The newest subclass for Destiny 2 players is here with Lightfall's arrival, and for Hunters that means the high-mobility and high actions-per-minute subclass Threadrunner. With a new Super, new aspects, and fragments, the Strand Hunter has quickly emerged as one of the best Strand subclasses in Destiny 2 thanks to its immensely high damage output and ability uptime. This guide will go through the basics of Strand Hunter and give players an idea of what to focus on when building their very own Threadrunner.
RELATED: Destiny 2: Strand Warlock Build Guide
Strand Abilities, Aspects & Fragments
The Strand Hunter is best characterized by two things: immense Super damage and incredible ability recharge rate through its melee. With that in mind, players will want to tailor their Strand Hunter around both of these focus points. Luckily, as with other 3.0 subclasses and Stasis, Strand comes fully customizable with aspects and fragments.
Since the Hunter class abilities didn't see any changes with Strand, they have been omitted from this guide, though for Strand generally speaking Gambler's Dodge is better to gain melee ability energy, which is crucial for Strand builds.
Strand Melees
The new Strand Hunter melee is Threaded Spike, which lets players toss a rope dart that travels between enemies. Threaded Spike damages targets and also severs them, and any severed target has a lesser damage output. Melee hits with Threaded Spike return melee energy, and if players press their melee key again at the end and catch the spike, the ability refunds the most amount of energy.
RELATED: Destiny 2: How To Get Final Warning
Strand Grenades
Three grenade options are available for all classes, with the first two being the stronger options for Hunters:
- Grapple: A fantastic choice for Hunters who like to go the path of mobility and focus their builds on creating Tangles (and grappling to these Tangles instantly refunds grenade energy). Meleeing at the end of grappling deals damage and unravels any enemies nearby.
- Shackle Grenade: For Hunters who want to go the utilitarian path, the Shackle grenade detonates and suspends when hitting enemies. When it hits enemies, it creates more projectiles that seek out and suspend further targets. Shackle grenade is powerful when players want to stun and immobilize enemies. Suspended kills spawn Tangles.
- Threadling Grenade: Easily the weakest option for Hunters, it spawns a small swarm of Threadlings that seek out enemies and deal damage to them.
Strand Aspects
Strand Hunters have access to two Strand aspects for now, very much focused on mobility, as well as suspending enemies.
- Widow's Silk: Gain an additional grenade charge. The player's grapples now spawn grapple tangles.
- Ensnaring Slam: Akin to Shatterdive, while in the air players can trigger this ability while their class ability is full to lunge to the ground and suspend any enemies affected by the impact.
Strand Fragments
While players have a bit of leeway with how they wish to build their Strand Hunter, there are three Strand fragments that stand out quite strongly:
- Thread of Mind: Killing suspended enemies grants class ability energy.
- Thread of Warding: Gain Woven Mail by picking up Orbs of Power. Woven Mail reduces the amount of non-precision damage that players take.
- Thread of Continuity: Increases the duration of various Strand effects, like suspend, unravel, and sever.
The fourth fragment slot remains flexible, depending on whether Strand Hunters want to focus on suspend or grapple (or a bit of both):
- Thread of Generation: Gain grenade energy by dealing damage.
- Thread of Ascent: When players activate their grenade, all weapons are reloaded and receive improved airborne effectiveness, as well as handling. A bit more niche, but great for the ultra-mobile Strand Hunter.
- Thread of Propagation: Powered melee final blows grant Unraveling Rounds to Strand weapons. This is great regardless of class, provided players use a Strand weapon.
Hunter Strand Super
Silkstrike is the new Strand Hunter Super, and it is incredibly powerful as of the first week of Strand being available. Players will spawn a rope dart, and pressing primary fire will swing it to deal damage, with the tip of the dart dealing the most damage. Targets killed by the rope dart explode.
RELATED: Destiny 2: Guardian Ranks Explained
Secondary fire performs a heavy attack in a circle around the player. Players can also grapple during Silkstrike to quickly propel themselves into a better position, making this one of the best, if not the strongest, roaming Supers in the game. Note that it is unclear whether the damage it produces as of now is its intended damage number.
