Tempest Eye — Gathering Storm (Arc Hunter)
Anchor: Raiju's Harness · Subclass: Arcstrider · Role: Precision-sniper Gathering-Storm uptime — Cloudstrike floods Bolt Charge + Arc-debuffed kills refund the Super — dual-exotic with Cloudstrike Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Built 2026-06-27
Scope in, drop a precision kill, watch the lightning chain. Every headshot dumps Bolt Charge and a Mortal Polarity strike; jolt the pack and every body you mow down refunds Gathering Storm energy straight back to you. Cloudstrike is the engine, Raiju's Harness is the flywheel — you refill the Super from the scope, then throw the javelin to jolt the whole room and do it again.
Loadout
| Slot | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Super |  Gathering Storm | Mandatory — Raiju's  Mobius Conduit only fires on this cast. The javelin's eruption jolts the room + Amplifies the fireteam, and its lightning refunds up to ~50% Super off Arc-debuffed kills. |
| Class ability |  Marksman's Dodge | Reloads Cloudstrike on demand (weapon-rotation friendly) and keeps you on the scope. (Ascension draws on the same class energy — manage both.) |
| Melee | Flex (Combination Blow) | Non-load-bearing for a ranged build; Combination Blow for between-cast sustain if a pack closes on you. |
| Grenade | Arc grenade (Flux / Pulse) | With  Spark of Shock it's your ranged jolt applicator — keeps the pack Arc-debuffed so Raiju's refund and Dielectric stay live without melee. |
| Aspect 1 |  Flow State | Defeating a jolted target → Amplified (faster Cloudstrike reload/handling, minor DR). Holds Amplified so Spark of Beacons + Amplitude stay online. |
| Aspect 2 |  Ascension | Airborne, spend class energy → an Arc burst that jolts a pack and Amplifies you + allies. The on-demand ranged jolt button — no melee needed. 9.7.0: counts as a class ability and scales with Class >100. |
Spark of Ions kill a Jolted / Bolt-Charge target → Ionic Trace
Spark of Discharge Arc weapon kills → Ionic Trace; collecting one → a Bolt Charge stack- Spark of Shock Arc grenades jolt — your ranged applicator
Spark of Beacons Amplified Arc Special/Power kills → blinding explosion — turns Cloudstrike kills into CC- Spark of Amplitude (rapid kills while Amplified → Orb of Power → Super). *(Swap Amplitude → Spark of Resistance if you're getting rushed.)
Exotic — Raiju's Harness (Chest) + Cloudstrike (Energy)
Dual-exotic (one armour + one weapon is legal). Raiju's Harness — Mobius Conduit: casting Gathering Storm releases lightning at nearby enemies (650 dmg) that Jolts them, and Amplifies you and nearby allies; its lightning strikes then refund up to ~50% Super energy off Arc-debuffed hits/kills, and Arc-debuffed kills grant additional Gathering Storm energy (1% / 2.5% / 4% for Minors / Elites / Minibosses+). 
Cloudstrike (Arc Special Sniper, 140 RPM) — Mortal Polarity: precision kills summon a lightning strike (588 [300] dmg, 5 m) and grant x5 Bolt Charge; Stormbringer: 3 precision hits within 6 s grant +x1 Bolt Charge, a 588 strike, then a 353 spread-X storm. The catalyst adds 
Triple Tap (3 precision hits in 2 s refill a round) + 25 handling.
The two exotics share one currency: jolted, Arc-debuffed bodies. Cloudstrike manufactures the kills and the Bolt Charge; the subclass jolts the pack; Raiju's converts those jolted kills back into Super. You never have to shoot the Super to recharge it.
Why this works (the mechanics)
- Cloudstrike is a Bolt-Charge firehose. Every precision kill is +x5 Bolt Charge and a free lightning strike; Stormbringer stacks more on rapid headshots. Spark of Discharge turns those Arc kills into Ionic Traces, and collecting a trace grants another Bolt Charge stack — so the gun self-sustains its own Bolt Charge to max, then discharges a bolt into the pack (which Spark of Ions converts back into another trace). A precision sniper that loops its own Arc economy.
