Strand Preview: Threadrunner, Berserker, and Broodweaver
Lightfall is finally here, and with it comes the highly anticipated Strand subclasses.
Not only are there going to be new tools to play with, but Strand will have a “Surge” for high-difficulty activities during the season which will make Strand deal 25% bonus damage.
If the release of Stasis is any indication, Strand will most likely be very strong out of the box, so it is best to be knowledgeable of all the tools the new subclasses provide.
The Final Shape introduces a shiny new Prismatic Subclass to Destiny 2. Discover our detailed Prismatic Hunter, Prismatic Warlock, and Prismatic Titan builds to optimize your gameplay.
Subclass Definitions
- Suspend – A suspended PvE enemy is lifted off the ground for a brief duration and is essentially disabled. In PvP, suspended players are lifted off the ground but can still move (albeit slowly) and fire their weapon to fight back.
- Unravel – Attacking an unraveled enemy will cause threads to burst out of the target and attack other nearby targets. Once hit, that target will also become unraveled.
- Sever – A severed enemy is less capable of affecting the material world, reducing their damage output as a result.
- Tangle – An enemy that is affected by Strand and then defeated will create a Tangle. Tangles can be shot or thrown at enemies to deal explosive damage.
- Threadling – Explosive minions that seek out, run towards enemies, and explode
- Woven Mail – A protective mesh of Strand matter that reduces incoming damage. In PvP only the damage of body shots is reduced and melee and precision damage will remain the same.
Fragments
- 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 Binding – Super final blows emit a suspending burst from the target. (+10 Resilience)
- Thread of Continuity – Suspend, unravel, and sever effects applied to targets have increased duration. (+10 Strength)
- Thread of Evolution – Threadlings travel farther and deal additional damage. (+10 Intellect)
- Thread of Finality – Finisher final blows create Threadlings. (+10 Recovery)
- Thread of Fury – Damaging targets with a Tangle grants melee energy. (-10 Strength)
- Thread of Generation – Dealing damage generates grenade energy. (-10 Discipline)
- Thread of Isolation – Landing rapid precision hits emits a severing burst from the target
- Thread of Mind – Defeating suspended targets grants class ability energy.
- Thread of Propagation – Powered melee final blows grant your Strand weapons Unraveling Rounds.
- Thread of Rebirth – Strand weapon final blows have a chance to create a Threadling.
- Thread of Transmutation – While you have Woven Mail, weapon final blows create a Tangle. (+10 Strength)
- Thread of Warding – Picking up an Orb of Power grants Woven Mail. (-10 Resilience)
- Thread of Wisdom – Defeating suspended targets with precision final blows creates an Orb of Power.
Grenades
Grapple
Weave a grappling hook, and quickly pull yourself forward. Grappling to a Tangle immediately recharges your grenade energy. During and shortly after grappling, your melee attack deals area damage and unravels targets. Base Cooldown = 1:45
Shackle Grenade
A thrown weapon of weighted Strand matter that detonates on impact, suspending targets and creating additional suspending subprojectiles. Base Cooldown = 2:32
Threadling Grenade
A woven projectile that reweaves itself into Threadlings while in flight. Base Cooldown = 2:32
Hunter – Threadrunner
Aspects
Ensnaring Slam – While in the air, press the air-move input to slam downward, suspending all nearby enemies.
Widow’s Silk – This Aspect grants an additional grenade charge. The Hunter’s grapple ability creates a persistent grapple Tangle when it latches, which fully refunds grenade energy when grappled to. Hunters can use this ability to set up chains of grapple points that their entire team can use, greatly enhancing their ability to quickly move around in combat and/or traverse the environment.
Super
Silkstrike
Light attack swings the Hunter’s rope dart damaging targets. The tip of the dart deals bonus damage and makes enemies explode if defeated. The heavy attack swings around the Hunter and damages enemies all around. Grenade button will make the Hunter Grapple.
Melee
Threaded Spike
Throw a rope dart that bounces between targets, damaging and severing them. The dart will return to you once it’s done, returning melee energy to you for each target hit. Press [Melee] just as the dart gets back to you to catch it and increase the amount of energy returned.