Mods & Artifact Mods
Season of Defiance introduces several Strand-related artifact mods that Threadrunners should unlock for their build.
- Untangler: Shooting a Tangle using a Strand weapon creates an explosion, suspending nearby enemies. A must-have for most Strand builds where players use a Strand weapon.
- Allied Unraveling: To get access to Unraveling Rounds more reliably, this mod is a must-pick. Quick Strand weapon final blows grant players Unraveling Rounds, which last longer if allies are nearby.
- Threaded Blast: Buffs the explosion from shooting a Tangle with a Strand weapon. A fantastic addition to ad-clearing and controlling, which Strand Hunters are great at.
- Counterweave: Only useful for Strand Hunters who plan on playing a lot of endgame PVE content with champions, Counterweave replenishes the lowest charged Strand ability of the player when a member of the fireteam kills or stuns a champion.
Outside of seasonal mods, Strand Hunters will want to focus on mods that favor melee damage, since Strand grenades mostly don't outright kill enemies and most kills will be earned from melee final blows or weapon final blows (or shooting at Tangles).
- Heavy Handed: Powered melee final blows spawn Orbs of Power. This is vital as Orbs of Power now grant Armor Charge and make the foundation of all builds.
- Impact Induction: Causing damage with a melee reduces the cooldown of grenade abilities. This allows Strand Hunters to cycle their cooldowns in a more fluid way, where each ability recharges the others.
- Focusing Strike: Causing damage with melee grants class ability energy. Again, perfect for charging other abilities, especially given how easily Strand Hunters gain melee energy back by grabbing their Threaded Spike back at the end of its flight.
Weapons & Gear For Strand
For weapons, players can be pretty flexible with Strand. With Volatile Flow back this season, many might opt for a Void weapon instead, but if players want to keep things Strand-focused, they can go for the selection of Season of Defiance Strand weapons and Neomuna Strand weapons, with a preference for the Perpetualis auto rifle and Synchronic Roulette submachine gun.
RELATED: Destiny 2: How To Reach Power Level Cap Fast (1810)
Players who have Quicksilver Storm unlocked should also upgrade its Catalyst, which changes the auto rifle's weapon energy to Strand.
The new Hunter Strand Exotic introduced is Cyrtarachne's Facade. This helmet grants Strand Hunters Woven Mail whenever they grapple, which can be handy for Grapple builds that want to replace the Thread of Warding fragment with something a bit more niche like Thread of Ascent.
Overall, however, this Exotic isn't as great as it sounds, especially in PVE where Orbs of Power are easy to generate and provide the same bonus as this Exotic without the cost of an Exotic armor slot.
Instead, there are a few other Exotic armor options to consider for Strand Hunters:
- Sixth Coyote: Grants two dodge charges. This is absolutely fantastic when paired with Gambler's Dodge, to quickly get that melee energy back, which will help Hunters cycle their grenade and class ability as well. It's a safe option that Threadrunners can't go wrong with.
- Radiant Dance Machines: Another dodge-focused Exotic, players can perform a dodge multiple times in a row to gain their melee energy back.
- Star-Eater Scales: A more niche pick, but which has been greatly buffed with Orbs of Power having returned to the forefront of the meta. Orbs will charge up the player's Super, which lets Strand Hunters deal even more damage on top of Silkstrike's currently incredible damage output.
Destiny 2: Lightfall is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE: Destiny 2: How To Get Winterbite
FAQs
Strandweaver. Silkstrike is the only Strand Super Ability for Hunters, so it's the default choice here. The Strandweaver build focuses on destroying dense waves of enemies. Pairing damage with abilities, you can have near constant grenade and class ability charges to deal with all non-boss mobs.
What are the best strand fragments for Hunter Destiny 2? ›
Best Strand Fragments for Hunter in Destiny 2
These would include Thread of Ascent for the instant reloads and extra airborne effectiveness, and Thread of Generation to get your grapple back quickly.
