Parasite — Envious Worm (Strand Hunter)

Centerpiece: Parasite (Grenade Launcher · Heavy · Solar) · Subclass: Strandwalker (Threadrunner) · Role: Boss-melting Heavy that grows a bigger worm the more you kill just before firing Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Updated 2026-07-03

Parasite is a damage bank. Every minor you delete just before firing makes the next worm bigger — and the catalyst, Envious Arsenal, means you never reload it: damage your other two guns, ready Parasite, and it's full from reserves. The whole build is one rhythm — clear the room on Strand, swap-tap-swap to keep it topped, then detonate a fully-stacked worm into the boss. Star-Eater turns the Orbs the clear makes into an overcharged Super that opens the damage window the worm closes.

The weapon

Worm's Hunger (intrinsic): "This weapon fires Hive worms which explode on impact. The size and damage of the explosion scales with the number of enemies you've defeated just before firing this weapon."

Catalyst — Envious Arsenal: "Dealing damage with both other weapons before readying this weapon refills it from reserves."

What it does: the worm's blast — radius and damage — ramps with how many combatants you killed in the few seconds before you fired, a kill-count stack that turns a single 120-RPM Heavy shell into a small nuke. Envious Arsenal removes the only tax on that: instead of manually reloading a one-in-the-pipe Heavy Grenade Launcher, you tag both your other weapons, swap to Parasite, and it refills straight from reserves. So the build never asks you to choose between clearing adds and topping the gun — the same motion does both. Everything else here exists to keep that kill-stack high and that reserve pool flowing, then to bolt an overcharged Super onto the front of the damage phase so the worm lands on an already-softened target.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Subclass	Strand (Threadrunner)	The room-clear element that makes the kill-stack and the Orb factory that feeds Star-Eater.
Super	Silkstrike	Rope-dart room-clear builds the kill-stack and floods Orbs; Star-Eater overcharges it for the heal + damage window the worm finishes.
Class ability	Marksman's Dodge	Reloads your swap partners on dodge — keeps Envious Arsenal's two-gun tax paid for free (Gambler's if you melee more).
Movement	Strafe Jump	Tight mid-air control to reposition onto the boss the instant the worm is stacked.
Melee	Threaded Spike	The bouncing rope-dart melee returns energy and racks cheap add kills that feed the worm stack.
Grenade	Grapple	Repositions to the priority target the instant the stack is built; Widow's Silk grants the extra charge (Threading grenade if no Grapple charge).
Aspect 1	Whirling Maelstrom	Destroy a Tangle → a Strand mass that defeats trash for you → free kill-stack between shots, hands-off.
Aspect 2	Widow's Silk	Second grenade charge and a Grapple Tangle at the grapple point → more Grapple uptime and more Thread-of-Ascent reloads.
Fragments	Thread of Ascent · Thread of Generation · Thread of Warding · Thread of Continuity	Ascent reloads on grenade (+10 Weapons); Generation builds grenade off all damage; Warding = Woven Mail off Orbs; Continuity stretches your unravel/suspend/sever control.
Exotic armour	Star-Eater Scales (Legs)	Clearing floods Orbs → overcharged Super → heal + up to +70% Super damage; cast Silkstrike into the boss, then the worm finishes what the Super softened.
Weapons	Strand Primary (Unraveling/Hatchling auto or pulse) + Strand Special (wave-frame or Slice GL)	The two Envious Arsenal tags — a quick burst from each refills Parasite from reserves; both do the room-clear that builds the worm and stay on-subclass for Threadling/unravel payoffs.

Why it works (the mechanics)

• The stack is the whole gun, and Strand builds it for free. Worm's Hunger scales with kills just before firing. Whirling Maelstrom's Strand mass kills trash on its own, Threaded Spike bounces between adds, and a Strand primary mows the pack — by the time you swap to Parasite the worm is already fat. You never have to try to build the stack; the clear half of the build does it.
• Envious Arsenal deletes the reload, so the swap rhythm is the build. A Heavy GL normally holds one shell and reloads slowly. Envious Arsenal turns "tag gun A → tag gun B → ready Parasite" into a full mag from reserves. The ideal habit — work with two guns, then draw Parasite for the priority — is the same motion that builds the kill-stack. One rhythm pays two debts.
• Marksman's Dodge keeps the two-gun tax free. Envious Arsenal needs both partners to have dealt damage; Marksman's Dodge reloads them on cue, so a single shot from each between worms is enough and you're never fishing for ammo mid-phase.
• Star-Eater makes the Super the opener and the worm the closer. Clearing on Strand floods Orbs (Whirling Maelstrom + Silkstrike + ability kills). Feast of Light converts those into an overcharged Super — Clarity clocks it at +70% Super damage for 14s at x6, plus a burst of healing on cast. You dump Silkstrike into the boss, then drop a max-stack worm into the softened target: two of Hunter's biggest hits, back to back, off the same Orbs the clear already made.
• Thread of Ascent is a second reload lever. Throwing a grenade reloads your equipped weapon, so if you do want Parasite topped the manual way, Grapple tops it — and Widow's Silk's extra charge means you almost always have one. Its +10 Weapons also rides straight onto the worm's damage.
• Woven Mail is the survivability write-off. Thread of Warding grants Woven Mail on every Orb pickup, and you make a flood of them — so the standing-still you do during the swap-tap-swap rhythm and the Super cast is covered by damage resistance without spending a fragment slot on pure defence.

