While Strand is the newest subclass in Destiny 2, there are already some meta Strand Warlock builds that, when paired with the best Exotic weapons, Exotic armor, and artifact perks, can be extremely good. Multiple Strand Warlock builds exist, but this guide will focus on the only two Strand Warlock builds that are amazing in Destiny 2.
Related: Destiny 2 Strand: The Best Builds for Hunters, Titans, and Warlocks
What Are the Best Strand Warlock Builds in Destiny 2?
There are two amazing Strand Warlock builds available in Destiny 2 Season of the Deep: the Threadling build and the Suspend build. Thanks to the new Season of the Deep Strand Aspects and the seasonal artifact perks, there are more viable Warlock Strand builds to create. Here’s how to make the best two Strand Warlock builds in Destiny 2 Season of the Deep: Threadling and Suspend builds.
Threadling Strand Warlock Build
The Strand build that Bungie intended for Warlocks to main, just based on their specific abilities, Aspects, Fragments, Exotic, and marketing, is the Threadling Strand Warlock build. This build, unsurprisingly, focuses entirely on Threadlings, and while Threadlings can be a bit slow and inaccurate, this build is definitely viable for clearing out adds in early to mid-game content. Plus, I think it’s a lot of fun.
Best Threadling Strand Warlock Aspects
- Mindspun Invocation – Your grapple, Shackle Grenade, and Threadling Grenade have enhanced functionality. Hold the grenade button to consume your Threadling Grenade and immediately generate five perched Threadlings.
- Weaver’s Call – Cast your Rift to weave three Threadlings and deploy any Threadlings you have perched.
With Mindspun Invocation, you have the option to toss your Threadling Grenade and immediately get three Threadlings which is useful when you’re in a pinch, or you can consume your grenade and get five Threadlings that perch on you and only deploy once you start shooting a target.
Weaver’s Call is an amazing Aspect for this build as it allows you to spawn more Threadlings. It’s a visual spectacle as well as a great attack. What I like to do is get a lot of ads together in front of me and then, after consuming my grenade to have five Threadlings perched, use my Rift to send a wave of seven Threadlings out at my enemies.
Best Threadling Strand Warlock Fragments
- Thread of Evolution – Threadlings travel farther and deal more damage. +10 Intellect.
- Thread of Generation – Dealing damage generates grenade energy. -10 Discipline.
- Thread of Rebirth – Strand weapon final blows have a chance to create a Threadling.
- Thread of Finality – Finisher final blows create Threadlings. +10 Recovery.
Threadlings, Threadlings, and more Threadlings. Every Strand Fragment highlights Threadlings in some way. Thread of Evolution is a must to make your Threadlings even faster and stronger. Thread of Finality lets you create Threadlings on finishers. Cool!
Thread of Rebirth is a great way to spawn more Threadlings since you’ll be running a Strand weapon. Thread of Generation is interesting as it gives -10 Discipline, but it definitely pays off and is essential to getting your grenade back quicker as you’ll constantly be dealing damage with your Strand weapon.
Best Threadling Strand Warlock Abilities
- Super – Needlestorm
- Class Ability – Healing Rift
- Movement Ability – Balanced Glide
- Melee – Arcane Needle
- Grenade – Threadling Grenade
With every Strand Warlock build, you can’t change your melee or your super, which is okay because both the Strand super and melee are really good. You can use Arcane Needle to Unravel targets, which will create more Tangles and ultimately more Threadlings with this build. Plus, Needlestorm creates tons of Threadlings after its initial Strand explosions.
The two abilities that are completely up to preference and not required for this build are the class ability and movement ability. Pick whichever you like best, but I recommend Healing Rift as it’s always nice to duck behind cover and get some healing and Balanced Glide as it gives you height and mobility.
The only essential pick for the Threadling Strand Warlock build is the Threadling Grenade. This grenade has a slightly high cooldown time, but you can toss out three Threadlings whenever you want. Plus, Threadling Grenade works great with the chosen Aspects and Armor Mods.
