‘Destiny 2’ Guide To Masterwork Weapons

Destiny 2 received the new Masterwork weapon tier in a Tuesday update to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC title. Bungie may have finally given gamers something to chase with the new weapon tier. This guide will help Guardians understand how to get and upgrade Masterworks along with the bonuses they provide.

What Are Masterwork Weapons

Masterwork weapons can be spotted by the purple and gold banner plus a gold hue around the weapon’s icon. They come with the default ability to generate one Orb of Light for each multi-kill plus a weapon stat bonus that can be re-rolled. It also features the ability to count kills earned in PVE or PVP.

Orbs generated by Masterwork weapons can be picked up by the player earning the kills or fellow Guardians in the fireteam. This is a huge benefit in all Destiny 2 activities, as it makes Super regeneration much faster and players will really see a difference in a fireteam where everyone has at least one of these weapons equipped.

How To Get

There are multiple avenues to obtain Masterwork weapons in Destiny 2 once a Guardian reaches Power Level 250. Players can earn them from Legendary Engrams that drop during PVE and PVP activities, received from completing Milestones, and even from engrams purchased from the Cryptarch.

Perhaps the easiest way to receive a Masterwork weapon is through the Reward Engrams given by vendors in the Tower and other destinations after turning in tokens (or weapon parts with Banshee) and ranking up. This is a case of increasing the chance to receive a Masterwork weapon simply through the number of tokens exchanged.

Crafting weapons at the Forge on Mercury is another avenue to earn a Masterwork but the time it takes to farm all the necessary materials means it is not going to be a primary means of earning them.

The chance to earn a Masterwork from the above is approximately 10 percent. However, Bungie stated the Raid, Raid Lair, and Trails of the Nine have a greater chance of dropping the new weapon tier, though the approximate percentage is unknown.

The final way to receive a Masterwork weapon is by upgrading an existing Legendary weapon via the weapon inspection screen. This is expensive, though, as it will cost 10 Masterwork Cores and 25 Legendary Shards to do so. Masterwork Cores come from dismantling Masterwork weapons with a chance to earn one to three cores. So, it may take dismantling anywhere between four to 10 weapons to receive the cores necessary to upgrade.

Note: You can infuse a Masterwork weapon into a regular Legendary weapon, but you lose the Masterwork weapon and the Legendary weapon will remain at the Legendary tier.

Possible Stat Bonuses

Masterwork weapons come with a random stat bonus based on the weapon type. Additionally, the amount of the bonus can also be semi-random by adding five or 10 points to individual weapon stats. Here is the breakdown of the weapon types with the bonuses they are eligible to receive.

Re-Rolling Masterwork Weapons

If you are not happy with a Masterwork bonus perk you can re-roll for a better one through the “Rework Weapon” option on the weapon inspection screen. The re-roll will cost three Masterwork Cores and 25 Legendary Shards. However, be aware the new bonus is random so there is no guarantee you will get one you like better.

Additionally, if you wish to switch kill counter from Crucible (PVP) to Vanguard (PVE) you can also do that via the weapon inspection screen. However, this is more expensive at a cost of 10 Masterwork Cores and 25 Legendary Shards.

Based on the cost of re-rolling, players should only do so if they really want a shot at a stat bonus that better fits that particular weapon or if they’ve been grinding so much they are flooded with Masterwork weapons.

[Edit: Updated the stat bonuses table image based on information provided by Bungie.]