Welcome to the Swarmers Prismatic Warlock Build Guide! This build focuses on generating Threadlings by leveraging the power of your Swarmers Exotic boots. Prismatic is the chosen subclass for this build due to the constant self-healing from Devour and grenade energy gained through Facet of Balance.
To increase Threadling generation even further, the Strand Exotic weapon Euphony allows you to spawn more of these Strand minions with each kill. Swarmers, Arcane Needle, and Facet of Bravery keep enemies Unraveled to build Light Transcendence with Facet of Devotion. This synergy increases Transcendence uptime.
The Swarmers Prismatic Warlock build excels at ad clear through automated Threadling minions and maintains excellent uptime on Devour, one of the best self-healing buffs in the game. The Exotic weapon Euphony provides strong boss damage, but if it's unavailable, refer to the Variants section for other powerful alternatives.
WARNING: The Prismatic subclass and Euphony requires The Final Shape DLC to unlock. The Swarmers Exotic leg armor requires the Lightfall DLC to unlock.
- Strong self healing.
- Very high ability uptime.
- Burst damage super for bosses or ads.
- Exotic Raid weapon.
- Threadlings struggle in difficult content.
Gameplay Loop
The goal of the Swarmers Prismatic Warlock build is to consistently generate Threadlings by using your grenade and class ability off cooldown. Defeating enemies helps maintain Devour, ensuring constant survivability.
- Cast your Arcane Needle to start Unraveling enemies and activate Devour upon securing a kill. These kills also trigger Facet of Bravery.
- Throw your Threadling Grenade to spawn three Threadlings. Each kill grants Devour if it’s not already active.
- If your Threadlings do not find an enemy, they return to you, remaining Perched. You can hold up to five Perched Threadlings and deploy them after dealing weapon damage, scoring a melee hit, or activating your class ability with Weaver's Call.
- Phoenix Dive to spawn three more Threadlings and repeat the cycle.
- Dealing sustained damage to bosses or elites with Euphony spawns even more Threadlings.
- Facet of Devotion does the heavy lifting to help fill your Light Transcendence bar, but make sure to use your Void weapon after securing a grenade kill, while it has Volatile rounds.
- Activate Transcendence to refill your Arcane Needle melee ability and transform your grenade into a Freezing Singularity. This unique grenade pulls enemies toward the center of impact, applying Slow, which is particularly effective for stunning Overload Champions.
- Cast Needlestorm during boss damage phases or to clear out large groups of enemies. This Super releases homing projectiles, that deal damage on hit, then explode into Threadlings.
Ability Breakdown
Super
- Needlestorm
- Unleash a barrage of woven needles that transform into Threadlings after embedding in the environment. This Super ability excels at clearing groups of enemies or dealing burst damage to a boss. With Swarmers equipped, it also spreads Unravel, enhancing this build's crowd control capabilities.
Abilities
- Phoenix Dive - Jump in the air and activate your class ability. You and surrounding allies gain two stacks of Cure. Creates three Threadlings and deploys all Perched Threadlings.
- Burst Glide - Use your favorite jump ability.
- Arcane Needle - Gain three charges of this melee ability, allowing you to easily spread Unravel and gain Devour.
- Threadling Grenade - Throw this grenade to spawn three Threadlings that seek out and attack your targets.
Aspects
- Feed the Void - Scoring a kill with any of your abilities activates Devour, giving you full health and doubled grenade ability energy after each kill that follows.
- Weaver's Call - Activating Phoenix Dive, spawns three Threadlings along with deploying any you have Perched. The Swarmers Prismatic Warlock creates a ton of Threadlings, so you should use this class ability off cooldown to deploy as many as you can!
Fragments
- Facet of Bravery - Threadling Grenade kills grant Volatile rounds to your Void weapon and Strand weapons gain Unraveling Rounds from powered melee kills.
- Facet of Devotion - Defeating enemy targets afflicted with Unravel, Slow or Freeze grants bonus Light Transcendence energy, making up for the lack of Light damage in this Swarmers Prismatic Warlock build.
- Facet of Hope - While you have Devour and Radiant active, your Phoenix Dive ability energy regenerates quicker.
- Facet of Balance - This aspect provides ability energy based on the type of damage you deal. Rapidly defeating enemies with Light damage refills your Arcane Needle, while Dark damage restores energy to your Threadling Grenade.
- Facet of Awakening - Rapidly defeating enemies with Light Damage, Darkness Damage, or Super final blows creates an elemental pickup of the same type. This Swarmers Prismatic Warlock build generates Tangles and Void Breaches.
Gearing
Required Gear
Swarmers - Destroying a Tangle spawns two Threadlings and your Threadlings Unravel any target that they damage. Tangles incur a 12 second cooldown, limiting how many you can make, but this Swarmers Prismatic Warlock build creates them off cooldown because so many enemies are Unraveled.
How to acquire:
- Complete the Lightfall campaign on Legend difficulty.
- Decrypting exotic engrams at Rahool if unlocked.
- Farm the expert Lost Sector on legs Armor days.
- Note: This Exotic is locked behind the Lightfall DLC.
Stat Priorities
- Resilience > Recovery > Discipline.
- Resilience is the most crucial stat to focus on. Aim for 100 Resilience to maximize your damage resistance and shield capacity, ensuring better survivability in challenging encounters.
- Recovery governs the cooldown on the Warlock's class ability and decreases the time it takes to regenerate your health and shields.
- Discipline decreases the cooldown on your grenade ability, allowing it to charge faster.
