The Ascendant Alloy consumable was introduced in Destiny 2: The Witch Queen era as part of the weapon crafting system. At the Relic in the Enclave on Mars, players can shape and reshape weapons, and once you’ve used a crafted weapon enough to reach Level 16, you’ll unlock enhanced versions of all of the weapon’s possible traits. Common traits cost 10,000 Glimmer and three Enhancement Cores, while enhanced versions each cost 15,000 Glimmer, two Enhancement Prisms, and one Ascendant Alloy.
If you’re crafting weapons at all, the endgame pursuit is to select the god roll that suits your style and reshape it yourself with both perks, spending two Ascendant Alloys per weapon in doing so. Collecting the weapon patterns to unlock each recipe is a whole other grind you have to do first, along with hitting Level 16 with a basic roll. Thankfully, Bungie increased the inventory cap for Ascendant Alloys from 10 to 30 back in Season 22. Aside from Adept weapons, a crafted gun with enhanced perks has the potential to become one of the absolute best in your arsenal.
In theory, you could reshape a weapon multiple times by spending more Ascendant Alloys when you do. But you’re far better off researching to pick the absolute best rolls for your crafted weapons so you only have to reshape it once. Like with most other consumables, gradually acquire a modest stockpile of Ascendant Alloy on a rolling basis and spend them as you go to avoid hitting 30 capacity.
Ascendant Alloy is perhaps the single hardest (or at least the most frustrating) resource to farm for, but there are still a few tips and strategies to make it easier.
The Best Ascendant Alloy Farm in Destiny 2
By far the best method for farming Ascendant Alloy is to run weekly campaign missions. Each week, one mission from The Witch Queen and one from Lightfall will appear on the maps for the Throne World and Neomuna, respectively. Look for the large mission banner on each map. Similar to Nightfalls, you can select various difficulties for these activities and get better rewards. Ascendant Alloys can drop from any difficulty tier, but they’re common in Master.
Normally, Master does not have matchmaking, but these days you can use Fireteam Finder to team up with other players. Select either activity, then before you hit Launch, select the “Find” option below your name toward the top-right of the screen. Then select “Search” followed by the pink campaign banner all the way to the left. From there, pick either campaign and then the “Weekly Missions” option — which should be at the top of the Selection 2 column. Alternatively, you can create your own listing rather than search for one.
Even on Master, you’re not guaranteed an Ascendant Alloy, but that’s your best shot. Enemies are all 1840 and your effective power is capped at 1820, so it’s not quite as difficult as Grandmaster Nightfall, but it’s still a challenge. Just be sure to get to 1820 with the seasonal artifact before you give it a shot.
The Seasonal Grind
Master weekly campaign missions may be the most effective farming method for Ascendant Alloys, but the more palatable alternative is to always be working towards getting a few all season long. Here’s every current known method of acquiring the currency:
- Reach Rank 16 with Banshee-44
- Purchase from Master Rahool
- Complete Weekly Campaign Missions
- Complete the Wellspring activity (Master difficulty)
- Complete the Season Pass
- Season of the Deep vendor reward
For starters, be sure to have the season pass unlocked because you’ll eventually get some that way. During Season of the Wish, you’ll get one at Rank 89 and 95, so that’ll take some time, but you’ll get plenty of other loot along the way. Be sure to pick up and complete Banshee-44’s bounties as often as possible, because he’s the only vendor who offers one at Rank 16.
If Season of the Deep is still active on the HELM and you’re really gunning for Ascendant Alloys, you might as well take a bit of time to reach Rank 10 at the Sonar Station vendor and claim one there. Pick up any of the legacy quests like Gone Fishin’ or Into the Depths if you haven’t done them yet. Complete Deep Dives and Salvage activities until you get to Rank 10, and it should be fairly reasonable.
Amidst all of this, by far the fastest and easiest method is to visit the Cryptarch Master Rahool in the Tower every week. With the start of Season of the Wish, he offers a Special Orders section under Materials Exchange.
Here, you can purchase up to three Ascendant Alloys for only 10 Enhancement Prisms and 10,000 Glimmer. At any time, you can buy one from him for 10 Enhancement Prisms and 50,000 Glimmer. He also offers similar deals on Enhancement Prisms, so if you have enough Enhancement Cores and Glimmer, you can buy quite a few from Rahool easily.
Because the Wellspring is a six-person activity, that presents a lot more variables outside of your control, and the drop rates for Ascendant Alloy are far worse than Weekly Campaign Missions. So, if your sole goal is to get an Ascendant Alloy, you’re far better off grinding away at Weekly Campaign Missions.
