Unlocking Your Guardian’s Potential: A Deep Dive into Masterworking Armor in Destiny 2

Masterworking armor in Destiny 2 is a crucial process that significantly enhances your Guardian’s capabilities. It provides a multifaceted boost, impacting both your stats and your ability to customize your build. The primary benefit is a +2 increase to every armor stat (Mobility, Resilience, Recovery, Discipline, Intellect, and Strength) on the piece of armor being masterworked. This might seem small on its own, but when applied to each of your five armor pieces, you receive a total +10 to each stat, leading to a significant overall improvement. Beyond the stat boosts, masterworking unlocks the full potential of your armor’s energy capacity, granting the piece a total of ten energy slots for mods. This allows for more complex and powerful builds. Think of it like unlocking the full potential of a race car; you’re not just adding a few horsepower, you’re fine-tuning every aspect for maximum performance.

Why is Masterworking Armor So Important?

The power of masterworking armor extends far beyond simply adding stat points. Let’s explore the core benefits:

Enhanced Stats

As mentioned, the +2 bonus to each stat on a masterworked piece of armor translates to a substantial +10 to all stats when all five armor pieces are masterworked. This increase in stats can dramatically improve your Guardian’s performance in combat. Here’s a breakdown of what each stat governs:

• Mobility: Affects movement speed and jump height, essential for agile gameplay.
• Resilience: Determines your health and resistance to flinching, vital for survival.
• Recovery: Controls how quickly you regain health, crucial for staying in the fight.
• Discipline: Reduces the cooldown of your grenade ability.
• Intellect: Reduces the cooldown of your super ability, allowing you to unleash game-changing powers more often.
• Strength: Reduces the cooldown of your melee ability.

With a focus on enhancing stats like Resilience for survivability, or Mobility for enhanced maneuverability, you can tailor your Guardian to your specific playstyle.

Unlocking Mod Potential

Masterworking an armor piece also grants it the maximum energy capacity of 10. This is critical as armor mods require energy to be equipped. Different mods have different energy costs, and without the full ten energy provided by masterworking, you would be severely limited in your choices. This limitation is especially noticeable as you aim for higher-tier builds involving multiple powerful mods. A masterworked armor allows the player to tailor their gameplay to their desired build, whether that be focusing on ability regeneration, weapon handling, or improved resistance.

Damage Reduction During Super

While this was true during the release of the Armor 2.0 system, it is no longer the case, but was a key factor that masterworking your armor once provided. Previously, masterwork armor pieces would grant a 3% damage reduction while using a super move. This would lead to a total of 15% damage reduction if all armor pieces were masterworked.

Long-Term Investment

Masterworking armor represents a significant investment of resources, including Enhancement Cores, Enhancement Prisms, and Ascendant Shards. While it may seem expensive, it’s a worthy investment as it results in permanent improvements to your character, making them more powerful and versatile. Once masterworked, the benefits are always there, no matter what activity you are participating in.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How much does masterworking armor boost stats?

Each masterworked armor piece grants an additional +2 to each of its six stats, totaling a +10 bonus to each stat when all five armor pieces are masterworked.

2. How do I masterwork armor?

To masterwork armor, you need Enhancement Cores, Enhancement Prisms, and Ascendant Shards. These materials can be obtained from various activities, including Nightfalls, Trials of Osiris, and by dismantling other masterworked gear. Navigate to the armor’s details screen and spend these materials to increase its energy capacity until it is fully masterworked.

3. What is the maximum stat total for legendary armor?

The maximum stat total for legendary armor pieces ranges from 44-68. Some older Exotic armor pieces from before the Shadowkeep expansion can reach a total of 70.

4. Can I infuse a masterworked piece of armor into an unmasterworked piece?

Yes, if you infuse a masterworked piece of armor into an unmasterworked piece, the unmasterworked piece will become masterworked. This makes transferring stats and masterwork a lot easier.

5. What does masterworking a weapon do?

Masterworking a legendary weapon grants orb generation on multikills, a stat bonus of +10 to a randomly selected stat, and a tracker that displays how many enemies you have defeated with that weapon. Exotic masterworks can offer new perks, or massive stat increases depending on the weapon.

6. Is masterwork better than legendary?

Masterwork is a quality that can be applied to a legendary, or exotic piece of armor or weapons. There is no “Masterwork” level of gear, but masterworking does enhance the existing gear to its maximum potential.

7. How do I get triple 100 stats in Destiny 2?

To achieve triple 100 stats, you need to focus on acquiring armor with high stat rolls, focusing on Discipline, Resilience, and Recovery. Then combine this with armor mods and class specific perks to further enhance those stats. Using your ghost to focus your armor rolls towards specific stats will also increase your chance of success.

8. Can you sell masterworked armor?

Once worn or degraded, masterworked armor is not tradeable. You must repair it fully or degrade it before you can sell it, if the game allows this specific piece of gear to be sold.

9. Is masterworking armor profitable?

While making Masterwork armor is profitable in some other games, in Destiny 2, it’s not an item to trade or sell to other players for profit. Instead, you make it to improve your Guardian.

10. Does masterwork armor degrade?

No, unlike some games where masterwork gear degrades, in Destiny 2, masterwork armor does not degrade. It is a permanent upgrade.

11. Can I infuse exotics?

Yes, you can infuse exotics, just like legendary gear. Infusing exotics will increase their power level but will not change their masterwork or stat rolls.

12. How do I get Enhancement Cores, Prisms and Ascendant Shards?

These materials can be obtained from activities like Nightfalls, Trials of Osiris, Raids, seasonal challenges, and by dismantling masterworked gear.

13. Does Xur sell masterworked gear?

Xur will sell Exotic and Legendary armor and weapons with random rolls. These can be masterworked by you. However, Xur himself does not sell armor or weapons that are already masterworked.

14. Can Exotics have god rolls?

While exotic armor has a predetermined perk, the stat rolls on the armor are not always constant. This means it is possible to get “god roll” exotics, which is a high stat roll that fits your build.

15. What is the maximum power score in Destiny 2?

The current Pinnacle/Maximum Power cap in Destiny 2 is 1810. To increase your power level past 1800, you will need to get Pinnacle rewards.

Masterworking armor is a critical part of the Destiny 2 endgame experience. By understanding the benefits and investing the time and resources, you can drastically improve your Guardian’s capabilities, creating more potent builds and pushing your gameplay to new heights. It’s an essential process for any Guardian looking to maximize their potential in the fight against the Darkness.