Destiny 2 Strand PvE Guides (Warlock, Titan, and Hunter)

Strand PvE Guides for Warlock, Titan, and Hunter – Destiny 2

Strand is the new subclass introduced in Lightfall, and it is very strong in all facets of the game.

From Public Events to Master Raids, these builds are viable.

For each class, we’ll be going over the strongest PvE build and how to utilize it to its full potential.

For more guides on weapon god rolls, exotic weapon guides, and Destiny 2 tier lists, head to our new Destiny 2 site.

Strand Warlock PvE Build

The crux of Warlock’s strength with Strand is utilizing the Mindspun Invocation Aspect and Shackle Grenade. These two intertwined will lead to a ton of suspensions, making this arguably the best crowd control class in the game.

Super

• Needlestorm – A fantastic single target super and deals damage similar to Thundercrash with Cuirass of the Falling Star.

Class Ability

• Healing Rift – Great source of sustain with healing.

Melee Ability

• Arcane Needle – Your melee is used for two things, Unraveling enemies and boosting your grenade cooldown.

Grenade

• Shackle Grenade – This grenade is mostly used to be consumed by holding down the grenade bind to activate Mindspun Invocation and make. If an enemy is threatening and grenade is available, feel free to use it as a normal grenade.

Aspects

• Mindspun Invocation – As mentioned earlier, this Aspect will activate Weaver’s Trance for 25 seconds when Shackle Grenade is consumed. During Weaver’s Trance, enemy final blows send out a blast that suspends nearby enemies.
• Weaver’s Call – Gives a boost to Rift by sending out Threadlings for a little extra damage.

Fragments

• Thread of Mind – Defeating Suspended enemies gives Class Ability energy. A lot of enemies will be Suspended, so this will get activated often.
• Thread of Continuity – Suspend, Unravel, and Sever last longer. This is great for Suspend in keeping enemies stunned longer, and Unravel benefits too by having enemies affected by Arcane Needle to send out more threads that damage nearby targets.
• Thread of Generation – Dealing damage generates grenade energy. Consuming Shackle Grenade is the cornerstone of this build, and this Fragment will lower grenade cooldown so much that Shackle Grenade will be available before Weaver’s Trance is over.
• Thread of Warding – Collecting an Orb of Power gives Woven Mail. This will add some extra survivability with damage resistance from Woven Mail.

Exotics

• Osteo Striga – The preferred exotic for this build due to the tick damage how the poison spreads and can kill nearby enemies. This will create a cascade of Suspending blasts when Weaver’s Trance is active. Between the spread of Striga poison and Unraveling threads, nearby enemies will take damage from the targeted enemy leading to a chain reaction of Suspended enemies.
• Necrotic Grip – Adds fuel to the fire of poisoning enemies and damaging them over time. It is also important to know that shooting Tangles will activate a melee ability, so when utilizing Necrotic Grip, a Tangle explosion will afflict enemies damaged by the blast with Necrotic Grip’s exotic effect.

Gameplay Loop

• Consume Shackle Grenade to activate Weaver’s Trance
• Melee any higher health target to Unravel them
• Utilize Osteo Striga to spread poison, defeat enemies, and suspend a large group of enemies as well as damage them with spread poison and any Unraveling threads
• Repeat

The Loop is very easy to follow. Pay attention to the timer of Weaver’s Trance to have it always active. With the mods and Thread of Generation, grenade should be off cooldown faster than Weaver’s Trance expires.

When fighting a single target that can be suspended, utilize the Shackle Grenade as normal to suspend the target. The mods of the build are recommended and not mandatory, but the example mods will boost grenade cooldown by utilizing Rift and dealing melee damage.

Strand Titan PvE Build

Utilizing cooldown management and the new exotic boots, Abeyant Leap, Strand Titan can lock down targets almost indefinitely.

Super

• Bladefury – Best for clearing out mobs, it can deal decent single target damage relative to its duration. Use to take out high threat targets that can be suspended as the heavy attack will suspend.

Class Ability

• Rally Barricade – Either option works here, Rally is recommended for the shorter cooldown and reload speed buff.

Melee Ability

• Frenzied Blade – An extra damage tool in your arsenal. It is another way to create Tangles.

Grenade

• Shackle Grenade – Throw into a group of enemies to suspend them.

Aspects

• Into the Fray – The main benefit is giving Woven Mail from destroying a Tangle
• Drengr’s Lash – Casting Barricade creates a wave that will Suspend

Fragments

• Thread of Mind – Defeating Suspended enemies gives Class Ability energy. Barricade is the main means of suspension, so this Fragment synergizes very well.
• Thread of Continuity – Suspend, Unravel, and Sever last longer. Makes your Suspend even stronger by taking enemies out of the fight for longer durations.
• Thread of Generation – Dealing damage generates grenade energy. Reduces the cooldown of your second means of Suspend, Shackle Grenade.
• Thread of Wisdom – Defeating a Suspended target with a precision hit creates an orb of power. There will be a lot of suspended targets, so this is just another way to make orbs to activate mod effects. This can be replaced by another Fragment depending on preference. Thread of Transmutation is a good choice and will create more Tangles.

Exotics

• Abeyant Leap – Modifies the Drengr’s Lash Aspect to send out 3 suspending blasts, and it tracks targets more aggressively. This will allow you to suspend more targets, and do it with ease. Not only is this exotic great for Suspensions, but it gives you Woven Mail when suspending a target, which is why the build does not use Thread of Warding
• Quicksilver Storm – With the catalyst, this weapon becomes Strand type. In its own right it is a strong weapon, but with the Strand element and creating Tangles on kills with the Grenade Launcher, this weapon synergizes well with the class.

