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Destiny 2throws a mountain of guns and armor at the players, and all of them have a sometimes bewildering variety of perks, mod slots, and other features and selections to absorb. But as a player, your only options to improve these pieces are infusing them for extra Power and increasing their Tier by Masterworking.
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you may massively increase your equipment’s power by Masterworking, but you will need some specific materials to do so. In this guide, you can learn exactly what you can do, how to do it, and what materials you’re going to need.
Masterworking Weapons
The simplest and cheapest kind of upgrading —weapons can be Masterworked by upgrading the Tier toLevel 10. you’re able to see the Tier in the Weapon screen in the Mods section. Each weapon has a unique Stat that theTier increases by 1 each time you upgrade. If you are lucky enough to have any Adept weapons, they will grant an additional +3 to every other stat after they are Masterworked. The weapon’s main bonus stat can not be changed, so you should look to upgrade weapons with the combination of Weapon perks and Stat bonus you want.
Upgrading Tiers costsEnhancement Cores, which can be obtained bycompleting bounties for the Gunsmith,dismantling Legendary or Exotic weapons, or defeating powerful enemies with aFinest Matterweaveitem buff.
The table below shows how many are required at each level.
Legendary Shards
Enhancement Cores
10 (Masterwork)
Masterworked weapons will also grant trackers for Crucible or PVE kill counts.
Masterworking Exotic Weapons
Exotic Weapons use a different system — they areMasterworked automatically by applying a completed Catalyst. Each weapon has a different Catalyst that is acquired through a different method. you’re able to see what the method is in thePatterns & Catalystsection of theTriumphsscreen. Often these involve completing a specific activity, such as Nightfall Strikes or Crucible matches, and the drop is not normally guaranteed, so it may require patience.
Once you have acquired and applied the Catalyst, it will have an associated task that must be completed before it is activated. Normally, these involve killing a certain number of enemies with the weapon, often hundreds, which will also take some time.
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Masterworking Legendary and Exotic Armor
Armor again has a different process for upgrading and potentially much greater benefits. Armor that is increased in quality gains Energy, which lets it slot higher-powered Mods. Armor that is Masterworked gains2pts to every stat, for a total of12 extra stat points. When you have several Masterworked pieces, not only will you have loads of room to apply mods in different ways and create different builds, but you will also have vastly increased stats and all the benefits that go with them, such as lower ability cooldowns or more damage resistance.
Armor upgrading also usesEnhancement Coresbut requires the higher tiers of the same items —Enhancement PrismsandAscendant Shards. These can be acquired by trading Enhancement Cores withMaster Rahoolin the Tower at the rate of 10 Enhancement Cores to 1 Enhancement Prism for10,000 Glimmerand 10 Enhancement Prisms to one Ascendant Shard for50,000 Glimmer. Both of these materials can also drop from certain Nightfall Strikes and other high-end PVE activities.
The table below shows the different material and Glimmer costs for each type of Armor.
Legendary Armor
Other Materials
1 x Enhancement Core
2 x Enhancement Core
1 x Enhancement Prism
2 x Enhancement Prism
1 x Ascendant Shard
Exotic Armor
3 x Enhancement Core
3 x Enhancement Prism
3 x Ascendant Shard
