Destiny 2: How to Upgrade Crafted Weapons to Tier 5 (Monument of Triumph Guide)

• Upgrading crafted weapons to Tier 5 is completely free — no Glimmer, Enhancement Prisms, or Ascendant Alloys required for crafted weapons specifically.
• Open the weapon from your inventory, find the empty upgrade socket to the right of Weapon Mods, and select it to begin the tier upgrade process.
• Crafted weapons must reach Weapon Level 30 at the Enclave before Tier 5 becomes available.
• After upgrading the socket to Tier 5 in your inventory, you must go to the Enclave and reshape the weapon to actually apply Enhanced Traits — the socket upgrade alone does nothing until you do this.
• Tier 5 unlocks Enhanced Traits in every perk column, Enhanced Weapon Mods, Enhanced Origin Traits, and a golden holofoil ornament that applies to all your craftable weapons.
• Non-crafted weapons (random drops, Adept Raid weapons) can also be upgraded to Tier 5 but cost Glimmer, Enhancement Prisms, and Ascendant Alloys per step.
• There is a known Bungie bug where crafted weapons do not consistently benefit from Tier upgrades — check the Known Issues page if your stats do not update as expected.

Destiny 2 Monument of Triumph brought crafted weapons back into the endgame meta in 2026 after the Tier system introduced in Edge of Fate had effectively sidelined them. Every crafted legendary weapon in your vault is now eligible for a free Tier 5 upgrade through the Enclave relic — giving them enhanced perks, enhanced mods, and a unique ornament to match the best weapons in the current sandbox. This guide covers every step.

What Is the Weapon Tier System in Destiny 2

Monument of Triumph uses a five-tier weapon progression system that applies across all weapons — crafted, raid drops, dungeon drops, and ritual playlist weapons. Tier determines which perks are enhanced, how many trait options appear in each column, and what cosmetics unlock.

Here is what each Tier unlocks for weapons:

• Tier 1: Base weapon, access to new seasonal mods
• Tier 2: Enhanced Traits become available
• Tier 3: Two traits per column — first meaningful upgrade for builds
• Tier 4: Enhanced Weapon Mods (including seasonal mods), Enhanced barrels and magazines
• Tier 5: Enhanced Origin Traits, three traits per column, unique golden holofoil ornament with animated shader, and a unique combat flair effect on kills

Tier 5 also gives a +5 stat bonus across all weapon stats on top of the standard Masterwork +10, for a total of +15 to all stats when fully masterworked. That is a meaningful difference at the endgame level.

Crafted Weapons vs Non-Crafted Weapons: Key Difference

The most important thing to understand before spending resources is that crafted weapons and non-crafted weapons use different upgrade paths.

Crafted weapons upgrade for free. You do not spend Glimmer, Enhancement Prisms, or Ascendant Alloys to move from Tier 1 through Tier 5. The only requirement is that the weapon has reached the correct weapon level at the Enclave.

Non-crafted weapons — random drops, Adept Raid weapons, dungeon drops — cost real resources per tier step. Community-reported costs for a full upgrade to Tier 5 on non-crafted weapons run to approximately 36,000 Glimmer, 17 Enhancement Cores, 6 Enhancement Prisms, and 2 Ascendant Alloys. Do not spend these on a weapon you are not certain about keeping. Upgrading non-crafted weapons does not add perks to existing columns — perk pools are fixed at the time the weapon drops.

Crafted weapons have the opposite advantage. You already have full control over which perks are slotted. Upgrading to Tier 5 and then reshaping at the Enclave lets you put Enhanced versions of those chosen perks into every column.

How to Upgrade Crafted Weapons to Tier 5 Step by Step

Step 1: Level the Weapon to Level 30 at the Enclave

Crafted weapons need to reach Weapon Level 30 before Tier 5 becomes available. This is the gate. You cannot bypass it.

Level your crafted weapon by using it actively. Kills, activity completions, and objectives all grant weapon XP. The fastest method is to take the weapon into high-density activities — Vanguard Ops, Distortions, Nightfalls — where you are constantly getting kills. You can also spend Glimmer at the Enclave to manually push XP forward, which is useful for Special and Heavy weapons that are harder to level organically.

You will know the weapon is at Level 30 when the Enclave shows you the Tier 5 upgrade option in the reshaping menu.

Step 2: Find the Upgrade Socket in Your Inventory

Open your character screen and inspect the crafted weapon from your inventory or vault. Crafted weapons are easy to identify — they have a red Deepsight square in the bottom right corner of the weapon icon.

In the weapon inspection view, look to the right of the Weapon Mods slot. There is an empty socket there. Select it. This opens the Tier upgrade menu.

Step 3: Upgrade Through Tiers 1 to 5

Select the upgrade options from Tier 1 through Tier 5. For crafted weapons, every step is free — just confirm each upgrade. You do not need to stop at any particular tier. Go straight to Tier 5 if your weapon is already at Level 30.

The socket will now show Tier 5 active. However, the weapon is not fully upgraded yet. Selecting the tier in your inventory screen only registers the tier status. The enhanced benefits — perks, mods, stats — do not apply until you reshape at the Enclave.

