After the Deep Stone Crypt was completed, the floodgates opened in Destiny 2. All manner of new content came tumbling into the game, including the Cloudstrike Exotic Sniper Rifle.
Getting this one involves a bit of a grind, but it’s all quite manageable with some time and effort. The first step is to get access to the Empire Hunts. This will happen after you finish the Beyond Light campaign and get access to missions for the Exo Stranger and Variks. Finish them up and you will then get access to Variks’ Sabotage missions.
You will need to complete the Europa Explorer I and Europa Explorer II missions. These will entail a lot of killing, and you’ll need to go into an Empire Hunt to take on powerful enemies. Make sure you farm them all before ending the hunt, as the bosses will endlessly spawn waves as long as they are alive.
When you have both of those Sabotage missions completed, a new activity will open up called the Weekly Empire Hunt. Running these will give you a chance at getting the Cloudstrike. They come in a range of different difficulties, but this only seems to affect the drop chance of everything except the Cloudstrike.
- Adept – 1180 Power – Rare
- Hero – 1220 Power – Rare
- Legend – 1250 Power – Rare
- Master – 1280 Power – Rare
As such, you should run it at something Power appropriate, then increase the difficulty as your power increases to farm up the other items.
The Cloudstrike is a very interesting weapon, causing Arc energy to impact the ground wherever you kill an enemy or get three precision hits in a row. This does area-of-effect damage, lending good wave clear and follow-up damage to your shots.