What you need to know
- Destiny 2 developer Bungie has detailed how it plans to overhaul the game's weapon crafting systems in Lightfall and beyond.
- Fewer weapons will be craftable moving forward, with many random roll weapons gaining the ability to be enhanced. This is a three-tier process that will let players spend currency to elevate weapons with enhanced versions of their perks, similar to crafted weapons.
- Resonant Elements are being removed entirely, along with Resonant and Harmonic Alloys in future seasons. Ascendant Alloys will remain as they are.
- Deepsight "red borders" won't drop on weapons that aren't craftable, and players will have the option to press a button to instantly get pattern progress from red borders.
- In Season 21, players will get the ability to spend currency to make a weapon a red border one time if it's craftable and they haven't gotten a red border version of it to drop naturally.
- At some point after Season 21, a new system will allow players to level their crafted or enhanced weapons directly with standard currencies as well. Leveling with enemy kills will still be possible.
One of the biggest systems that The Witch Queen DLC added to Destiny 2 was weapon crafting, which is a process that allows players to circumvent RNG frustrations and make weapons with the exact perks they want. Crafted weapons are very desirable due to this, and also because they can be equipped with enhanced perks that are slightly more powerful than regular ones once they've been leveled up. However, in a recent State of the Game-style blog post from developer Bungie, it was revealed that the studio isn't happy with how weapon crafting has largely superseded the chase for random rolls.
Now, a new blog post on weapon crafting has been published. In it, Bungie has revealed exactly how it plans to address this problem, while also illustrating how it will streamline the crafting process and reduce frustrations with the weapon leveling process.
Firstly, we've learned that in the Destiny 2: Lightfall era, fewer weapons will be fully craftable in general. However, a process that allows players to upgrade some randomly rolled weapons with levels and enhanced versions of their perks with the crafting system is coming, starting with Adept raid weapons from the upcoming Lightfall raid. This enhancement will require standard currencies (along with Spoils of Conquest for Adept raid weapons) and will be applied via a new weapon mod. When the system is introduced a few weeks after the Master raid's launch, Bungie says the process will have three tiers:
- Enhancement Tier 1: Replaces the existing Masterwork. Grants an enhanced intrinsic, weapon level, “first enhanced” timestamp, and memento socket. Cost will fluctuate depending on Masterwork tier level.
- For raid Adepts only: allows full selection over the barrel and magazine perks (these perks are individually gated by level, same as crafted weapons).
- Enhancement Tier 2: Weapon level 11 requirement. Allows enhancing of the left column trait perk.
- Enhancement Tier 3: Weapon level 17 requirement. Allows enhancing of the right column trait perk.
The developers are also reducing the complexity of the weapon crafting system by removing the Resonant Element currency and preventing Deepsight "red borders" from appearing on any weapons without an unlockable crafting pattern. Players will also be able to instantly unlock pattern progress from red borders without killing enemies first when Lightfall launches (you can also dismantle them for progress if you don't want to keep the weapon). Additionally, Bungie plans to remove the Resonant and Harmonic Alloy crafting currencies from Destiny 2 later in future Lightfall-era seasons, though the Ascendant Alloys that players need to apply enhanced perks will remain.
In Season 21, the studio will also introduce a new system called Deepsight Activation that will let players apply a red border to a weapon if it has a crafting pattern to unlock. This process can only be done once per weapon, won't be possible if you've already gotten a red border drop of that weapon, and will require a currency to perform. Bungie says that the cost will vary from weapon to weapon, explaining that giving a raid weapon a red border will be more expensive than a seasonal weapon as an example.
Finally, Bungie wants to give players more options when it comes to leveling their crafted weapons. While it will still be possible to level weapons by slaying hundreds of enemies, you'll also be able to use standard currencies to level weapons up sometime after Season 21. This will provide fans with a quick way to get some easy weapon levels, especially if they have lots of Destiny 2's currencies stockpiled.
Destiny 2: Lightfall is slated to arrive on February 28 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One consoles, Windows PCs, and PlayStation systems. The DLC costs $40 and takes them to Neptune and the city of Neomuna, where they'll face off against Emperor Calus and his powerful Shadow Legion. Ahead of its launch, check out our Destiny 2 Lightfall prep guide for an overview of the best ways to get ready for the expansion.
