Destiny Currencies and Materials Guide
Destiny Currencies and Materials Guide by stevenzed
I thought it would be helpful to type up a guide showing how to earn and where to spend all the different currencies or materials. This will be doubly useful once the Christmas players arrive.
Please look over the chart and let me know what to add or change. I am doing most of this from memory, so I might have left out some details or options. I will update as people give corrections or additions. Once the chart is pretty much complete, I will edit this post to include a Word document copy, a PDF copy, and a JPEG copy of the chart for users to download if they want them.
Please excuse the crappy formatting. I couldn’t figure out how to tell Reddit to insert line breaks or bullet lists inside of a chart, so I alternated bold and regular text for lists. I will update formatting if anybody cures my ignorance with the proper markup code.
Thanks all!
| Currency / Material | How to Earn | How to Spend | Misc. Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glimmer | (1) Kill enemies with yellow health bars (25 per) (2) Give house banners, silken codex, axiomatic beads, or network keys to the Cryptarch (200 per) (3) Dismantle old gear (4) From chests (amount varies) | – Upgrading gear – Buying stuff from vendors | (1) Increase glimmer drop rate by using ether seeds against Fallen, a black wax idol against Hive, a blue polyphage against Vex, and resupply codes against Cabal (2) 25,000 cap(3) Cap is shared across all 3 characters on an account |
| Vanguard Marks | (1) Complete public events (4 marks) (2) Complete strikes in the vanguard strike playlist (3) Complete the weekly nightfall and heroic strikes (higher difficulty = more marks) (4) Complete the daily heroic mission (higher difficulty = more marks) | (1) Buy gear from the vanguards and the vanguard quartermaster (2) Exchange for planetary materials at the vanguard quartermaster (20 mats for 10 marks) | (1) Can only earn 100 marks per week (2) Caps at 200 marks (3) Some items cost vanguard marks AND vanguard commendations |
| Crucible Marks | – Compete in the Crucible (3 for a win, 2 for a loss) | (1) Buy gear from the crucible handler, crucible quartermaster, or the Dead Orbit, New Monarchy, and Future War Cult vendors (2) Exchange for planetary materials at the crucible quartermaster (20 mats for 10 marks) | (1) Can only earn 100 marks per week (2) Caps at 200 marks (3) Some items cost crucible marks AND crucible commendations |
| Vanguard Commendations | – You earn one each time you level your vanguard ranking starting at level 3 | – Buy certain gear from the vanguards and the vanguard quartermaster | – Not all vendor items require commendations |
| Crucible Commendations | – You earn one each time you level your crucible, Dead Orbit, New Monarchy, or Future War Cult rankings starting at level 3 | – Buy certain gear from the crucible handler, crucible quartermaster, or the Dead Orbit, New Monarchy, and Future War Cult vendors | – Not all vendor items require commendations |
| Motes of Light | (1) “Level up” (fill the experience bar) after you reach level 20 (2) Complete your first public event of the day (3) Randomly from decrypted engrams (4) As a reward for certain bounties or missions (specifically from Eris) | (1) Buy emblems and class items from the Speaker (2) Re-roll perks on Iron Banner items (1 per)(3) Buy the Tempered perk for the Iron Banner (1 per) (4) Buy exotic engrams from Xur (23 per) | |
| Strange Coins | (1) Randomly from a postmaster package after your first public event of the day (2) Complete the weekly heroic strike (higher difficulty = more coins) (3) Randomly from decrypted engrams (4) Randomly as a reward for the weekly Nightfall strike (5) Very rarely from chests | – Buy exotic gear, telemetries, exotic shards, items, and more from Xur | |
| Black Wax Idol | – Look for the triangular white drops from hive enemies with yellow health bars (majors and ultras) | – One of the currencies required for several of the items sold by Eris | – More often used to boost glimmer drop rates from hive enemies |
| Weapon Parts | – Dismantle old weapons (more exp in the item = more materials) | – Use to upgrade weapons | |
