The economy in Destiny 2 is established around what gear a player can get. This means most of the currencies that players use in Destiny 2 have their value directly tied to different forms of loot. For a looter-shooter this makes a lot of sense, and the cycle built around Destiny 2’s economy incentivizes grinding while encouraging players to explore different locations. With each location comes different loot, and this often means there is a different form of currency to help get that loot.
While this works well for compartmentalizing aspects of the game and pushing players around the universe, it can make things confusing, especially for new Destiny 2 players. Instead of having a standard currency and a premium currency, there are multiple currencies for players to keep track of. Most currencies have clear benefits and uses, but some of the more niche ones may only be for a single item that doesn’t hold much relevance anywhere else.
Glimmer, Legendary Shards, Silver, and Bright Dust
Destiny 2’s two general currencies tend to come into play whenever buying something. Glimmer is useful in almost every situation, and it currently tops out at 250,000 - though a Glimmer cap increase or removal would be nice to see in The Witch Queen expansion. Legendary Shards are somewhat similar to Glimmer and are most often found from dismantling legendary gear. The shards are used for buying gear from different vendors, most notably Xur and Banshee-44, as well as the early stages of upgrades for weapons and armor.
Silver and Bright Dust, while more notable than other currencies in Destiny 2, are only used for cosmetics from the Eververse store. Silver is a premium currency bought with real-world money and Bright Dust can be reliably obtained from event quests and bounties. Farming Bright Dust from bounties during events like The Dawning in Destiny 2 is one of the most efficient ways for Guardians to top up their stash of Bright Dust for use throughout the year.
Planetary Materials
Planetary Materials exist as a weird form of currency. While they can be used to up a player’s rank at location vendors, this isn’t as effective as in the vanilla version of Destiny 2. Now planetary materials get most of their value by trading with Spider on the Tangled Shore, or purchasing exotic gear from the Monument to Lost Lights. Hopefully they’ll evolve and find more use with weapon crafting in The Witch Queen, but for now the seven materials sit in a sort of limbo.
- Spinmetal is found in the Cosmodrome.
- Dusklight Shard is found in the EDZ.
- Microphasic Datalattice is found on Nessus.
- Etheric Spiral is found on the Tangled Shore.
- Baryon Bough is found in The Dreaming City.
- Helium Filaments are found on the Moon.
- Glacial Stalwort is found on Europa.
Upgrade Materials
As some of the most useful currency items in Destiny 2 after Glimmer, upgrade materials are important for players looking to get the most out of their Guardian. As their name implies, these materials are necessary for upgrading and masterworking gear, but they can also be used for purchasing items in Destiny 2.
- Enhancement Cores: Used for upgrading armor and weapons, as well as buying Enhancement Prisms and Upgrade Modules. Ten Enhancement Cores are needed to buy one Enhancement Prism.
- Enhancement Prisms: Used for upgrading armor and purchasing Ascendant Shards. Ten Enhancement Prisms are needed to buy one Ascendant Shard.
- Ascendant Shards: Used for upgrading armor and buying gear from the Monument to Lost Lights.
Mod Components, Spoils of Conquest, and Exotic Cyphers
Similar to upgrade materials are Mod Components, Spoils of Conquest, and Exotic Cyphers. Mod Components are restricted to buying mods in Destiny 2, but these are some of the most useful pieces of equipment that players can get regardless of what subclass they main. Spoils of Conquest and Exotic Cyphers, however, are specific to gear but can still be useful.
- Spoils of Conquest: Gained from raid activities these are used to buy loot at the end of the Deep Stone Crypt and Vault of Glass raid, as well as gear from vaulted raids at the Monument to Lost Lights.
- Exotic Cyphers: Exotic Cyphers are obtained through the Xenology quest from the mysterious Agent of the Nine, Xur. Their primary use is to buy Exotic Gear from the Monument to Lost Lights, but they can also be used to buy an extra random exotic engram after the first one has been bought from Xur.
Vendor Currencies in Destiny 2
Along with the major currencies used in Destiny 2, there are also ones that can be used at vendors. While these currencies are specific, they are still important for farming different weapons and armor, or filling out pieces of lore. These also have come as part of expansions with Forsaken (which is content being vaulted when The Witch Queen launches), Shadowkeep, Beyond Light. The Bungie 30th Anniversary Pack also has a vendor to trade with.
- Petra Venj: Dark Fragments can be used to buy Charges of Light for the Blind Well.
- Eris Morn: Lost Ghost Traces are used to buy Ghost Quest pieces.
- Lectern: Phantasmal Fragments are used to buy Phantasmal Cores, which are then used to buy Essence from the Lectern.
- Exo Stranger: Memory Fragments are used to buy Stasis Fragments that unlock Stasis abilities, which were added to Destiny 2 with the Beyond Light expansion.
- Variks: Herealways Pieces are used to buy Sabotage perks, Empire Hunt, and Weapon Quests, as well as Braytech Responders for use on Europa.
- Starhorse: Strange Coins can be traded to Starhorse for Legendary Engrams, Glimmer, a Paraversal Haul, and Treasure Keys.
While the currencies in Destiny 2 can get confusing and difficult to track, once players have figured out their different uses, prioritizing them becomes much easier. As they fluctuate in value based on a player’s needs, activities like grinding Dark Fragments to buy charges for the Blind Well might become less effective than spending Legendary Shards to get a rare god-roll from Xur. It all depends on what currencies Guardians have or need at the moment.
Destiny 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.