Best Thunder Cage build in The First Descendant and how to unlock it

Best Thunder Cage build

The Thunder Cage is a solid pick against mobs and bosses thanks to its Overcharge ability and high rate of fire. Here’s our build to harness the key strengths of the weapon:

• Descendant: Bunny, Lepic, Viessa.
• Upgraded Modules: Rifling Reinforcement, Action and Reaction, Bullet Rain, Fire Enhancements, Electric Gunbarrel, Better Insight, Hawk-Eye.
• Enhanced Overcharge: When defeating any enemy, that enemy has a 40% chance to discharge an Electric Shockwave that deals additional damage to nearby enemies. Enhance it by sacrificing a duplicate Thunder Cage at the workbench.
• Faster reload speed passive: Lowers reload speed by 25% by default.

Best Descendant to use with Thunder Cage

While most Descendants can use this gun effectively, Bunny, Viessa, and Lepic synergise well with it. That’s because Bunny’s Electric focus will have you boosting her Electric attacks anyway, making it a good combination with the Thunder Cage’s special ability. As for Lepic, his Traction Grenade pulls foes together, making them easy pickings for the special ability that hits nearby enemies. Viessa’s slows and chill attacks are also great for keeping enemies close to each other before wiping them out.

Best modules for Thunder Cage

Here are the modules we recommend for your build:

Mods can make a meaningful difference in how your weapon functions in-game. Upgrade them with Kuiper Shards to enhance their effects. We’ve focused on firearm attack bonuses and elemental damage buffs as well as stats like critical hit rate and accuracy. If you want to lean into critical hits, consider Better Concentration as well. Keep an eye on the symbols on mods and mod slots as matching them will lower their capacity costs by 50%. You can increase the weapon’s mod capacity later with an Energy Activator. 

Best stats to increase for Thunder Cage

Here are the stats of the weapon at level 1:

Remember that stats scale with weapon level so raise them via Weapon Level Transmission. Use a Precision Phase Exchanger (250 Liquid Metal, 50K Gold at Anais) to level up the gun and take it to the endgame. You can also reroll four bonuses in Weapon Readjustment: Firearm ATK, Critical Hit Damage, Element Damage, and Weakpoint Damage. Use 2x Fine Adjustment Control Axis (200 Liquid Metal, 30K Gold at Anais) at a workbench to reroll these values. Adjust these based on which Void Intercept bosses or missions you want to tackle. 

Tips for using Thunder Cage effectively

Here’s how you can unleash the full potential of the Thunder Cage SMG in-game:

• Keep an eye out for enemies low on health: Since your Overcharge AoE attack is dealt when an enemy is knocked out, focus on weaker enemies to maximise how often you can trigger this special ability for extra damage. This will help you wipe mobs quickly.
• Remember its damage fall-off ranges: The Thunder Cage is a medium-range weapon whose damage will be reduced at a distance of 23 meters. It will fall off further beyond 43 meters. So focus on close-range combat with this gun unless you’re up against a Void Intercept boss.
• Pair it with long-range weapons of a different ammo type: A Scout Rifle, Hand Cannon, or Sniper Rifle will let you fire off bursts of damage from a distance. The first two choices rely on Impact Rounds while a Sniper Rifle or Launcher will consume High-Power Rounds. This will ensure that you don’t quickly run out of ammo in a firefight.
• Swap weapons often: You can swap your SMG out whenever an enemy is out of range or if you need to target a Void Intercept boss weak spot. For instance, while you can weaken the Stunning Beauty’s knee pads from up close, her shoulders are easy targets for a long-range gun.