First Impressions
This class shows more alignment with PvP. Ensnaring Slam being tied to class energy will make this class very strong akin to Shatterdive when Stasis was first released, but tied to a lower cooldown ability.
The ability to get two Grapples, and create Grapple points for themself and teammates also makes it such that a group of multiple Threadrunners can synergize with one another and play extremely aggressively with getting in air and closing the distance with Grapples, then suspending enemies with Ensnaring Slam. I can’t foresee this being great in PvE as it can’t really dish out damage, and is more so built for mobility.
Thread of Ascent and Thread of Mind synergize very well with this class as the former gives +10 mobility, and gives airborne effectiveness making the Hunter more accurate when Grappling, and the latter grants Class Ability energy when defeating a Suspended enemy, allowing the Hunter to cycle Ensnaring Slam.
The super has limited range, but is made up by being able to Grapple during it, and is a good super for shutting down other supers in PvP.
Titan – Berserker
Aspects
Into the Fray – Destroying a Tangle weaves Woven Mail unto the Titan and nearby allies. In addition to reducing damage taken, this Aspect also increases the Titan’s melee energy regeneration while wearing Woven Mail.
Drengr’s Lash – When the Titan casts their class ability, the Titan will blast forward a powerful ripple in reality, suspending enemies that are caught in the shockwave’s path.
Super
Bladefury
Heavy attack sends projectiles that Suspend targets. Light attack makes the Titan leap forward and slash, which deals bonus damage to Suspended targets. Hits with the light attack hasten attack speed and give energy for the heavy attack.
Melee
Frenzied Blade
Activate your charged melee ability to dash forward, slashing at targets in front of you and severing them. This melee gets 3 charges.
First Impressions
The strongest of the new Strand powers is Suspending enemies. A Suspended enemy is essentially frozen for a long duration and unable to fight back whatsoever. Suspending an enemy via class ability is very strong for dealing with champions and other high health, high threat targets.
Being able to create Woven Mail essentially on demand is a great addition for survivability. The melee having 3 charges is very nice for Heart of Inmost Light, as it can open up more opportunities to overcharge other abilities.
The super is nothing special as it doesn’t deal huge single target damage and there are better options for clearing out multiple enemies. The super is best served for taking care of a few higher health majors or champions.
Warlock – Broodweaver
Aspects
Weaver’s Call – On Rift cast, the Warlock weaves three Threadling eggs, which hatch into Threadlings when they hit a surface. Any perched Threadlings are converted to additional eggs.
Mindspun Invocation – This Aspect improves several of the Warlock’s abilities:
- Grapple: When you execute a grapple melee, the Warlock weaves three Threadling eggs from the target.
- Threadling Grenade: You can consume your Threadling Grenade to generate a full complement of perched Threadlings.
- Shackle Grenade: You can consume your Shackle Grenade to gain a buff, creating a suspending detonation on every kill.
Super
Needlestorm
Shoots out a hail of needles. Needles embedded in the environment will return to the Warlock as perched Threadlings. Perched Threadlings will damage enemies the Warlock is attacking.
Melee
Arcane Needle
Sling a woven needle that will embed in your target, unraveling them. Activate your melee ability again to chain up to two additional attacks.
First Impressions
This build definitely aligns more so for PvE. It can deal a lot of passive damage for waves of enemies and higher health targets of Majors and Champions. Threadling Grenade feels very weak, but does work well if you lean heavily into building around Threadlings.
Shackle Grenade is intriguing as well as it lets the Warlock suspend enemies for a duration which is so strong for dealing with high priority targets. I can see it being a strong option for lower difficulty activities, and for raids in which there isn’t a light level deficit.
This is because at that level the Threadlings will be able to clear out enemies, and the super itself deals solid damage for single target damage. In activities with a light level disparity I think this class might have a tough time due to the lack of survivability.
Final Thoughts
Strand will definitely have a place in both PvE and PvP. The amount of effects the class has between Suspend, Chain Mail, Severing enemies, and the movement it provides. Stay tuned for build articles on Strand and other subclasses that are meta with all of the changes that came with Lightfall.
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