Destiny 2 doubles down on weapon enhancement in The Final Shape’s past and future drops

This changes my pre-Final Shape vault cleaning a lot.

The Relic in the Enclave, used for weapon crafting in Destiny 2.
Image via Bungie

Destiny 2‘s next expansion will double down on enhanced weapon perks when it’s released on June 4. The Final Shape will let players improve older raid Adepts, upcoming guns, and even ritual weapons, Bungie confirmed today—including loot from the past, present, and future.

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“In The Final Shape, all new weapons will either be craftable or have access to weapon enhancement,” Bungie said in a blog post. This naturally includes future drops, but the developer will expand enhancement options for a litany of already existing weapons from multiple playlists.

A Guardian walks the hallway of the Enclave and faces the Relic
More reason to go back to the Enclave. Image via Bungie

The long list encompasses drops from Into the Light, ritual playlists (and their pinnacle modes), Guardian Games, Prophecy, and raid Adepts from Vow of the Disciple and King’s Fall. Gear from Nightfalls, Competitive, Iron Banner, and Trials of Osiris can also receive enhanced traits when applicable.

Generally, the retroactive list only includes weapons that are active drops and not in the Legacy Focusing option with their respective vendor. The base cutoff for these weapons is Destiny 2‘s season 17 (Season of the Haunted), so drops before then may not have access to enhanced traits.

Enhancing weapons in The Final Shape will also work somewhat differently, using a three-tiered system with some weapon level requirements. It’ll cost base enhancement materials, but raid Adept weapons will also require Spoils of Conquest. Here’s how it will work, according to Bungie.

  • Tier one: Turns your masterwork into an enhanced intrinsic. Adept raid weapons can adjust their first two columns.
  • Tier two (requires weapon level 11): Enhances the left trait (third column). Upgrades all perks in the column if you have more than one.
  • Tier three (requires weapon level 17): Enhances the right trait (fourth column), including all perks if there are multiple in the column.

Enhanced traits entered Destiny 2 as part of the crafting system, introduced in The Witch Queen in 2022. Crafting began as a way to dilute RNG and let players fine-tune their weapons according to their preferences, guaranteeing a perfect roll if they wanted it. Enhanced traits were an encouragement for players to craft instead of loot since they’d give players a (generally marginal) benefit over their regular counterparts.

Access to enhanced perks meant that a crafted weapon, available freely, could often surpass higher-end Adept weapons, obtainable from Grandmaster completions, Flawless drops, and clears of a raid on Master difficulty. Bungie slowly expanded the system to those weapons, and now the studio is bringing it even more to the spotlight as a core functionality.

As a minor part of the enhancement changes, Bungie is also increasing the cap on Mementos to three (up from one), and players can apply them directly from their inventory without having to stop by the Relic.

The Final Shape launches on June 4, when players can check out the new weapons, the Prismatic subclass, and more.

Author
Image of Pedro Peres
Pedro Peres
Pedro is Dot Esports' Lead Destiny Writer. He's been a freelance writer since 2019, and legend has it you can summon him by pinging an R-301, uttering the word "Persona," or inviting him to run a raid in Destiny 2 (though he probably has worse RNG luck than the D2 team combined). Find his ramblings on his Twitter @ggpedroperes (whenever that becomes available again).