Step 4: Go to the Enclave and Reshape the Weapon

This is the step most guides skip over or bury. Hitting Tier 5 in your inventory is only half the process.

Travel to the Enclave on Mars and interact with the Relic. Select your Tier 5 crafted weapon and open the Reshape menu. You will now see that every perk column has been unlocked for Enhanced Trait selection. Go through each column and upgrade your chosen traits to their Enhanced versions.

Enhanced Traits are roughly twice as effective as their standard counterparts. The difference is noticeable in endgame content — Enhanced Frenzy, Enhanced Overflow, Enhanced Reconstruction, and others all have measurably better uptime or stat values than the base versions.

While you are in the Reshape menu, check your Enhanced Weapon Mods options as well. These are also unlocked at Tier 5 and operate similarly — stronger versions of the standard mod effects you would otherwise slot normally.

Step 5: Claim the Golden Holofoil Ornament

Check the secondary menu pages in the Reshape interface. Tier 5 for crafted weapons unlocks a golden holofoil ornament. This cosmetic applies universally to every craftable weapon in your collection — not just the one you upgraded. Every craftable weapon you own or will craft in the future gains access to this ornament once any single crafted weapon reaches Tier 5.

It is one of the better cosmetics from the Monument of Triumph update, with a bright gold colour scheme that stands out from the standard blue ornament unlocked on non-crafted Tier 5 weapons.

How to Level Crafted Weapons to 30 Faster

Weapon leveling is the main time sink in this process. Here are the most efficient methods in 2026.

• Vanguard Ops playlist: High enemy density, short mission timers, constant kill opportunities. Run this with the weapon equipped in the slot you actually use most.
• Distortions public events: New Monument of Triumph events that increase reward tiers. They also generate solid weapon XP from the event enemies and objectives. Base completion grants Tier 3 rewards; Heroic grants Tier 4, with a chance to push further.
• Nightfall: The Ordeal: More enemies per run than standard strikes. Higher difficulty Nightfalls give bonus XP bursts. Efficient if your weapon is already functional at a lower level and you can carry it.
• Spend Glimmer at the Enclave: Useful for Heavy weapons that are difficult to level through normal play. The Glimmer cost is modest and the time saving is real, especially for Rocket Launchers or Grenade Launchers where getting kills takes longer.

Which Crafted Weapons Are Worth Upgrading to Tier 5 First

Focus Tier 5 upgrades on weapons you actively use in endgame activities. The Enhanced Traits provide the most value when you are in Grandmaster Nightfalls, Dungeons, or Raids where that extra perk uptime or effectiveness changes your DPS phase or survivability.

Prioritise:

• Crafted raid weapons — these are the highest-investment, highest-reward options. Bungie confirmed all raid weapons now have updated perk pools in Monument of Triumph, making the best crafted raid weapons even stronger at Tier 5.
• Crafted weapons with strong Enhanced perk synergies — look for perks like Enhanced Reconstruction, Enhanced Frenzy, Enhanced Encore, and Enhanced Surrounded, where the Enhanced version is substantially better than the base.
• Weapons you use across multiple activities — if the same crafted weapon covers your Nightfall, dungeon, and raid DPS slot, it earns Tier 5 investment back faster.

Do not rush to Tier 5 every crafted weapon in your vault at once. The leveling takes time. Pick two or three weapons per class and focus them first.

Known Bug: Crafted Weapons Not Benefiting From Tier Upgrades

Bungie has confirmed a bug on their official Known Issues page where crafted weapons do not consistently benefit from Tier upgrades. If you upgrade a crafted weapon to Tier 5 and the Enhanced Traits or stat bonuses are not showing correctly after reshaping, this is a known issue — not user error.

The workaround most players have found is to reshape the weapon again after the first Tier 5 reshape. This triggers a re-application of the Enhanced Traits in some cases. If the issue persists, check the Bungie Help page for the current status of this fix.

How Crafted Weapon Tier 5 Pairs With the Current Meta

A fully upgraded Tier 5 crafted weapon with Enhanced Traits is now directly competitive with organic Tier 5 drops from endgame activities. The main difference is that crafted weapons cannot have multi-perk columns — each column has your chosen perk rather than three random options. For god-roll seekers who want every column maximised with options, organic Tier 5 drops still offer something crafted weapons cannot.

For players who prefer a specific, locked god roll — which is the entire point of crafting — Tier 5 crafted weapons are now the definitive version of that roll. Pair them with a strong armor set. The Ferropotent armor set and its Built From Scratch perk complement high-DPS crafted weapons well by keeping ammo topped up during long boss fights. Check the full Monument of Triumph armor set bonuses guide to find which set works best for your build.

If you are also working through Oblation Exotic Mission triumphs for Cull’s Shadow, see the Darkest Depths triumph guide — the timed Oblation gauntlet is one of the best use cases for a fully upgraded Tier 5 crafted weapon given the 30-minute time pressure. For catalyst upgrades that complement your weapon builds, see the new Monument of Triumph Exotic Catalysts guide and how to get the Truth Catalyst.