Destiny 2: Lightfall Best Warlock Strand Builds (PVE)

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Human Made

Penned by Brett Moss

I've been playing video games pretty much nonstop ever since I got my first 360. I love arena shooters, MMOs, and MOBAs, but I'll pretty much try any kind of game.

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

The new Destiny 2 subclass, Strand, has provided us with a bunch of new options for builds. In this article, we’ll take a look at two of the best Warlock Strand builds, using one new Exotic and one older one. Both of these builds are strong in endgame content, and they’re also a ton of fun to use. Let’s get to it!

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Warlock Strand Build #1: Threadling Build with Swarmers

This build utilizes the new Exotic, Swarmers, to create more Threadlings than you ever thought possible. Ad-clear is free with this build, and it has a surprising amount of flexibility for something so specific. With this build, we’ll be consuming Threadling Grenades to produce as many Threadlings as possible, while also utilizing Strand and Void weapon perks in the Artifact. We’ll get started by taking a look at the Swarmers to see what they’re all about.

Exotic Armor — Swarmers

Swarmers are the best Exotic for use with Threadlings, especially for this build. With Swarmers, you can spawn Threadlings by destroying Tangles, and they also make Threadlings unravel targets. Unraveled targets create Tangles on death, which helps us make even more Threadlings. It’s synergy at its finest.

Aspects

• Weaver’s Call: Rift spawns three Threadlings and deploys all perched Threadlings.
• Mindspun Invocation: All grenades get enhanced traits. Grapple spawns three Threadlings, Shackle Grenade can be consumed to grant Weaver’s Trance, and Threadling Grenade can be consumed to generate five perched Threadlings.

These are the only options we have for Strand aspects on Warlock, but luckily they all work with what we want to do here. Since this build is all about Threadlings and both aspects help us make them, it works out quite well. Weaver’s Call allows Warlocks to use Rift more aggressively, similar to their Arc subclass. The Threadlings spawned from Weaver’s Call, even without any perched ones, are great for if you need to use an emergency rift with some smaller enemies nearby. They keep you safe even if you pop Rift in a bad place. Mindspun is also a core part of this build, since we’ll be consuming a lot of Threadling Grenades.

Essential Fragments

• Thread of Evolution: Threadlings travel farther and deal additional damage. (+10 Intellect)
• Thread of Generation: Dealing damage generates grenade energy. (-10 Discipline)

There are only two fragments that are “required” for this build. Thread of Evolution makes our Threadlings do more damage, so it’s arguably the best here. Thread of Generation is equally as important, since it lets us quickly rebuild grenade energy after consuming one. More grenade energy equals more Threadlings, which is exactly what we want.

Other Fragments

• Thread of Warding: Picking up an Orb of Power grants Woven Mail. (-10 Resilience)
• Thread of Transmutation: While you have Woven Mail, weapon final blows create a Tangle. (+10 Strength)
• Thread of Finality: Finisher final blows create Threadlings.
• Thread of Rebirth: Strand weapon final blows have a chance to create a Threadling.

The rest of your Fragments are largely up to personal preference, but these are some good options. Thread of Warding and Transmutation can be combined for good effect, or you could just run Warding since Woven Mail is so strong. Thread of Finality is strong if you use lots of finishers, and Rebirth is great if you use a Strand weapon.

Weapons

• Kinetic: Strand weapon (Quicksilver Storm, Perpetualis, Rufus’s Fury)
• Energy: Special ammo weapon (any that works for you)
• Heavy: Void or Strand heavy machine gun (Retrofit Escapade, Collective Measure, Commemoration / Circular Logic)*

*Void heavy machine guns will be better while we have the Volatile Flow perk, but Strand might be better after it’s gone next season.

All you need for this build is a Strand weapon and at least one Void weapon for Volatile Rounds. Most Strand weapons can also roll with the Hatchling perk, which spawns Threadlings on precision kills. Strand weapons work really well with this build, since we’ll be able to make use of the Artifact perks that boost Tangle damage if they’re shot by Strand weapons. The seasonal activities and Neomuna public events are both places to find good Strand weapons if you don’t already have one. Along with them, Void weapons are also strong thanks to the Artifact perks this season. A Void energy and/or heavy weapon is ideal for this build, alongside your Kinetic and/or Heavy Strand weapon.

Best Armor Mods

We won’t go overly in-depth on the mods since they’re so customizable, but here are a few good choices. Mix and match what works best for you, and feel free to try out other ones you think might work.

• Siphon Mods (Helmet)
• Heavy Ammo Finder / Scout (Helmet)
• Grenade Kickstart (Arms)
• Font of Focus (Arms)
• Resistance Mods (Chest)
• Weapon Surge Mods (Legs)
• Better Already (Legs)
• Stacks on Stacks (Legs)
• Distribution (Class Item)
• Time Dilation (Class Item)

Best Artifact Perks

• Untangler: Destroying Tangles with a Strand weapon suspends nearby enemies.
• Threaded Blast: Destroying Tangles with a Strand weapon increases the size and damage of the explosion.
• Counterweave: Whenever a Champion is stunned, gain ability energy for your least charged Strand ability.
• Volatile Flow: Picking up Orbs of Power gives your Void weapons Volatile Rounds.
• Bricks From Beyond: Killing a yellow-bar powerful enemy with a Void weapon has a chance to grant heavy ammo for you and your teammates.
• Multi-Siphon Mods: Allow you to combine the Void/Solar and Strand Siphon mods. Only use it if you plan to use Strand alongside either Void or Solar though.

