Destiny 2 | Everything You Need to Know About Adept Mods and Weapons

Image: Bungie

Human Made

Kody is our expert Destiny 2 and shooter genre writer. He lives in Oregon.

Adept mods and weapons in Destiny 2 made their triumphant return with Beyond Light. In the original Destiny, these weapons were simply elemental iterations of their standard counterparts. They’ve since been adjusted to function a bit differently, amping up their overall stats to be far more deadly Legendary weapons.

Now, these aren’t easy to acquire. There’s a reason these are labeled as Adept after all. So what exactly is the big deal with Adept weapons and how do you earn them? Read on for our full guide.

What Are Adept Weapons in Destiny 2?

As mentioned above, Adept weapons are more powerful iterations of current Legendary weapons. In the original Destiny, when weapon types were limited to specific slots, these would typically add an elemental burn to a Primary weapon. Now, they are those same weapons with increased stats.

The only caveat is that to gain that stat increase, you need to Masterwork the weapon after acquiring it. Doing so will give you a +10 boost to the random Masterworked stat and a +3 boost to all other stats. Unfortunately, there are no specific Perks attached to each weapon, meaning that you’d need to keep attempting to unlock versions of a given weapon to land what you want.

How To Get Adept Weapons Destiny 2

When Adept Weapons relaunched with Beyond Light, the only way you could acquire them was by completing a Flawless Trials Passage in Trials of Osiris. This allowed you to reach the Lighthouse and open up a flawless chest. They’re only available on a bi-weekly basis, meaning that not every run will leads to Destiny 2 Adepts Weapons in Trials.

For those that don’t care for PvP, there’s now the opportunity to earn Destiny 2 Adept weapons in Nightfall. More specifically, Grandmaster Nightfall: The Ordeal. When this event cycles in, you’ll have to reach the maximum available light level and equip your top-tier end-game gear to stand a chance. You’ll need to kill every Champion throughout and hit Platinum level to maximize your chances of earning Adept Weapon in Destiny 2 PvE. Unfortunately, this doesn’t guarantee a gear unlock, meaning that you may need to run Nightfalls multiple times, especially to get the Weapon Perks you want.

What Are Adept Mods?

The one good thing about attempting multiple runs of Trials of Osiris or Grandmaster Nightfalls is that you can also unlock Adept Mods. These Mods will work more like Masterworked stats over standard Mods. They will provide far larger stat boosts for specific weapons, meaning that you’ll gain a +10 for standard stats. Things like Magazine Size or Targeting, on the other hand, will see a much larger boost at the expense of a debuff.

It’s worth keeping in mind that any Adept Mods in Destiny 2 that you equip will take the slot of a Standard Mod. In most cases, this will be a benefit. If you have specific Perks like as Dragonfly or Icarus Grip, however, you may end up not wanting to use Adept Mods.

How to Unlock Adept Mods

These Mods will, unfortunately, be unavailable until you’ve earned your first Adept Weapon, and even then you can only unlock Mods for that specific weapon type. The Mods will cycle in and out, just like the Adept Weapons, in both the Grandmaster Nightfalls and Trials. The one benefit is that this will limit the loot pool you’re working with, making it easier to acquire specific Mods.

Right now, every Adept Mod is available in both game types. The only unique Mod, Adept Big Ones Spec, is available exclusively in Grandmaster Nightfalls. So, keep an eye out for which Mods and weapons are available in a given week, and try to grind for them until you unlock the variety you want.

All Adept Weapons in Destiny 2

Here are the specific Adept weapons that you can currently unlock in Destiny 2.

The Scholar (Adept)

Sola’s Scar (Adept)

Eye Of Sol (Adept)

Astral Horizon (Adept)

Exile’s Curse (Adept)

The Summoner (Adept)

Tomorrow’s Answer (Adept)

The Messenger (Adept)

Shayura’s Wrath (Adept)

Igneous Hammer (Adept)

All Adept Weapon Mods in Destiny 2

Here are the specific Adept Mods that you can currently unlock in Destiny 2.

Mod	Effect	Weapon Compatibility
Adept Accuracy	+10 Accuracy	Bows
Adept Big Ones Spec	+7.7% increased damage against Majors and Bosses	All Weapons
Adept Blast Radius	+10 Blast Radius	Grenade and Rocket Launchers
Adept Charge Time	+10 Charge Time	Fusion Rifles, Linear Fusion Rifles
Adept Counterbalance	+25 Recoil at the cost of -10 Range	All Weapons
Adept Draw Time	+10 Draw Time	Bows
Adept Handling	+10 Handling	All Weapons
Adept Impact	+10 Impact	Swords
Adept Mag	+40 Magazine at the cost of -20 Handling	All Weapons (not Rocket Launchers or Grenade Launchers)
Adept Projectile Speed	+10 Projectile Speed	Grenade and Rocket Launchers
Adept Range	+10 Range	All Weapons (not Swords or Bows)
Adept Reload	+10 Reload Speed	All Weapons (not Swords)
Adept Stability	+10 Stability	All Weapons (not Swords)
Adept Targeting	+10 Aim Assist at the cost of -20 Stability	All Weapons (not Swords)

Become a High Grounder

Adept Mods and weapons are excellent pieces of high-level gear worth pursuing if you’re a fan of Trials of Osiris or Grandmaster Nightfalls. They may be difficult to acquire but are worth grinding out for if you’re trying to upgrade your builds.

If your Fireteam has been wanting to unlock some Adept gear, be sure to let them know how by sharing this guide on your favorite social channels. For the latest on Destiny 2, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter.

Happy gaming!