How to Upgrade Gear in Destiny: A Comprehensive Guide

Upgrading your gear in Destiny, whether it’s weapons or armor, is a cornerstone of the game. It’s not just about getting higher numbers; it’s about tailoring your Guardian’s power and playstyle to conquer the challenges the game throws your way. The process is multifaceted, and involves several different systems. Here’s a breakdown of how you enhance your arsenal and armor in Destiny 2.

How Do You Upgrade Gear in Destiny?

The short answer is that you enhance gear in several ways: increasing Power level, improving stats, unlocking perks, and upgrading to Masterwork status. These different types of upgrades require varied materials and processes, tailored to specific gear pieces.

Different Aspects of Gear Upgrades

Let’s look at the specific ways in which you upgrade your gear.

Increasing Power Level

• New Gear: The primary way to increase your overall power level is by obtaining new weapons and armor with a higher Power level rating. This process continues until you reach the “soft cap”, which changes each season. After this point, you need to earn powerful and pinnacle rewards to continue increasing your power level up to the pinnacle cap.
• Infusion: You can infuse higher-power gear into lower-power gear to increase the power level of the latter. This involves dismantling the higher-level item and transferring its power to the lower-level one. This allows you to use your favorite gear even if it falls behind in power.
• Seasonal Soft Cap, Powerful Cap, and Pinnacle Cap: Keep an eye on these numbers as they change each season. It dictates how far you can level your gear and the activities that offer the most beneficial upgrades.

Enhancing Armor

• Stat Allocation: Armor in Destiny 2 has six stats ranging from 1-100, affecting your Guardian’s abilities. Higher stat armor drops, usually from challenging activities, offers better performance.
• Armor Energy: Armor pieces have energy capacity from 1-10, and you can upgrade this capacity to increase the number of mods you can equip. This is done by hovering over the energy bar and spending upgrade materials.
• Solstice Armor: Special events like the Solstice of Heroes feature unique armor that requires a specific upgrade process, using materials like Silver Leaves, Silver Ash, and Kindling.

Enhancing Weapons

• Weapon Levels: Weapons have their own levels which can be increased by defeating enemies while using that weapon and completing activities. As you level a weapon, you can unlock improved frames and more perk options, allowing for higher customization.
• Crafted Weapons: Weapons that have been crafted can be leveled up further, unlocking special perks and increased stats. This process is essential for min-maxing your ideal gear setup.
• Masterworking: Legendary weapons and armor can be upgraded to Masterworks status, which gives them additional benefits. For weapons, this can be a stat increase, and for armor, this can mean added resistance to elemental damage.
• Enhanced Perks: Leveling crafted weapons to specific levels like Level 16 unlocks Enhanced Perks, which are superior to the standard version.
• Weapon Enhancement: Certain weapons that are dropped with the red node “Enhance Weapon” can be upgraded with materials such as Spoils of Conquest, Glimmer, Legendary Shards, and Enhancement Cores.

Mementos

• Mementos are cosmetic items dropped from endgame activities like Gambit. These can be attached to crafted weapons.
• Leveling a memento is done by using the weapon it’s slotted into and gives the weapon a cosmetic boost.

Mods and Customization

• Armor Mods: You can slot armor mods into your armor to further customize it. These mods enhance your stats, provide specific defenses, and provide utility effects.
• Weapon Mods: Applying weapon mods changes the function of the weapon, adding damage, stability, range, or other benefits. Weapon mods are available from Banshee-44 in the Tower.
• Armor Customization: Use Universal Ornaments to change the look of your armor without sacrificing the underlying stats or performance.

Leveling Up Gear Efficiently

• Shuro-Chi: The Shuro-Chi encounter in the Last Wish raid remains one of the most efficient ways to level up weapons, providing an endless stream of enemies.
• Seasonal Activities: Seasonal activities are good sources of both leveling up gear and acquiring high-stat drops.
• Altars of Sorrow: The Altars of Sorrow on the Moon is also a useful location to level up weapons quickly.
• Pinnacle Activities: To get the most valuable upgrades, engage in activities like raids, dungeons, and higher difficulty versions of playlist activities as these tend to offer the best gear drops.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How do I Masterwork a Legendary weapon?

To Masterwork a legendary weapon:

1. Inspect the weapon.
2. Hover over the Tier slot.
3. Select the next upgrade tier from the menu, to increase the weapon’s tier by one.
4. Repeat until tier 10 is reached to Masterwork the weapon.

2. How do I upgrade armor in Destiny 2 Solstice?

During the Solstice event, you upgrade your armor by:

1. Collecting Silver Leaves.
2. Converting Silver Leaves into Silver Ash in Bonfire Bash.
3. Acquiring Kindling.
4. Inserting Kindling and Silver Ash into the Solstice armor.

3. How do I increase my overall Power level?

Increase your Power level by obtaining new weapons and armor with a higher Power rating. Continue to play and equip the highest level items you can find. All non-sunset loot will increase your Power level until you hit the soft cap.

4. How do I level up weapons faster?

Defeating enemies with a weapon and completing activities while using it increases weapon levels. The Shuro-Chi encounter in the Last Wish Raid is a great method for rapid leveling.

5. How do I increase armor stats?

The best sources for high-stat armor are Pinnacle Activities such as Pit of Heresy, focusing Seasonal Engrams, Master Raids, Haunted Sectors (Exotics Only), Legend/Master Lost Sectors (Exotics Only), and Rahool Exotic Focusing.

6. What do armor stats do?

Each armor piece has six stats, scaling from 1 to 100, and those stats directly impact your Guardian’s abilities. Each armor piece will also have an energy amount, scaling from 1 to 10, which is used to equip mods.

7. What is the maximum Power level in Destiny 2?

The maximum Power level is dictated by the Soft cap, Powerful Cap, and Pinnacle Cap, which change each season. The current maximum level cap at the time of writing is 1810.

8. How do I enhance weapons?

You can enhance a weapon by opening your inventory and selecting the red node that says “Enhance Weapon”. This costs 12 Spoils of Conquest, 10,000 Glimmer, 27 Legendary Shards, and 20 Enhancement Cores.

9. How do I level up mementos?

Mementos drop from endgame activities, they can then be inserted into crafted weapons, and they can be leveled up by using the weapon they are slotted into.

10. Can old gear be leveled up?

Yes. Old gear can be leveled up by infusing higher-power gear into them to match the new power level.

11. How do I set up my armor?

You can set up your armor appearance by going to your Character Appearance screen, then the Appearance Subscreen, and selecting “Appearance Customization” to apply Universal Ornaments.

12. Is it worth upgrading lower stat armor?

Armor with a total stat value of 60 or below is generally not worth upgrading. You should focus on armor from Pinnacle Activities for the best stat distributions.

13. What is the fastest method for leveling crafted weapons?

The Shuro-Chi encounter in the Last Wish raid is the fastest method for leveling crafted weapons because of the density of weak enemies available there.

14. Where can I get weapon mods?

You can purchase weapon mods from Banshee-44 in The Tower. His stock rotates daily.

15. What benefits do I get from leveling up a weapon?

Leveling up a weapon allows you to unlock new frame options, perk options, Enhanced Perks, and a small stat boost at level 20. Level 30 unlocks cosmetic options if a memento is slotted into the weapon.

By mastering the various methods of upgrading gear, you can optimize your Guardian’s effectiveness and conquer any challenge that Destiny 2 throws your way. Good luck, Guardian!