Loadouts are a vital part of how Destiny 2 works. After all, there are so many builds nowadays, and manually swapping between different armor, weapons, and subclass elements is too tedious and time-consuming to be doing every single time you want to move to a new build. Bungie knows this, and so they implemented a loadout system into the game to help.
But, as great as it is at a casual level, if you’re diving deep into the world of Destiny, the in-game loadout system simply isn’t enough by itself. There is a host of external tools and other methods of organisation that you need to know to be able to fully organise your loadouts and ensure that you can easily switch between them.
In this guide, I’ll go over the essentials of loadout management, so you know exactly how to save loadouts and use each system to make sure your loadouts are saved for easy access. We’ll also go over how to use the in-game loadout system to its fullest extent.
Overview
Destiny has an in-game loadout system that’s pretty robust, all things considered. It lets you save your current loadout with a click, saving your weapons, armor, subclass, and mods, all so you can access it with a click later. It’s great for quickly saving and storing builds on the fly, and if you’re a casual player, you might just be okay with using this.
However, it is a flawed system. From the fact that you can’t set custom names, to the fact that you can’t edit the loadout (you have to just re-save it), a lot is missing from the loadouts system.
It’s not a massive problem until you have lots of different builds that you need to store, as well as needing to use your in-game loadouts for armor swapping and other important in-game tasks. It can get messy fast and ruin your organisational system.
Initially, you do start out with a lot fewer loadout slots than you’ll have later on. It’s one of the main draws to levelling up your Guardian Rank, as higher Guardian Ranks unlock higher loadout slots, meaning that you can save more loadouts.
Are In-Game Loadouts Useful?
As said previously, saving in-game loadouts is a matter of clicking the loadout slot you want to use, and it’ll store the loadout.
This doesn’t leave much room for customisation, though, and also forces you to use the weapons and armor that you have saved in that loadout exactly, even if, for example, you wanted to change weapons to another build and still be able to use the same loadout.
The best way you can get around this is by obtaining trash gear (either things you’re going to dismantle, or green/white weapons from collections), and using that to fill slots you don’t want to fill in your loadout. Once you’ve done your loadout, dismantle that item, and it’ll no longer switch that item as it’ll say ‘item cannot be found’ — but will switch the rest of your loadout.
This way, for example, you don’t lose ammo having to switch your weapons back and forth while trying to change your armor between loadouts, or you can keep a ‘default’ weapon loadout to click onto if you have a weapon preference, no matter the build. The only thing that you cannot stop from changing is your subclass (your abilities, fragments, aspects, etc.), though, so be aware.
I tend to mainly use in-game loadouts for armor swapping, like swapping to surge mods and Sanguine Alchemy during DPS, or for easy loadout swapping during solo flawless runs. I tend to constantly change my in-game loadouts for this reason, and so using in-game loadouts for static loadouts becomes more and more difficult.
Destiny Item Manager
Destiny Item Manager (or DIM) is perfect to solve this problem, as it lets you save your loadouts to an external platform that works with the API to be able to equip items and builds with ease. You can save full loadouts, delete certain parts of them, or even just have specific cosmetic loadouts if you’d like.
On top of this, you can easily label your loadouts for easy searching, and even save seasonal mods to make sure you have the right ones equipped. Plus, DIM not only allows you to save your builds, but also delete and manage your in-game loadouts, meaning you can have more control over them and how you can use them.
There are a few limitations here, though. Due to it being an API tool, equipping items in DIM can take a little bit of time and also sometimes not work as intended, so make sure you’re prepared to work with it a little bit. Also, DIM is not allowed to change your items unless you’re in Orbit or a social space such as The Tower, meaning it’s not really that suitable for loadout swapping or mid-activity usage.
Destiny Item Manager is a great tool that you should be using for complete inventory management. Keep an eye out for our guide on how to use all of its features, to make sure that you can fully take advantage of the power of a great item manager in Destiny 2.
How Should You Save Your Loadouts?
Honestly, the best system to use is the one that works for you. I like to have my specific builds as just the name of the build in DIM, and then I’ll juggle about in-game loadouts depending on when I need them.
I do make sure to have a set of high-stat armor on each character, though, that I can use as a sandbox for buildcrafting. Of course, this will change as we enter The Edge of Fate, so be on the lookout for new ways to take advantage of the loadout system!
Closing Time
The loadout system in Destiny 2 is difficult to wrap your head around if you want to spend more time organising, but using tools like DIM will help you organise your loadouts and ensure that you can easily access the loadout you want.
Keep an eye out for a much more in-depth guide on organising using DIM, once we’re aware of the changes coming with The Edge of Fate and how that’ll affect buildcrafting and loadouts. If you’re looking for more assistance, come and join our Discord server and tag @Cyn/starrynightsilverymoonlight, and I’ll be able to help you.
In any case, thank you for reading, and I’ll see you in space.