| Hadronic Essence | – Dismantle old armor (Warlocks) | – Use to upgrade armor (Warlocks) | |
| Plasteel Plating | – Dismantle old armor (Titans) | – Use to upgrade armor (Titans) | |
| Sapphire Wire | – Dismantle old armor (Hunters) | – Use to upgrade armor (Hunters) | |
| Spinmetal | (1) Found in chests on Earth (2) Found in the wild on Earth (3) Complete daily heroic missions on Earth (4) Complete daily patrol bounties on Earth (5) Buy from the vanguard or crucible quartermaster (20 for 10 vanguard marks) | – Use to upgrade weapons and armor | |
| Helium Filaments | (1) Found in chests on the moon (2) Found in the wild on the moon (3) Complete daily heroic missions on the moon (4) Complete daily patrol bounties on the moon (5) Buy from the vanguard or crucible quartermaster (20 for 10 vanguard marks) | – Use to upgrade weapons and armor | |
| Spirit Bloom | (1) Found in chests on Venus (2) Found in the wild on Venus (3) Complete daily heroic missions on Venus (4) Complete daily patrol bounties on Venus (5) Buy from the vanguard or crucible quartermaster (20 for 10 vanguard marks) | – Use to upgrade weapons and armor | |
| Relic Iron | (1) Found in chests on Mars (2) Found in the wild on Mars (3) Complete daily heroic missions on Mars (4) Complete daily patrol bounties on Mars (5) Buy from the vanguard or crucible quartermaster (20 for 10 vanguard marks) | – Use to upgrade weapons and armor | |
| Ascendant Shard | (1) Dismantle legendary armor (2) Randomly received after public events (3) Randomly received from a postmaster package sent after the first public event of the day (4) Chests and loot drops in the Vault of Glass (5) Complete the Daily Heroic Mission on higher difficulty settings (6) Randomly from decrypted engrams (7) Very rarely from chests | – Upgrade legendary armor (6 shards per node, 18 shards total per armor piece) | – You do not get shards from dismantling legendary armor earned during special events (Iron Banner, Queen’s Wrath, etc.) |
| Ascendant Energy | (1) Dismantle legendary weapons (more exp in the item = more materials) (2) Randomly received after public events (3) Randomly received from a postmaster package sent after the first public event of the day (4) Chests and loot drops in the Vault of Glass (5) Complete the Daily Heroic Mission on higher difficulty settings (6) Randomly from decrypted engrams (7) Very rarely from chests | – Upgrade legendary weapons (6 shards per node, 18 shards total per armor piece) | – You do not get energy from dismantling legendary weapons earned during special events (Iron Banner, Queen’s Wrath, etc.) |
| Radiant Shard | (1) Crota’s End raid chests and loot drops (2) Dismantle Crota’s End raid armor | – Upgrade Crota’s end raid armor | (1) As of right now, you only get them from the CE raid, not the VoG raid (2) Eris can exchange shards for energy and energy for shards for some glimmer and black wax idols (and Rep Lvl 4) |
| Radiant Energy | (1) Crota’s End raid chests and loot drops (2) Dismantle Crota’s End raid weapons | – Upgrade Crota’s end raid weapons | (1) As of right now, you only get them from the CE raid, not the VoG raid (2) Eris can exchange shards for energy and energy for shards for some glimmer and black wax idols (and Rep Lvl 4) |
| Exotic Shard | (1) Buy from Xur (for 7 strange coins) (2) Dismantle an exotic weapon or armor piece | (1) Upgrade the final node on an exotic weapon or armor piece (2) Used to get Xur to exchange an old exotic weapon (Max 300) or armor piece (Light max 30) for a new version (Max 331, Light 36) | – The exotic items that Xur has available to exchange using exotic shards is randomly chosen each week |
| Runed Core | – Buy from Eris | – Upgrade Murmur | |
| Embalming Orb | – Buy from Eris | – Upgrade the Husk of the Pit to the Eidolon Ally | – Husk of the Pit drops from Blades of Crota on Earth and Moon patrol, or early in the Fist of Crota mission |
| Crux of Crota | – Defeat Crota in the Crota’s End raid on Hard Mode | – Upgrade the Eidolon Ally to the Necrochasm | – You get the Eidolon Ally by upgrading the Husk of the Pit, which drops from Blades of Crota on Earth and Moon patrol or early in the Fist of Crota mission |
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