Exotic Masterwork Weapons Guide for Destiny 2

Destiny 2’s recent Warmind expansion introduced some ground-breaking changes to the game’s meta with the inclusion of a free sandbox update. The most important component of this update is the Masterwork Catalyst that further enhances some of the game’s Exotic weapons into utterly devastating weapons of war. The Warmind sandbox update ups the ante by introducing the Masterwork system for Exotic weapons in the form of upgradeable “Catalysts.”

While only a select few are upgradeable to Masterwork, once they are upgraded the Catalysts will unlock a hidden perk that further powers up an Exotic weapon. Unlocking them also requires a particular activity so you can do this while completing milestones and enjoying what the Warmind DLC has to offer. In this Exotic Masterwork Weapons Guide, we have compiled a list of all known Masterwork Exotics and their unlock requirements. There are things you should know.

4 Things You Need to Know

1. Once you unlock the Masterwork upgrade, dual kills will now produce orbs, but you have to do another activity to unlock the Catalyst perk
2. You should already have the Exotic weapon, but you do not need to actively equip them to get the Masterwork upgrade
3. Exotic Masterwork upgrades are dropped loot, and they always drop only by chance
4. Exotic Masterwork upgrades and Catalyst perks are permanently saved to your collection kiosk on the tower, so you can easily create a duplicate for your other characters

Tips for Amateurs and Pros

Kill a number of enemies

(PRO-TIP: Go for lots of Hive! Thralls always come in droves)

• Borealis
• Crimson
• A.R.C.I.
• Tractor Cannon
• Worldline Zero

Defeat heroic strike bosses

(PRO-TIP: Do the weekly Nightfall and Heroic Strikes with a Fireteam)

• Coldheart
• Merciless
• Prometheus Lens
• Riskrunner
• Wardcliff Coil

Complete heroic adventures

(PRO-TIP: Bring a Fireteam and take advantage of the modifiers)

• The Huckleberry

Complete raid encounters

(PRO-TIP: Undoubtedly, you need a Fireteam for this! Run the lower-leveled Leviathan if this is just what you’re after)

• Skyburner’s Oath

Win Crucible victories

(PRO-TIP: Do it with a Fireteam to increase the odds of winning)

• Jade Rabbit
• The Colony
• Vigilance Wing

Gain victories in the Competitive or Trials of the Nine playlist

(PRO-TIP: Be the best? We can’t suggest anything else other than being at the top of your game, as this is probably the hardest to do)

• MIDA Multi-Tool

Gain kills while allied with the Dead Orbit, Future War Cult, or New Monarchy factions

(to be implemented at a later date; one faction will be assigned to a weapon below)

• Graviton Lance
• Sunshot
• Sweet Business

It’s a Wrap

With the introduction of the high power level Escalation Protocol, Exotic Masterwork weapons are an excellent way to curb the increased difficulty of the activity. They also perfectly complement all available activities in the vanilla and DLCs of Destiny 2, so they play well while you’re trying to earn the upgrades, then you can reap the rewards of a better weapon when the next weekly reset rolls in.

The rumored “Comet” DLC is set to arrive before 2018 ends, and while we all await that, Exotic Masterwork weapons  and everything Warmind has to offer will be the perfect bridge to scratch that Destiny itch we all have.