Destiny 2 Exotic Catalysts and Masterwork Upgrade Guide

Further improve your favorite gun with this guide on finding and activating your Exotic weapons' Catalysts.
This article is over 4 years old and may contain outdated information

In the Warmind expansion, Destiny 2 introduced Exotic Catalysts, special modifiers that make Exotic weapons even better. However, each Exotic has its own Catalyst, as well as a hidden condition that will further upgrade it to Masterwork.

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Here’s where to find the Exotic Catalyst for your favorite weapon in Destiny 2, and how to turn it into a Masterwork.

Destiny 2 Exotic Catalysts and Masterwork Upgrade Guide

Each individual Exotic weapon has its own Catalyst, although not all of them have been added to the game yet, and that Catalyst in turn has a specific place where it drops. Just about everything you can do in Destiny 2 has a potential Catalyst drop attached to it, such as Patrols, Strikes, Nightfalls, raids, and the Crucible.

You’ll want to find your Exotic of choice on the following list, then keep after its connected activity until you get the Catalyst you want.

Once it’s installed, the Catalyst instantly upgrades your Exotic in at least one specific way. From there, once you satisfy the attached conditions, the Exotic weapon is upgraded to Masterwork tier.

Note that items in boldface under Catalyst Effect in the following table are the names of perks that are actually added to the Exotic weapon by its Catalyst.

Weapon

Catalyst Effect

Catalyst Location

Masterwork

Ace of Spades

Funeral Pyre: Firefly does more damage while Memento Mori is active

Kills or completion bonuses in Strikes or Nightfall

Get 500 kills

Bad Juju

Unending Curse: The damage increase from String of Curses lasts longer

Place 45 Tributes in the Tribute Hall

Get 700 kills

Black Talon

Reversal: blocking shots immediately after guarding gives a short-lived damage increase to Crow’s Wings

Kill enemies in PVE

Get 500 kills

Borealis

Reload Speed +18

Kill enemies in PVE

Get 150 Solar Mode kills, 150 Void Mode kills, 150 Arc Mode kills

Cerberus+1

Focused Fire: hold the reload button to swap to a tighter close-range spread

Kill enemies in PVE

Get 500 kills

Coldheart

Stability +18, Reload Speed +18

Kills or completion bonuses in Strikes or Nightfall

Get 300 kills

The Colony

Deeper Pockets: magazine size +1, greater max ammo reserve

Kills or wins in the Crucible

Get 500 kills

Crimson

Range +18

Kill enemies in PVE

Get 500 precision kills

D.A.R.C.I.

Stability +18

Kill enemies in PVE

Get 300 precision kills

Eriana’s Vow

  • More to Give: weapon magazine size increases by 3

  • Auto-Loading Holster: the gun automatically reloads itself while it’s holstered

Complete “The Vow,” obtained from the Season of the Undying season pass

Get 700 kills

Fighting Lion

  • Reload Speed +27

  • Chimera: Firing Fighting Lion grants your equipped Kinetic and Power weapons increased handling and accuracy for a short period

Kill enemies in PVE

  • Get 1000 kills

  • Complete 167 bounties

The Fourth Horseman

And its name was Death: Magazine size +1, reload speed +40

Complete Seraph Bunkers or Legendary Lost Sectors; participate in Public Events at Seraph Tower

Get 400 kills

Graviton Lance

  • Range +18

  • Hidden Hand: improved aim assist and targeting acquisition

Kills or wins in Crucible; kills or completions in Strikes or Nightfall

  • Get 500 kills

  • Get 1000 Cosmology kills

Hardlight

Stability +18

Kills or completions in Strikes or Nightfall

Get 1000 kills

The Huckleberry

Bull Rider: kills with this weapon fully reload its magazine

Kills or completions in Heroic Adventures

Get 500 kills

Izanagi’s Burden

Peerless Edge: increases Honed Edge’s damage bonus when all 4 bullets are consumed

Complete Heroic Menagerie with a Masterworked Chalice of Opulence

Get 500 kills

Jade Rabbit

Stability +27

Kills or victories in Crucible

Get 250 PVP kills

Legend of Acrius

  • Reload speed +36

  • Deeper Pockets: magazine size +2, expanded ammo reserves

Complete encounters and open Underbelly chests in Leviathan on Prestige difficulty

Get 500 kills

Lord of Wolves

Fang and Claw: when Release the Wolves is active, reload speed increases; when Release the Wolves is not active, stability increases

Completions in Gambit, Crucible, Strikes, or Nightfalls

Get 500 kills

Lumina

Resonant Virtue: Gain 2 Remnants per final blow

Kills and completions in Gambit, Crucible, Strikes, or Nightfalls

Get 250 Noble Round heals

Merciless

Stability +36, Range +36

Kills or completions in Strikes and Nightfalls

Get 500 kills

MIDA Multi-Tool

Outlaw: increase reload speed after a precision kill

Kills or wins in Competitive Crucible matches at Glory rank of Legend

Get 250 PVP precision kills

Outbreak Perfected

Disease Vector: deal additional nanite damage; enemies that die while under the effect of SIVA nanites spread the effect to other nearby enemies

