When it comes to the options that Strand Hunters have for Exotic armor, there are quite a few useful options for both PvE and PvP. So, buckle up because today we are discussing the top 10 exotic armor for Strand Hunters in Destiny 2 (2023).
10. Sealed Ahamkara Grasps
Perk-wise, these gauntlets give you the ability to reload your weapon whenever you deal melee damage. Even better is that powered melee final blows will reload every weapon in your inventory on top of greater mobility, jump height, and airborne effectiveness for five seconds after melee damage. You might think that as a Strand Hunter, these would work well with the Hunter’s homing Threaded Spike melee. Unfortunately, between the perk’s seven-second cooldown and the Exotic arms not benefiting Strand Hunters in other ways that elevate the subclass’s strengths, these are at the bottom of the list.
9. Speedloader Slacks
Unlike the Ahamkara Grasps, these sleek slacks are designed to help you reload faster with more handling and greater airborne effectiveness. All you have to do is use your dodge to get all those benefits. Additionally, when you and your fireteam are within 15 meters, you get it for 15 seconds. The buff can also be refreshed upon additional dodges and kills, which makes it useful when moving through missions or the Crucible as long as you’re getting kills—not so much for boss encounters unless you can chain add kills with more dodges.
At 5 stacks, this Exotic armor gives 55 Handling, 55 Reload Speed, and 50 Airborne Effectiveness. The Speedloader’s don’t mention this, but you also get a decreasing Reload Duration Multiplier that starts at 1x and caps at .89x, which stacks with the reload buff, too! These would be higher up on the list for sure if the Exotic perk was a bit less passive and a bit more like its namesake.
8. Mothkeeper’s Wraps
Personally, I really wanted to like these Exotic gauntlets more. This is because the perk, ‘Winged Eclipse,’ turns your grenade into a bomb that releases two moths that either explode and blind enemies, give you and allies a small overshield, or a bit of both—all on a 73-second grenade cooldown. These gloves even give you an extra grenade charge. When paired with the Widow’s Silk Strand Aspect, you can have up to three of these moth grenade charges.
Now, while the moths are cool and feel really Exotic, they don’t feel as powerful or useful as some of the other Strand grenade options. Nor do they synergize exceptionally well with Strand abilities. Regardless, it can still be fun to use in PvE and PvP, but it isn’t going to deal better damage than other options or protect you in the way Woven Mail can.
7. The Bombardiers
I’ve always had a somewhat soft spot in my heart for these boots. Mainly because its perk works whenever you dodge, which is often, and has a different, useful effect for each subclass—neat! For Strand Hunters, the parting gift explosion has a 7.5-meter radius that applies Sever for a short amount of time. Remember that Sever reduces outgoing damage by a fair amount on top of unraveling the enemy and turning them into a Tangle upon defeat.
So, if you don’t already have an easy way to generate Tangles on a cooldown as short as a Tier 10 dodge, these boots help with that. That said, the Parting Gift bomb could stand to do more damage in PvE, but at least it’s possible to get some surprise kills with this in the Crucible since it does 120 damage there.
6. Foetracer
Like The Bombardiers, this Exotic helmet helps you make Tangles due to its Relentless Tracker perk. Damaging a Guardian or powerful combatant with a Strand ability will give you maximum stacks of weapon surge to weapons matching your subclass, so 25% damage buff in PvE and 6% in PvP. Downing the foe you damaged also creates an elemental pickup, which means a Tangle. This means Tangle generation for this Exotic is easier than the previous Exotics on this list.
These can be useful but suffer a bit due to their somewhat situational nature based on ability damage in both types of play. Ultimately, it’s a decent Exotic with potential as more Strand weapons and Strand abilities through Aspects are introduced over time.
5. Fr0st-EE5
Wow, Fr0st-EE5 are as old in the Destiny 2 ecosystem as they are annoying to repeatedly type out. Neither of those things stops Fr0st-EE5 from being useful in every moment you make your character sprint. This is because the chilly boots double the regeneration rate of your abilities in PvE and double the base regen rate in PvP. Additionally, your class ability regen rate is also increased by 200% in the Crucible. I can see all that being pretty useful for most Strand Hunter builds!
It’s also important to note the doubling of the regen rate happens after every other additive ability regen rate modifiers—all the better. Since you will be dodging that much more, it’s useful to know your sprint speed will increase by 6.25% for 10 seconds, giving your Strand more mobility. These boots are good, but other Exotics still outshine it.
4. Wormhusk Crown
Releasing alongside the Fr0st-EE5 in Season 3, the Wormhusk Crown has been nerfed multiple times for simply being so effective at keeping Hunters alive. Currently, the Exotic helm gives you 67 HP split across your shields and health when you dodge. It doesn’t get simpler than that. But because it works off your dodge, builds that utilize dodging will always be optimal and useful.
This is especially true when using the Threaded Specter Strand Hunter Aspect, where dodging creates a Strand Hunter. Easily one of my favorite Aspects in the entirety of Destiny 2. Having exploding decoys appear whenever I dodge, reload, and heal is strong no matter when and where you use it. It was close, but other Exotics on this list are just a bit better.
3. Star-Eater Scales
These are easily one of my favorite Exotics to use in PvE. Its perk has a lot going on and is focused on building Super energy faster—Orbs of Power that drop give an extra 2% on your Super bar. Better yet, is that even the small Orbs of Power that you can easily make from mods go from being worth 2.5% to 4.5% in total. Even better is that collecting four more while your Super bar is full overcharges your super, causing it to deal 70% more damage, healing you by 200hp, and giving you a 100hp Overshield.
Now, I love Strand’s roaming Super, so these boots do right by me when I can roam in tough content with more damage and an overshield. I would say these boots aren’t too bad in PvP either, although since the focus is on Supers, your mileage will definitely vary depending on how many orbs you or your team generate. That said, you’re still a bit more likely to get your Super earlier than others.
2. Assassin’s Cowl
Now we’re moving on to the best Hunter Exotics that go hard in one way or another. In the Assassin’s Cowl’s case, Powered Melee and Finisher Kills turn you invisible while restoring health. This buff is endlessly chainable, on top of giving longer invisibility and more health based on the enemy you kill. For example, Minor enemies give roughly 7 seconds of invis and 100hp, while Minibosses and Bosses give around 13 seconds and 200hp.
Combine that with the strong-powered melee attacks of a Strand Hunter with the Threaded Spike, and you have a much easier time surviving. The melee attack while using the Grappling Hook also activates this Exotic’s perk, which is icing on the cake. While this does work in PvP, it is a bit harder to pull off unless you can melee someone less than half-health. Ultimately, this is one of your best options as a Strand Hunter in PvE.
1. Cyrtarachne’s Facade
This is it; the Exotic helmet, I would argue, is one of your best choices as a Strand Hunter. It synergizes incredibly well with many aspects of the subclass due to how it grants Woven Mail whenever you Grapple something. Better yet, it is how good Woven Mail is. If Tier 10 Resilience grants a 30% damage resist and Woven Mail grants 60%, then you will be surprised that the two stack multiplicatively. For example, if you have Woven Mail and Tier 7 Resilience, that comes to 68.4% damage resist. While Tier 10 with Woven Mail tops you out at a whopping 72% resistance.
Having that much resistance as you fling yourself around the battlefield has kept me from dying more times than I can count. Combine that with Sever, and enemies are hitting you for much less. This works well in PvP, too! Just be careful because Woven Mail doesn’t protect your head.
