Archon's Thunder

Rounds Per Minute

360

Impact

70

Range

74

Stability

17

Handling

43

Reload Speed

33

Magazine

44

Aim Assistance

27

Zoom

16

Recoil Direction

100

+24

Airborne Effectiveness

14

Ammo Generation

61

• First choicePvELoad roll

  Sustained DPS against a single yellow-bar target in activities rated Normal, Hard or Very Hard difficulty.

  Bosses · Sustained damage · Endgame
  Trait 1

  Any of

  Envious AssassinFourth Time's the CharmHigh-Impact Reserves

  Trait 2

  Any of

  Killing TallyTarget Lock

  Barrel

  Any of

  Arrowhead BrakeChambered CompensatorCorkscrew RiflingExtended BarrelFluted BarrelHammer-Forged RiflingPolygonal RiflingSmallbore

  Magazine

  Any of

  Appended MagTactical MagExtended MagAlloy MagazineFlared Magwell

  Archon's Thunder is a high-impact LMG, which are rated B-Tier for endgame PvE by @TheAegisRelic Endgame Analysis Spreadsheet​who says "highest total damage without losing that much DPS, also stagger intrinsic". The frame intrinsic offers built in Anti-Unstoppable, ×0.8 accuracy cone size and ×0.83 accuracy cone growth when moving 2.8m/s or less (crouch walking speed) as per the Destiny Data Compendium. The recoil direction is just to the right of vertical and pretty tight so you could improve recoil control or look to boost Stability to help hit crits, or Handling if you can land your shots. In the magazine perk slot, perks that improve Reload Speed or mag size work best for a boss damage roll. For sustained boss damage, in the first trait perk column Fourth Time's the Charm generates 2 shots from thin air after 4 crits within 3s of each other, or Envious Assassin overflows the magazine to up to ×3 capacity at 12.5% of base size per kill with primary weapons and 22.5% with specials before readying. Alternatively, there's double damage perks available through High Impact Reserves which boosts damage from ×1.121 to ×1.256 as the magazine drops below 55%. In the second column, Killing Tally gains a stack for each enemy killed up to ×3 to boost damage by up to ×1.3 until you reload or stow, or Target Lock stacks up to 5 times on repeated hits within 0.2s of each other for up to ×1.4 damage at 110.33% of base magazine capacity - so works well with overflowed or auto-refilled magazines. Aegis ranks the Skulking Wolf origin trait as A-Tier in PvE - after you get a kill when ≤90 HP, it enhances radar and makes adds less accurate when firing at you for 10s, as though you were Amplified. Recommended MW: Handling, with your preferred choice of mod to boost weapon stats, ammo generation, or elemental pickups for builds.

  Why this roll
  By Adamsdown_Boy · The Best Machine Guns
• First choicePvELoad roll

  Clearing individual Minor adds or tougher enemies in activities rated Normal, Hard or Very Hard difficulty, particularly with Stasis builds.

  Minor adds · Single targets · Endgame
  Trait 1

  Rimestealer

  Trait 2

  Headstone

  Barrel

  Any of

  Arrowhead BrakeChambered CompensatorCorkscrew RiflingExtended BarrelFluted BarrelHammer-Forged RiflingPolygonal RiflingSmallbore

  Magazine

  Any of

  Appended MagTactical MagAlloy MagazineFlared Magwell

  Archon's Thunder is a high-impact LMG, which are rated B-Tier for endgame PvE by @TheAegisRelic Endgame Analysis Spreadsheet​, who says "highest total damage without losing that much DPS, also stagger intrinsic". The frame intrinsic offers built in Anti-Unstoppable, ×0.8 accuracy cone size and ×0.83 accuracy cone growth when moving 2.8m/s or less (crouch walking speed) as per the Destiny Data Compendium. The recoil direction is just to the right of vertical and pretty tight so you could improve recoil control or look to boost Stability to help hit crits, or Handling if you can land your shots. In the magazine perk slot, perks that improve Reload Speed or mag size are the best available. Archon's Thunder can be used for add clear with Stasis builds, perhaps supporting a double special loadout. For that, Rimestealer generates ×2 stacks of Stasis Frost Armor on shattering a Stasis crystal or killing a frozen enemy. In the second column, Headstone generates a Stasis crystal on a crit kill - these are weapon-generated entities so can inherit damage buffs, and proc Stasis subclass fragments when shattered for AoE damage. Aegis ranks the Skulking Wolf origin trait as A-Tier in PvE - after you get a kill when ≤90 HP, it enhances radar and makes adds less accurate when firing at you for 10s, as though you were Amplified. Recommended MW: Handling, with your preferred choice of mod to boost weapon stats, ammo generation, or elemental pickups for builds.

  Why this roll
  By Adamsdown_Boy · PvE Podcast 174 - The Best Machine Guns

From the DIM community wish lists (voltron), picks made since Edge of Fate.

• Archon's Thunder
• Archon's Thunder