TL;DR
- Masterworks provide kill tracking, orb generation, and stat bonuses to Legendary weapons
- Acquire through drops at Power 250+ or craft using Legendary Shards and Masterwork Cores
- Dismantle unwanted Masterworks for 1-3 cores to fuel your upgrade economy
- Reroll stat bonuses for 25 Legendary Shards + 3 cores to optimize weapon performance
- Focus on Raid and Trials activities for highest Masterwork drop probability
Masterworks represent Destiny 2’s premier weapon enhancement system, offering significant upgrades beyond standard Legendary gear. These specialized variants transform your arsenal with powerful bonuses that elevate both performance and utility across all game modes.
Introduced in a post-Curse of Osiris update, Masterworks essentially function as a superior weapon tier that dedicated Guardians should prioritize acquiring. The system introduces complexity that the game doesn’t adequately explain, making external guidance essential for maximizing your investment.
Masterworks fundamentally enhance Legendary weapons with three core benefits: comprehensive kill tracking (separate counters for Crucible and PvE), Orb generation on multi-kill streaks, and most importantly, bonus stat perks that boost specific attributes. These stat enhancements target individual weapon characteristics including reload speed, stability, impact, magazine capacity, or blast radius for explosive weapons. Each Masterwork allows you to reroll these bonuses if your current stat boost doesn’t align with your playstyle preferences.
Masterwork weapons enter your inventory through multiple acquisition paths once you reach Power level 250. Beyond this threshold, any Legendary weapon drop has a chance to appear as its Masterwork variant, with probability scaling based on activity difficulty and completion.
For Guardians seeking the most efficient farming approach, Raid completions and Trials of the Nine matches provide dramatically increased drop rates, making them your most reliable sources for new Masterworks. However, you can also obtain them through vendor packages, Strike completions, standard Crucible matches, and various other endgame activities.
An alternative acquisition method involves manually upgrading your existing Legendaries through the new Masterwork Upgrade option accessible from each weapon’s Details screen. This process converts standard Legendary weapons into Masterwork versions, allowing you to select either Vanguard or Crucible tracking based on your preferred gameplay focus. The crafting cost is substantial at 25 Legendary Shards plus 10 Masterwork Cores, requiring careful resource planning.
The central question for many players becomes how to get Masterwork Cores efficiently. This is where strategic dismantling becomes crucial: unwanted Masterwork weapons can be broken down to yield Masterwork Cores, creating a sustainable upgrade economy.
Dismantling yields vary between 1-3 cores per weapon based on undisclosed factors, though community testing suggests fully leveled Masterworks may provide slightly higher returns. This variable yield means you’ll likely need to acquire multiple Masterwork weapons to accumulate sufficient cores for your upgrade projects.
Masterwork Cores serve dual purposes in the enhancement ecosystem. Beyond enabling weapon upgrades, they facilitate stat rerolling through the reworking a weapon process. Each reroll attempt costs 25 Legendary Shards plus three Masterwork Cores, randomizing your weapon’s bonus stat without guarantee of improvement.
Before committing to rerolling, carefully evaluate whether your current stat bonus provides meaningful combat advantages. Some attributes like reload speed or stability offer consistent value across engagements, while others like blast radius only benefit specific weapon types.
Masterworks will expand significantly in future updates according to Bungie’s development roadmap. The studio has confirmed plans to introduce Masterwork versions for armor and other gear categories, expanding the enhancement system beyond weapons alone.
Future quality-of-life improvements will include enhanced kill tracking visibility, such as displaying weapon kill counts on Crucible elimination screens. These changes will further emphasize the prestige of fully mastered weaponry within Destiny 2’s endgame ecosystem.
For optimal Masterwork management, prioritize weapons you regularly use across activities rather than upgrading niche options. Consider checking our Weapons Unlock guide for complementary weapon acquisition strategies that can support your Masterwork hunting efforts.
Action Checklist
- Reach Power level 250+ to unlock Masterwork drop potential
- Farm Raids and Trials for highest Masterwork acquisition rates
- Dismantle unwanted Masterworks to build core inventory (1-3 cores each)
- Upgrade key Legendaries using 25 Shards + 10 Cores
- Reroll suboptimal stat bonuses (25 Shards + 3 Cores per attempt)
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