How to Get Bright Engrams in Destiny 2

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Penned by Kody Wirth

Kody is our expert Destiny 2 and shooter genre writer. He lives in Oregon.

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

Destiny 2 is full of different rewards and loot pools that you can spend your time grinding out. However, there are only two types of rewards that let you unlock gear that typically costs real-world money from the Eververse — Bright Dust and Bright Engrams. While Bright Dust serves as a unique currency, Bright Engrams provide an exclusive pool of loot that you can’t acquire anywhere else.

So, how do you get Bright Engrams to start earning these exclusive items? Let’s check out the limited methods for earning them and everything else you need to know about Bright Engrams.

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What Are Bright Engrams in Destiny 2?

Bright Engrams are randomized loot drops that allow you to earn cosmetic items from the Eververse such as Sparrows, Shaders, Emotes, Finishers, Ships, Ornaments, and Ghosts. These are typically exclusive items from previous seasons that are not available in the current Eververse shop. They’re totally random and can only be achieved by playing the game rather than through purchases.

How to Get Bright Engrams in Destiny 2

In the past, you could actually purchase single and packages of Bright Engrams. After Bungie split with Activision, they shifted away from selling randomized loot in favor of transparency, Over time, Bright Engrams have bounced around regarding the types of loot offered and how you earn them. Here are the current methods for earning Bright Engrams in Destiny 2.

Rank Up Your Season Pass

Your Season Pass provides a variety of rewards including Bright Dust drops, Exotic Engrams, and multiple opportunities to grab a Bright Engram. Unlike some of the other items that escalate in frequency as you earn higher Ranks, the Bright Engrams are split pretty evenly across the entire pass.

You can earn up to 19 Bright Engrams if you get close to maxing out your Season Pass. The best part is that this is all through the free version, meaning that you don’t have to invest any money to earn these Engrams. Just keep in mind that not grabbing the Season Pass can make upgrading more time-consuming so you’ll want to weigh the tradeoff here.

Earn Additional Ranks

The rewards for ranking up don’t stop after you’ve maxed out your Season Pass. In fact, every five levels after you hit Rank 100 will give you an additional Bright Engram. That’s it, there’s no special method here, just keep ranking up by playing and try to get as high a level as possible before the end of a given season.

Fastest Way to Get Bright Engrams: How to Quickly Rank Up

As you can tell, the only methods for earning Bright Engrams are directly connected to leveling. There are no specific quests, random drops, weekly rewards, or any other method outside of upgrading your Season Pass and earning additional levels. However, you can actually expedite this process by focusing on a few things to help you rank up.

Complete Seasonal Challenges

Seasonal Challenges are weekly challenges similar to how Fortnite used to release weekly challenges. These are exclusive to the paid version of the Season Pass and require you to complete specific weapon, activity, or story-driven challenges to earn XP, Bright Dust, and the occasional Ornament, Shader, or other reward. 

Let’s focus back on the XP you earn with these. Typically a moderately difficult challenge will net you close to a single ranking level in one go. The longer the season goes, the more complex the task, the more likely that the Seasonal Quests will drop more XP. You’re potentially looking at 2–3x boosters for completing slightly lengthier challenges that you’re probably already completing by playing.

Complete Bounties

Bounties are another great option to increase the amount of XP you earn. These daily, and sometimes weekly options, will not only increase the amount of Vendor reputation you gain but your XP as well. There’s nothing really special here just focus on completing bounties to boost your XP acquisition.

How to Decrypt Bright Engrams

Once you have your Bright Engrams it’s time to decrypt them. Rather than heading to the Cryptarch or the HELM, you can simply head to the Eververse. If you’re in the Tower, you can go visit in person near the Postmaster. If you don’t want to travel to a social hub, you can simply access the Eververse in your navigational menu. Any current Bright Engrams will then pop up with a prompt to decrypt.

Join the High Ground

There are unfortunately not a lot of ways to unlock Bright Engrams in Destiny 2. However, the methods to do so are directly connected to playing the game, making them much more natural to unlock. Be sure to let your Fireteam know when to expect their next Bright Engram and be sure to sign up for our newsletter for the latest on Destiny 2.

Happy gaming!