Destiny 2 guide: How to infuse armor and weapons

Infusing gear in Destiny 2 is a way to keep low-power Legendary or Exotic gear viable by increasing its Power level. If you’re not familiar with upgrading gear from the first Destiny, this can be (more than) a little confusing, but we’re going to show you how to do it and why you want to infuse your weapons and armor.

What does Infusing gear do?

Bungie/Activision

The short answer is this: Infusing gear makes Legendary or Exotic gear better by feeding it better, less rare gear.

Let’s say you got some really cool chest armor early in the game (like what we have in the image above). Since the gear you get roughly corresponds to your power level at the time you got it, this gear only has a defense of 56. Much later in the game, when your Power level is much higher, that 56 defense armor is laughably weak. But it’s Exotic and has extra perks and buffs. And it looks cool. What is a Guardian to do?

That’s where Infusing comes in. With a few Legendary Shards and some Glimmer, you can feed some higher defense chest armor to your 56 defense Exotic, to turn it into something on par with your current power level.

How to Infuse gear

Grid View

• Bungie/Activision
• Bungie/Activision
• Bungie/Activision
• Bungie/Activision

From your Character menu, pick a piece of Legendary or Exotic gear and open up the details. Under the armor/weapon mods heading, the first option will be Infuse. When you hover over that option, you’ll see the available gear you can Infuse into your choice, as well as the cost in Glimmer and Legendary Shards.

What are Legendary Shards and how do I get them?

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Legendary Shards are a consumable material you’ll get when you dismantle Legendary or Exotic items. There’s no other way to get them. (They’re also one of the currencies you’ll use with Xur.) They’re similar to the Gunsmith Materials you get from dismantling Rare or better gear.

When to infuse weapons and armor (and what to keep)

Since Infusing Legendary or Exotic items requires Legendary Shards, and you can only get Legendary Shards by dismantling Legendary or Exotic gear, this is best saved for later in the game. At that point, you’re already high in Power and you’re getting Legendary (or better) drops more often. Hold onto any Legendary and Exotic items, but save all the dismantling and infusing for later on, when things aren’t churning quite so much.