Warlock Strand Build #2: Suspend Build with Necrotic Grips

This build is for anyone that loves to suspend everything in the room. It’s one of the most satisfying builds to use right now, because you can literally keep enemies in the air however long you want. Champions are a breeze with this build, and you’ll never have to worry about ads either. It’s got everything you could want in an endgame build.

Exotic Armor — Necrotic Grips

Necrotic Grips is an incredibly powerful Exotic that works best for poison builds. Not only does Necrotic Grips allow you to poison enemies, it also spreads the condition to other nearby combatants when a poisoned enemy dies. For whatever reason, it also spreads other status conditions in addition to the poison. We’ll be using that feature to chain suspend all the enemies in the room with Weaver’s Trance and Osteo Striga. It’s tons of fun and it’s one of the most powerful builds in the game as a whole right now, so let’s get to it.

Aspects

• Weaver’s Call: Rift spawns three Threadlings and deploys all perched Threadlings.
• Mindspun Invocation: All grenades get enhanced traits. Grapple spawns three Threadlings, Shackle Grenade can be consumed to grant Weaver’s Trance, and Threadling Grenade can be consumed to generate five perched Threadlings.

Same aspects as all Strand Warlock builds right now since we only have the two. Weaver’s Call isn’t quite as relevant here as with the Threadlings build, but it’s still helpful for picking off a few enemies here and there. Mindspun is once again the most important aspect of the build, as everything we want to do is centered around Shackle Grenade and Weaver’s Trance.

Essential Fragments

• Thread of Continuity: Suspend, unravel, and sever effects applied to targets have increased duration. (+10 Strength)
• Thread of Generation: Dealing damage generates grenade energy. (-10 Discipline)

Since this is a suspend build, the essential fragments both have something to do with that. Thread of Continuity is the best fragment for this build, since it makes our suspend effects last longer. It also improves unravel and sever effects which is always nice. Thread of Generation lets us generate grenade energy by dealing damage, so it’s good on any build. Since this build consumes grenades constantly, this fragment is just as strong as Continuity.

Other Fragments

• Thread of Mind: Defeating suspended targets grants class ability energy.
• Thread of Warding: Picking up an Orb of Power grants Woven Mail. (-10 Resilience)
• Thread of Ascent: Activating your grenade ability reloads your equipped weapon and grants bonus airborne effectiveness and handling for a short duration. (+10 Mobility)
• Thread of Wisdom: Defeating suspended targets with precision final blows creates an Orb of Power.

For your other two fragments, any of these can work. You just want to make sure to pick fragments that synergize best with how you want to play. Thread of Warding and Mind are the easiest picks here since they’re powerful and simple to use, but the others might fit more into your specific playstyle.

Weapons

• Osteo Striga
• Precision special ammo weapon
• Void heavy machine gun (Retrofit Escapade, Collective Measure, or Commemoration)

Osteo Striga is necessary for this build, so you’ll always want it on. It’s what makes Necrotic Grips work so well for us. A precision special ammo weapon is good because Osteo/Suspend will clear up all the ads, so something with good range is great here. And Void heavy machine guns are powerful right now thanks to how easily accessible Volatile Rounds are. Heavy machine guns are great for clearing rooms, no matter how powerful the enemies in it are.

Best Artifact Perks

• Counterweave: Whenever a Champion is stunned, gain ability energy for your least charged Strand ability.
• Volatile Flow: Picking up Orbs of Power gives your Void weapons Volatile Rounds.
• Bricks From Beyond: Killing a yellow-bar powerful enemy with a Void weapon has a chance to grant heavy ammo for you and your teammates.
• Prismatic Transfer: When you cast your super, everyone on your fireteam gets a damage bonus as long as they are using a different subclass than you.

Best Armor Mods

• Kinetic/Void Siphon Mods (Helmet)
• Heavy Ammo Finder / Scout (Helmet)
• Dynamo (Helmet)
• Grenade Kickstart (Arms)
• Impact Induction (Arms)
• Damage Resistance Mods (Chest)
• Better Already (Legs)
• Innervation (Legs)
• Kinetic/Void Weapon Surge Mods (Legs)
• Time Dilation (Class Item)
• Bomber (Class Item)

Just like with the Swarmers build, your mods are largely up to you. We recommend looking through the ones we listed, but also just browsing through them to see what works best for you. This build uses tons of grenades, so any mod that gives grenade energy is going to be helpful. Super energy is also nice, which is why Dynamo is on here, even though it has nothing to do with the main strategy of the build.

This build is incredible for any level of content, and unless it gets nerfed, it’ll almost certainly be at the top of the Grandmaster Strike meta this season. Let’s just hope Bungie doesn’t nerf Necrotic Grips into the ground beforehand.

Join the High Ground

Thanks for checking out this article on some Warlock Strand builds. There’s still a ton to try out this season in terms of buildcrafting, so be sure to come back for more tips and advice in the future as well!

Happy gaming!