Are you a Warlock main and want to take your game to the next level? These are the best Warlock Strand builds we’ve discovered so far. And by the way, as any top-tier Warlock build, these builds will guide you every step of the way, including essential Exotics, Mods, and more.
Top Warlock Strand builds
| -- | Name | Class | Area | Subclass | Excels in | Element | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Mindspun Suspender | Warlock | PvE |  Strand | Mid to Endgame PvE content | Strand | Best in Class |
 | Sorcerer of Swarms | Warlock | PvE | Strand | Casual PvE Content | Strand | |
| | Broodweaver | Warlock | PvP | Strand | Strong crowd control and movement abilities | Strand |
Best Warlock Strand PvE builds
Mindspun Suspender
Excels In: Endgame (Dungeons, Raids, Legend content)
Goal of the Build: Dominate the battleground with both Suspend and Threadlings, immobilizing and damaging combatants with little effort.
Mandatory Gear: Swarmers are the clear choice for armor here, and a primary Demolitionist weapon makes ability rotations smoother. Bonus points if it’s Strand!
| Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Swarmers | Warlock | Legs | Lightfall | Lost Sectors | Season 20 |   Lightfall | Exotic Perk: "Destroying a Tangle spawns a Threadling. Your Threadlings unravel targets that they damage." |
- Aspects: Weaver’s Call and Mindspun Invocation are our choices for Aspects.
- Fragments: You’ll want to equip Thread of Mind, Generation, Evolution, and Warding.
- Abilities & Stats: Shackle Grenade is the top pick here because of its uses with Mindspun Invocation.
- Stats: Discipline is easily the most crucial stat to build into, with Resilience and Recovery being extremely useful as well.
- Mods: An Elemental Siphon mod matching your primary weapon’s element will be your main source of Orbs and Armor Charge. The Untangler, Threaded Blast, and Allied Unraveling Artifact Perks also work perfectly if you’re playing during Season of Defiance. Also:
| Art | Mod Name | Slot | Cost | Requirements | Effects | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  | Grenade Kickstart | Arms | 3 | Rank 7 | When your grenade energy is fully expended, you gain grenade energy. Additionally, your Armor Charge is consumed and you gain additional grenade energy for each stack. | Active |
  | Stacks on Stacks | Legs | 4 | Rank 7 | Picking up an Orb of Power grants you 1 additional stack of Armor Charge. | Generator |
 | Bomber | Class Item | 1 | Rank 5 | Reduces grenade cooldown when using your class ability. | General |
Gameplay Loop
Consuming your Shackle Grenade with Mindspun Invocation grants you 25 seconds of Weaver’s Trace, making all final blows create an explosion of Suspend. Killing these Suspended targets will create a Tangle and grant class ability energy; destroying that same Tangle will create Threadlings.
Because of Swarmers, Threadlings will Unravel targets they hit. You can generate additional Threadlings by casting your rift, which also grants you grenade energy to start the process over again. To top it all off, collecting Orbs of Power from your Siphon mod will give you Woven Mail and grenade energy indirectly via Grenade Kickstart.
Sorcerer of Swarms
Excels In: Casual Content (Seasonal Activities, Strikes, etc.)
Goal of the Build: Fill the battlefield with Threadlings to dominate foes and spread Unravel.
Mandatory Gear: Swarmers is the only required piece of gear, allowing you to spawn even more Threadlings with additional effects. A Strand primary weapon with Hatchling or Demolitionist contributes significantly to this build but is not required.
| Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swarmers | Warlock | Legs | Lightfall | Lost Sectors | Season 20 | Lightfall | Exotic Perk: "Destroying a Tangle spawns a Threadling. Your Threadlings unravel targets that they damage." |
- Aspects: Weaver’s Call and Mindspun Invocation.
- Fragments: Thread of Warding, Generation, and Evolution. For the final one, we recommend Rebirth, Fury, or Finality.
- Abilities: hreadling Grenade is the easy choice for even more Threadlings.
- Stats: Your priorities should be Resilience, Recovery, and Discipline.
- Mods: You’ll want a Siphon matching your primary weapon’s element, one Surge of your choice and:
| Art | Mod Name | Slot | Cost | Requirements | Effects | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Impact Induction | Arms | 2 | Rank 5 | Causing damage with a melee attack reduces your grenade cooldown. | General |
  | Charged Up | Chest | 3 | Rank 7 | Increases the maximum number of stacks of Armor Charge you can carry by 1. | Generator |
| | Stacks on Stacks | Legs | 4 | Rank 7 | Picking up an Orb of Power grants you 1 additional stack of Armor Charge. | Generator |
 | Innervation | Legs | 1 | Rank 5 | Reduces grenade cooldown each time you pick up an Orb of Power. | General |
| | Bomber | Class Item | 1 | Rank 5 | Reduces grenade cooldown when using your class ability. | General |
  | Time Dilation | Class Item | 3 | Rank 7 | Your decaying Armor Charge has a longer duration. | Generator |
Gameplay Loop
Consuming your Threadling Grenade with Mindspun Invocation will perch five Threadlings. Once you cast your rift, you’ll send those five plus an additional three out at once for a total of eight.
Your rift, melee, and potentially your weapon (while using Demolitionist) all recharge your Threadling Grenade, allowing you to repeat the loop above consistently. If you instead have a Hatchling weapon, it’ll directly spawn more Threadlings as opposed to recharging the grenade.
Because of Swarmers, destroying Tangles will spawn two Threadlings. This exotic also makes Threadlings apply Unravel to targets, resulting in more Tangles. Lastly, with Thread of Warding, picking up Orbs of Power generated through weapon multi-kills grants Woven Mail for some extra damage resistance.
Strand PvP build
PvP Essentials
Because of its competitive nature, stats are significantly more critical in the Crucible than in PVE. For Warlocks, high Recovery is a must as it is tied to your health and rift regeneration speeds. Additionally, because of Destiny’s ability-focused nature, high Discipline is irreplaceable too. Lastly, while it’s more important on Titan, mid-high Resilience can also be helpful. Some things (such as two-shot kills with Thorn) depend on the enemy’s Resilience stat, so having around Tier 6 or 7 is always useful.
Regarding mods, Warmind Cell and Elemental Well mods don’t activate in the Crucible. And while Charged with Light mods do work, they’re significantly more challenging to trigger than in PVE. Because of this, the two most important types of mods for PVP are extremely general: stat mods and weapon mods (such as targeting). These are always active and can provide you with noticeable benefits.
Subclasses
While there is usually a meta subclass or general setup to run for the Crucible, every element has unique strengths and weaknesses, including the newly added Strand subclass.
Broodweaver
Broodweaver functions as a mix between Stormcaller, Dawnblade and Shadebinder, providing strong crowd control in combination with useful movement abilities.
Each grenade does something unique but powerful: Grapple can either close the gap or give you space, Shackle can stop opponents in their tracks, and Threadling can seek down low health enemies to kill.
Pros:
- Has a nice variety of abilities and uses
- Area control, shutdown, and movement abilities
- Powerful subclass verbs (Suspend, Woven Mail, etc.)
Cons:
- Few options for Super, Melee, and Aspects
- Little access to subclass verbs compared to other Strand classes
- Acts as a jack of all trades, master of none
Before you go…
If you’re looking for a killer Hunter Strand build or Titan Strand build, we’ve got you covered too! Don’t miss our up-to-date Hunter and Titan builds!
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