- Jolt is the bridge to the Super. Raiju's only refunds Super off Arc-debuffed (jolted) kills. Spark of Shock (grenade), Ascension (burst), and Elemental Orbs: Arc (artifact) jolt the pack at range; once everything's jolted, every Cloudstrike kill pays Gathering Storm energy back (1/2.5/4%) and triggers Dielectric (Bolt Charge + Orb + heal). The Super bar climbs while you're just sniping.
- The cast pays itself back. Throw Gathering Storm and Mobius Conduit jolts the entire room (650) + Amplifies the fireteam; during the storm its lightning refunds up to ~50% Super off the Arc-debuffed kills it's creating. In dense content you recast far sooner than a stock Gathering Storm Hunter — the build's identity is recast cadence, not one big throw.
- Amplified is near-permanent, and it does work. Flow State re-Amplifies you on each jolted kill (faster Cloudstrike reload/handling — a real sniper QoL — plus minor DR). While Amplified, Spark of Beacons makes Cloudstrike kills blind a 7.5 m radius (room CC from a sniper) and
Spark of Amplitude drops Orbs that feed the Super on top of Raiju's refund. - Orbs stack a second Super-refund stream. Precision Equity (artifact) builds a big Orb off your headshots, Elemental Orbs: Arc spawns jolting Arc Orbs, Spark of Amplitude makes Orbs while Amplified — every Orb you pick up is more Super, layered on the jolted-kill refund. Two independent Super economies running off the same kills.
Weapons
- Energy: Cloudstrike (Exotic Arc Sniper) — the engine. Precision kills drive Bolt Charge, Ionic Traces, and the lightning; never swap it off in the loop. Run the catalyst (Triple Tap) so a 3-headshot string refills itself.
- Kinetic: flex Primary — a precision Kinetic primary for ad-clear and Barrier archetype coverage; Reload at Range and Precision Equity (artifact) both reward a precision Kinetic, so a Scout/Pulse/Hand Cannon doubles as Orb + reload fodder.
- Heavy: a Sword — carries the artifact's
Riposte (guard → Unstoppable stun). An Arc sword also keeps Spark of Discharge / Amplitude fed when a champion or boss walks into melee. - Champions (Anti-Champion 2.0): Unstoppable — Riposte (guard the sword); Overload — jolt (Ascension / Spark of Shock grenade / Elemental Orbs: Arc / the cast) stuns Overload in 9.7.0, and you jolt everything; Barrier — your Barrier-frame Kinetic primary (stuns are intrinsic to weapon archetypes now). Encrypted Data Disk has no Overload mod, so the jolt economy is deliberately doing that job.
Stats & archetypes
Super → Weapons → Class → dump Health / Melee / Grenade. Super is the identity — a high Super stat multiplies every Raiju refund and every Orb's contribution, so you recast faster. Weapons second because this is a precision sniper: it buys Cloudstrike damage + Special reserves. Class third to keep Marksman's Dodge (Cloudstrike reload) and Ascension cycling.
- Archetypes: Powerhouse (Weapons / Super) is the clean fit for a weapon-forward Super engine; Colossus (Super / Health) if you want a tankier recast platform; Paragon as a Super-heavy alt.
- Mods: Ashes to Assets ×2 (Super from ability final blows — converts the jolted-kill flood directly into Super), Hands-On (small Super top-up on melee kills), Arc Weapon Surge ×2 (Cloudstrike damage), an Arc Loader + Special Ammo Finder to keep the sniper fed. The Orbs you flood (Precision Equity, Spark of Amplitude, Elemental Orbs: Arc) passively refund Super on pickup.
Set bonus (none required)
No set is needed — the dual-exotic + Cloudstrike + the artifact carry the whole loop. On-theme garnish if you happen to have it: Luminopotent 4pc (jolt kills / kills vs jolted → Ionic Traces) uncaps the trace flood, which means more Bolt Charge via Spark of Discharge; 2pc Ionic Overclock is a freebie if you ever run a Fusion/LFR while Amplified. Neither moves the core numbers — stats and the exotics do.