Stats & mods

Weapons 200 → Super → Health. Weapons is a flat PvE damage multiplier that rides straight on the worm; Super speeds the Star-Eater overcharge loop; Health is the safe dump under permanent Woven Mail. Archetype lean: pieces favouring Weapons/Super, with Grenade a cheap tertiary (Generation + Ascent feed it for free).

Mods:

• Boots (Star-Eater): Orbs of Restoration · a Heavy reserves mod — Envious Arsenal refills from reserves, so reserves are your true mag size.
• Arms: Heavy / Grenade Launcher Loader for the rare manual Parasite reload · Fastball if you lean Grapple.
• Chest: Elemental resistances; a Heavy reserves mod if the slot allows.
• Class item: Powerful Attraction (dodge vacuums Orbs into Star-Eater) · Reaper.
• Surge: Solar Weapon Surge ×3 — Parasite is Solar, so its own surge (not Strand) is what multiplies the worm's blast.
• Anti-Champion: Parasite has no intrinsic champion stun, so lean on the artifact (Revitalizing Blast) plus your two Strand swap partners' archetype mods to cover Barrier/Overload/Unstoppable.

Artifact — Queensfoil Censer

The Strand/Orb artifact that mirrors this build: it has a literal Grenade-Launcher Tier 1, it turns the Orb flood Star-Eater wants into weapon damage, and it closes an unravel→sever loop on top of the worm's kill-stack while your Strand swap partners cover champions.

Picks (2/3/2):

• Tier 1: Blast Radius · Wished into Being
• Tier 2: Unraveling Orbs · Dragon's Bite · Revitalizing Blast
• Tier 3: To Shreds · Horde Shuttle

• Blast Radius grants Armor Charge on rapid Grenade-Launcher final blows — purpose-built for a Heavy GL and the Silkstrike add-clear that precedes each worm.
• Wished into Being spawns Orbs from ability final blows while your Super is nearly charged — a second Orb faucet that keeps the Star-Eater overcharge topped.
• Unraveling Orbs gives Strand weapons Unraveling Rounds on any Orb or Tangle pickup — buffs the swap partners off the Orb flood and Whirling Maelstrom's Tangles.
• Dragon's Bite lets a Strand shield-break suspend the target — adds crowd control on the swap partners alongside Thread of Continuity's stretched durations.
• Revitalizing Blast ignites a stunned Champion and clears your shield stun — the backbone of this build's champion answer, paired with the swap partners' anti-champion archetypes.
• To Shreds and Horde Shuttle close the unravel→sever loop: sustained damage unravels severed targets, and damaging unraveled targets spawns sever-dealing Threadlings that farm the worm stack hands-off.

Where it shines

• Boss DPS / damage phases: the headline. Stack the worm on the trash every boss room provides, cast an overcharged Silkstrike, detonate a full-size worm — repeat each time reserves refill via Envious Arsenal.
• Add-dense endgame (Onslaught, Nether, GM strikes): the clear is the DPS setup, so there's no dead time between "kill room" and "delete boss"; the kill-stack is abundant exactly where adds are.
• GM / −30/−40 content: Woven Mail plus Star-Eater's overcharge heal carry survivability while you stand to swap and cast.
• Champion coverage: Parasite breaks nothing intrinsically (manifest lists no champion stun). Cover Barrier/Overload/Unstoppable with your two Strand swap partners' anti-champion archetypes and the artifact's Revitalizing Blast (ignite-on-stun); Whirling Maelstrom's unravel/suspend pressure backs it up against ability-spam elites.

Mod selection (masterworked — full allocation)

All 15 sockets used, 10 energy per masterworked piece; costs from the manifest. Core mods are the build's engine; fill mods are strong defaults — swap freely (chest resists should match the activity's damage types). Flex/loadout-dependent: so lean on the artifact (Revitalizing Blast) plus your two Strand swap partners' archetype mods to cover Barrier/Overload/Unstoppable.