Destiny 2 weapon crafting guide: Patterns, perks & Deepsight explained

Brad Norton
Destiny 2 weapon crafting gameplay

Thanks to the popular Witch Queen expansion, Destiny 2 players are now able to craft their own weapons. – but it can be a little confusing. So, here’s everything you need to know about crafting in Destiny 2.

Throughout Destiny 2’s nearly six years of success, players have been treated to a variety of new mechanics, experiences, and now some new weapons to try their hand at when looking to take down any tricky enemies. However, if you want some of these weapons you’ll need to begin your crafting journey, which can be a little challenging to do.

So, with the difficulties that you’ll face when stepping up to the crafting element of Destiny 2, we’ve put together a handy guide featuring everything you need to know about weapon crafting, including how to earn patterns, perks, and how to get crafting materials, so you can get into Lightfall as prepared as you’ll ever be.

Contents


How weapon crafting works in Destiny 2

Once you’ve played the first couple of campaign missions in The Witch Queen, you’ll be able to craft your very first Glaive. Doing so requires what’s called a Pattern (think of this as a weapon blueprint), along with certain materials (because it wouldn’t be Destiny without a handful of currencies to use).

Destiny 2 weapon crafting gameplay
Patterns are required for every unique weapon you can craft in Destiny 2.

While your initial build is restricted in terms of available perks, using a weapon more will help it level up. Doing so unlocks more options for customizing it to your play style.

“The more you use your weapon, the faster you’ll unlock its full potential,” Bungie explained before launch, and that’s true — wielding your crafted weapons unlocks a range of new options. The higher your level, the better stats, traits, and capabilities of your weapon.

While this is how you can craft weapons in the Witch Queen expansion, it’s yet to be revealed whether the same will work in Lightfall. When we have more information we will be updating this article so be sure to check back soon

Where to find Weapon Patterns in Destiny 2

When you unlock weapons with a red border, you can Attune them through use (also unlocking Deepsight Resonance).

Doing so will eventually unlock the weapon pattern, too, and you can track all the patterns you have in the Triumphs menu under “Patterns & Catalysts”.

Sadly, this is something that’s partially down to RNG, but you can still focus on specific weapons. Thankfully due to recent changes, Destiny 2 should prioritize patterns you don’t have so you don’t need to worry too much about duplicates.

Once the Pattern is unlocked, you can use that weapon as a template for your next crafted gun.

Destiny 2 Weapon Crafting materials

The key components when crafting weapons are as follows:

  • Glimmer
  • Resonant Alloys: Can be earned through dismantling weapons or completing activities
  • Ascendant Alloys: Earned through weekly missions, Wellspring, and can be purchased from Cryptarch or Banshee-44
  • Mementos: Optional cosmetic options

While the various elements were capped at 250, Bungie is boosting each perk-related element to 1000 and Neutral elements from 8,500 to 10,000.

Season 17 will actually see all elements except for Neutral Elements removed from the game, drastically simplifying the crafting process.

What is Deepsight and Deepsight Resonance in Destiny 2?

Once you’ve completed those missions, you’ll be able to acquire something called Deepsight Resonance. This is found within certain weapons you’ll pick up throughout the world, and is shown as a specific task to be completed with that weapon — denoted by a red border.

In the example below, you’ll need to use Forensic Nightmare in a series of activities or in combat to be able to complete the Deepsight Resonance objective. Once that’s done, you’re able to extract the perk and insert it into compatible weapons going forward.

Destiny 2 Deepsight Resonance weapon
Deepsight Resonance allows players to rip specific Perks off of weapons for future use in the Enclave.

That means you’re more likely than ever to be hopping between weapons as you level some up, and use others to fill gaps in your perk library.

All Destiny 2 Weapon Crafting perks & enhanced perks

Below is a list of every available perk, as well as what the advanced version of the perk does.

Enhanced perks unlock after quite some time with the weapon, and will cost Ascendant Alloy to add.

Perk name Enhanced perk bonus
Adagio Extended duration
Adaptive Munitions Increased damage
Adrenaline Junkie Extended duration
Ambitious Assassin Overflows more rounds
Archer’s Tempo Extended duration
Auto-Loading Holster Faster activation
Chain Reaction Increased ammo reserves
Chill Clip +5 Stability
Clown Cartridge Overflows more rounds on average
Compulsive Reloader Stronger perk effect
Cornered +5 Stability
Danger Zone +5 Blast Radius
Demolitionist Grants more grenade energy
Disruption Break Debuff duration extended
Dragonfly +5 Reload Speed
Dual Loader Reloads three shells at a time, from two
Elemental Capacitor Stronger effect
Encore Extended duration
Ensemble Stronger effect
Explosive Head +5 Accuracy
Explosive Light +5 Velocity
Eye of the Storm +5 Stability
Feeding Frenzy Stronger effect
Field Prep Increased ammo reserves
Firing Line +5 Range
Firmly Planted Stronger effect
Focused Fury Extended duration
Fourth Time’s The Charm Longer grace period
Frenzy Extended duration
Genesis Kinetic weapons overflow from reserves
Golden Tricorn Extended duration
Grave Robber +5 Reload Speed
Harmony Extended duration
Headseeker +5 Stability
Headstone +5 Stability
Heating Up Extended duration
Hip-Fire Grip Stronger effect
Impulse Amplifier Stronger effect
Kill Clip Extended duration
Killing Wind Extended duration
Lasting Impression Stronger perk effect
Lead from Gold Grants more ammo for the equipped weapon
Moving Target Grants additional aim assist
No Distractions Faster activation
One For All Extended duration
One-Two Punch Extended duration
Opening Shot Stronger effect
Outlaw Stronger effect, extended duration
Overflow Overflow cap increased
Perpetual Motion Faster activation

How to Reshape crafted weapons in Destiny 2

If you’ve crafted a particular weapon and you’re unhappy with it, you won’t be locked in permanently.

Destiny 2 weapon crafting gameplay
Guardians aren’t locked in with crafted guns as a Reshape option allows for further customization down the line.

While you can’t completely change the weapon Pattern, you can still fine-tune a crafted build. This means everything from barrels and magazines to weapon traits, Perks, and cosmetics can all be tweaked.

To Reshape a crafted weapon in Destiny 2, visit Enclave and open the crafting menu. As you can imagine, you’ll still need to pay up with materials and Glimmer.

That’s all you need to know about weapon crafting in Destiny 2. For more on the game, check out our other guide content.

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About The Author

Brad Norton is the Australian Managing Editor at Dexerto. He graduated from Swinburne University with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and has been working full-time in the field for the past six years at the likes of Gamurs Group and now Dexerto. He loves all things single-player gaming (with Uncharted a personal favorite) but has a history on the competitive side having previously run Oceanic esports org Mindfreak. You can contact Brad at brad.norton@dexerto.com