What is the best exotic to use with Hunter Strand? ›
Cyrtarachne's Facade will be every Strand Hunter's best friend, particularly if you just can't get enough of the high-flying Grapples. This helmet will grant Woven Mail when you Grapple, which increases your damage resistance and flinch resistance.
What is the best subclass for Hunter Destiny 2 PVE? ›
Nightstalker has it all. Potent invisibility, powerful aspects, and synergistic fragments, as well as some of the best exotics in the entire game. Options like Omnioculus and Gyrfalcon's Hauberk are some of the best Hunter exotics around and can really increase Nightstalker's potential as a subclass.
Who is the strongest hunter in Destiny 2? ›
Lady Efrideet is the only other remaining Iron Lord. By all accounts, she is likely the oldest and most powerful of the Hunters.
How does Hunter Strand melee work? ›
The melee attack throws out a rope dart that targets and riccochet's between enemies before returning to the player. Those who are able to "catch" the rope dart accurately will be refunded a bit of their melee energy to help it recharge faster.
Which class is best for Strand Destiny 2? ›
Top Strand builds
| Name | Class | Status |
|---|
| Mindspun Suspender | Warlock | Best in Class |
| Masked Weaver | Warlock | |
| Sorcerer of Swarms | Warlock | |
| The Woven Widow | Hunter | Best in Class |
3 more rowsMar 28, 2023
The Hunter's best subclass in Destiny 2 is by far the Void Nightstalker. With its ability to both dish out and avoid massive amounts of damage, it can demolish enemy hordes single-handedly.
What is the most picked class in Destiny 2? ›
Hunter – the Hunter is arguably the most popular class in the game because it's generally the easiest to learn and use. The primary job of this class is to deal as much damage as possible without dying, which is made easier thanks to their handy Dodge class ability.
Which exotic for Hunter Lightfall? ›
The new Hunter Exotic, Cyrtarachne's Facade, is an Exotic armor in Destiny 2's Lightfall expansion that takes up the helmet slot and gives Hunters a defensive buff that reduces flinch while being shot at.
Destiny 2: The Best Exotic Armor For Stasis
- 8 Gemini Jester. ...
- 7 Icefall Mantle. ...
- 6 Ballidorse Wrathweavers. ...
- 5 Precious Scars. ...
- 4 Renewal Grasps. ...
- 3 Hoarfrost-Z. ...
- 2 Mask Of Bakris. ...
- 1 Osmiomancy Gloves.
Destiny 2 Hunter Exotics Tier list
| Name | Type | Tier rank |
|---|
| Star-Eater Scales | Legs | Best ❘ S Excels in: PvE |
| Omnioculus | Chest | Best ❘ S Excels in: PvE + PvP |
| Assassin's Cowl | Helm | Best ❘ S Excels in: PvE |
| St0mp-EE5 | Legs | Best ❘ S Excels in: PvP |
20 more rowsMar 24, 2023
Hunters are generally the most popular, with titans either being the least popular or very close in population compared to warlocks.
What is the best PvE weapon in Destiny 2 right now? ›
Perhaps the best exotic in PvE right now, Thunderlord is a classic that has been around since the beginning of the original Destiny. This beastly Machine Gun does Arc damage and strikes the enemy with bursts of lightning for extra damage.
What is the best gear for a hunter in Destiny 2? ›
The St0mp-EE5 lands as our number-one pick for the best Hunter armor in Destiny 2. That's solely because of how great it is at boosting Hunter's mobility, after all, it's what the class is so well-known for. The St0mp-EE5 boosts your sprint and slide speed, as well as boosting strafe, high, and triple jump.
Who is the weakest hunter? ›
He is one of the awakened humans who became able to use mana, but ranked as the World's Weakest Hunter, being the weakest E-Rank Hunter and Jin-Woo soon delved down the path of becoming the World's Strongest Hunter after he was Reawakened and became a Player.
Who is the No 1 Hunter? ›
Killua Zoldyck
The fact that he passes the Hunter Exam by defeating nearly 1,500 other participants just proves that Killua is a force of nature.
