The Relic - Destiny 2 Guide - IGN (2024)

This section of IGN's Destiny 2: The Witch Queen guide features information on how to craft weapons, how to attune weapons, acquire weapon patterns, resonant materials, and more. This guide also features a walkthrough of the Quest starting with The Relic which is required to begin weapon crafting and is available for free to all players.

Click the links below to jump to a specific section of this page:

• Weapon Crafting Requirements
• How to Start The Relic Quest
• How to Craft The Enigma
• How to Get a Deepsight Weapon
• How to Attune Weapons
• How to Obtain Weapon Patterns
• How to Obtain Resonant Materials
• How to Obtain Resonant Alloy
• How to Reshape Weapons
• How to Unlock New Traits
• How to Craft Raid Weapons

Weapon Crafting Requirements

Weapon crafting in Destiny 2 arrived alongside The Witch Queen expansion, and allows Guardians to create, or Shape, their own weapons. Not only does this reduce the amount of clutter in your Vault, but it also largely makes chasing "God rolls" a thing of the past, as you can simply make your perfect weapon.

You can Shape or Reshape weapons at The Relic, located at The Enclave on Mars. In order to Shape a weapon, you'll need its corresponding Weapon Pattern (blueprint), as well as various Resonant Materials, Resonant Alloys, and Glimmer.

The base cost to Shape a weapon is:

• 5 Resonant Alloy
• 750 Neutral Element
• 10,000 Glimmer

If you want to Shape or Reshape a weapon with an Enhanced Intrinsic ability, you'll need the following:

• 20 Resonant Alloy
• 12 Enhancement Cores
• 40,000 Glimmer

If you want to Shape or Reshape a weapon with an Enhanced Trait, you'll need the following:

• 1 Ascendant Alloy
• 70 Energetic/Adroit/Ruinous/Mutable Element (depends on Trait)
• 2,000 Neutral Element

Weapon Crafting - How to Start The Relic Quest

Before you can begin crafting your own weapons, you must first pick up the Quest titled The Relic. This Quest is obtained after the introductory mission for The Witch Queen Campaign, titled The Arrival. Once you've completed that mission, speak with Ikora Rey who is waiting atop the rocky structure to the left.

Ikora will give you a Quest titled The Relic which requires investigating a new area on Mars called The Enclave. You can enter The Enclave by walking through the large opening in the side of the mountain behind you, or by fast traveling to the node on the left side of your map.

The Relic - How to Craft The Enigma

Inside The Enclave, you'll find the Relic. Approach the Relic and interact with it to begin the Weapon Crafting tutorial which will allow you to craft your first weapon - a legendary Glaive called The Enigma.

To begin, you'll need to select 'Shape' to create a new weapon. Next, select the weapon you want to craft. In this case, we only have one - The Enigma.

Next, you'll get to customize the perks for The Enigma. Begin by selecting its Intrinsic ability. Since we only have one choice, you'll need to choose Adaptive Glaive as the others become available once you level up The Enigma.

Next up, it's time to select the unique perks for your new weapon. Begin by hovering over the leftmost blue square for the Hafts Socket. You've got the option of either Ballistic Tuning or Low-Impedance Windings. Hover over each one to see how it impacts your weapon's stats and choose which one suits your playstyle most.

The next square is for your Magazine which gives you the option to choose between either Extended Mag or Alloy Magazine.

The final two slots are reserved for Traits. The first of these two only gives you one option - Tilting at Windmills. Select this perk to slot it into your weapon. The final square features either Unrelenting or Kill Clip. Unrelenting provides health regeneration for rapidly defeating targets, while Kill Clip gives you a damage boost after reloading following a kill. Again, choose what fits you best.

The final square slot is for a Memento, which we don't have unlocked yet. So, hover over the rightmost weapon icon to Finalize your Shape and finish crafting your first weapon.

With your first weapon crafted, you'll gain access to the Conduit on the left side of the Relic. Interact with it to gain a new Quest step for The Witch Queen campaign. You'll also unlock another Quest titled Shaping: Extraction which requires you to obtain a Resonant weapon to further progress your ability to craft weapons.

Return to Ikora Rey to unlock The Investigation, the next mission in The Witch Queen Campaign. She'll also provide you with the Synaptic Spear - the Seasonal Artifact you'll be interacting with during Season of the Risen.

How to Get a Deepsight Weapon

The next step in your weapon crafting journey is to acquire a weapon with Deepsight Resonance, as indicated by the Quest titled Shaping: Extraction that you received from the Relic.

Deepsight weapons can be acquired pretty easily while exploring Savathûn's Throne World, or any other activities, and are indicated by the red border around the weapon's icon in your inventory. It's worth noting that any weapon can drop as a Deepsight weapon, regardless of it being craftable or not.

How to Attune Weapons

Once you've acquired and equipped a Deepsight weapon, you'll need to attune it. This can be done by simply using this weapon in combat and completing ritual activities such as Strikes, Crucible, and Gambit, as well as Seasonal activities.

Each enemy you kill with the weapon grants 1% progress - regardless of enemy type or level. You'll also gain more attunement progress by completing patrols, public events, and other activities.

You can check a weapon's Attunement Progress by hovering over it in your inventory or inspecting it and hovering over the rightmost node under Weapon Mods.

How to Obtain Weapon Patterns

Weapon Patterns are the basic blueprints that allow you to craft that specific weapon. While you'll obtain the Weapon Pattern for the Syncopation-53 Pulse Rifle as part of the Quest step teaching you about weapon crafting, future weapons won't be as easy.

In order to obtain weapon patterns for other weapons, you'll first want to check the Patterns & Catalysts section of your inventory, located under the Triumphs tab. Here, you can hover over missing Weapon Patterns to learn about how to acquire each one.

