Destiny 2: How to Get Threaded Needle & God Roll

Human Made

Penned by Brett Moss

I've been playing video games pretty much nonstop ever since I got my first 360. I love racing games, MMOs, and shooters, but I'll play just about anything.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Hsu

Threaded Needle is one of many Linear Fusion Rifles in Destiny 2. While it isn’t quite as powerful as it was a year or two ago, it’s still a high-quality option for newer players or people that just like the feel of the weapon. It can absolutely hold its own with everything other than the top-tier meta weapons, and in easier content, it can be just as good. To help with that, we’ll discuss how to get Threaded Needle, go over its god roll for both PvE and PvP, and where to use it in Destiny 2.

Let’s get right to it!

Popular Destinations..

Destiny 2 Waystone | Navigation Page

Destiny 2 Events Calendar: PvE, PvP, Lost Sectors, Weekly Loot, Xur (The Final Shape, Episode: Heresy)

How to Get Threaded Needle in Destiny 2

At the moment, there are two ways to get Threaded Needle. The first is to check the Gunsmith’s daily inventory to see what rolls he has. The Gunsmith can have any world drop weapon (weapons that drop from legendary engrams), so Threaded Needle appears there from time to time. Just remember that the Gunsmith has two different inventory sections (one resets daily and the other weekly).

Both can have Threaded Needle, but they have a different reset schedule than everything else. While his weapon inventories do reset at the normal 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET time (on the day they’re expected to change), the perks on each weapon refresh at 5:00 p.m. PT / 8:00 p.m. ET every day. That means you get two shots at a god roll for every weapon in his inventory, and more for the weekly weapons.

The second way to get Threaded Needle is also, unfortunately, entirely random. Just like the Gunsmith, Xur also sells random legendary weapons. Each week, there’s a chance Xur will have the god roll Threaded Needle you want. But it is random and there’s only one refresh for his inventory each week, so you don’t get many chances. Gunsmith is the more consistent method, but it’s worth checking both since it’s all random anyway.

Threaded Needle | PvE God Roll

Threaded Needle used to be the best meta Linear Fusion Rifle in Destiny 2, and while it isn’t quite so great anymore, it’s still a good weapon for a variety of content. In PvE, it still has potential to be a great DPS weapon for new and veteran players alike.

Here’s the PvE god roll so you can make the most out of it!

Barrel

• Corkscrew Rifling
• Arrowhead Brake

Barrels give a lot of valuable stats, so it’s important not to pick a bad one. Corkscrew Rifling is one of the most well-rounded barrels for any weapon, but especially Linear Fusion Rifles like Threaded Needle. It gives a balanced spread of stats, specifically +5 to Stability, Handling, and Range.

Arrowhead Brake, on the other hand, gives a more noticeable +30 to Recoil Control, along with +10 Handling. If recoil gives you trouble, then this is without a doubt the best barrel to go with.

Magazine

• Enhanced Battery
• Liquid Coils

Linear Fusion Rifles have two good options for magazines in PVE. Enhanced Battery is the first, and it’s quite simple. All Enhanced Battery does is increase the weapon’s magazine size by +1, which is more than enough to be a top choice. On a weapon with such low base mag size (5 for Threaded Needle), getting an extra round is a much bigger deal than it would be on a larger-capacity weapon like an SMG or Auto Rifle.

Liquid Coils is the second good magazine for PvE on Threaded Needle. It increases the weapon’s overall damage by +2%, but it does slightly lower charge speed. So while you will do slightly more damage, the lowered charge speed is a significant penalty. However, it’s still strong enough to be worth using if Enhanced Battery isn’t what you’re looking for.

Perk 1

• Clown Cartridge
• Auto-Loading Holster

For the first perk, both of them involve reloading. Clown Cartridge is really strong on Linears and Rocket Launchers, as it gives a random amount (10-50% mag capacity) of bonus overfilled ammo each time you reload. Since Threaded Needle has a base 5 rounds (or 6 with Enhanced Battery), you’ll end up with anywhere from 6-8 rounds (or 7-9 with Enhanced Battery) after reloading. That’s a very significant bonus, so it’s always hard to pass up on.

However, if your DPS strategy involves switching to other weapons, Auto-Loading Holster might be better. In general, Clown Cartridge is better if all you’re using is Threaded Needle. But if you’re going to be switching to other weapons for any reason during DPS, Auto-Loading Holster is a perfect option. All you have to do is switch to another weapon for a few seconds for it to automatically fully reload your weapon while it’s stored. This is a huge help when swapping weapons constantly, or if you only want to use it to clear out Champions or other enemies that won’t take multiple clips to defeat.