Related: Best Ways to Farm Ascendant Shards in Destiny 2 Season 21
Best Threadling Strand Warlock Season of the Deep Artifact Perks
- Authorized Mods: Strand
- Improved Unraveling
- Conductive Cosmic Needle
There aren’t a lot of great Strand perks in the NPA Repulsion Regulator, which is the Season of the Deep artifact, and the options that are here focus on Unravel which isn’t a Strand verb we’re using much with the Threadling build.
Nevertheless, if you want to go all in on Strand, you need to get Authorized Mods: Strand to make your Strand armor mods cheaper, Improved Unraveling to increase the damage of Unraveling, and Conductive Cosmic Needle to improve Arc and Void damage when an enemy is debuffed by Strand.
Best Threadling Strand Warlock Exotics and Armor Mods
- Exotics
- Quicksilver Storm
- Final Warning
- Swarmers
You can use whatever Exotic weapon you’d like, but to maximize this build, I highly suggest using a Strand Exotic weapon like Quicksilver Storm or Final Warning. I love Quicksilver Storm and think it’s a great Exotic weapon, especially after turning it into a Strand weapon upon completing the Catalyst, so use that if you have it.
The best Exotic armor for the Threadling Strand Warlock build is the Swarmers. Swarmers was made for the Threadling build as it allows you to create a Threadling on destroying a Tangle, and your Threadlings Unravel targets they damage which spreads more Strand damage to nearby foes.
- Armor Mods
- Helmet – 3x Harmonic Siphon
- Arms – 2x Grenade Kickstart
- Chest – 1x Font of Endurance, 1x Emergency Reinforcement
- Legs – 1x Innervation, 1x Recuperation, 1x Strand Weapon Surge
- Class – 1x Bomber, 1x Reaper, 1x Powerful Attraction
While you should focus your general armor mods on Resilience and Discipline, in your Helmet, you should have three stacks of Harmonic Siphon. This allows you to generate a lot of Orbs of Power on Strand weapon kills. Orbs of Power are important to maximize this build as the rest of the armor mods utilize Orbs of Power in one way or another.
Two stacks of Grenade Kickstart are a must since you’ll want to get your grenade back as quickly as possible with this build. Font of Endurance and Emergency Reinforcement add to the survivability of the build.
Innervation reduces your grenade cooldown on Orb of Power pick up, Recuperation heals you on Orb of Power pick up, and Strand Weapon Surge makes your Strand weapon stronger after you pick up an Orb of Power. Bomber reduces your grenade cooldown after using your Rift, Reaper allows you to always get one Orb of Power after using your Rift and getting a weapon final blow, and Powerful Attraction allows you to automatically collect nearby Orbs of Power when you use your Rift.
Overall, these armor mods allow you to create tons of Orbs of Power and have every Orb of Power pick up grant you grenade cooldown, added defense, and more weapon damage. Either consume or toss your grenade the moment you get it and let Threadlings do your dirty work.
Suspend Strand Warlock Build
The other best Strand Warlock build in Season of the Deep is the Suspend Strand Warlock build. While other classes are built for better Suspend Strand builds, Suspend is easily the best Strand verb since it can basically immobilize every Champion type. It’s not as synergistic as the Threadling build, but the Suspend Strand Warlock build is a great one for all content.
Best Suspend Strand Warlock Aspects
- Mindspun Invocation – Your grapple, Shackle Grenade, and Threadling Grenade have enhanced functionality. Hold the grenade button to consume your Shackle Grenade and activate Weaver’s Trace. Final blows while Weaver’s Trace is active create a suspending detonation.
- The Watcher – Tangles that you throw attach to targets and detonate into a suspending burst. Threadling final blows create a Tangle.
Mindspun Invocation allows you to consume your Shackle Grenade to get Weaver’s Trace which will create chains of Suspending detonations. You can throw your Shackle Grenade like normal to great Suspending effect, but Weaver’s Trace is also a great option to Suspend all enemies in sight.
The Watcher is a new Aspect and it allows your thrown Tangles that attach and cause a Suspend explosion. This is another great way to Suspend your targets and take control of the battlefield.
Best Suspend Strand Warlock Fragments
- Thread of Mind – Defeating suspended targets grants class ability energy.
- Thread of Generation – Dealing damage generates grenade energy. -10 Discipline.
