Best Hunter Strand Builds For Destiny 2 PvE and PvP (Season 23)

The dust has settled a bit following the release of Lightfall, Destiny 2's latest expansion. Now that it's been out for some time, we can finally take a look at the revamped mod system and put together what we consider to be top-tier Meta builds. 

What makes a build good? It all depends on what you want to do. If you're a PVE fanatic, you might find more value in builds that are better for burst damage and survivability. PVP players might need faster recovery and snappier movement options. Things that don't necessarily hit hard, but certainly hit fast. Let's get down to brass tacks and take a look at the best PVE and PVP builds for Strand Hunters in Destiny 2.

Best Strand Hunter PVE Build: Spawner of Threadlings

This Strand Hunter build might surprise you. Instead of leaning into one of the other Strand verbs, we're going to focus on Threadlings! These little sentient fellas can do some serious damage and so we're going to take it upon ourselves to break the mold a bit and utilize The Bombardiers for even more Threadlings. Let's dive in!  

Required Gear

• Exotic Armor: The Bombardiers (Legs)

The Bombardiers will drop a small explosive when you activate your Dodge ability. This bomb will damage the Threadling clone that we're going to spawn using our Aspects and cause it to explode sooner, getting those little guys moving faster. This isn't 100% required for the build, but it's nice to have, especially when things are getting a little too hot. 

Class Setup

• Super: Silkstrike
• Grenade: Threadling Grenades
• Class Ability: Marksman Dodge
• Melee: Threaded Spike
• Jump: Triple Jump

The Jump here is by far the most "up to you" option in this build. We want the Marksman Dodge for the free reload and faster cooldown, while the Threadling grenades are the core of this particular build. Experiment a bit if this isn't hitting the mark for you, but remember this setup!

Aspects

• Widow's Silk: for the extra grenade charge
• Threaded Specter: This is what creates a Strand decoy. When it takes enough damage or an enemy gets too close, it detonates and drops a small swarm of Threadlings!  

Fragments

• Thread of Finality creates Threadlings when getting Finisher final blows
• Thread of Warding grants Woven Mail when you pick up an Orb of Power 
• Thread of Generation grants Grenade energy when dealing damage 
• Thread of Evolution makes Threadlings travel farther and deal 

Armor Mods

Outside of Stat Mods, you'll want to min/max for ability uptime to further lean into the Grenade, Melee, and Class Ability spam that this build is all about. 

• Head Mods: I recommend Ashes to Assets, Strand Siphon, and Heavy Ammo Finder for more orbs, more super energy, and heavy ammo
• Arm Mods: I recommend Grenade Kickstart and Bolstering Detonation for more grenade energy and class energy
• Chest Mods: I recommend Emergency Reinforcement and/or whatever damage reduction mods of your choosing. Emergency Reinforcement is crazy strong right now and a requirement for high-end content
• Leg Mods: I recommend Strand Weapon Surge, Recuperation, and Orbs of Restoration. These will grant you additional Strand weapon damage as well as additional health and ability recharge. 
• Cloak Mods: I recommend Time Dilation, Bomber, and Outreach for longer Armor Charge duration and increased cooldowns on grenades and melee charges. 

Weapons

• Kinetic Slot: A Strand Primary such as Quicksilver Storm orRufus's Fury. While not required, we're leaning hard into Strand Damage types, so this is going to be an excellent option for quick DPS as far as primaries go. If you have a Strand special weapon that you feel that you can get more DPS out with, then roll with that, but Rufus's Fury is my go-to right now. 
• Energy Slot: The choice here is yours, but I do recommend a grenade launcher that can clear adds in case your Threadlings die down and you need to get some heat off of you. I personally am rocking a crafted Forbearance that I love, but you can get creative!
• Heavy Slot: Again, this is completely up to you. Right now, there aren't a ton of Strand options in the heavy slot, but either Koraxis's Distress or Circular Logic will do wonders here. I would lean more toward Circular Logic, but either is a good choice. 

Stat Distribution 

For these, you'll want to focus on as much Resilience and Recovery as possible for survivability. Next would be a minimum of 60 Mobility for your Dodge recharge, but anything higher is obviously better. The rest of the stats are entirely up to you, but Discipline as a sort of mild focus is always a good idea.

