Destiny 2 Legendary Shards: A Comprehensive Guide

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A lot has changed between Destiny and Destiny 2. The original game had an overwhelming number of currencies and items, but Destiny 2 has streamlined the upgrade process. Now, a single currency called “Legendary Shards” is used to upgrade high-level gear, making them essential for obtaining the best weapons and armor in the game. With the launch of the second expansion, Warmind, the level cap has raised, and using shards allows you to further increase your overall Power level.

Understanding Legendary Shards and Their Uses

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Legendary Shards play a crucial role in Destiny 2’s gear power-up system, known as “Infusion.” Each weapon and armor piece possesses a Power number that determines your overall Power level. Advancing your Power level is vital for tackling top-level content like Nightfall strikes or the Garden of Salvation raid in Shadowkeep. Your ability to handle any Destiny 2 activity is directly tied to your Power level.

The game offers gear of various rarities, with Legendary (purple) and Exotic (yellow) being the best. Sometimes, you may have Legendary or Exotic gear that you like, but it’s at a lower Power level than some other pieces. Fortunately, Destiny 2 allows you to sacrifice higher-level gear to boost the lower-level gear through the Infusion system. By infusing a 370-Power item into a 365-Power item, the latter rises to 370, while the former gets deleted.

To infuse your gear, you’ll need Upgrade Modules, which can be purchased from Banshee-44. However, each module costs 10 legendary shards, in addition to some glimmer and planetary materials. This means you need to know how to obtain these shards.

Ways to Obtain Legendary Shards

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The most reliable source of Legendary Shards is dismantling Legendary gear that you no longer need. Simply access the Inventory menu and dismantle any Legendary item, earning three shards and some Gun Parts that can be exchanged for reputation bonuses with the Gunsmith.

Exotic gear, if dismantled, grants you five shards, and even shaders can be broken down for shards. Make sure to regularly check your vault for items you can get rid of if you’re running low on shards.

To maximize your dismantles, pay attention to your season pass, which provides rewards as you level up. Certain levels grant you a bundle of shards, and at Rank 20, you receive a Legendary Shard Dismantler. This seasonal perk awards a bonus shard each time you dismantle a legendary or exotic item, significantly adding to your shard count over time.

If you’re unwilling to part with your gear, you should get to know Spider, the Fallen vendor on the Tangled Shore. Spider occasionally offers a “Material Exchange,” where you can trade other materials for Legendary Shards. Keep an eye on his inventory and exchange glimmer or planetary materials for shards whenever possible.

Completing activities on planets rewards you with Reputation Tokens. These tokens can be given to the corresponding planet’s vendor to increase your reputation with them. Whenever you reach a certain reputation threshold, you may receive Legendary Shards as rewards instead of new gear.

Finally, merely playing the game naturally rewards you with legendary drops to dismantle regularly. Bounties, chests, and engrams can also occasionally yield shards. So, don’t worry too much about farming shards as long as you’re actively participating in different activities.

Getting the Best Gear from Xur

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In addition to infusion, Legendary Shards can be used to purchase top-level weapons and armor from Xur, a vendor who appears in Destiny 2 on Fridays. Previously, a currency called Strange Coins fulfilled this purpose, but now Xur accepts Legendary Shards. He offers some of the best gear in the game and is an excellent resource for obtaining Exotic weapons and armor to enhance your collection.

Finding Xur is easier than ever in Destiny 2. When he appears each week, a “IX” icon indicating his location will be displayed on the Director map.

Xur typically offers four pieces of gear—one weapon and one armor piece for each class. The cost for these items ranges from 20 to 30 legendary shards. Daily players can easily accumulate thirty Legendary Shards, especially during the endgame when Legendary drops become more frequent.

For players who have saved up a considerable amount of shards, Xur also offers “fated engrams.” These engrams grant random pieces of new exotic gear that you may not already have in your collection. Each fated engram costs 97 shards, equivalent to more than 30 Legendary items. This option is ideal for completionists aiming to obtain every exotic piece.

Additional Uses for Legendary Shards

Besides the infusion and Xur, Legendary Shards serve as currency when interacting with faction characters, such as Zavala, Ikora, Devram, Failsafe, Asher, Sloane, and Brother Vance. Completing specific objectives for these characters throughout the game grants you high-level rewards, including guns like Drang, a Legendary pistol that pairs with an Exotic hand cannon obtained through an extensive questline. Once acquired, you can use Legendary Shards to repurchase these weapons if you accidentally dismantle them.

Moreover, you can purchase items from faction vendors using a combination of Legendary Shards and faction tokens. Even if you haven’t acquired specific items previously, the corresponding slots for rewards unlock after claiming standard reward engrams from each faction. This eliminates the randomness associated with standard engrams and allows you to select desired armor pieces and a rotating weapon. Keep in mind that these purchases come at a relatively high price in Legendary Shards.

Raid Gear

If you missed any specific raid items during your group’s previous run, you can use Legendary Shards and Calus tokens to purchase raid items from Benedict, the raid vendor in the Tower. This applies to both the regular and prestige-level raid gear, provided you’ve already completed the harder raid that week.

Engrams and Mods

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Guardians seeking to take a chance can spend Legendary Shards to purchase Legendary engrams directly from the Cryptarch, Master Rahool, in the Tower. However, keep in mind that purchasing engrams in this manner is generally not the most cost-effective strategy, especially for endgame players. Running activities to obtain more engrams is usually a better option. On the other hand, purchasing engrams does offer an opportunity to find “masterwork” weapons and armor. These are Legendary items that generate orbs of light for multi-kills and feature additional stat bonuses. While the chance of obtaining masterwork gear is relatively low, purchasing engrams and dismantling them can yield a few Masterwork cores for enhancing other weapons. Additionally, Legendary Shards and a Masterwork Core can be used to re-roll the stats on a particular Masterwork weapon or armor piece.

Furthermore, the gunsmith now offers Legendary Mods for purchase using a combination of Legendary Shards. The available choices update daily and include weapon and armor mods, including the highly sought-after chest armor mods. However, note that purchasing Legendary Mods requires having stockpiled several Legendary mods in advance.

Dismantling Gear: Choose Wisely

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The Legendary Shard system and Destiny 2’s limited inventory space incentivize you to dismantle any gear that you don’t immediately need. It might be tempting to break down lower-level Legendary gear in favor of higher-level gear for shard acquisition. However, Legendary gear often includes random perks, especially after the Armor 2.0 update introduced stats for armor. So, even if a piece of gear has a lower Power level, its perks might make it worth keeping. Infusing gear you like to increase its Power level is generally a better choice than automatically dismantling anything with a low level.

If you’re unsure which gear is worth keeping and which isn’t, it’s best to dismantle weapons you actively dislike or duplicate items. This way, you can avoid discarding something that turns out to be a rare weapon dominating the game’s meta.

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