With the launch of Destiny 2’s latest expansion, The Witch Queen, we now have access to a ton of new content and things to collect. Collecting those amazing rolls has become a lot less of a chore with the arrival of The Relic, a gift from the Black Fleet that allows players to learn how to craft weapons in Destiny 2.
The system is surprisingly complex and can seem like a bit of a chore to work with, but this guide here will walk you through the basics of crafting, how to level up Weapon Patterns, and how to unlock the craftable exotic weapons.
How to Unlock The Relic
The Relic is unlocked as part of the first mission of the main campaign in The Witch Queen’s campaign. Players will be introduced to the system’s basics and the mechanics of obtaining materials and will allow you to craft your first Glaive weapon using the Relic and its resources.
Weapon Crafting Resources and How to Find Them
While you may just want that God roll right off the bat, it doesn’t quite work that way. You have to pay to craft a weapon at the Relic. There’s several components that the system uses throughout the crafting process and here’s how they work:
| Destiny 2 resource type | Obtained by | What’s it for? |
|---|---|---|
| Resonant Alloys | Dismantling any dropped weapon in The Witch Queen or later. | The basic currency for Shaping and Reshaping weapons |
| Ascendant Alloys | Purchased from Banshee-44 or Master Rahool in the Tower for 400 Legendary Shards each, or obtained from the weekly Campaign mission rotation and/or Throne World Offensives | Enhanced Traits and Exotic Crafting |
| Ruinous Elements | Completing Deepsight Resonance Bounties | Damage-related Enhanced Traits and Exotic weapon crafting |
| Neutral Elements | Completing Deepsight Resonance Bounties | Weapon Frames, Magazines, and basic Traits |
| Adroit Elements | Completing Deepsight Resonance Bounties | Weapon performance related Enhanced Traits and Exotic weapon crafting |
| Mutable Elements | Completing Deepsight Resonance Bounties | Weapon performance related Enhanced Traits and Exotic weapon crafting |
| Drowned Elements | Completing raid-exclusive Deepsight Resonance Bounties | Raid-based Enhanced Traits and Exotic weapon crafting |
Deepsight Resonance Weapons
As you progress using weapons in The Witch Queen, you may notice certain items dropping with a peculiar icon on them. Any weapon obtained with a red border around it is blessed with what’s known as Deepsight Resonance, a resource that unlocks some crafting resources and a Weapon Pattern at the Relic.
All you have to do is use the weapon in combat for a short while to unlock specific perks from the weapon such as barrel type, magazine type, and special abilities that boost your Guardian powers or the gun’s damage.
After filling the progress bar on the Deepsight Resonance bounty on each weapon, you will be given the chance to unlock a single choice from 2 Elements from the bounty. As you receive randomly dropped versions of the crafted weapons with Deepsight Resonance, you can earn more and more traits from these Elements to use at the Relic that you specifically want.
How to Level up Shaped Weapons
If you like a particular weapon obtained from the Relic, it’s Bungie’s goal that players form a long-term bond with that type of weapon to invest more and more into the exact kind of gun, or Glaive, that players want rather than having to hope “the one” drops from somewhere.
As you use specific weapons, they will gain levels at the Relic from kills in PvE and PvP activities and activity completions with the weapon equipped. As you keep leveling up the weapon, the Pattern at the Relic will continuously unlock more and more traits to choose from when Shaping (i.e. Crafting) or Reshaping, a.k.a changing an existing weapon.
No two guns can unlock the same traits at the same pace, so certain weapons may require a little more investment of time to earn levels to unlock more and sometimes better choices of traits to use. So your mileage will vary depending on when the exact roll you want will unlock.
A good, if a bit grindy, way to farm levels for Weapon Patterns is just by scoring lots of kills. Right now one of the better methods is the Shuro Chi encounter in the Last Wish raid, but only if you’re able to use a checkpoint.
Another good place is the Altars of Sorrow world event on the Moon, which cycles constantly and can produce a flood of enemies most of the time. Even if the event doesn’t constantly progress tiers, just farming the rank and file enemies that pour from the portals is a decent way to gather kills quickly.
How to Reshape a Weapon
Reshaping a weapon allows you to take an already existing weapon in your character’s inventory and alter the traits, barrels, and magazines on the weapon if you unlock better ones or want to change a single weapon. Upon interacting with the Relic, select the Reshape option on the first screen and then go through the same process as before as if you were crafting a new weapon.
Reshaping a weapon costs less than crafting an entirely new weapon, but will change the current weapon you have in your inventory. So it’s up to you on what you want for duplicate weapons or keep a single roll and modify it using resources in your inventory.
How to Unlock Craftable Exotics
There are currently 4 craftable Exotic type weapons available from the Relic that are able to be built by players. There’s a little work involved in getting some of these weapons, but they’re worth the effort for having fun some rather unique instruments of destruction. See our unique guides for unlocking Osteo Striga and unlocking each of the three exotic Glaives Edge of Concurrence, Edge of Action, and Edge of Intent. There may be more coming in the future, but as of this article’s publishing, these are the only four exotic weapons able to be crafted.
And that’s all there is to know about Destiny 2’s new weapon crafting system. Bungie plans to expand this system over the coming seasons and expansions, so this is possibly just a surface level understanding of the system. Now get out there and enjoy crafting some lovely bullet hoses.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X & S and Xbox One.
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