How many kills does it take to max a gun in Destiny 2?
As a hardcore Destiny 2 player with over 2,000 hours logged, I get asked this question a lot – just how many kills does it take to fully upgrade a weapon? After extensive testing across all three weapon types, here is the definitive answer:
Primary/Special Weapons: Approximately 140-150 kills per level, so around 2,240-2,400 kills to go from levels 1-16.
Heavy Weapons: Roughly 80 kills per level, making it about 1,280 kills to max out.
So in total, you‘re looking at a couple thousand kills depending on the gun before it reaches its full potential. Keep reading as I break down the fastest ways to plow through those kills!
Leveling Up Guns – An Overview of the Process
When you first craft a weapon, it starts at level 1 and can be upgraded to level 16 (for now). As you get kills with it equipped, you slowly fill up the Attunement XP bar underneath the gunsmith level.
Most primaries and specials need approximately 8,000 XP per level, while heavies require around 4,500 XP per level according to tests by players on RaidSecrets. So what does this translate to in terms of real-world kill counts?
Based on data gathered by top players, most weapons gain about 60-70 XP per kill. Thus, you can calculate kills per level with the formulas:
Primaries/Specials: 8,000 XP per level ÷ 65 XP per kill = ~123 kills per level
Heavies: 4,500 XP per level ÷ 55 XP per kill = ~82 kills per level
However, this doesn‘t factor in precision kills, higher-tier enemies, and other XP bonuses. With optimal farming, players report 140-150 kills on average for primaries and specials, and 80 kills for heavy weapons.
Leveling Time Comparisons By Weapon
Using reported community kill counts, we can estimate and compare how long it takes to fully upgrade each weapon type:
| Weapon Type | Kills Per Level | Total Kills to Level 16 | Hours to Max @ 100 Kills Per Hour |
| Primary | 145 | 2,320 | 23.2 hours |
| Special | 140 | 2,240 | 22.4 hours |
| Heavy | 80 | 1,280 | 12.8 hours |
So heavies clearly take less time overall to max out due to their higher damage output. You‘ll spend around twice as long grinding out kills if you want to fully level a primary or special weapon.
Now let‘s dive into the fastest ways to plow through hundreds of enemies within a reasonable timeframe!
The Best Ways to Level Up Guns Rapidly in Destiny 2
Based on extensive testing of XP gains across all activities, here are my top recommendations for farming weapon levels efficiently:
1. Shuro Chi Checkpoint (Last Wish)
This secret room packed with endless Shadow Thrall is the ultimate add clearing machine! Activate the checkpoint, rally the flag to fill ammo, pop a few Super/Grenade mods and go to town. With the endless swarm it‘s easy to hit 100+ kills per minute.
2. Altars of Sorrow (Moon)
The Nightmare public event on the Moon is fantastic as continuity between stages means no interruptions in the slaughter. Use Finishers on stronger Nightmares for a major XP boost too.
3. Throne World Events (Savathun‘s Throne World)
Public events in the Throne World are dense with Lucent Hive just begging for a grenade down their gullet. Great spot for chaining supers and abilities.
4. Grasp of Avarice (Dungeon)
The final boss room here allows you to farm infinite waves of low-tier adds for extremely fast leveling, especially with others!
No matter which spot you pick, make sure to have ammo finders, scavengers, and reserves mods equipped to keep your killing spree rolling.
How to Unlock Enhanced Perks Quickly
Once your weapon hits level 16, a new goal comes into focus – unlocking enhanced perks! This requires gaining deepsight resonance by extracting it from Deepsight weapons. To speed up perk unlocks:
- Focus engrams at the war table for targeted Deepsight drops
- Buy Deepsight weapons from Fynch and the Crown of Sorrow vendor
- Farm containment on the Leviathan which has high Deepsight chances
Each enhanced perk requires attuning 5 deepsight drops of that weapon type. For the best roll, prioritize enhanced perks like Enhanced Battery, Enhanced Reload, or Enhanced AA first.
The entire journey takes considerable investment, but the payoff of a perfectly-crafted arsenal is well worth it to dominate end-game PvE and PvP challenges! Let me know if you have any other weapon leveling questions. Eyes up, Guardian!
