Cloudstrike — Chain Lightning (Hunter)

Centerpiece: Cloudstrike (Sniper Rifle · Special · Arc) · Subclass: Arcstrider · Role: Precision-kill add-clear + Bolt Charge battery Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Updated 2026-06-29

Cloudstrike has never been a single-target gun — it's a chain reaction with a scope. Every precision kill drops a lightning bolt and hands you Bolt Charge, so a sniper that "should" be slow add-clear instead detonates packs and charges an Arc payload on the same headshot. Mask of Bakris turns each Shift into a stacking Arc damage buff, the Bolt Charge spends itself into more lightning, and the whole loop runs off the one verb the gun already wants: hit heads.

The weapon

Mortal Polarity (exotic intrinsic, verbatim):

Precision final blows generate a lightning bolt at the target's location and grant a moderate amount of Bolt Charge.

Cloudstrike Catalyst — Triple Tap (verbatim):

Rapidly landing precision hits will return one round to the magazine.

What it does: a precision kill — not just a hit — spawns a lightning bolt at the corpse, a wide Arc AoE that chains into the surrounding pack and clears it, which is why Cloudstrike punches far above its single-shot weight against adds. The same kill deposits a moderate chunk of Bolt Charge on you, so the gun doubles as a passive Arc battery: stacks build with zero ability input. Triple Tap, from the catalyst, makes the precision loop self-sustaining — rapid headshots refund rounds to the magazine, so a dense room is one long string of kills without a reload break. It is a 140-RPM Arc Sniper on the Special bench, so it shares an ammo economy with your Heavy.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Subclass	Arcstrider	Arc element matches the gun; Bolt Charge, amplified and Jolt are the native verbs Mortal Polarity feeds.
Super	Gathering Storm	Throw-and-jolt Arc Staff sticks a pack and jolts it, so your lightning bolts chain off pre-jolted targets — and it satisfies Bakris's "Arc Super equipped" condition.
Class ability	Marksman's Dodge	Instant weapon reload tops Cloudstrike between packs and triggers the Bakris Shift's Arc damage stack — the dodge is the damage button.
Movement	Strafe Jump	Directional mid-air control to re-line a follow-up headshot after a Shift repositions you into the next pack.
Melee	Combination Blow (or Tempest Strike)	Combo Blow for amplified + heal sustain; Tempest Strike if you want slide-jolt plus a Bolt Charge stack on jolted kills.
Grenade	Flux Grenade / Pulse Grenade	Cheap jolt and chip; Spark of Shock would make any Arc grenade jolt to pre-seed the bolt's chain (swap in if you free a fragment slot).
Aspect 1	Flow State	Defeating a jolted target makes you amplified; while amplified your dodge recharges faster and reload is greatly increased — faster dodge means more Bakris stacks and more reloads.
Aspect 2	Lethal Current	After dodging, the next melee jolts, drops an aftershock, and blinds jolted targets — and you dodge constantly, so it's near-free crowd control that seeds chains.
Fragments	Spark of Ions · Discharge · Beacons · Amplitude	Two Ionic-Trace sources off the headshot loop, plus a blinding explosion (or Orb) on amplified Arc Special kills.
Exotic armour	Mask of Bakris (Helmet)	Shift stacks a flat Arc damage bonus straight onto Cloudstrike, and Cloudstrike kills refund the Shift — the buff is uptimed by the gun it buffs.
Weapons	Anti-Champion Primary + Arc Heavy	A Primary whose archetype covers the champions Cloudstrike can't, and an Arc MG/Linear for sustained single-target where the kill-gated bolt can't help.

Why it works (the mechanics)

• One input, four payouts. A precision kill with Cloudstrike (a) drops a lightning bolt that clears the pack, (b) grants a moderate Bolt Charge, (c) counts as an Arc weapon final blow for Spark of Discharge (Ionic Trace), and (d) refunds the Bakris Shift via Light Shift's final-blow clause. You aim at heads; the kit does the rest with no extra button.
• The Shift is the damage button. Marksman's Dodge reloads Cloudstrike and procs Light Shift's stacking Arc bonus in one press. Flow State makes that dodge return faster while amplified, and Cloudstrike's own jolted kills keep you amplified. Dodge → buffed shot → kill → refund dodge → repeat, with the buff permanently uptimed by the gun it buffs.
• Bolt Charge is a free second damage stream. Mortal Polarity deposits Bolt Charge per precision kill with no ability spend, and Spark of Ions converts jolted-kills and Bolt-Charge lightning kills into Ionic Traces (on a 10-second internal cooldown). Traces feed grenade, melee and class energy, so the gun effectively reloads your abilities while it clears the room.
• Everything is pre-jolted before the bolt lands. Lethal Current (dodge-melee jolt + blind) and Gathering Storm both apply Jolt, so Cloudstrike's bolt detonates into a field of already-jolted targets. Spark of Beacons then adds a blinding explosion on every amplified Arc Special final blow — so the same headshot clears, jolts, blinds, and charges.
• The catalyst keeps you in the scope. Triple Tap refunds rounds on rapid precision hits, so a dense room becomes one uninterrupted chain of headshots — exactly the cadence Mortal Polarity (final blows) and Bakris's stack-uptime both want. Reload breaks are the only thing that drops the loop, and the catalyst removes them.
• The artifact closes the headshot loop. Trace Evidence mints Ionic Traces from rapid precision hits on jolted or blinded targets — the build's exact firing pattern — while Retinal Burn and Arc Compounding turn each headshot into Blind and then bonus Arc damage against the blinded pack the bolt is about to hit.

