Bungie has brought back one of the most popular weapons from Destiny 1 to Destiny 2: The Thunderlord. Our author Robert takes a closer look at the Arc weapon.
Here’s how to obtain the exotic machine gun Thunderlord: Before you can get your hands on this beauty, you must complete a multi-part quest line that leads you to a familiar area from Destiny 1. In fact, observant players may notice interesting parallels to the first gameplay demo ever presented at E3 2013.
The quest line for the Thunderlord requires only a power level of 200, so you can pick up the weapon relatively early in your Destiny 2 career. It is worth it, as the Thunderlord is a very strong and, above all, fun weapon.
These are the special features of the Thunderlord: The exotic machine gun resides in the heavy weapon slot and deals Arc damage. Special and heavy weapons are intended for the big enemy bosses, hence the ammunition used for them is quite limited.
However, the Thunderlord can be ideally used for clearing large groups of enemies AND for dealing massive damage to boss enemies. The “guilt” lies in the specific properties of the weapon:
- Damage to enemies causes chain lightning damage, with killed enemies causing lightning to rain down from the sky
- Holding the trigger continuously increases the precision and rate of fire of the Thunderlord
The catch: Even shots on the shields of Vex Hydras or other armored enemies trigger the lightning and deal damage accordingly. So, you can send even large groups of enemies to their doom with single shots, while you melt down boss enemies with sustained fire.
Additionally, the Thunderlord comes with the perk Frenzy, which grants you faster reloads after a kill.
This is how the Thunderlord performs in combat against AI aliens
The Thunderlord is like Thor on steroids: I tried the Thunderlord in a Nightfall strike and didn’t want to put the weapon down. The biggest drawback: You simply can’t find enough ammunition for it. Whether small enemies in groups or big bosses, the machine gun shreds everything into its components.
I couldn’t get enough of the lightning strikes hitting around me. Early players have already reported that the time of cluster bombs in the Last Wish raid is over and Riven will likely have to deal with six barbarians in the future, who throw lightning around.
The high damage output and the versatility of the weapon against both small and large enemies make the Thunderlord one of the best weapons you can currently find and use in combat against aliens. But how does the weapon perform in the Crucible?
This is how the Thunderlord performs against other Guardians in the Crucible
This is how quickly the Thunderlord eliminates enemy Guardians: Those who take the Thunderlord into the Crucible and can grab the heavy ammunition will be rewarded with minutes of fun at best, as the following video shows:
The optimal TTK is five critical hits in 0.51 seconds. If you only land body shots, you need 8 shots of ammunition and 0.8 seconds. Critical hits deal 41, body shots deal 30 damage points.
This is how much ammunition you carry with the Thunderlord in PvP: If you pick up heavy ammunition directly from the “machine,” you get 51 shots. If an enemy leaves heavy ammunition after their death, it’s still 34 bullets.
If you have good aim, you can therefore grill up to 10 enemies with the Thunderlord. If they are standing close together, you can even get more through chain damage. Since you can reasonably often come across heavy ammunition during the course of a match, the Thunderlord is a top weapon for the Crucible.
Conclusion: Take the Thunderlord with you and let the lightning rain!
The Thunderlord is strong in PvE and PvP: The Thunderlord deals devastating damage in all game modes and is suitable for both clearing enemy groups and working on boss enemies. This great strength is also showcased by the heavy machine gun in Gambit mode!
Currently, I believe the Thunderlord receives a bit too much ammunition in the Crucible. 30-40 shots would suffice in my opinion, given the frequency of heavy ammunition. Whether Bungie will make adjustments is unknown. Until then, you can have a blast!
Will there soon be more machine guns? With the first annual pass content “Black Armory,” more machine guns are expected to come to Destiny 2. I’m curious to see if we will see different types of MGs.
Have you already tried the Thunderlord? How do you like it? Let us know in the comments!
