Published , by Sam Chandler
Published , by Sam Chandler
Leveling up crafted weapons in Destiny 2 takes some time either killing or completing activities. However, not all activities are created equal. Before you go farming one activity, make sure you’re playing the right one, some grant more percentage progress than others. The following information is courtesy of Reddit user and Destiny 2 researcher, snowfxz.
What’s better than leveling a crafted gun by getting kills? Completing activities. Nearly every activity in Destiny 2 will give your crafted weapon a portion of XP (tracked with a percentage meter in-game), you just need to have it equipped. Below is a table featuring the activity and how much percentage gain it gives your crafted weapon for a completion.
| Crafted weapon percent gain per activity | |
|---|---|
| Playlist Activities | |
| Activity | % gain |
| Vanguard Ops | 24% |
| Nightfall | 44% |
| Crucible | 23.5% |
| Gambit | 23.5% |
| Trials: Win | 26% |
| Trials: Loss | 12% |
| PsiOps Playlist | 35% |
| Dares of Eternity | 26.5% |
| Destination Activities | |
| Activity | % gain |
| Patrol | 1.5% |
| Lost Sector | 0% |
| Public Event | 7.5% |
| Heroic Public Event | 12% |
| Destination Strikes | 12% |
| Legend Lost Sector | 12% |
| Blind Well Tier 1, 2, 3, and Heroic | 6.5, 9, 9.5, and 12% |
| PsiOps | 8% |
| Shadowkeep Activities | |
| Activity | % gain |
| Altar of Sorrow | 0% |
| Shadowkeep Moon Weekly | 0% |
| Nightmare Hunt | 10.5% |
| Beyond Light Activities | |
| Activity | % gain |
| Empire Hunt | 29.5% |
| Exo Simulation | 26.5% |
| The Witch Queen Activities | |
| Activity | % gain |
| Weekly Witch Queen campaign | 20% |
| Legend Witch Queen campaign | 27% |
| Preservation | 29.5% |
| Wellspring | 26.5% |
| Sever missions | 29.5% |
| Nightmare Containment | 29.5% |
| Pirate Hideout | 29.5% |
| Ketchcrash | 35% |
| Raids | |
| Activity | % gain |
| Each encounter of a raid/dungeon | 12% |
A big shout out to Reddit user snowfxz for taking the time to research the amount of percentage gained per activity. You can check out their Google Sheet for more information as well as the Reddit post for insights into methodology and more. Credit as well to Phaazed for noting that Destiny Item Manager now accurately tracks percentage gains.
Bungie does some interesting rounding where additional percentage does not carry on to the next level. For example, if your weapon is at 95% and you complete a Nightfall, only 5% of the 33% reward will go toward the level, the remaining 28% will be thrown away.
So out of all the activities, Nightfalls are certainly the best when it comes to pure percentage gained. However, you should engage in activities that help other areas. If you need Pinnacles to hit the max Power, keep those crafted weapons equipped while you bounce around activities. Similarly, Nightmare Containment grinding for the Reaper title offers a nice chunk of XP. Personally, The Warrior Empire Hunt is my favorite, as it is extremely fast and easy, allowing you to level up a crafted weapon to max with minimal fuss. The downside is this is only available every three days.
No matter how you go about leveling up your crafted weapons, make sure you remember to play activities. Each activity will reward a certain amount of percentage toward your progress. Be sure to take a look at our Destiny 2 Strategy Guide for more tables containing schedules, mods, and other important information.