Learn more about the Stats available to you in Destiny 2 with our dedicated guide.
Armor Mods
| Item | Slot | Mandatory Mods | Supporting Mods |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deep Explorer Hood | Helmet | Void Siphon | Special Ammo Finder Special Ammo Scout |
| Deep Explorer Gloves | Gloves | Momentum Transfer Bolstering Detonation Firepower | |
| Deep Explorer Vestments | Chest | Concussive Dampener Harmonic Reserves | |
| Swarmers | Legs | Strand Weapon Surge Harmonic Scavenger | Recuperation |
| Deep Explorer Bond | Class Item | Reaper Bomber | Outreach |
- Optional Mods:
- If you're solo, on your Helmet, replace Special Ammo Scout with Ashes to Assets
- On your Chest, replace Concussive Dampener with the appropriate resistances for the activity.
- On your Class Item, swap Bomber or Outreach for Powerful Attraction if you already have enough grenade and melee ability energy.
Armor Mods are unlocked by progressing your Guardian Rank. Check out the Guardian Ranks Guide for more information.
Artifact Mods
- Anti-barrier Submachine Gun - Gives you an always active way to break Barrier Champion's shields and stun them with your SMG.
- Elemental Siphon - Rapid final blows with your Strand weapons create a Tangle. You are taking advantage of these Tangles with Swarmers.
- Press The Advantage - Gain a boost to your weapon stability, handling, and reload speed when you break an enemy's shield.
- Threaded Blast - Destroying a Tangle with a Strand weapon creates a larger and more damaging explosion. Since you are creating so many Tangles, this is an easy pick up.
- Radiant Orbs - Between The Recluse and Firepower you're going to create a ton of Orbs of Power making Radiant nearly always active.
- Shieldcrush - When Radiant, Threadling Grenade has a 25% increase to its recharge rate and damage output.
- Prismatic Transfer - When you cast Needlestorm, your fireteam members gain a boost to weapon damage when they do not have a Strand Super ability equipped.
Recommended Weapons
Kinetic Weapon: Euphony - A very powerful linear fusion weapon that uses special ammo and synergizes with your Threadlings. With the amount of Threadlings you are going to spawn in, Spindle stacks should be near max all the time. Euphony requires access to The Final Shape DLC to unlock. Earnable from the final Boss of the Salvation's Edge raid.
Energy Weapon: The Recluse - A classic SMG making a triumphant return and free for all players. Feeding Frenzy and Surrounded provide increased damage and reload speed for defeating enemies with Volatile rounds.
Power Weapon: Cataphract GL3 - The best Strand Heavy Grenade Launcher, but you need to farm Trials of Osiris to get it. Good for short or long damage windows with its burst capability and deep ammo reserves.
Variants
Gear Swaps
- Swap Euphony for The Call.
- We all know Raid Exotics are hard to come by, especially if you have bad RNG. The Call is one of the strongest Special weapons in the game with a deep perk pool.
- The Call requires access to The Final Shape DLC to unlock.
- Swap The Recluse for Graviton Lance.
- This Pulse Rifle is excellent at clearing a room with its perk Cosmology. Kills with this weapon cause enemy targets to detonate and spawn Void projectiles that track targets. This damage can also trigger explosions from Volatile enemies.
Gear Swaps
- Swap Swarmers for Solipsism with Spirit of the Swarm. This Variant no longer requires the Lightfal DLC.
- This swap removes your ability to spread Unravel with your Threadlings, but you still spawn Threadlings from Tangles and Unravel enemies with Arcane Needle.
- Pair this with Spirit of Inmost Light for added ability regeneration or Spirit of the Necrotic to add poison damage to your melee ability.
- Solipsism is locked behind The Final Shape DLC.
Ability Swaps
- Swap Arcane Needle for Pocket Singularity. Threadlings already Unravel targets with the Swarmers Exotic boots therefore you can replace your Strand melee with another Element. Pocket Singularity knocks enemies back and applies Volatile, stunning Unstoppable Champions.
Gear Swaps
For the ultimate Boss DPS Rotation during Raids and Dungeons, create a second Surge Variant loadout that has 3x Strand Weapon Surge and 2x Time Dilation Armor Mods. Make sure all your Aspects, Fragments, Abilities, and Weapons remain the same to keep your Super charged full.
- Right before Boss DPS begins, swap to your Surge loadout and pick up a few Orbs of Power. Enjoy 22% increased weapon damage with 18 seconds decay duration for each Armor Charge.
- Upgrade to Cataphract GL3 (Adept) on both your main loadout and this Surge Variant. This Strand Grenade Launcher benefits from all Harmonic mods, Strand Surge, and provides excellent boss damage.
To unlock Solipsism, you need to complete Dual Destiny. Check out our dedicated guide.
Summary
The Swarmers Prismatic Warlock build focuses on generating Threadlings to seek out and defeat enemies for you, while maintaining exceptional survivability through Devour. You continuously spawn Threadlings and Unravel enemies by throwing grenades while using your abilities off cooldown. Further enhance this amazing Strand build by equipping Euphony for boss encounters.
Swarmers spread Unravel and create more Threadlings whenever you destroy a Tangle. Gain additional ability energy with Facet of Balance, which replenishes ability energy based on the type of damage dealt. Overall, the Swarmers Prismatic Warlock build offers a balanced mix of crowd control, boss damage, and self-healing, making it powerful in many Destiny 2 activities.
Credits
Written by: AbbyHour
Reviewed by: Xtra37, Tenkiei