How To Craft Weapons in Destiny 2

Last Updated on October 17, 2022

With the release of The Witch Queen expansion, Bungie modified a core component of Destiny by developing a weapon crafting system. Weapon crafting is introduced early in the campaign and we will discuss how to unlock crafting, how the system works, and other speculation. This article will update as we learn more.

The campaign introduces you to the Enclave, the area the weapon crafting table resides, within approximately one hour of the campaign. This system is available to both Free to Play characters as well as those that own The Witch Queen expansion. While initially overwhelming, it’s not nearly as complicated as you suspect. At approximately 25 hours in, I feel pretty comfortable with the system and believe that it is going to be a great addition to the game.

The campaign provides you with the needed materials to craft your first weapon, the Glaive. The provided screenshots will give you an idea of what to expect.

The shape is used to craft the weapon initially. Reshape is used to modify the perks that become available as you upgrade your weapon. The most straightforward way to upgrade your weapon is by using the weapon in combat, as well as completing activities such as strikes, crucible matches, and gambit matches with the weapon equipped.

The game does a fair job of giving you information from the character screen as shown above. First, I’m able to see the Weapon level (Currently Level 8), how close I am to making the next level by the red-orange bar as well as a percentage that has been completed of the current level. I’m also able to see the current perks/traits that the weapon currently possesses.

Last but not least, I’m able to pick out which weapons in my character have been crafted by the orange box in the left lower corner of the weapon’s picture. This is nice to help prevent deleting weapons that you have crafted and losing their progress.

After you gain a few levels on the weapon, you will benefit by Reshaping the weapon, as you’ll have more options to customize the weapon to better suit your playstyle. The Reshape screen is pretty straightforward.

As you hover over the different slots that are customizable, you’ll be greeted with this

This screen can be information overload at points, but after seeing it a few times, you’ll notice that it is arranged pretty well. Notice that some traits are locked. They unlock as your weapon levels. Some of the perks have a yellow gradient at the bottom. These are enhanced traits, and the text shows that they are essentially more powerful versions than their non-enhanced counterparts.

I suspect it is a small percentage change, but for end-game content, the small percentages start to add up.

Lastly, this screen provides great information (and numbers!). Some traits affect the weapon’s stats; notice that as you hover it shows you how stats such as Range, Handling, or Reload Speed will compare with what is currently equipped into the weapon.

I hope that this guide has been helpful. There’s still more to get into, mainly materials needed, and how they are acquired, that I will discuss in the Weapon Crafting in Destiny 2 (Advanced) article. Be sure to reach out on Twitter with any questions, or send me a Bungie Friend Request so we can play together!

Weapon Crafting Continued

Weapon Crafting has been a fantastic addition to Destiny 2, but it’s taken me 20 or so hours to get a good understanding. I’ll try to pass along what I’ve learned, so you don’t make the same mistakes.

In order to unlock the weapon frame for crafting, you must acquire the weapon Pattern. This, to my knowledge thus far, is a random drop or from completing certain activities/quests in the Throne World that reward it upon completion. The weapon will come to your inventory with a Red outline. Weapons that come to your inventory with a Red outline have one of two purposes: To acquire the Pattern as mentioned previously, or to acquire materials (Deepsight Resonance) that are needed for shaping/reshaping the weapon.

Notice in the pictures below that when you hover over a Red outline weapon, just above the progress bar at the bottom, it will notify you what can be extracted. Attunement progress is progressed by using the weapon in battle as well as completing activities such as Strikes, Crucible, and Gambit.

Each weapon that is available to be Shaped/crafted has a different requirement of the number of Attunements required. In order to check how many are required, go to the Triumphs screen, and to the right-hand side, is a Patterns and Catalyst tab that will show you the number acquired.

Once you upgrade a Red outline weapon that has active Deepsight Resonance, it will notify you with an exclamation point in the weapon photo in the character screen. Keep in mind you can track your progression with the progress bar at the bottom. Once you inspect the weapon’s Details, you’ll notice that two out of a possible four currencies (called Elements) can be obtained.

Found Verdict Shotgun

The five possible currencies as well as the perks/traits that they correspond to include:

Ruinous Element: Damage or projectile modification-related trait perks.
Adroit Element: Weapon performance-related trait perks (handling, stability, etc.)
Mutable Element: Ability modification-related trait perks
Energetic Element: Ammo or Reload-related trait perks
Drowned Element: Raid specific perks

Pro tip: If you hover over the two perks that weapon has, it will tell you how much of that material you currently possess. This maxes out at 250, and you will be unable to hold any more. I have taken the approach of always extracting the currency in which I possess the least. See the pictures below for a better explanation:

Once you go back to the Crafting Table in the Enclave, and after progressing some crafted weapons levels, you’ll be able to tie all of the pieces together. Notice when I go to reshape my Glaive, it will show the materials needed.

Ascendant Alloys are required to socket the Enhanced Traits. These are “found in challenging activities.” As of 2/26/22 the only way I’m aware to acquire Ascendant Alloys from gameplay is unlocking the Weekly Mission replayability from Fynch, the vendor on Savathun’s Throne World destination at level 13. This mission can be played at multiple difficulty levels, which increases the odds of the drop as the difficulty climbs. I’ll update this if more become available. You can also purchase 1 Ascendant Alloy for 400 Legendary Shards each week from Master Rahool, the Cryptarch, in the Tower. He also provides material exchange since Spider is no longer with us, RIP.

My final piece of advice is that once you reach the material cap, put the completed Red outline weapons in your vault without extracting any material. This will allow you to bypass the cap by “saving them for later.” Once you Reshape a weapon and use your currency, you’ll be able to pull these from your vault, extract what you need, and always stay at the cap.

I hope that this guide has been helpful. We have only scratched the surface of Weapon Crafting in Destiny 2, and I’ll be sure to keep you updated on changes by Updating this article as needed.

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