Gameplay Loop

• Cast Barricade to Suspend nearby targets and acquire Woven Mail
• Throw Shackle Grenade to stun lock those enemies even longer, or to Suspend enemies not hit by the Barricade’s Suspend
• Shoot or throw a Tangle dropped from any of the defeated enemies that were suspended to deal splash damage and acquire Woven Mail if needed
• Swap to Quicksilver Storm’s Grenade Launcher to create tangles
• Shoot the Tangle to deal more damage
• Repeat

Although there is a lot you can do with this class, it is still rather easy to play. The only thing you should actively think about is utilizing your Barricade to Suspend enemies before your Shackle Grenade if utilizing the recommended mods set.

This is because dealing grenade damage will give more class ability energy than the other way around, and let you start the loop of Barricade then grenade over and over.

Otherwise try your best to utilize Tangles for dealing good splash damage, and if utilizing this build in Season 20, use a Strand weapon (Quicksilver Storm with Catalyst) to destroy the Tangles alongside the Threaded Blast and Untangler Artifact mods as this will empower the Tangle explosion and Suspend enemies hit by the explosion.

Strand Hunter PvE Build

This class build is based around the use of the Grapple, and it receiving two charges with the Widow’s Silk Aspect.

There are a few tricks you can use to boost your neutral game and DPS while utilizing the Grapple this build takes advantage of.

Super

• Threadrunner – A super that deals unreal damage (as of the writing of this it does appear to be bugged and dealing 2x damage) and is great for clearing groups of enemies. When dealing single target damage, spam the light attack on the edge of the melee range for bonus damage.

Class Ability

• Marksman’s Dodge – This option has a lower cooldown, and the build is based more so around reloading weapons rather than utilizing the melee.

Melee Ability

• Threaded Spike – You will be using the melee from Grapple in this build, but if using this melee ability, be sure to hit the melee bind as the Spike returns to you to reduce the cooldown.

Grenade

• Grapple – The core of the build. For the neutral game use the grapple to kill an enemy with the resulting melee which will create two Orbs of Power if using the recommended mods. It will also interact with Assassin’s Cowl and heal you as well as make you invisible. Then on boss DPS utilize two Grapple charges with Thread of Ascent to auto-reload weapons.

Aspects

• Widow’s Silk – Gives a second Grapple and Grapple’s create a Tangle that can be indefinitely Grappled to.
• Ensnaring Slam – Another tool in the arsenal to Suspend enemies if in a pinch.

Fragments

• Thread of Ascent – Activating grenade will reload weapons, give airborne effectiveness, and Handling. Use to continuously reload your boss DPS weapon during damage phases.
• Thread of Warding – Picking up an Orb of Power gives Woven Mail. You’ll increase survivability even more by getting damage resistance when getting a Grapple melee kill.
• Thread of Transmutation – When Woven Mail is active, weapon final blows create Tangles. Tangles are strong to throw at enemies and shoot for the explosive damage, but can also be used to Grapple without utilizing a charge.
• Thread of Generation – Dealing damage gives grenade energy. Do anything you can to get your Grapple back, and this Fragment does just that.

Exotics

• Assassin’s Cowl – Boosts the neutral game immensely for survivability in more difficult content. Gives the added bonus of health and invisibility when landing a Grapple melee kill.
• Two-Tailed Fox – Any weapon really works here. Two-Tailed Fox is picked because its primary downside is its slow reload speed for DPS, and utilizing the Grapple to reload it during boss DPS. The recommended mods are Void because that is what synergizes with Two-Tailed Fox despite it having elemental damage of 3 elements.

Gameplay Loop

• If needed, lower enemies health so they can be killed by Grapple melee
• Grapple to enemy and melee them for a kill to create two orbs, go invisible, heal, reduce cooldowns, and give Woven Mail from the orbs
• Before boss damage make sure both Grapples are available
• Shoot one Grapple on the floor next to you to create a Grapple Tangle
• Shoot Rocket
• Marksman’s Dodge to reload Rocket
• Shoot Rocket
• Use second Grapple on the Grapple Tangle on the floor
• Repeat last two steps until out of ammo
• Use super for boss damage

This build is great for the neutral game and when dealing DPS to a boss. The neutral game is based around the Grapple melee which will give two Orbs of Power with the recommended mods as it counts as a grenade and melee kill.

A Grapple melee kill will create two orbs, heal, grant invisibility, reduce cooldowns, and give Woven Mail from the orbs. Be sure to use the Tangles created from Thread of Transmutation to use Grapple for free.

As for boss DPS the gameplay loop has one important aspect which is to utilize Marksman’s Dodge for the first reload because there is a delay between the first and second Grapple uses.

From there continuously use the Grapple to reload your boss DPS weapon and once out of ammo, use the high damage super for the rest of the damage phase. If using Two-Tailed fox be sure to take advantage of the Volatile Flow mod in the Season 20 artifact to get bonus DPS from Volatile explosions.

It is recommended using a Void primary weapon as well to take leverage the Volatile Flow mod as well as the Void Weapon surge mods for a 22% damage bonus that stacks with other buffs.

Outro

Strand is good on all classes over the entire spectrum of difficulty the game has to offer. Each class has their own unique interactions with Strand’s utility which make them strong in their own niche ways. Enjoy using these builds that are not only powerful in all content, but very fun to use.

For more guides on weapon god rolls, exotic weapon guides, and Destiny 2 tier lists, head to our new Destiny 2 site.