Started playing Destiny and having a tough time getting those Exotic and Legendary gear?
There’s a couple of methods for working your way towards the top tier gear in the game, but they can be split into whether you wish to grind it out and trust the RNG (random number generator) gods, or grind it out and have plenty of patience to wait a week to make Exotic purchases.
Either way, players should prepare to be tied up in quite a bit of game time every day, so be forewarned.
The first method involves brute forcing the game’s RNG elements by getting as much Glimmer and Legendary engrams as possible from high yield locations.
There are two good locations for this on the Moon, “The Dark Beyond” and “Shrine of Oryx.”
For “The Dark Beyond,” you should play it on Level 9 difficulty, and make you way to the point in the game where you find the dead Guardian’s body near a large Hive door.
At that point, the game will trigger a large swarm of Hive enemies to come charging at you.
Focus on the Hallowed Acolytes for more Glimmer, and avoid killing the Hallowed Knights because the enemies will stop spawning to kill you, which you need to let happen in order to endless repeat the mission.
Consume Black Wax before the engagement to boost Glimmer gain from killing the Hive enemies, and pick up Silken Codex for more Glimmer.
In the process of maxing out your Glimmer points, you might even get lucky if enemies drop Legendary engrams.
The next area of the Moon that gives good Glimmer is The Shrine of Oryx at Level 12 difficulty.
Get in there, kill as many enemies as possible, and jump into the abyss or other suicide methods to restart the level and rack up those Glimmer points and possibly get Legendary engrams.
Once you max out your Glimmer points, head over to the Cryptarch to get him to decode whatever Legendary engrams you might have picked up.
After that, you can purchase green items from him until you run out of Glimmer, following which the Cryptarch will send you a present which you can pick up from the postmaster.
The present could contain up to three Legendary engrams, which raises your chances against Destiny’s RNG and getting your Legendary Gear.
If you don’t wish to be constrained by the RNG element of the game and repeat the process of killing endless hordes and dying to them, don’t worry, there are other “guaranteed” methods of getting Exotic and Legendary gear.
On weekends, you can pay a visit to Xûr, Agent of the Nine, who carries Exotic armor, weapons, and engrams.
According to Gamefront, his inventory changes every couple of hours, and he charges something like 13 Strange Coins for Exotic armor, 23 Strange Coins for Exotic weapons, and 23 Motes of Light for Exotic Engrams.
So the trick is then to grind for Strange Coins and Motes.
Strange Coins can be gotten from decoding engrams from the Rare tier and above, completing daily and weekly missions, as well as playing in PvP matches.
Motes are gained via gaining experience points after your character reaches level 20.
As for Legendary items, a safe, guaranteed way to get them would be to earn Marks in PvP (Crucible) and PvE (Strikes, daily/weekly missions, public events). The more dedicated player could thus farm at least two or more of them per week this way.
You will have to reach level 18 before acquiring Marks, however, but partaking in those activities could be more enjoyable than playing the RNG game with the Cryptarch.
Check out all the gold chest locations below.
Earth
Chest 1: On starting the Restoration mission, turn right and make your way into the building directly in front of you. Chest 1 is sitting on top of a desk.
Chest 2: From the Chest 1 location, head west along a near by river, and Chest 2 can be spotted near the coast.
Chest 3: This chest is located in a cave near the Forgotten Shore to the Mothyards.
Chest 4: Either during or after battling with the Wizard inside the Lunar Complex during The Dark Within, head over to the crates on the left side of the room for Chest 4.
Chest 5: This one is a bit tricky. It is located below the raised platforms of the Sepiks Prime battle, but players have to keep at eye out for the boss if they want to stay alive.
The Moon
Chest 1: The first chest on the Moon can be found by after trekking to the Hive temple and across the bridge that stretches towards a nearby ship. Look for a ramp heading down, and it should be there on your right.
Chest 2: Look for a good sized rock cropping on the left side of the road between Archer’s Line and the Hellmouth, and Chest 2 should be on the other side.
Chest 3: Go to the top of the hill directly in front of the Archer’s Line spawn point from the location of Chest 2, head towards the nearby dome, and face the Hive Fortress when you spot it. Chest 3 should be in a cave that you will notice.
Chest 4: This chest can be found during or after the World’s Grave event from the Destiny campaign. While on the platform where Ghost scans the Grave, look towards the room’s entrance, and glance somewhere down and to the right near the water in the floor of the room for Chest 4.
Chest 5: Another boss battle, another chest. When battling Phogoth in the Hive’s Summoning Pits, head to the lowest platform in the room, and the gold chest is found between two stair cases.
Mars
Chest 1: Go to the Scablands from the Barrens and you should find a Cabal outpost full of heavily-armored enemies. Check the tops of crates piled in the area for Chest 1.
Chest 2: From the Barrens, head towards the Hollows. There should be an explorable opening in the ground near the downtown area, and the gold chest can be found there.
Chest 3: This chest is located in Dust Palace and behind a desk inside of a room with a number 3 on the door.
Chest 4: The fourth gold chest is located inside the Legion’s Keep at the Iron Line. Upon reaching the entrance to the keep, take the walkway on your left and jump over the pipes in the corner of the room. Look up and to your left for a walkway which you should take to reach Chest 4.
Chest 5: Chest 5 is located in Tharsis Junction. Look for a Vex gate behind a train, and go through a small room located nearby. Head down the path for the last chest.
Venus
Chest 1: The first chest on Venus is located between Ishtar Academy and the Shattered Coast. While on the road, keep your eyes pealed for a U-shaped tunnel that heads underground. Chest 1 on Venus is found on the right side of the tunnel at the base of one of the pillars.
Chest 2: This gold chest can be found on Campus 9, near the back of the first building encountered by players. Head for the big orange building, follow the catwalk that stretches on the outside of the building and you will find the chest at the end of the catwalk.
Chest 3: The third chest on Venus can be found in Winter’s Lair, sitting on a balcony that overlooks the map’s central cavern. You need a bit of jumping skills to go onto the balcony on the path to The Cinders. With a bit of skill, leap from the balcony to the landing where the chest is located.
Chest 4: After climbing onto the Ketch (the docked ship from the Scourge of Winter mission), go right to the back of the ship, and spot the gold chest sitting on the ship’s exterior.
Chest 5: Go to Ishtar Commons over the N/Gen Branch, and head into the first enclosed office building. Look through the cubicles found inside, and you should soon spot the last Venus chest.