Who is the number 1 Destiny 2 player? ›
All Platforms Glory Rating Leaderboard
| Rank | Player | Rounds Played |
|---|
| 1 | sirvalon #4785 | 73 |
| 2 | VlashMiRaTiMe | 17 |
| 3 | e2ae6980 | 20 |
| 4 | xx8690 | 26 |
96 more rowsOf course, each Guardian class will have its own Strand abilities as well. The Hunter super uses Strand as a rope dart, which is swung around at high speeds and whipped at enemies. Warlocks are masters of the telekinetic aspect of this power and can use it to create Strand missiles and launch them at enemies.
Is the Lightfall campaign free? ›
It's free to all players and definitely one of the more entertaining and rewarding things to do in Destiny. As a way to entice players to purchase an expansion, free players are given a taste of each campaign via the campaign's first mission, which is available for free.
Destiny 2: 11 Best Strand Weapons
- 8 Koraxis's Distress.
- 7 Mykel's Reverence.
- 6 Circular Logic.
- 5 Final Warning.
- 4 Perpetualis.
- 3 Rufus's Fury.
- 2 Quicksilver Storm.
- 1 The Immortal.
Some subclasses, that are relatively hard to get into are: Stasis Warlock, Solar Warlock, Stasis Hunter, Solar Hunter and Stasis Titan. Some subclasses that are hard to master are: Stasis Warlock, Arc Warlock, Stasis Hunter, Arc Hunter, Void Hunter, Void Titan and Stasis Titan.
What is the most powerful faction in Destiny 2? ›
Vex- Biggest Threat Cabal- Second Fallen- third Hive- Forth Taken- Five.
What is the best Hunter build in PvE 2023? ›
The best Hunter build is a Void Nightstalker setup with the Stylish Executioner and Vanishing Step Aspects, the Gyrfalcon's Hauberk Exotic chest armor, and Void weapons. With it, you can infinitely chain Volatile Rounds and invisibility procs while also constantly healing and getting grenade energy from Devour.
Why hunters are the best class in Destiny? ›
They (hunter main) say it's mainly due to their specialization in dealing the most super damage. Explaining that hunters deal the most damage through their abilities, while the other classes specialize in other aspects. Such as warlocks buffing and debugging, and titans being tanky and aggressive.
What type of skill is Hunter? ›
Hunter is classified as a Gatherer Skill.
What are the most useful stats in Destiny 2? ›
Since its update in Season of the Haunted, Resilience has been without a doubt the most important stat in Destiny 2, regardless of what mode or activity you're playing in.
Does class matter in Destiny 2? ›
The classes in Destiny 2 cater to wildly different play-styles, so before committing to one, be sure to know how you want to play the game. The world of Destiny 2 is filled with tons of choices to make about gear and loadouts, but no choice is as important as the class a player chooses when they create their character.
What is the best person to use in Destiny 2? ›
10 Best Destiny 2 Characters, Ranked
- 8 Eris Morn.
- 7 Commander Zavala.
- 6 Mara Sov.
- 5 Crow.
- 4 Osiris.
- 3 The Drifter.
- 2 Mithrax.
- 1 Saint-14.
Whistler's Whim (12.81%) — Rarest Destiny 2 Weapons
The current rarest weapon in Destiny 2 is Whistler's Whim, a Trials bow added in Season of Plunder. Is it worth having?
One of the rarest sets of armor in Destiny 2, the Escalation Protocol armor, is currently available to purchase from Xûr this weekend. Xûr is in the Winding Cove on the EDZ, and is selling each armor piece from the set for 50 Legendary Shards and 1,000 Glimmer.
What is the highest stat roll for exotic armor? ›
Each stat will receive a random amount of points, referred to by the community as your armor's stat distribution. Armor also randomly rolls with a stat total, ranging from 48-68. Exotics also follow this rule, although some Exotics added before the Shadowkeep expansion can achieve a stat total of 70.
What is the best weapon for Hunter? ›
WoW Classic Phase 5 Hunter Off-Hand Weapons
| Item | Source | |
|---|
| Best | Fang of the Faceless | Zul'Gurub |
| Best(PvP) | High Warlord's Blade | PvP Vendor |
| Best(PvP) | High Warlord's Cleaver | PvP Vendor |
| Optional | Core Hound Tooth | Molten Core |
2 more rowsThe ONLY difference between Legendary and Exotic Weapons are the [i]unique[/i] Exotic Perks... some are worth the Exotic Slot in your inventory... some aren't.
