If you’ve been following Bungie’s dev blog recently, you will know that the Thread of Generation Destiny 2 Strand fragment will be nerfed next season. So much so that it is in danger of losing its spot as “the best Strand fragment”.
The upcoming change centers around the fragment’s relation to damage-over-time mechanics and frequent damaging weapons such as trace rifles. We will tell you right now, both are going to be nerfed hard. For some of us, that may seem like an inevitable outcome.
Before discussing the nerf, let’s talk about what the fragment actually does.
Thread of Generation Destiny 2 Fragment
Dealing damage generates grenade energy. But it comes at the cost of -10 Discipline.
As stated above, the Thread of Generation Destiny 2 fragment generates grenade energy after dealing damage. Notice that nowhere in the description says that it has to be weapon damage or ability damage. All it needs for it to activate is damage numbers appearing on screen.
Ideally, the reasonable rate of energy gain is with weapons like Auto Rifles. A constant stream of damage can knock off more than a minute of your cooldown even if you just have 30-40 Discipline. Weapons and damage-over-time mechanics apply damage at somewhat higher rates so it would stand to reason that you generate more grenade energy faster. At least that’s how it works right now. And that’s going to change starting next season.
Thread of Generation Nerf Details
Starting in Season 21, Thread of Generation will be hit by the following nerfs:
- Reduced energy generation provided by some damage-over-time mechanics.
- Reduced energy generation provided by Trace Rifles by 36%.
Damage-over-time mechanics like poison (I’m looking at you Le Monarque) and scorch weapons are affected by this nerf. This also applies to certain Arc attacks. More importantly, it would appear as though unraveled projectiles will no longer generate as much energy as well.
We don’t know where this trace rifle nerf came from. (What an oddly specific number.) With something as powerful as Thread of Generation, it’s easy for certain weapon types to go unnoticed. It’s possible that with trace rifles, a Strand user can get their grenade back nearly instantly. That may have prompted the direct nerf for next season.
As to who gets affected most by these nerfs, it’s going to be Guardians who use Grapple a lot. Hunters who don’t grenade spam Grapple Points and Threadling Warlocks who want to add a bit of mobility to their Threadling build will be hit by this nerf.
What does this mean for Thread of Generation going forward?
Ultimately, we will need to see how the nerfs affect the fragment next season. We could find ourselves in a Loreley Spendor Helm situation where we end up investing more into recovery to have nearly the same effects. Worst case, players might outright drop Thread of Generation for another fragment entirely.
But we’ll have to see about that. Bungie has yet to announce how much they are reducing damage-over-time generation. Though they did mention that they will release a more detailed blog by the time Season 21 launches.
So, how can you prepare for next season’s nerfs? If you’re a Hunter looking to maintain Grapple up time, maybe you’ll be tempted to use three copies of the Bomber mod instead of two. Warlocks might very well need to use Verity’s Brow to get the same level of grenade regeneration as before.
And that’s all on Thread of Generation for right now. We will continue to monitor any more updates the closer we get to Season 21. So stay tuned for that. Good luck to the rest of your Guardian Games, Competitors!
Check out this video from YouTuber Aztecross going over the expected Class changes coming in Season 21 of Destiny 2.