- 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.
The Fragments selected for this build are a bit different. Since this is a Suspend build, we need Thread of Mind to grants us more class ability energy on Suspend kills. Thread of Generation is too good not to use since we’ll be using Shackle Grenade often.
Here’s where it gets interesting: Thread of Warding allows us to get Woven Mail when we pick up an Orb of Power which will happen often thanks to our armor mods and Thread of Transmutation creates more Tangles on weapon final blows when you have Woven Mail. The more Tangles you have, the more Suspend explosions there will be. Plus, you get to have a steady source of Woven Mail which is great for survivability.
Best Suspend Strand Warlock Abilities
- Super – Needlestorm
- Class Ability – Healing Rift
- Movement Ability – Balanced Glide
- Melee – Arcane Needle
- Grenade – Shackle Grenade
After picking whatever movement and class ability you want, you need to equip the Shackle Grenade. This grenade allows you to toss a Suspend ball at enemies that immediately Suspends them and nearby enemies. The goal of this build is to Suspend as many enemies as possible, so the Suspend Grenade is mandatory.
Related: Fastest Ways to Farm Weapon XP Levels in Destiny 2 (2023)
Best Suspend Strand Warlock Season of the Deep Artifact Perks
- Authorized Mods: Strand
- Improved Unraveling
- Strand Soldier
- Conductive Cosmic Needle
- Squad Goals
The Suspend Strand Warlock build works best in a Fireteam and these Season of the Deep Strand perks are pretty great for this build. Specifically, Strand Soldier gives you Unraveling Rounds when you have Woven Mail which should be often with this build and Squad Goals grants Woven Mail to your allies when you have Woven Mail and perform a finisher.
Best Suspend Strand Warlock Exotics and Armor Mods
- Exotics
- The Navigator
- Cenotaph Mask
You can equip your favorite Exotic armor and weapon with this build, but The Navigator and Cenotaph Mask combo is a great one, especially since it works with Strand and is only available now in Season of the Deep. If you don’t go with this combo, I highly recommend sticking to other Exotic Strand weapons like Quicksilver Storm or Final Warning.
Cenotaph Mask is a new Warlock Exotic helmet released in Season of the Deep. It has an ability called High Priority which steadily reloads your Trace Rifle and damaging a boss, vehicle, or Champion with a Trace Rifle marks the target. When that target is defeated by an ally, you get Special ammo and your allies get Heavy ammo.
The Navigator is a Kinetic Strand Exotic Trace Rifle that has Protective Weave which grants Woven Mail to yourself and an ally when shot at an ally, and the Catalyst is called Weft Cutter which Severs a target after dealing sustained damage. This Trace Rifle works extremely well with Cenotaph Mask and is a great weapon for this Suspend Strand build. Good luck getting it, though.
- Armor Mods
- Helmet – 3x Harmonic Siphon
- Arms – 1x Grenade Kickstart, 1x Firepower
- Chest – 1x Harmonic Reserves, 1x Emergency Reinforcement
- Legs – 1x Innervation, 1x Recuperation, 1x Strand Weapon Surge
- Class – 1x Bomber, 1x Reaper, 1x Powerful Attraction
The armor mods for the Suspend Strand Warlock build are similar to the Threadling build. First, we focus on creating Orbs of Power with three stacks of Harmonic Siphon. You want one Grenade Kickstart to get your grenade ability back quickly, but you also want one Firepower to create even more Orbs of Powers from you grenade kills.
Harmonic Reserves will allow you to shoot The Navigator for even longer without needing to reload. Innervation, Recuperation, and Strand Weapon Surge focus on grenade cooldown, health, and Strand weapon damage, but get procc’d by Orbs of Power.
Lastly, Bomber grants more grenade energy on Rift, Reaper allows your next weapon kill to always grant an Orb of Power after using your Rift, and Powerful Attraction allows you to collect all nearby Orbs of Power when you use your Rift. These perks are necessary to take your Suspend Strand Warlock build from good to great.
Whether you try the Threadling Strand Warlock build or the Suspend Strand Warlock build, you can’t go wrong. Strand is a super fun subclass and I hope one of these builds allows you to perform well and have fun.