Most Weapon Patterns are unlocked by attuning the weapon any number of times, which requires multiple copies of the same weapon. Upon release, only weapons available in The Witch Queen expansion and Season of the Rising are available for weapon crafting. Bungie has stated that more weapons will be added in the future. Additionally, some weapon Traits are exclusive to randomly rolled weapon drops, and thus can't be learned through Deepsight Resonance.

How to Obtain Resonant Materials

Once you've attuned your weapon, hover over the Deepsight Resonance node and extract one of the two Resonant Materials available. These materials are used for Shaping or Reshaping existing weapons. Each weapon contains two Resonant Materials to choose from, allowing you to target specific materials you may need for a specific weapon Trait.

The Resonant Material types are:

• Neutral Element - this material is always given when you extract Resonant Materials and is required for every aspect of Shaping and Reshaping weapons
• Adroit Element - This material is required for weapon stat-improving enhanced traits
• Energetic Element - This material is required for movement-based enhanced traits
• Mutable Element - This material is required for ability-based enhanced traits
• Ruinous Element - This material is required for damage-based enhanced traits
• Drowned Element - This material is required for Raid-exclusive traits for Vow of the Disciple weapons

Each Deepsight weapon you extract Resonant Materials from will provide 200 Neutral Elements along with 12 of the Element you've chosen (Energetic, Adroit, Ruinous, Mutable, or Drowned). The cost to Shape or Reshape weapons varies, but you'll usually need to extract Resonant Materials from about 4-6 guns in order to craft something new.

Following Patch 4.0.0.4 the Resonant Materials needed for perks cap out at 1,000 and the Neutral Element cap is much higher at 10,000. Bungie has also stated that beginning with Season 16, it will remove Adroit, Energetic, Mutable, Ruinous, and Drowned Elements, leaving just Neutral Element required for crafting weapon traits.

The only way to acquire these Resonant Materials is by extracting them from Deepsight weapons, so make sure not to dismantle anything with a red border! While there's no way to check how many Resonant Materials you possess in your inventory, you can view it by hovering over the traits on Deepsight weapons or heading to the Relic and attempting to Shape a new weapon.

Head back to The Enclave and interact with the Relic Conduit to complete the Shaping: Extraction Quest. You'll gain a bundle of Resonant Materials to help you craft future weapons.

How to Obtain Resonant Alloy

After completing the previous Quest step, you can obtain the next Quest titled Shaping: Resonant Alloys. This Quest is straightforward enough as you can obtain Resonant Alloys by simply dismantling Legendary weapons. There's also a small chance of obtaining a Resonant Alloy when dismantling Rare (blue) weapons, as well. Any Legendary weapons will work, including those obtained prior to The Witch Queen. Resonant Alloys are required for a weapon's Intrinsic ability.

The cap for Resonant Alloy is 80, so make sure to spend them before dismantling further Legendary weapons.

Once you've collected three Resonant Alloys, return to the Relic Conduit in The Enclave to complete this Quest step. You'll also obtain the Weapon Pattern for the Rocket Launcher Palmyra-B.

How to Reshape Weapons

Weapon crafting is great, but what happens if you change your mind? Good news, Guardian! You can reshape (or, modify) existing weapons. This is initially taught through the Quest titled Reshaping the Enigma, which walks you through upgrading your existing weapon, The Enigma. In order to Reshape a weapon, it must be unequipped in your menu and not locked.

As part of this quest, you'll need to reshape The Enigma with an enhanced intrinsic ability and an enhanced trait. To apply an enhanced intrinsic, you'll need to level up The Enigma to Level 3. This can be done by simply using the weapon and killing enemies with it.

To apply an enhanced trait (indicated by a slight yellow tint near the bottom of the trait icon, as well as an upward-pointing arrow), you'll need the appropriate Resonant Materials and, more importantly, some Ascendant Alloys. You can acquire your first two Ascendant Alloys needed for this Quest by visiting Master Rahool in The Tower.

Additional Ascendant Alloys can be acquired by:

• Completing weekly Campaign missions in the Throne World
• Completing the Wellspring activity in the Throne World
• Purchasing from Master Rahool for 400 Legendary Shards (once per week)
• Rank up reward from Banshee-44 at Gunsmith Rank 16

Once you've gathered the prerequisite materials, head to the Relic and simply select Reshape after interacting with it. The process is the same as when you initially Shape a weapon, except you can choose new Intrinsic abilities and Traits.

Weapons can be Shaped as many times as you want, but you don't get any of the previous materials refunded - so make sure you're set on your decision before finalizing!

How to Unlock New Traits

Weapon traits are what makes a specific weapon unique. Whether it's a certain intrinsic ability, barrel type, or perk that adds a layer of flair to the weapon, each can be customized to your liking. Weapon traits, or perks as many Guardians refer to them by, can be unlocked by leveling up a weapon that has been Shaped, or crafted, at The Relic. While crafting a new weapon, you can hover over the available traits to see the level at which each specific perk is unlocked.

How to Craft Raid Weapons

Just like the Throne World and Season of the Risen weapons, you can also craft Raid weapons featured in the Vow of the Disciple Raid. In order to do this, you'll first need to collect the Weapon Pattern by attuning five of any given weapon.

You'll also need Raid-specific materials to craft the weapon and add Raid-exclusive traits like Bait and Switch. Drowning Alloy can be obtained by dismantling Raid weapons. Each weapon dismantled gives you one Drowning Alloy.

Drowned Elementcan be extracted from Raid weapons that contain it, and is required to add Raid-exclusive traits to compatible weapons.