Destiny 2 Masterwork Core sources and Catalysts list

Publish date: 2022-09-05

Destiny 2 Masterworks are rarer and more powerful versions of weapons and armour.

Masterworks allow you to upgrade Legendary weapon or armour by offer stat boosts, the ability to drop Super orbs and kill trackers - giving you something to aim towards as you continue to play in the end game.

Not only are they available for Legendary weapons and armour, but with the introduction of the Warmind DLC Exotics too, in the form of Masterwork Catalysts. These are unlocked differently, and many require a heavy dose of luck.

Latest update (October 17th): Festival of the Lost has introduced the Fighting Lion Catalyst, with a weekly bounty which helps complete it faster.

On this page:

How to get Masterwork Cores

Masterwork Cores are a resource to spend on upgrading your favourite Legendary weapons or armour into Masterwork versions.

There are multiple ways to get Masterwork Cores in Forsaken. Confirmed methods include:

More sources coming soon!

How to upgrade Masterworks in Destiny 2

Before Forsaken, Masterwork upgrades were binary - weapons were or weren't Masterworks - but now they power up across ten tiers. Each tier will cost resources - Glimmer, Legendary Shards and Masterwork Cores - allowing you to invest as much or as little as you like.

Here's what you get for Masterworking weapons, and when:

You'll be able to tell if a weapon has been fully Masterworked thanks to the golden border a weapon has in your inventory.

Though these aren't huge advantages over existing weapons, there are some useful benefits, such as additional Orbs coming in useful for getting Supers faster during team-centric activities such as Strikes, Raids and Crucible matches.

It looks to be far more expensive to completely Masterwork a weapon now - with aussiehalo from Reddit saying it'll cost 10,000 Glimmer, 27 Legendary Shards and 17 Masterwork Cores. It's possible Masterwork Cores will be easier to obtain in Forsaken as a result - but we'll have to wait and see.

Destiny 2 Masterwork Catalysts explained

Like Legendary Masterworks, it's possible to get Exotic Masterworks. You have to earn Catalysts to upgrade these weapons, giving them additional perks, the ability to drop multiple Orbs with multi-kills and kill tracking.

How to get Masterwork Catalysts

Catalysts will drop for an Exotic weapon at random but only under certain requirements. If you investigate an Exotic weapon, you will notice they have a Masterwork Catalyst slot. Hovering the cursor over them gives you a clue of how to unlock it:

Thanks for ebolaxb on Reddit for filling in the gaps with the above list.

Masterwork Catalysts are literal drops - they are golden pyramids you pick up. When you do, they won't appear in your inventory, but will show up whenever you investigate that Exotic weapon. Here's the Tractor Cannon dropping, for example:

It should also be noted you need to own the Exotic for the Catalyst to drop - but you don't need to have it equipped or on your Guardian for it to appear. Whether you need it in your Vault is another question - so it might be worth having it there just to be safe.

How to use Catalysts and their Masterwork Perks explained

Once a Catalyst has dropped, investigate the weapon, hover over the slot and apply it. This gives you one of the upgrades - the ability to drop multiple Orbs with multi-kills - but the other perks are missing.

The Catalyst must be fully activated by performing further actions in order to unlock the bonus perk:

Exotic WeaponCatalyst completion methodMasterwork Perk
Borealis150 Arc, Solar and Void Kills20 Reload Speed
Crimson300 precision kills20 Range
D.A.R.C.I.300 precision kills20 Stability
Fighting LionBounty and Kill completionsKinetic and Power weapons gain period of increased handling and accuracy
The HuckleberryEnemy killsAdds rapid kills to magazine before reloading perk
Jade Rabbit250 Crucible kills30 Stability
Legend of AcriusDefeat enemiesIncreased reload speed and ammo reserves (now 6)
MercilessDefeat enemies with MercilessIncreased Range and Stability
Polaris LanceEnemy Kills, Kills with Perfect Fifth perkDragonfly perk (precision kills create elemental explosion)
Skyburner OathDefeat Cabal enemiesIncreased range
SturmKills with both Sturm and Drang equippedExtra range and handling
TelestoComplete all Lost Prophecy VersesIncreased ammo reserves (now 7)
Tractor CannonEnemy kills70 magazine size, 50 weapon size, increased ammo reserves perk
Vigilance WingCrucible kills, 5 Blood for Blood medalsHolding down trigger fires in full auto perk
Whisper of the WormThe Whisper Heroic completions and chestsBoosts damage after aiming
Worldline ZeroUse Tesseract attack on final Escalation Protocol bossReduces activation time of Tesseract perk

Thanks for ebolaxb on Reddit once more as well as brndnvn for the Worldline Zero completion method for help with the above.

How Masterworks worked in Destiny 2 Year 1

Masterworks were previously random drops once you hit a certain Power level. They can come from anywhere you'd get Legendary weapons or armour in the game - whether it's dropped during an activity, from chests or Engrams.

There is also a "very high chance" of receiving Masterwork loot from the following:

Note - all Raid Masterworks are earned from raid drops, and not Engrams or vendors.

So while playing the above activities will give you better chances, the long and short of it is the more you play, the higher your chances of getting Masterworks are.

Then, the more Masterworks you receive, the more you can dismantle for Masterworks Cores to spend upgrading the Legendary weapons you use most.

 

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