Conclusion

This Strand build is a blast to run around and wreak havoc with. Just make sure you keep a good rotation of ability usage going and don't forget to dodge for more Threadlings! Try taking this into some Legend or Master Lost Sectors or give it a go in your next Root of Nightmares run! 

Best Strand Hunter PVP Build: Green Eagle

Strand in PVP can be a beast to tackle and work effectively into your routine. This build might have a bit of a steeper learning curve but once you get into the rhythm, you'll find that this Grapple happy, high-flying Hunter build is exactly what the doctor ordered. Grab your Stompies and get ready to soar high, Guardian. This build is all about movement, Grappling, and getting cozy with your enemies. 

Required Gear

• Exotic Armor: Stop-EE5 (Legs)

Stomp-EE5 aka Stompies is a great PVP exotic and one that I find myself running in PVE often too. It's hard to switch off once you get used to the absolutely wild amount of mobility that comes with them. This build is a lot about moving and little about aping, so get ready to Grapple often and Grapple high.

Class Setup

• • Super: Silkstrike
  • Grenade: Grapple
  • Class Ability: Gambler's Dodge
  • Melee: Threaded Spike
  • Jump: Triple Jump

  Gambler's Dodge is a risky one to get your money's worth out of running it instead of Marksman, but if you can make it happen, getting your melee back will be very useful. If you find yourself having a hard time getting it to proc, switch over to Marksman. We won't tell anyone. 

Aspects

• Widow's Silk: for the extra grenade charge
• Ensnaring Slam: This grants you the Ensnaring Slam ability, which will Suspend nearby targets at the cost of your class ability. Be smart with it.

Gambler's Dodge might come in handy if you want your melee back sooner, but Ensnaring Slam is a ton of fun if you can get it rolling. 

Fragments

Unlike in PVE, your PVP fragments likely won't have a great effect on your build. That said, I do have some recommendations that should help you get the edge over your opponents.

• Thread of Continuity makes Suspend last longer
• Thread of Mind gives you a chunk of Class Ability energy
• Thread of Warding grants Woven Mail when picking up Orbs
• Thread of Generation for more grenade energy while dealing damage.

Armor Mods

Outside of Stat Mods, you'll want to min/max for weapon steadiness and handling. These are all pretty straightforward and grant bonus weapon stats and ability recovery. 

• Head Mods: I recommend Kinetic OR Energy Targeting (and a siphon mod for fun!) 
• Arm Mods: I recommend Reloaders of your choice.
• Chest Mods: I recommend Unflinching mods of your choice.
• Leg Mods: I recommend Innervation and Invigoration x2 for grenade and melee regeneration.
• Cloak Mods: I recommend Distribution, Bomber, and Outreach for more ability energy. 

Weapons

• Kinetic Slot: I recommend something with some range like the No Time To Explain, Dead Man's Tale, or a similarly ranged Primary of your choice. Pulse Rifles continue to absolutely dominate in PVP and DMT is just fun to use. You can try to swap for a Hand Cannon too if you're finding yourself in close range, as you should be in this build!
• Energy Slot: All Shotgun, all the time. I use a Mindbender's Ambition that I love. Auto-Loading Holster is going to make you very happy when you're sprinting and swinging over Special Ammo and you have to switch to a CQB weapon in a pinch.
• Heavy Slot: This is completely up to you. Personally, Rockets are always a go-to in PVP due to their wide blast radius, making it tough to miss an opponent, but I have been a bit partial to Heavy Machine Guns recently, too!

Stat Distribution 

For these, you'll want to focus on high Resilience, Mobility, and Recovery for both survivability and class ability recharge time. Next would be Discipline for faster Grapple charges.  

Conclusion

This build is going to make you enemy number one. Getting suspended in PVP isn't as bad as getting frozen by Stasis, but it's still fairly frustrating. Good. Go and make the enemy team hate you. I might not run this in Trials, but the next time Iron Banner swings around, you can too! 

These are the best Strand Hunter builds for PVE and PVP in Destiny 2. Make sure you save them in your new Loadout slots before you start moving on to your next build!