Destiny 2 introduced weapon crafting with The Witch Queen expansion, giving players a deterministic avenue of chasing god rolls for some of their favorite weapons. While not all weapons can be crafted, all weapons can drop as Resonance weapons—referred to by some as "red box" weapons.
To craft the perfect weapon, you'll need to level Resonance weapons to extract their essence and the crafted weapon itself to unlock new crafting options. In this short guide, we'll go over how to earn weapon XP, the best weapon XP farm currently, and we'll give a few tips on how to level your Resonance and crafted weapons more quickly.
How To Earn Weapon XP
Weapon XP is predominately earned by defeating enemies, although it can also be earned by completing activities. XP rates are different between Resonance (red box) weapons and crafted weapons from The Enclave. In general, it'll take longer to level a crafted weapon than a Resonance weapon.
As for XP rates, the breakdown looks something like this:
- Kills: 0.5%
- Kills (Raid): 1%
- Activity Completion: 50%
While simple, these rates explain why farming overworld content might seem quite slow for leveling, yet farming raid checkpoints or activity playlists will level your weapons rather quickly.
The Fastest Weapon XP Farm
For most players, the fastest weapon XP farm is the Shuro Chi encounter in the Last Wish raid. Despite being tied to a raid, solo players can access this encounter by themselves through the raid's "wishing wall" room. Enter the encounter, place a Rally Flag if you're leveling a Special or Heavy, and farm as many kills as possible. Each kill gives 1% progress instead of the usual 0.5% progress, and with how many enemies are in this encounter, you can finish a Resonance weapon in just over a single run. Crafted weapons will take a few more runs.
If you aren't interested in farming a raid checkpoint, your next best bet is farming the Vanguard Ops or Gambit playlist. Each activity clear will grant 50% progress on its own, while each kill you land will give 0.5% progress. You'll need to land the final blow to gain progress, so try to be as quick as possible. If your teammates kill most of the enemies, this could take much longer than simply farming Shuro Chi. We recommend Gambit for raw progress, but Vanguard Ops is a far more relaxed playlist. Pick whichever activity you like more.
How To Access Shuro Chi
Boot up the Last Wish raid. Upon entering the building, you'll hear some dialogue from Riven. When she's done speaking, a pillar on the left-hand wall will open up. Follow the path until you reach an opened door. Instead of going through that door, turn left and follow the path shown in the image gallery above. At the end of the path is a hidden wishing room. Enter the code shown above and step on the central plate to reach Shuro Chi. You'll retain a checkpoint to this encounter until the next weekly reset.
Weapon Leveling Tips
- Defeating tethered targets will grant weapon progress. Consider playing as or with a Nightstalker for faster weapon progress.
- If you're farming playlist activities, equip some Resonance weapons. Each activity clear will grant progress for each Resonance weapon equipped.
- Crafted weapons take quite some time to reach level 20. Farm the Shuro Chi checkpoint or Altars or Sorrow on the Moon to unlock the perks you want quickly, then passively use your weapon until you've unlocked all enhanced trait options.
