powerful Exotic weapons accessible, including the highly sought-after Cloudstrike sniper rifle. This unique weapon stands out with its lightning strike capability that can devastate groups of enemies when you land precision hits.

While Cloudstrike technically drops randomly from Empire Hunt activities on Europa, you cannot simply jump into farming attempts. The weapon’s acquisition path requires completing specific prerequisite missions and bounties that unlock your eligibility for the random drop. Understanding this multi-step process is crucial for efficiently adding this exceptional sniper rifle to your arsenal.

As you pursue Cloudstrike, consider complementing your loadout with other powerful Europa Exotics. Our comprehensive Weapons Unlock guide provides detailed strategies for maximizing your combat effectiveness during these challenging activities.

Begin your Cloudstrike journey by visiting the Exo Stranger to acquire the ‘A Hard Rain Falls’ story mission. This narrative content reflects the dynamic world changes resulting from the Deep Stone Crypt raid completion. The destruction of the orbital platform during the raid has created weekly ‘eclipsed’ zones across Europa’s landscape.

Each week, a specific area of Europa becomes eclipsed, significantly increasing Fallen and Darkness presence while altering zone mechanics. You can identify the current eclipsed zone by examining the Europa Director map, where visual indicators highlight the affected region.

To efficiently complete ‘A Hard Rain Falls,’ focus your efforts within the eclipsed territory. Engage in Public Events, patrols, and enemy elimination activities, but prioritize Heroic Public Events and powerful enemies with orange or yellow health bars for maximum mission progress. Most players can finish this mission within 45-60 minutes by concentrating on 2-3 Heroic Public Events while clearing surrounding high-value targets.

Completing Variks’ sabotage bounties requires strategic preparation and resource management.

After finishing ‘A Hard Rain Falls,’ return to Variks to access the newly available Sabotage bounties. The Europan Explorer I and II bounties represent your gateway to Cloudstrike eligibility, with the second bounty only unlocking upon completion of the first.

Resource Preparation: Ensure you have sufficient Herealways Pieces before beginning—10 for Europan Explorer I, 20 for Europan Explorer II, and potentially 20 more for Empire Hunt access if you’ve completed Variks’ other upgrades. Farm additional Herealways Pieces through Lost Sector completions, High-Value Target eliminations, and Public Event victories across Europa.

Europan Explorer I requires eliminating 50 enemies with Kinetic weapons, 50 with Energy weapons, and 25 with Heavy weapons. Optimize this process by rotating between weapon types systematically rather than focusing on one category at a time.

Europan Explorer II tasks you with defeating 30 powerful enemies within Empire Hunts. Critical strategy: avoid eliminating major bosses until you’ve cleared all lesser minions in each encounter area. This prevents missing valuable powerful enemy spawns that contribute to bounty completion.

Mission selection significantly impacts efficiency—avoid ‘The Warrior’ Empire Hunt when pursuing single-run completion, as it typically spawns only 29 powerful enemies, potentially forcing a second run. For optimal class synergy during these activities, consult our detailed Class Guide for specialized loadout recommendations.

With both Europan Explorer bounties completed, you finally unlock the chance to obtain Cloudstrike as a random drop from variable difficulty Empire Hunts. These specialized missions are accessed through the Director interface rather than surface mission banners on Europa.

Drop Rate Optimization: Cloudstrike features a notoriously low drop rate, estimated between 3-5% per completion. Higher difficulty settings may slightly increase your chances, though the exact correlation remains unconfirmed by Bungie.

Variable difficulty Empire Hunts provide your final opportunity to acquire the coveted Cloudstrike sniper rifle.

Strategic farming requires understanding each hunt’s enemy density and mechanics. ‘The Technocrat’ and ‘The Warrior’ typically offer the most efficient clearing potential, though your personal loadout preferences may influence optimal selection.

Common mistakes include rushing through encounters too quickly, which can cause players to miss powerful enemy spawns. Additionally, inadequate preparation of Herealways Pieces can interrupt farming sessions, forcing unnecessary breaks to gather additional resources.

For comprehensive gameplay strategies beyond Cloudstrike acquisition, explore our Complete Guide covering advanced tactics and meta developments.

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