Destiny 2 has leaned into buildcrafting over the last couple of years, but it still doesn’t have any real way to create loadouts. If you want to experiment with different mods, subclass options, or even cosmetics, you have to do it all manually. Thankfully, the Destiny 2 community has stepped in to fill the gaps. You may already be familiar with the Destiny Item Manager (DIM), a web app that lets you swap items between your characters and your vault on the fly, without having to go to a dedicated in-game social location. But DIM is much more powerful than that — here’s how to use it to create and swap between different loadouts.
1. Link DIM to Your Bungie Account
Go to the DIM site and sign in to whatever service you play Destiny 2 on if you haven’t already used the service before.
2. Head Over to the ‘Loadouts’ Tab on DIM
Clicking “loadouts” should bring up a view of your currently-equipped gear. This includes not just armor and weapons, but mods, aspects and fragments, and even shaders and ornaments.
3. Name and Save Your Destiny 2 DIM Loadout
When you click “save,” you’ll be prompted to name your loadout, so pick something memorable. You also have some advanced options, like optimizing your armor (more on that later).
4. Swap to Your Loadout Whenever You Like
Try switching some things around in-game — gear, cosmetics, anything you want. Then go back to DIM, find your created loadout, and click “apply.” Give DIM a second to interface with Bungie’s API, and you should receive a message indicating whether or not your loadout was successfully applied. Sometimes DIM will tell you it’s been successful but nothing appears to have changed in-game. If that happens, just wait a few seconds and try again.
And that’s it! Feel free to experiment with your build knowing that you can basically just revert the changes if things don’t work out. Oh, and you can try playing around with DIM’s armor optimization feature too, if you like. This helps you build for your preferred stats. It gets a little more complicated than just the basics of creating and applying loadouts, but there’s more information in DIM’s documentation if you want to play around with it.
Do you use DIM to equip different loadouts? Or do you use a different app? Let me know how you do your Destiny 2 buildcrafting in the comments.
If you’re looking for more help with Destiny 2, we have guides covering how to unlock the Solar 3.0 fragments and grenades, how to get the new Jotunn catalyst, how to farm Vestiges of Dread and Opulent Umbral Energy, all Exotics, new weapon Patterns, seasonal mods, and Season of the Haunted triumphs. In addition, we’re covering all patch notes, bugs and top issues, Bound in Sorrow quest steps, and Calus Bobbleheads. We’ve covered how to get Opulent Keys, Bound Presence in Containment, Crown of Sorrow H.E.L.M. upgrades, Iron Banner Seal Triumphs, and the Trespasser Catalyst. And lastly, we’ve written on how to find a Loyalist Commander for Battles Lines Triumph and the Cek’ik Boss.
