The Best Ways to Farm Legendary Shards in Destiny 2

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Learn the most efficient player tricks for earning Legendary shards

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Collecting Legendary Shards

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What are Legendary shards?

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Spending Legendary Shards

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There’s so much to do in the massive online multiplayer game Destiny 2 and so many powerful weapons to get your hands on—but how can you afford all of them? Legendary shards are one of the main currencies in the game and the key to buying top-notch gear from vendors. Luckily, there are several ways to ensure you always have a sizable stockpile of shards available when needed. Read on for a comprehensive guide to farming Legendary shards in Destiny 2, from Dismantling legendary and Exotic weapons to completing activities like Dares of Eternity and Nightmare Containment.

Things You Should Know

Dismantle Legendary or Exotic gear you aren’t using in your Vault. Legendary gear gives 3 shards when dismantled, and Exotic gear gives 5 shards.
Complete challenges to earn Legendary gear (which dismantles into shards), including all Nightfall strikes, Gambit, and Crucible activities.
Improve your ranking with vendors at the Tower to earn Legendary Engrams, which can be exchanged for gear and dismantled into Legendary shards.

Section 1 of 3:

Collecting Legendary Shards

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1
Search your Vault for Legendary or exotic gear and dismantle it. If you’re a veteran player with a stockpile of gear saved up, dismantling the pieces you don’t want or use is the fastest way to earn Legendary shards. Each piece of Legendary gear is worth 3 Legendary shards when dismantled, and each piece of exotic gear is worth 5. So, for example, dismantling 100 pieces of Legendary gear would give you 300 shards, and exotic gear would give you 500!^{[1]XResearch source}
- In Destiny 2, a Vault is a storage area for weapons, armor, and special items you collect as you play. You can access your Vault in the Tower, the Iron Temple, and the Vestian Outpost.
- Try dismantling as much sunset gear (items that can’t be infused past a certain level and are far below your current level) as possible! However, there’s no pressure to dismantle everything, especially items with sentimental value.
- If you have multiple versions of the same weapon (which is possible if you’ve been playing for a while and collecting loot), try dismantling all but one of each.
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Rank up vendors and unlock their reward tracks. Each time you gain a reputation rank with one of the vendors at the Tower, you’ll be rewarded with a Legendary Engram. These engrams grant a piece of Legendary gear—which can then be dismantled for 3 or 4 Legendary shards. To improve your reputation with vendors, simply farm ritual playlists. Pick a ritual playlist and complete it entirely to build up a streak and maximize the reputation you earn.^{[2]XResearch source}
- In Destiny 2, a playlist is a series of activities, and a ritual activity playlist refers to any of the 3 weekly “ritual” activities: strikes (Vanguard Ops), Gambit, and Crucible.
- If there’s a particular vendor you want to raise your influence with, choose the ritual playlist they’re associated with.
- To make sure you know which activities will be available, check out the “Next Week in Destiny” login prompts for information.
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Take advantage of any Season Pass rewards. When you have the premium track of the Season Pass (which is paid, as opposed to the free track), you’ll get a Legendary Shard Dismantle Bonus at rank 20—which means all weapons and armor grant an additional Legendary shard when dismantled. That means dismantling Legendary gear would grant you 4 Legendary shards, and exotic gear would grant 6 shards.^{[3]XResearch source}
- Gaining Season Pass ranks also grants additional Legendary weapons and armor—and while you can certainly use that gear, you may also decide to dismantle it for Legendary shards.
- Legendary shards are also awarded at ranks 5, 10, 14, 31, and 44 of the Season Pass. You’ll get 25 Legendary shards per rank and 50 shards at rank 44.
- Focus on hitting rank 100 each season to collect as many Season Pass rewards (and Legendary shards) as possible! One of the easiest ways to do this is by completing bounties given by most vendors in the game.
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Convert glimmer into Legendary shards. If you’ve got a lot of glimmer (one of the other currencies) saved up, navigate to Collections, then select “Flair” and scroll all the way down to the season 1 column. From there, purchase any type of transmat effect from season 1. Once you purchase 3 or more, you can visit Master Rahool to reconfigure them into Legendary transmat effects—and, from there, dismantle those transmat effects into Legendary shards.^{[4]XResearch source}
- You’ll also get a Legendary shard reward every time you buy 3 transmat effects, making this an easy way to collect Legendary shards.
- Try this method anytime you notice that you’ve collected lots of glimmer while playing but don’t have anything specific to spend it on.
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Complete Nightfall strike, Gambit, and Crucible activities. When you complete activities, you’ll get Legendary shards as rewards! Several different activity types let you farm Legendary shards, from Nightfall strikes to Gambit and Crucible. The higher the difficulty of each activity, the more Legendary shards you’re likely to get—but remember that some activities may be too difficult to complete without help!^{[5]XResearch source}
- Strikes. A strike is a cooperative activity designed for a 3-person team. Select the Vanguard Ops playlist to complete strikes! If you increase the difficulty, you can also play hero-tier Nightfall strikes (though they take longer to finish).
- Crucible. Crucible is a competitive PVP (player versus player) game mode in Destiny 2. Crucible playlists like Mayhem, Momentum Control, or Rumble are ideal for farming shards.
- Gambit. Gambit is another competitive PVP mode introduced in the game’s Forsaken expansion. The goal in Gambit is to gather motes so you can release (and kill) a prime evil, while Crucible is the standard PVP mode.
  - You’ll also be able to complete the Darkness in the Light quest by playing Gambit, which allows you to assemble a powerful hand cannon called The Malfeasance.
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Participate in Dares of Eternity. Dares of Eternity is a 6-player activity available in Destiny 2 and a reliable source of Legendary shards (as well as some of the game’s strongest weapons). The activity consists of challenges, obstacle courses, and a boss fight, and you can build up a Play Streak and rank up your reputation with the activity’s organizer, Xur, by continually playing Dares. You’ll also earn Treasure Keys that grant access to a chest at Xur’s Treasure Hoard, giving you more Legendary gear.^{[6]XResearch source}
- Dares of Eternity is a free activity, and you don’t need the Bungie 30th Anniversary Pack to participate. Challenges are chosen randomly by spinning the Wheel of Adversity.
- Your vendor rank increases more slowly for this activity (as opposed to other ritual activities), but you’ll get better gear to compensate for it.
- The Dares of Eternity arena is also part of completing the Strange Key quest in Destiny 2, which rewards you with the Forerunner (an Exotic sidearm).
- Simply playing the game and doing activities also helps you level up, which comes with its own perks—like the ability to summon a vehicle after level 20.
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Play the Nightmare Containment activity. Nightmare Containment pits you against Scorn enemies, and when you complete the event, you’ll be rewarded with a chest containing a Legendary item (and, potentially, an Opulent Key). You’ll also be able to open a second chest with the currency you earned from the activity and a hidden chest that appears after each clear—making this activity a great way to farm Legendary items and, by extent, shards.^{[7]XResearch source}
- Nightmare Containment is a free Public Event. By earning lots of Legendary gear quickly in Nightmare Containment, you’ll be able to dismantle that gear as needed to get Legendary shards.
- Interacting with the Crown of Sorrow at the H.E.L.M. grants additional rewards for completing Nightmare Containment, making it a very profitable activity!
- You may get legendary gear from completing Dungeons in Destiny 2, which are endgame activities that can be played with 3 players or solo. You can also farm the Artifice Armor set and other unique gear.