What stats matter on Hunter? ›
Best Stats for Hunter in Destiny 2
The best stats for Hunters in Destiny 2 are Mobility, Resilience, and Discipline. Raising the Mobility stat increases both your movement speed and jump height, which is always useful when navigating a large group of enemies.
What is the best class for a hunter in Destiny 2? ›
The Hunter's best subclass in Destiny 2 is by far the Void Nightstalker. With its ability to both dish out and avoid massive amounts of damage, it can demolish enemy hordes single-handedly.
What is the best spec for hunters? ›
Best Hunter Leveling Spec in Shadowlands
Many players have chosen Marksmanship as their choice of best Hunter leveling spec. Marksmanship does not rely on pets for their damage nearly as much as Beast Mastery, but it can still dispatch of enemies really quickly with a barrage of lethal shots.
What stats should Hunters have Destiny 2? ›
The best stats for Hunters in Destiny 2 are Mobility, Resilience, and Discipline. Raising the Mobility stat increases both your movement speed and jump height, which is always useful when navigating a large group of enemies.
What is the most op class in Destiny 2? ›
Firing off blasts of deadly cold, the Revenant subclass is generally considered to be the most overpowered of the four Hunter subclasses. You can fire blades that freeze enemies and ricochet to others while being granted abilities to instakill enemies by shattering them after they have been frozen.
What is the highest DPS class in Destiny 2? ›
1. Warlock Dawnblade (Solar 3.0) A subclass primarily used for support, Dawnblade fills its lack of ad clear and boss damage with some of the most powerful buffs in the game. Radiant provides a whopping 25% increase to damage, and Restoration provides continuous health regeneration even through damage.
Players are finally stepping away from the light to exploit the darkness with these new powers that are not only entertaining to use but also incredibly powerful.
- 1 Titan: Berserker. ...
- 2 Titan: Sentinel. ...
- 3 Titan: Striker. ...
- 4 Titan: Sunbreaker. ...
- 5 Titan: Behemoth. ...
- 6 Hunter: Threadrunner. ...
- 7 Hunter: Gunslinger. ...
- 8 Hunter: Revenant.
For Hunters, Marksmanship is the best PvE spec.
Beast Mastery and Survival will not be as good, with a minor exception for Beast Mastery at very early gear levels (explained below).
Is Marksmanship or Beast Mastery better? ›
BM is better for single target fights. BM puts up good numbers in tyrannical weeks but not comparable overall. it's rare that BM out performs MM in terms of raw numbers, BM only slightly excels in single target and as we know, single target isn't really the majority of M+ content.
What is the most important stats for Marksmanship Hunter? ›
Agility is the best stat in all situations. Versatility is the most important secondary stat as it increases the damage you deal and reduces the damage you take. Mastery is also crucial as it increases the range and damage of all of your damaging spells.
Which is better warlock or hunter? ›
Hunters usually have the best exotics, a great class ability useful in every form of content and the best jump out of the 3. It is the best DPS class followed by Titan. Really you can't go wrong with hunter either.
Should I always equip highest gear Destiny 2? ›
You don't need to equip your highest Power level gear to continue receiving better drops. The Seasonal Artifact does not factor into your Gear Level, it simply adds bonus Power to your overall Power level for the given Season.
Should hunters have high mobility? ›
Mobility and the Dodge Ability
Hunters get an extra benefit from their Mobility stat that many newer players don't realize. Similar to how Recovery affects rift cooldown on Warlocks and Resilience affects barricade cooldown on Titans, the Mobility stat affects the cooldown of the Hunter class abilities.
What is considered good stats Destiny 2? ›
There's a simple rule in Destiny 2, where the top three stats (Mobility, Resilience, and Recovery), are considered one category, and the bottom three stats (Discipline, Intellect, and Strength) are considered another.