Mod selection (masterworked — full allocation)
| Piece | Mod · cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Helmet (9/10) | Ashes to Assets 3e | Gain bonus Super energy on grenade kills. |
| Ashes to Assets 3e | Gain bonus Super energy on grenade kills. | |
| Hands-On 3e | Gain bonus Super energy on melee kills. | |
| Arms (6/10) | Arc Loader 1e | Increases reload speed of Arc weapons. |
| Utility Kickstart 3e fill | When your class ability energy is fully expended, your Armor Charge is consumed and you gain class ability energy for each Armor Charge used. | |
| Momentum Transfer 2e fill | Causing damage with a grenade reduces your melee cooldown. | |
| Chest (5/10) | Arc Resistance 1e fill | Reduces incoming Arc damage from combatants. |
| Concussive Dampener 3e fill | Reduces incoming area-of-effect damage from combatants. | |
| Sniper Damage Resistance 1e fill | Reduces incoming damage from combatants that are at long range. | |
| Legs (3/10) | Arc Weapon Surge 1e | Your Arc weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time. |
| Arc Weapon Surge 1e | Your Arc weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time. | |
| Arc Weapon Surge 1e fill | Your Arc weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time. | |
| Class Item (4/10) | Reaper 1e fill | Shortly after using your class ability, your next weapon final blow spawns an Orb of Power. |
| Bomber 1e fill | Reduces grenade cooldown when using your class ability. | |
| Powerful Attraction 2e fill | Automatically collects nearby Orbs of Power when you activate your class ability. |
All 15 sockets used, 10 energy per masterworked piece; costs from the manifest. Core mods are the build's engine; fill mods are strong defaults — swap freely (chest resists should match the activity's damage types). Flex/loadout-dependent: Spark of Amplitude; Elemental Orbs: Arc) passively refund Super on pickup.
Artifact — Encrypted Data Disk
Picks (2/3/2): 
Reload at Range + Riposte — 
Dielectric + 
Precision Equity + 
Blinding Jolts — 
Elemental Orbs: Arc + 
Sniper's Meditation
This artifact reads like it was printed for a Cloudstrike build — its theme is literally Arc + Sniper Rifle, and every tier feeds the loop:
- Reload at Range — Cloudstrike (and your Kinetic primary) precision hits stack a reload bonus; a sniper's biggest QoL.
- Riposte — guard the Sword → Unstoppable stun. The one champion archetype the subclass jolt doesn't cover.
- Dielectric — defeating Arc-debuffed targets → Bolt Charge; rapid kills → an Orb + a small heal. Because you jolt the pack, every Cloudstrike kill triggers it — Bolt Charge, Orbs (→ Super), and self-healing in one perk.
- Precision Equity — precision final blows build toward a large Orb that also grants bonus weapon damage on pickup. A sniper's headshots are the ideal feed; that Orb is more Super and a Cloudstrike damage buff.
- Blinding Jolts — final blows on jolted combatants blind nearby enemies. Stacks with Spark of Beacons for near-constant room blind — survivability for a stationary sniper.
- Elemental Orbs: Arc — Arc kills spawn an Arc Orb that jolts what it hits. A ranged jolt-and-Orb source that doesn't need a grenade or Ascension — keeps the field Arc-debuffed for Raiju's refund between casts.
- Sniper's Meditation — Sniper hits stack Sniper damage + stability + reload. It directly buffs the Cloudstrike centerpiece, ramping its precision DPS the longer you hold the lane.
(Overload is intentionally not an artifact mod here — jolt handles it. If an activity throws Barrier-heavy waves, lean on the Kinetic primary's archetype.)
Loop
- Scope in. Cloudstrike precision kills → +x5 Bolt Charge each + a Mortal Polarity strike; 3 headshots in 6 s adds the Stormbringer storm. Spark of Discharge turns the Arc kills into Ionic Traces; collecting each → +1 Bolt Charge → Bolt Charge maxes and discharges → Spark of Ions makes another trace. The gun loops itself.
