The Cloudstrike Exotic Sniper Rifle is a weapon first introduced in the Beyond Light expansion way back when. What makes this sniper unique is its ability to create lightning strikes on the spot where the player landed a precision final blow. Successive quick precision blows create a lightning storm that covers a sizeable area with lightning bolts.
The AoE of this weapon is especially dangerous in PvP where lightning bolts made by the Cloudstrike can potentially destroy a group of close-knit Guardians.
In the past, Cloudstrike stopped synergizing with boss-melting weapons like the Divinity and had issues holding onto its ammo reserves. As of the Season of the Seraph, however, the weapon has seen a couple of changes. Most notably lightning strikes working in tandem with Divinity again and gaining the Triple Tap perk with the Catalyst.
How do you get the Cloudstrike Sniper Rifle in Destiny 2?
The Cloudstrike is a chance reward in Empire Hunts. To access Empire Hunts, you’ll need to progress the Beyond Light campaign on Europa. It is only a rare chance so you could be looking anywhere between 1-5 tries before it drops as a post-mission reward.
Destiny 2 Cloudstrike Weapon Stats
The Cloudstrike is a 140 Rounds Per Minute sniper rifle that does well in the farther end of mid-range engagements. That doesn’t mean that it is unusable at long range. You’ll just have to put in more effort as zoom magnification isn’t that high.
- Impact: 55
- Range: 60
- Stability: 64
- Handling: 61 (can be further upgraded to 86 via Masterwork)
- Reload Speed: 40
- Aim Assitance: 68
- Zoom: 50
- Airborne Effectiveness: 7
- Rounds per Minute: 140
- Magazine: 7
- Barrel perk: Fluted Barrel – Ultra-light barrel that greatly increases handling speed and slightly increases stability.
- Magazine perk: Alloy Magazine – Faster reloads when the magazine is empty.
- 3rd Column Perk: Stormbringer – Rapid precision hits create a lightning storm at the point of impact.
- Stock: Hand-Laid Stock – This weapon is optimized for recoil control as well as stability.
- Intrinsic Trait: Mortal Polarity – Precision final blows generate a lightning bolt at the target’s location.
How to Get the Cloudstrike Catalyst?
If you take a look at the “Exotic Catalysts” page in the Collections tab, you’ll find that the Cloudstrike Catalyst can be found as a random drop in the ritual activities: Vanguard Strikes, Gambit, and the Crucible.
There is no fixed amount as to when it can drop. Just keep taking part in ritual activities as you normally would and it’ll drop eventually.
How to Upgrade Cloudstike in Destiny 2
To unlock Cloudstrike’s catalyst, you’ll need to defeat around 400 targets using this weapon.
Doing so will increase the weapon’s handling to 86. Additionally, the weapon will gain the Triple Tap perk – rapidly landing precision hits will return one round to the magazine.
Destiny 2 Cloudstrike Synergies
While the first thing to come to mind with the Cloudstrike is to combine it with an Arc build, you will find that such a combination will produce ok results. Arc 3.0, for the most part, is specialized in close-range engagement and multi-chain kills. You can build for the weapon by using fragments to produce ionic traces and blinding explosions but you’ll find that the weapon is already good enough on its own.
A better synergy lies with the Stasis Hunter, specifically ones that use Duskfield grenades with the Touch of Winter aspect. The idea is to use grenades to make platforms for you to perch on. It’s a relatively effective early-game tactic for catching enemies off guard. Unfortunately, it starts to fall off as soon as enemies start to figure out where you’re shooting from.
And that’s all you need to know about Cloudstrike and how to unlock its catalyst. Good luck out there, Guardian.
Check out this video from Youtuber gmeiners where he does a deep dive into the damage numbers associated with the Cloudstrike.