Complete Zero Hour on Heroic difficulty

  • Collect 500 SIVA Nanites from Zero Hour on Heroic

  • Get 500 precision kills

Polaris Lance

Dragonfly: precision kills make the target explode

Complete the 5th and final Nascent Dawn quest

  • Get 500 Kills

  • Get 50 Perfect Fifth kills

Prometheus Lens

Stability +18, handling +18

Kills or completions in Strikes and Nightfalls

Get 500 kills

The Prospector

  • Deeper Pockets: increases ammo reserves

  • Blast radius +20

Kills or completions in Strikes and Nightfalls

Get 500 kills

Rat King

Infestation: aim assist and recoil direction improves; you regain health when Vermin activates

Kills or completions in Strikes and Nightfalls

Get 1000 kills while everyone in your fireteam is also using Rat King

Riskrunner

Range +27

Complete the Pain and Gain questline

  • Get 500 kills

  • Get 50 Arc Conductor kills

Skyburner’s Oath

Rage +27

Complete encounters in the Leviathan raid

Get 1000 Cabal kills

Sleeper Stimulant

Charge rate -250, improved ammo reserves

Complete encounters in Leviathan on Prestige difficulty

  • Equip IKELOS escalation protocol weapons and get 1000 Sniper Rifle kills, 1000 Shotgun kills, and 2000 Submachine Gun kills

  • Then loot the Oracle Chest in The Whisper on Normal or Heroic

  • Get 500 kills with Sleeper Simulant

Sturm

Handling +40, range +18

Kill PVE enemies on Nessus

  • Get 500 Sturm kills

  • Get 500 Drang kills

Sunshot

Stability +18, range +27

Kills or wins in Crucible, kills or completions in Strikes and Nightfall

  • Get 500 kills

  • Get 1000 Sun Blast kills

SUROS Regime

SUROS Ascendance: increases recoil direction, chance that SUROS Legacy will activate

Kills or wins in Crucible

Get 300 PVP kills

Sweet Business

Serious Business: reduces incoming flinch when firing Sweet Business at full speed

Kills or wins in Crucible, kills or completions in Strikes and Nightfall

Get 250 Multikills

Symmetry

Electric Styx: increases Dynamic Charge’s maximum stack size to x20

Complete “Symmetry Remastered” from Banshee-44

Get 700 kills

Telesto

Deeper Pockets: magazine size +3, expanded ammo reserves

Complete encounters in Leviathan, Eater of Worlds on Prestige difficulty

Acquire the Gift of the Lighthouse, then interact with the forge on Mercury

Tommy’s Matchbook

Heat of the Moment: your health recovers faster while Ignition Trigger is active

If you have the Season of the Worthy season pass, complete Banshee-44’s quest

Get 700 kills

Tractor Cannon

Deeper Pockets: magazine size +3, expanded ammo reserves

Kill enemies in PVE

Get 300 kills

Vigilance Wing

Full Auto Trigger System: hold down the trigger to fire on full automatic

Kills or wins in Crucible

Get 250 PVP kills, 5 Blood for Blood medals

The Wardcliff Coil

Pinpoint Guidance Module: tightens rockets’ spread

Kills and completions in Strikes and Nightfall

Get 500 kills

Whisper of the Worm

  • Whispered Breathing: range and precision damage increase after aiming down the scope for 3 seconds, while you remain zoomed in

Complete The Whisper on Heroic difficulty

Farm 100 Blighted Essence from The Whisper on Heroic difficulty

Worldline Zero

Another Dimension: reduces Tesseract’s activation time

Kill enemies in PVE while you have a sword equipped

Hit all 5 of the weekly bosses in Mars Protocol with Worldline Zero while they’re unshielded

At time of writing, Exotic weapons without Catalysts include Arbalest, Deathbringer, Heir Apparent, and the Queenbreaker. However, Bungie is still working on adding more Catalysts to the game, so sooner or later, every Exotic will have a mini-upgrade quest to call its own.

The Guardian Games are still underway in Destiny 2, although it’s going into its final week. Go in prepared with our guides and tips, including:

The Titans are currently winning Destiny 2‘s Guardian Games, as I’m writing this, and are overpowering the early favorite, the Hunters. Bungie is sweetening the pot, however, by doubling the points for each daily winner. It’s still anyone’s match. If you play a Hunter or a Warlock, coordinate your plans for a come-from-behind victory with our squad via our official Twitter, @PrimaGames.


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About the Author

Thomas Wilde

Thomas has been writing about video games in one capacity or another since 2002. He likes survival horror, Marvel Comics, and 2D fighters, so that one part of Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite where Spider-Man teams up with Frank West and Chris Redfield was basically his fanboy apotheosis. He has won World War II 49 separate times.