Masterworking Armor – A Complete Guide

Masterworking armor in MMORPGs like Destiny 2 and Runescape is one of the most impactful upgrades players can make to their character build. But is the significant investment of time and resources worth the benefits? In this complete guide, we’ll dive into everything you need to know about masterworked armor.

What is Masterworked Armor?

Masterworking is the process of upgrading armor pieces using rare crafting materials to boost their stats and attributes. It is considered the pinnacle of armor progression before the player hits the hard power level cap.

In most games, masterworking has three main effects:

• Increases the energy capacity for installing mods and perks. This enables more customization of your build.

• Generates orbs of power from multi-kills that charge your and allies’ supers. Provides team support.

• Grants bonus points across all stats on the armor, allowing you to reach important thresholds.

Masterworking represents hundreds of hours of dedication to min/maxing a character. The substantial resource investment required serves asproof of this time commitment. Let’s look at why top players consider masterworked armor so valuable.

#1 – Reaching Desired Stat Builds

The primary reason to upgrade armor to masterwork status is the bonus stats provided to every piece at max level. Here are the exact stat increases in some popular MMOs:

Destiny 2:

• +2 to all stats per masterwork level
• +12 total bonus to each stat at level 10

Runescape:

• +2 to all stats when fully masterworked

This allows players to reach stat distribution thresholds that make certain builds and playstyles possible. For example, in Destiny 2, tier 10 recovery is achievable with 100 total points allocated to that stat. Wearing all masterworked legendary armor generates 60+ recovery points from base stats alone.

With the proper stat rolls and mods, a max recovery build grants significant regen advantages in PvE and PvP. Other thresholds like discipline for grenade builds benefit as well.

Here are some examples of popular builds enabled by masterworked armor:

• Max discipline + Ashes to Assets build for Stasis Warlock in Destiny 2
• High mobility build for Hunter Nightstalker invisibility and dodging
• Max intellect for rapid Super charging as Sentinel Titan

Without those extra 12 points per stat from masterworking, many desired stat distributions simply aren’t possible without significant compromise.

#2 – Generating Orbs of Power

In addition to bonus stats, fully masterworked weapons and armor generate orbs of power from multi-kills and assists. Players rely on these orbs to charge their super abilities quickly.

When an entire fireteam wears masterworked gear, chaining supers and abilities becomes easy with the plentiful orb output. Having your armor masterworked ensures you do your part to feed teammates orbs.

Here’s an example orb generation output in Destiny 2:

• 5-6 orbs per multi kill with a masterworked weapon
• 2-3 orbs per multi kill with a masterworked armor piece
• 10-15 total orbs if wearing all masterworked gear

This can lead to rapid super charging in activities with lots of enemies like Altars of Sorrow or Blind Well. Chaining damage-buffing supers like Well of Radiance with masterworked armor enables insane burst DPS.

Masterworking your armor also enables builds using exotic perks like Light from Darkness to spread orbs to the whole team. Having your own orb generation from masterworking is crucial to fueling these support abilities.

#3 – Higher Max Power Level

Another benefit of masterworked gear is that it increases the player’s max equipable power level, also known as light level or item level.

In most MMOs, the hard power cap each season is achievable only by fully masterworking gear:

Destiny 2 Power Level Caps:

• 1060 max with all legendary gear
• 1070 max with a mix of legendary and exotic
• 1080 max with full masterworked legendaries and exotics

Runescape:

• Level 75 weapons and armor
• Level 90 with masterworked gear

Reaching the pinnacle power cap enables you to compete in hardcore activities and unlock certain achievements. Players without optimized, masterworked loadouts will find themselves underpowered.

Masterworked items also boost your overall power when infused into other gear, saving upgrade resources. For example, in Destiny 2, infusing a 1000 power masterworked item into a 950 power weapon brings that weapon up to 1000 instantly.

#4 – Special Weapon/Armor Perks

Upgrading a weapon or armor piece to masterwork status also unlocks unique perks:

Destiny 2 Masterworked Weapon Perks:

• Tracker that displays PvE and PvP kill counts
• +3 to a random stat like stability, range, etc.
• Generates orbs on multi-kills

Runescape Masterwork Armor Perks:

• Immunity to poison and bleed effects
• Life bonus effect adds HP regeneration
• Provides set damage reduction in all styles

These bonuses further improve gameplay, providing prestige and satisfaction from unlocking the full capabilities of your gear.

#5 – Flexibility in Build Customization

An underrated benefit of masterworked armor is the ability to freely change stats and mods without losing progress.

Once armor is fully masterworked, you can re-roll the stats, change mods, and experiment with builds while keeping the +2 stat bonus and orb generation intact.

This flexibility lets you modify your playstyle for new activities without having to start from scratch grinding new armor sets. Masterworking enables you to amass a toolbox of gear to construct ideal loadouts on the fly.

For example, a masterworked armor set in Destiny 2 could be quickly reconfigured between:

• High recovery build for raiding
• Maximum discipline grenadier build for PvP
• Balanced statistics for casual story missions

You can adapt to new content and seasonal mods without farming multiple armor sets for each loadout.

Is Masterworking Worth the Investment?

Given the significant benefits, masterworking gear is considered one of the most worthwhile investments for intermediate and expert players. However, it is a long-term goal that requires dedication.

Here is an overview of the costs:

Destiny 2:

• Legendary armor costs 6 Enhancement Cores & 10 Legendary Shards per level
• Exotic armor costs 1 Ascendant Shard, 6 Enhancement Prisms, & 10 Legendary Shards

Runescape:

• Full masterwork armor set costs over 150m GP
• Materials include Malevolent energy, Divine Charge, and tens of thousands of smithing XP

As you can see, fully masterworking a character requires significant farming of late/end-game materials. It is by no means casual or quick.

While masterworking provides clear advantages, it may not be worth it for all players. Here are some things to consider:

Worth Masterworking For:

• Dedicated raiders and PvP players looking to optimize performance with ideal stats and loadouts.
• Build crafters and “min-maxers” who enjoy maximizing a character’s potential.
• End-game focused players who have completed lower tier content.
• Players with lots of time to invest in farming masterworking materials.

Perhaps Not Worth it For:

• New or very casual players still exploring the basics of the game.
• Those focused on story content where builds are less crucial.
• Players without much time to grind endgame material farming.
• Alts and secondary characters you won‘t be playing as often.

So in summary, while masterworking armor is invaluable for optimizing high difficulty end-game builds, it isn‘t entirely necessary for all. Prioritize masterworking for your main character and when pursuing challenging late game activities where the advantages matter most.

Masterworking Armor Sets – Conclusion

Fully upgrading your gear to masterwork status requires significant investment for most players. But the bonuses provided – including higher overall stats, orb generation, increased power level, and expanded build customization – make masterworking extremely rewarding for dedicated franchises like Destiny and Runescape.

Hopefully this guide gave you a detailed overview of this deep gear progression system. Let us know if you have any other questions! Our team of expert MMO players are happy to provide advice on perfecting your end game builds.