Section 2 of 3:

What are Legendary shards?

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The game has several types of currency, including Legendary shards, glimmer, silver, and bright dust. Legendary shards are slightly rarer than glimmer but are used just as often, especially for high-tier weapons, armor, and other gear. Legendary shards are also consumed when you upgrade weapons and armor or restore a Legendary or exotic item from your collection.^{[8]XResearch source}

Section 3 of 3:

Spending Legendary Shards

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Spend shards on upgrades, weapons, armor, and more. While some currencies in Destiny 2 have specific uses, Legendary shares are more generalized and required for many purchases throughout the game. You can buy exotic gear from Xur (a vendor) using Legendary shards and Legendary gear from Banshee-44 using Legendary shards—though most other merchants accept them as well.^{[9]XResearch source} Common gear and items you can buy with Legendary shards include:
- Raid banners
- Masterworking weapons and armor
- Weapon crafting upgrades
- Upgrade modules
- Xur’s Fated Engram

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Certain ways to get Legendary shards in Destiny 2 have been eliminated as newer seasons of the game are released.
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For example, if you’re a veteran player and have planetary materials still in your inventory, you can use them to gain reputation (and glimmer) from a vendor—but you won’t be able to farm any new planetary materials, as they were eliminated in season 19.
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Similarly, if you have any old shaders in your collection, you may be able to dismantle them for Legendary shards. However, this method is outdated and only for veteran players since current shaders can’t be saved or dismantled in your inventory.
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