Stats & mods

Weapons 200 → Class → Health. Weapons scales Cloudstrike's PvE damage on top of the Bakris stack and the Arc surges; Class maxes Marksman's Dodge regen — the build's heartbeat — and Health backs survivability on the sniper's exposed sightlines. Archetype lean: chase Weapons/Class armour pieces; dump the Grenade stat, since grenades here are a utility jolt rather than a damage source.

Mods:

• Boots: Sniper Rifle Scavenger + Sniper Rifle Reserves — Special ammo is the only real constraint on a kill-gated gun, so keep reserves deep.
• Arms: Sniper Rifle Loader + Targeting mod — faster reload backs Triple Tap, and target acquisition tightens snap headshots.
• Chest: Concussive Dampener / resist mods — the sniper holds long sightlines, so a damage-resist buffer covers the exposure.
• Class item: Bomber + Outreach (or Distribution) — convert dodge cadence into ability energy, since the dodge fires constantly.
• Surge: Arc Weapon Surge ×2 on legs — stacks roughly +17% Arc damage straight onto Cloudstrike (and any Arc Heavy), keyed off Armor Charge.
• Anti-Champion: none on armour in this sandbox — champion stun is Anti-Champion 2.0 (weapon-archetype intrinsic). Lean on the Primary/Heavy archetypes below, plus Jolt (Overload behaviour) from Lethal Current/Gathering Storm and Blind from Beacons/Retinal Burn.

Artifact — Slayer Baron Apothecary Satchel

Picks (2/3/2): Tier 1 — Trace Evidence, The Thick Of It. Tier 2 — Retinal Burn, Curative Orbs, Debilitating Wave. Tier 3 — Arc Compounding, Conductive Cosmic Crystal.

• Trace Evidence mints Ionic Traces (and Armor Charge on pickup) from rapid precision hits on Jolt- or Blind-affected targets — that is Cloudstrike's headshot loop, and it feeds the Arc Surge's Armor Charge.
• The Thick Of It grants Armor Charge while surrounded with increased weapon handling — a second Armor Charge source for the surge, plus snappier sniper handling in a pack.
• Retinal Burn spends an Armor Charge on rapid Arc precision hits for a blinding burst — pure synergy with the headshot cadence and a constant Blind supply for Arc Compounding and Spark of Beacons.
• Curative Orbs makes an Orb on the first shield-break and heals off pickups, feeding the amplified/Armor Charge economy and patching survivability.
• Debilitating Wave gives finishers an Arc (Blind) wave — crowd control where Cloudstrike has no bespoke champion stun.
• Arc Compounding + Conductive Cosmic Crystal: Arc sources hit blinded targets harder (the pack Retinal Burn/Beacons create), and Arc abilities bonus-damage Stasis-debuffed targets, covering the Bakris Shift/Gathering Storm overlap.

Where it shines

• Add-dense PvE — strikes, Nightfalls, Onslaught, GM clear phases. The lightning-bolt chain is at its best against packed orange/red bars; one headshot cascades into the pack, and the Bakris Shift's partial cloak plus reposition covers the sniper's weak hipfire between waves.
• Boss/miniboss swap-DPS. Bakris stacks (10/21/33% at x3) + Arc surges + a maxed Weapons stat make Cloudstrike a respectable precision swap option — but the lightning-bolt payload only triggers on kills, so bosses eat the raw sniper, not the chain; bring the Arc Heavy for sustained burst.
• Champion coverage. Cloudstrike's perk text carries no bespoke champion stun (weapon_facts champion = null), and this artifact's only intrinsic breaker (Kinetic Impacts → Unstoppable) needs a Grenade Launcher you aren't running. Stun via Jolt (Overload behaviour) from Lethal Current/Gathering Storm and Blind from Beacons/Retinal Burn, and bring a Primary/Heavy whose Anti-Champion 2.0 archetype covers Barrier and Unstoppable.

Mod selection (masterworked — full allocation)

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: keyed off Armor Charge. - **Anti-Champion:** none on armour in this sandbox — champion stun is Anti-Champion 2.0 (weapon-archetype intrinsic). Lean on the Primary/Heavy archetypes below; plus Jolt (Overload behaviour) from Lethal Current/Gathering Storm; Blind from Beacons/Retinal Burn.