Destiny 2: The Witch Queen: How to unlock the Glaive weapon

The launch of Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, has introduced a slew of new mechanics, abilities, and weapons to the Destiny universe. Few of these are as versatile and useful as the Glaive. This weapon combines fast-flowing melee strikes with powerful long-range attacks and a lifesaving shield ability. It’s a weapon every Guardian will want in their arsenal. We are going to show you how to get the Glaive in Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, and how to make the most of it.

How to unlock the Glaive in Destiny 2: The Witch Queen

The Glaive is an awesome weapon, and it is mercifully easy to acquire your first one as you play through the main campaign of The Witch Queen. First, play through the introductory mission, The Arrival. When you complete this mission, you will be sent to The Enclave to talk to Ikora Rey.

The crafting table in the Enclave of Destiny 2. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Ikora will assign you a quest called The Relic. Leave her, and follow the indicator to the nearby Enclave. Inside is a colorful platform called The Relic that acts as your crafting table. Approach it, and a tutorial will guide you through the following steps:

Select the Shape option to begin crafting.
Select an Intrinsic. These are represented by the white boxes towards the left of the screen.
Select perks. These are the blue circles, and provide bonuses to the Glaive’s capabilities. You are able to assign four perks to this weapon. The first two are simple.
Shape the weapon. Highlight the purple box to the far right, and either hold click or long-press your selection button.

This will shape (craft) The Enigma, your very first Glaive. During your initial crafting, there is only a very limited selection of perks you can assign. As you use this weapon it will gain XP and level up, unlocking more and stronger perks. You can return to the Relic at any time to change the Intrinsic and Perks assigned to your Glaive by selecting the Reshape option from the Relic’s menu. Keep in mind the weapon must be unequipped to be re-shapeable.

Once the Glaive reaches level three you can upgrade the Intrinsic at a cost of 40,000 glimmer, 12 Enhancement Cores, and 20 Resonant Alloy.

Viewing the list of intrinsic crafting options in Destiny 2. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Intrinsics

Handling
Range
Reload Speed
Shield Duration

Upgrading the perks costs 75 neutral elements. Perks are divided into Hafts, Magazines, and Traits:

Hafts

Ballistic Tuning – Increases range and decreases shield duration
Low-Impedance Windings – increases shield duration and reload speed, decreases range
Tempered Truss Rod – Increases handling speed, decreases reload speed and range
Supercooled Accelerator – increases range, decreases reload and handling speed
Auxiliary Reserves – increase shield duration, decreases reload speed
Lightweight Emitter – Increases reload and handling speed, decreases shield duration

Magazines

Extended Mag – Increases magazine size, decreases reload speed
Alloy Magazine – Faster reloads when the magazine is empty
Appended Mag – Increases magazine size
Accurized Rounds – Increases Range
Swap Mag – Increases ready and stow speed
Light Mag – Increases reload speed and range

There are two slots for traits, each with a different set of options. All come with a standard and more powerful Enhanced version, which can be equipped as your Glaive level increases.

Viewing the list of weapon crafting traits in Destiny 2. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Trait 1

Tilting at Windmills – Blocking damage with your shield increases movement speed
Threat detector – Increases reload, stability, and handling when enemies are in close proximity
Feeding Frenzy – Each rapid kill with this weapon progressively increases reload speed for a short time
Impulse Amplifier – Massively increases projectile velocity, increases reload speed
Subsistence – Defeating targets partially reloads the magazine from reserves
Grave Robber – Melee final blows reload the weapon from reserves

Trait 2

Unrelenting – Rapidly defeating enemies triggers health regeneration
Kill Clip – Reloading after a kill, grants increased damage
Thresh – Killing combatants with this weapon generates super energy
Frenzy – Being in combat for an extended time increases damage, handling, and reload speed
Unstoppable Force – Blocking damage with your shield increases projectile damage for a short time
Rampage – Kills with this weapon temporarily grant increased damage. Stacks 3x

The Glaive sits in your secondary weapon slot and is extremely useful. As one would expect from a bladed pole-arm, it is very strong in melee combat. It hits hard, similar to a sword, and can perform short combinations to unleash multiple attacks in quick succession. You can also press the aim-down-sights button to generate a temporary to block incoming damage. Finally, you can fire it like a gun, launching a powerful projectile that flies in a straight line does surprising damage.

A fully crafted glaive in Destiny 2. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Enigma isn’t the only Glaive. As you progress, there are exotic Glaives specific to each Guardian Class, and another universal Glaive called Lubrae’s Ruin. The former trio is earned by completing quests on the Evidence Board on Mars, the latter is a reward from the Vow of the Disciple raid.