- Jolt the pack — Spark of Shock grenade, an Ascension burst, or an Elemental Orbs: Arc orb. Now every body is Arc-debuffed: each kill refunds Gathering Storm energy (Raiju), and triggers Dielectric (Bolt Charge + Orb + heal), Spark of Ions (trace), and Precision Equity (big Orb). The Super bar climbs without you firing at it.
- Hold Amplified. Flow State re-Amplifies you on every jolted kill → Spark of Beacons makes Cloudstrike kills blind 7.5 m packs (CC) and Spark of Amplitude drops Orbs (→ Super).
- Throw Gathering Storm into the pack → Mobius Conduit jolts the whole room (650) + Amplifies the fireteam; storm lightning refunds up to ~50% Super off the Arc-debuffed kills. You're recasting well before a stock Gathering Storm Hunter.
- Champion? Unstoppable → guard the Sword (Riposte). Overload → it's already jolted. Barrier → Kinetic primary. Blinding Jolts blinds the rest off the jolted kills.
Notes
- Premise adapted — slot & super. Raiju's Harness is Chest armor (confirmed via exotics.md), and Mobius Conduit boosts Gathering Storm specifically — it does nothing for Arc Staff. The brief's "extends the Arc Super" is off: Mobius Conduit does not extend duration; it adds a jolting lightning nova + team Amplify on cast and refunds Super energy from Arc-debuffed kills. The "damage resistance" is indirect — it grants Amplified (you + allies), which carries a small inherent PvE DR, not a dedicated DR perk.
- Premise adapted — Ionic Traces. Cloudstrike itself does not generate Ionic Traces; Mortal Polarity grants a lightning strike + x5 Bolt Charge. The traces come from the
fragments — Spark of Discharge (Arc weapon kills → trace; collecting one → Bolt Charge) and Spark of Ions (jolted / Bolt-Charge kills → trace, 10 s CD) — seeded by Cloudstrike's Arc precision kills and the Bolt Charge it floods. - Clarity numbers (`clarity_lookup.py`): Cloudstrike Mortal Polarity = 588 [300] dmg in 5 m + x5 Bolt Charge per precision kill; Stormbringer (3 precision hits / 6 s) = +x1 Bolt Charge, a 588 strike, then a 353 spread-X storm; catalyst Triple Tap refills 1 round on 3 precision hits in 2 s, +25 handling. Raiju Mobius Conduit = 650 on-cast lightning, up to ~50% Super refund off Arc-debuffed lightning hits/kills, and Arc-debuffed kills grant 1% / 2.5% / 4% Gathering Storm energy (Minor / Elite / Miniboss+). Spark of Beacons blind radius = 7.5 m; Spark of Discharge trace progress = 34% / 67% / 100% by rank; Spark of Ions has a 10 s cooldown.
- Verify-flags. The Clarity text marks Raiju's ~50% Super refund as inconsistent — it reliably procs off Jolted kills but can drop if you kill too fast after the Jolt tick; treat it as strong-but-not-guaranteed. Amplified's exact DR%, Bolt Charge's max/discharge threshold, Flow State, and the super's own values aren't Clarity-covered — confirm in-game.
- Champions (Anti-Champion 2.0): Unstoppable via Riposte (run a Sword in Heavy); Overload via jolt (jolt stuns Overload in 9.7.0 — Ascension / Spark of Shock / Elemental Orbs: Arc / the cast); Barrier via a Barrier-frame Kinetic primary (archetype stuns). Encrypted Data Disk carries no Overload mod by design — the jolt economy is the Overload answer, so always bring an archetype source for Barrier.
- Distinction vs the existing Raiju build (Tempest Caller). That one is a melee/support Tablet-of-Ruin build (Tempest Strike + Combination Blow, team-Amplify focus). Tempest Eye is the dual-exotic, ranged variant: Cloudstrike is the Bolt-Charge/Super engine, Encrypted Data Disk's Arc + Sniper package buffs the gun, and you refill Gathering Storm from the scope instead of the punch.