Perk 2

• Vorpal Weapon
• Frenzy

Anytime you plan on using a weapon against bosses (or mini-bosses), Vorpal Weapon is a great perk. For heavy weapons, it gives 10% bonus damage in PvE (against boss enemies). It’s very simple to understand and use, with the only downside being that it’s only good against bosses. It really sucks having a useless perk in difficult content like Grandmaster Strikes, but when you’re fighting bosses, it’s one of the best you can have.

If you aren’t using Threaded Needle primarily against bosses or just don’t want to have a perk that doesn’t always benefit you, Frenzy is the best alternate pick. Frenzy gives bonuses once you’ve been in combat for at least 12 seconds, which just means dealing or receiving damage. (To remain “in combat”, don’t go more than 5 seconds without damaging an enemy or taking damage.) The bonuses you get are perfect for what this weapon is. You’ll get 15% bonus damage, +100 Handling, and +100 Reload Speed while the buff is active, so it’s certainly worth staying in combat for.

Weapon Mod and Masterwork

• Weapon Mod: Boss Spec
• Masterwork: Charge Time

Since you’re always going to be using Threaded Needle against bosses (even if you’re also using it against other enemies), Boss Spec is a given here. For all of your boss DPS weapons, Boss Spec is the best choice.

Masterworks for Linear Fusion Rifles are also pretty easy to pick most of the time. Charge Time is the most important stat for DPS, so it’s the go-to pick for most Threaded Needle users. However, feel free to change this if you prefer.

Threaded Needle | PvP God Roll

Let’s be honest–Threaded Needle has never been a PvP weapon. In general, Linear Fusion Rifles are just too slow and precision-dependent to work in a PvP environment. From Guardians just moving around too fast to hit to being outclassed by other heavy weapons, there’s just not much reason to use them in the Crucible.

However, that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. This section is for anyone who, for whatever reason, plans on taking a Threaded Needle into PvP. (We don’t know why you would, but we respect you for it.)

Barrel

• Corkscrew Rifling

As always, Corkscrew Rifling is a great pick here. It gives +5 to Stability, Handling, and Range, so it’s got a little bit of everything. Even though Linears have naturally high Range, there’s nothing wrong with a little more. Plus, the bonuses to Stability and Handling are perfect for using precision weapons in PvP. You could definitely try other ones if you want, but Corkscrew Rifling is your best bet.

Magazine

• Accelerated Coils

While not very good in PvE due to the damage reduction, Accelerated Coils is actually really good for PvP. It reduces the charge time of the weapon to 40ms, which is enough to have an impact on your overall time-to-kill. Since that’s far more important than anything else in PvP (on Linears, at least), it’s worth the penalty of -2% damage that it brings. It’ll allow for quicker kills than normal, and the small damage reduction is barely noticeable in PvP.

Perk 1

• Rangefinder

Even though Rangefinder got nerfed recently, it’s still a decent PvP perk. You also don’t get access to any other good PvP perks in this slot, so it’s the best pick by default.

After the nerfs, Rangefinder now gives the following bonuses while aiming down sights: 10% increased zoom and 5% faster projectile speed. This zoom increase affects aim assist range, reduces recoil by 10%, and improves accuracy slightly (according to light.gg). It’s not as crazy as it used to be, but it’s still a solid perk that helps with precision-based weapons.

Perk 2

• Vorpal Weapon

Vorpal Weapon is traditionally a PvE perk, but it has some specific uses in PvP as well. In PvP, the damage boost is reduced to +5-10% instead of the flat +10% you get in PvE, and the bonus only works when fighting Guardians who are in a super. However, that’s fairly common in certain PvP modes.

While it’s not going to help much in Trials since the heavy ammo spawn doesn’t correlate with super ability rounds (usually), it’s great for Control, Mayhem, or other longer game modes that have more chances for supers and heavy ammo to spawn.

Weapon Mod and Masterwork

• Weapon Mod: Targeting Adjuster
• Masterwork: Charge Time

Targeting Adjuster is typically a great pick for PvP use, as it increases your aim assist. This is the most important stat for PvP, as landing headshots is far more important than anything else. Targeting Adjuster is great on any PvP weapon, but especially the ones that are very dependent on precision shots.

The masterwork option for PvP is the same as for PvE, as Charge Time is always important on Linears. It doesn’t matter why you’re using it, you’ll always benefit from better charge time.

When & Where to Use Threaded Needle

As we said before, Threaded Needle is not a top meta pick anymore. However, we still think it’s useful for several reasons. One is for use in easier content where having a “perfect” loadout isn’t as important. In activities like easier strikes, Gambit, some non-Master raid encounters, etc., Threaded Needle is definitely good enough to use.

Another reason we still think Threaded Needle is a solid pick is for newer players, as the god roll is more easily accessible for them (despite it being random). Newer players can both learn a lot and hold their own with Threaded Needle, and it doesn’t even require them to do anything crazy to optimize. We wouldn’t recommend Threaded Needle for Grandmaster Strikes or any other high-end content, but it’s not a weapon you should just ignore.