Destiny 2 The Witch Queen Weapon Crafting Guide

So fellow Guardians, you're interested in Destiny 2 The Witch Queen weapon crafting. This is the newest and biggest change to Bungie's sci-fi Looter Shooter sandbox in a very long time. But how do you start crafting? What do the different materials and elements do? How do you create your own monster of a weapon? Well we have the guide for you right here.

Destiny 2 The Witch Queen Weapon Crafting Guide – How To Make A Weapon

Getting access to weapon crafting is pretty straightforward. All you have to do is play through the first mission of The Witch Queen campaign, The Arrival. Once the story beats have concluded, you'll be in the new social zone on Mars, The Enclave. From there, you can descend into the new weapon crafting table simply known as The Relic. Shortly thereafter, you'll be given a brief tutorial on how weapon crafting works and build your very first weapon: a brand new glaive weapon called The Enigma.

For the sake of covering our bases however, let's recap. When you approach The Relic you have two options: Shape and Reshape. Shape is where you make a brand new weapon. You can only make a weapon once you've obtained that particular weapon's Pattern. You can unlock additional Patterns as rewards by playing various activities throughout Destiny 2. Reshape is where you take a weapon you've already made and adjust its stats. You can do the latter as many times as you want to any weapon you've made. However, any resources you spend for these changes are gone for good. If you break down the weapon, you will not be refunded. Choose wisely.

As for making a new weapon, there are several categories you have to fill out. Going from left to right you have the following on the menu:

• Frame Intrinsic: This is the frame of the weapon. Generally it determines stowing and ready speed as well as how quick you aim down sights.
• A Barrel Perk: A perk based around the barrel or scope of the weapon. Generally it deals with range and target acquisition
•  A Magazine Perk: This perk revolves around the weapon's ammo storage. This can affect reload speed as well as handling
• Two Trait Perks: These are spots for unique traits the weapon will have. These are the kinds of perks you'll see as random rolls on other weapons like Headstone, Unrelenting, and Firefly
• A Mementos Slot: This is meant to be a slot that gives the weapon a unique appearance or tracker meant to mark some major event you've accomplished. Since The Witch Queen has only just come out, there's nothing at this time that can fill this slot. It can safely be left empty.

Once you've selected these perks and traits, you are ready to create your new weapon. Each of  those new perks and traits however have a cost. The most common and plentiful are Neutral Elements generated by fully attuning a weapon (more on that later). Next, there are Resonant Alloys, which are needed for intrinsic upgrades. Resonant Alloys can be gained by dismantling Legendary weapons. Finally, there are Ascendant Alloys, an extremely rare material used to give your weapon enhanced traits. Ascendant Alloys can either be bought by Rahool at The Tower for 400 Legendary Shards or earned as reputation rewards from different vendors and questgivers peppered throughout Destiny 2.

Destiny 2 The Witch Queen Weapon Crafting Guide – Attuning and Weapon Levels

The next big element of the weapon crafting system are weapon attunement and weapon levels. Put together this is how you unlock enhanced traits and perks for your crafted weapons.

Weapon Levels

Weapon levels are the easiest to understand. Every single weapon you craft starts at a weapon level of 1 and will slowly increase as you kill enemies with it or clear activities with the weapon equipped. As you hit certain weapon levels, your weapon can be reshaped with certain enhanced traits, assuming you've unlocked them and have the materials.

Weapon Attunement

As for unlocking these new traits, that is where weapon attunement comes in. As you play through Destiny 2 The Witch Queen, you'll start getting weapons with a brand new perk called Deepsight Resonance. You can tell this either by looking at the weapon trait menu or just look at the outline of the weapon in your character inventory. A weapon with Deepsight Reonance in your inventory should have a red border around its icon.

If you have a weapon like this, equip it immediately and start using it. Like weapon levels, killing enemies and completing activities will cause this weapon's attunement to go up. Once the weapon is fully attuned, you'll get a notification.

When this happens, go back into your inventory and go over the Deepsight Resonance perk. A drop down menu should appear, letting you choose between two elements. Picking one of these elements randomly unlocks a new trait or perk for you to use at The Relic either when shaping a new weapon or reshaping an existing one. In addition, you'll gain the Pattern for the attuned weapon. Once this is done, the weapon can safely be dismantled or held onto as you see fit.

Since the word choice of these elements are a little obtuse, here is a cheatsheet for you:

• Adroit Elements: These will unlock traits related to weapon performance. The handling, the stability, bullet spread, etc..
• Mutable Elements: These unlock traits that modify character abilities like reducing grenade cooldown times.
• Ruinous Elements: These will unlock traits related to damage, projectile velocity, and blast radius size. A must for grenade and rocket launchers.
• Energetic Elements: These unlock traits related to reload speed and ammo type.

Since weapon crafting is relatively new in Destiny 2 The Witch Queen, god rolls have yet to fully surface. However, if you need a good rule of thumb it is this: invest in enhanced traits you like These are inherently better versions of perks you can already pick and help make your custom weapon stand out from the random rolls you get from regular play. While the cost of investment is steep, it can lead to a world of difference with what you get back.