Destiny 2 – Weapon Crafting for New & Returning Players

Guide to Weapon Crafting

Introduced in Witch Queen, weapon crafting is a fully brand new investment system that allows you to craft  legendary (and some exotic) weapons exactly to your liking by gathering materials and investing time using weapons. The system is a bit confusing at first glance, as there are a lot of moving parts and steps that must be done first before being able to craft any given weapon. 

In this guide we will go over the system of weapon crafting, and all the required steps and materials that to be aware of. We will begin with the crafting materials, then look at the process of actually crafting a weapon.

Crafting Materials

There are three types of materials exclusive to the weapon crafting system that are required.

• Resonant Alloys: Obtained through dismantling legendary weapons. These will be used to craft different tiers of intrinsic traits.
• Ascendant Alloys: Exotic materials that are obtained through completing certain activities, and are also purchasable for a high price from Banshee-44. These are used to craft Enhanced Perks.
• Harmonic Alloys: Obtained through dismantling raid (King’s Fall, Vow of the Disciple, Deep Stone Crypt) weapons. These are used to shape raid weapons.

Deepsight Resonance

Randomly, weapons with red borders drop, and display the message to the left when hovering over them. These weapons contain Deepsight Resonance, which will award you pattern progress if applicable (covered later).

Weapon Patterns 

Not every weapon in the game is craftable, only weapons that have deepsight are craftable. This is a full list of craftable weapons.

For weapons that are craftable, you must extract their Pattern. Dismantling red borders will also net you pattern progress. Please note that many weapons require SEVERAL pattern extractions before they are craftable. A few weapons only require this to be done once, but most require at least two or three pattern extractions before you have ‘unlocked’ their pattern. You can view how many extractions are required for every craftable weapon in the “Patterns & Catalysts” section in the Triumphs tab.

There are a few weapons which have patterns unlocked for you during the Witch Queen campaign, acting as an introduction to the system. All players will first craft The Enigma (Glaive).

The current list of craftable weapons is mostly limited to weapons from Savathûn’s Throne World, Neomuna, certain raids (Vow of the Disciple, King’s Fall, Deep Stone Crypt), Dares of Eternity, and Year 5 & 6 seasons (Season of the Risen, Haunted, Plunder, Seraph, Defiance). There are, however, a selection of world drop weapons, such as the Syncopation-53 pulse rifle, that are also craftable.

There are also a selection of exotics that are craftable: Osteo Striga, Edge of Action, Edge of Intent, Edge of Concurrence, Revision Zero.

Crafting Weapons & Enhanced Perks

Once you have a weapon’s pattern, you can craft, or ‘Shape’ it. The act of crafting itself is done in the Mars Enclave within Savathûn’s Throne World and unlocked through the Witch Queen campaign. 

On the crafting menu, after selecting ‘Shape’ you will have a list, organized by weapon type, of every craftable weapon. Once you select a weapon you have a pattern of, you will be taken to the crafting menu.

This is the weapon shaping menu, and it is pretty straightforward. When you are crafting a weapon for the first time, you only have a select set of perks you can choose from. First you will select your intrinsic perk, which there is only one initial choice of. Intrinsic perks require Resonant Alloys. After leveling up your weapon, you will have a choice of Enhanced Intrinsic Perks that give a boost of 10 to any one of the weapon’s stats. 

You will then choose the barrel, magazine, and unique traits for the weapon, and again have limited choices. Enhanced perks require both glimmer and Ascendant Alloys. EVERY single unique trait perk in the game has an enhanced version of a perk, slightly altering it to make it stronger. Some are stronger than others, and if you would like to know what a specific enhanced perk does, you can either look up the perk on light.gg or check out video below, which shows each one side-by-side with its regular version, organized alphabetically.

Here are a few examples of what enhanced perks do:

• Enhanced Kill Clip: Increases the time that Kill Clip is active after reloading.
• Enhanced Auto-Loading Holster: Decreases the time it takes for stowed weapons to be reloaded.
• Enhanced Fourth Time’s the Charm: Increases forgiveness via time between shots for perk to activate.
• Enhanced Rangefinder: Increases handling as well as range/zoom upon aiming a weapon.
• Enhanced Firmly Planted: Further increases the accuracy and stability provided by crouching in place.

Leveling Crafted Weapons & Reshaping

After choosing the perks that you want for a weapon either in Shaping or Reshaping a weapon, hovering over the icon of the weapon to the right of the crafting screen will show you the total cost of crafting the weapon. Press ‘Shape Weapon’ and it will be put in your inventory. Note that reshaping a weapon does not reset the kill count or remove a masterwork.

Your newly crafted weapon begins at level 1. Raising a weapon’s level is the grindiest and longest part of the weapon crafting gameplay loop, but is essential to fully realize the potential of a crafted weapon. Simply by using it to get kills in PvE or the Crucible, and by completing activities you will level it up. This is where your time investment is rewarded, as leveling up your weapon increases the available weapon perks and eventually lets you create the exact weapon of your choosing. A finalized weapon with two enhanced perks and an enhanced intrinsic is a potentially very powerful tool, with the right enhanced perk combination, is going to almost always be best in class for whatever activity you are shaping it to.

The weapon level and crafting date can be found above the stats when inspecting it. There is nothing that requires a weapon level higher than 20, and so at 20, with the proper materials, you can finally create your ultimate tool. If you are curious about what to go for in a craftable weapon, check out this guide’s Meta section.

Mementos

Mementos are a cosmetic item that are exclusively tied to crafted weapons. There are currently 3 mementos: Gambit, Nightfall, and Trials. The Gambit memento is a random drop from completing Gambit matches, the Nightfall memento is very common from Grandmaster Nightfalls, and the Trials memento is very common from going Flawless in Trials of Osiris and opening the chest at the Lighthouse. Please note that you can only carry one of each memento at any time – if you have a memento in your inventory, that specific memento will not drop until you slot it into a weapon. Additionally mementos are a one-time use. If you apply a memento to your crafted weapon, you will not be able to retrieve it again. Removing the memento, or switching it to another memento type, will delete that memento.

Mementos provide 3 main cosmetic effects, unlocked at certain weapon levels:

• Tracker (Level 10): You will be able to select an additional tracker, unique to the activity the memento is sourced from. 
• Title (Level 20): These are small titles that can be viewed above your weapon’s level and power, when inspecting the weapon.
• Shader (Level 30): Each memento has a unique, animated shader that can be equipped, like other shaders. You can preview what each memento shader looks like, on every currently craftable weapon, on this website.

Thanks for reading the guide, I hope it was helpful to you!