Destiny 2: How to Open Engrams

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One of the most common ways to get new gear in Destiny 2 is to open different kinds of Engrams. Getting and opening engrams is a core element of the game, as they come as rewards for a wide variety of activities. In today’s article, we’ll cover how to get and open engrams of all kinds in Destiny 2.

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What Are Engrams?

Before we get into the rest, let’s quickly recap what engrams are in the first place. Standard engrams contain legendary gear at various power levels. There usually aren’t specific places to get normal engrams, as they tend to drop randomly during activities. That makes farming engrams very difficult, but it’s rare that you’ll need to.

Simply put, engrams are one of the main ways to get new weapons and armor in Destiny 2.

Types of Engrams

• Legendary Engram: The standard form of engram. Contains legendary gear.
• Umbral Engram: A special engram that can be focused into specific weapons/gear at the H.E.L.M.
• Prime Engram: Contains slightly more powerful gear.
• Exotic Engram: Contains an Exotic weapon or armor piece.
• Playlist Engrams (Crucible/Gambit/etc.): Contains gear specifically tied to its activity.
• Eververse Engram: An engram with only cosmetic items or equipment (like Ghosts, Sparrows, etc.).

How to Open Engrams

Opening engrams in Destiny 2 depends on what kind they are. Most engrams can be opened by speaking to Master Rahool at the tower. Particularly for Legendary, Prime, and Exotic engrams, Rahool is the person to speak to.

Master Rahool can also open Umbral engrams, but it’s best to save those for focusing at the H.E.L.M. By focusing Umbral engrams at the H.E.L.M., you can farm anything from god roll weapons to high-stat armor. Focusing an Umbral engram will almost always be more useful than what you’ll get by decoding them with Rahool, since he will just give you something random.

Focusing a weapon with an Umbral engram usually requires a specific material from the seasonal activity, so if you don’t have any of those and you need to clear out some engrams, use the cheaper focusing options. You can turn Umbral engrams into random world drop weapons or armor for much cheaper (just some legendary shards).

For the playlist/activity-specific engrams like Crucible and Gambit engrams, speak to their respective vendors. For example, if you have a Crucible engram, speak to Lord Shaxx. There, you’ll be able to pick one of the Crucible weapons that you’ve already discovered to focus with your engram. This is an easy way to farm rolls of a weapon you want, especially now that the cost to focus engrams has been slightly reduced.

As of Season 19, the cost to focus a weapon with Shaxx is 1 Crucible engram, 25 Legendary Shards, and 5,000 Glimmer. If you want to do this, don’t actually claim the engram from the vendor, but instead leave it there to claim (as pictured above). Once you click the engram, it gives you random gear, not the engram itself. You need to leave it in the rewards screen and select the focused item you want from the second screen of the vendor’s inventory instead.

Opening Engrams TL;DR

Not all engrams have to be manually decrypted, but for those that do, here is where to take them.

• Umbral Engrams: Vendors at the H.E.L.M.
• Prime/Legendary Engrams: Master Rahool at the Tower.
• Playlist Engrams (Crucible/Gambit/etc.): Speak to their respective vendors.
• Eververse Engrams: Open the Store tab in your menu and you will be prompted to decrypt any Eververse engrams. You can also speak to Tess Everis at the Tower to do the same thing.

How to Farm Engrams

Now that we’ve covered how to open engrams, let’s explore how to actually get them. We mentioned earlier that there isn’t a great way to farm engrams right now, but there are some places where you can try. Seasonal activities are usually a good way to grab a bunch of Umbral engrams, but any activity can drop them. The same is true for Prime and Exotic engrams. All three of those can be found just about anywhere, so just play whatever activities you enjoy most.

If you’re looking to farm Exotic engrams, those can be a bit more tricky. As with all engrams, they drop randomly during activities, but they’re more rare. There are, however, some guaranteed Exotic engrams to pick up. Each core playlist vendor (Shaxx, Zavala, and the Drifter) gives rewards as you level up, and each time you prestige/reset their levels past the first time you get an Exotic Engram. This will take a while, but it’s a way to go about it. Also don’t forget to check Xur on the weekends, as he will always give you the opportunity to get two Exotic engrams. One can be purchased for legendary shards, and the other will require an Exotic Cypher.

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Thanks for reading this article on how to get and open engrams in Destiny 2! Hopefully you’ll have good luck with your weapon rolls, and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter while you’re here! We have more articles on Destiny 2 and your other favorite games.

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