Destiny Xur’s Inventory: Should You Buy Thunderlord?

This week Xur has brought with him the Thunderlord, one of the few exotic Machine Guns, but one that I think is worth investing in.

Firstly, you need to consider that this gun looks, feels, and has the name of something like what you expect Gods to wield. This Machine Gun deals Arc damage, so is really useful when modifiers play to Arc weapon strength, but it’s also got two unique perks that enable it to be viable for both PVE and PVP.

The first perk, Lightning Rounds, makes the gun more accurate the longer you hold the trigger. Let’s just pause for a moment and think about every weapon in Destiny, and what happens when you hold or hammer that trigger for any length of time. That’s right, you end up staring at the sky, or veering away from your target so that bullets dance lightly around it in the distance and you have a small stroke in frustration. Alleviating the recoil on a Machine Gun is not only unfair to anything that’s going to be in your crosshaird, it’s also a move that makes this weapon extremely viable for Raid and Strike bosses in PVE, as well as any enemy in the Crucible. Can you imagine seeing a group of Guardians off in the distance, aiming down the sights at them, and hammering a hundred or so bullets at them in one long streak? I’ve done this, and it’s one of the few times I’ve wiped out a team.

The second perk, Feeding Frenzy, reduces reload time with every kill. While this doesn’t sound amazing, you need to remind yourself that this is a Machine Gun, a weapons that reloads so slowly that you could go and make a cup of tea in the time it takes to load the first bullet of your next clip in the chamber. The number of times I’ve been reloading and have been killed in both PVE and PVP is too high to write, but you must know how frustrating it is. This perk makes life easier for the active reloader, the person who kills whatever is in front of them and hits the reload button so they’re already working on it before they see another target. With increased reload speed you can hammer a group of foes and rack up some kills, reload while you’ve got plenty of time, and then smash another group of foes safe in the knowledge that you have a full clip.

Even if you’ve got a better heavy exotic for your Guardian this is worth having to rack up the Grimoire Cards and your exotic weapon count. Bother of these are important in Age of Triumph, and you’ll kick yourself if you didn’t pick it up when you had the opportunity to do so. However, it’s worth noting that if you despise Machine Guns then this will just sit in your Vault, because it’s the ultimate Machine Gun.

Image Source: Planet Destiny

Jamie Moorcroft-Sharp

I'm an avid Destiny 2 fan and player. I fell in love with Destiny 1 during the early alpha and have been hooked by the universe ever since. I really enjoy playing with other Guardians, speculating about the lore, and writing about as much of the Destiny universe as I can.