Exotic gear can be hard to come by in Destiny 2, especially if you don’t know where to look for it.
In this guide, you will learn about the best methods for obtaining Exotic weapons and armor so you can complete your collection.
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To farm Exotic weapons and armor in Destiny 2, complete Legendary Lost Sectors while soloing for a common chance at Exotic Armor. Grandmaster Nightfalls provides a guaranteed Exotic Engram upon completion.
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How to Farm Exotic Items in Destiny 2
Exotic items are among the most powerful pieces of gear you can acquire in Destiny, with each one enhancing your character’s movement, your abilities, or giving you a completely new way to play the game.
Exotic gear is very rare and hard to obtain, usually dropping from some of the hardest activities in the game. Completing these activities can be time-consuming.
There are two types of Exotic gear: Exotic Armor and Exotic weapons. Exotic armor is Class-specific, meaning you can only equip a Hunter Exotic armor piece if you are playing as a Hunter, not as a Titan or Warlock.
This also means that you will only unlock Exotic gear that your current character can equip. You don’t have to worry about finding gear from other Classes when playing your favorite Class.
Exotic armor pieces are special in that they each have an Intrinsic Perk that you can’t find on any other armor piece. For example, the Hunter’s Wormhusk Crown Exotic Helmet will heal you whenever you use your Dodge Class ability.
New Exotic armor pieces are added to the game with every Expansion release as well as with every new Season.
While Expansion-specific armor pieces are often tied to that Expansion’s campaign as a reward, Seasonal Exotic armor pieces are added to the Exotic armor loot pool instead.
To get these new Exotics, you will need to farm Exotic Engrams and Exotic rewards. These rewards are often randomized, leading players to continually seek out Exotic rewards until they finally get the one they want.
Currently, there are four reliable methods for getting Exotic rewards.
Completing a Legendary Lost Sector while solo will give you either a Rare or common chance of receiving an Exotic armor piece, depending on the difficulty you choose.
Grandmaster Nightfalls also have a common chance of rewarding you with Exotic armor upon completion. These are high-level Strike missions that require a lot of teamwork and a recommended Power Level of 1840 to complete.
If you head to Neptune, you can find the Vex Incursion Zone somewhere on Neomuna. This activity is basically a big Public Event that rewards players with new Exotic armor pieces upon completion.
Lastly, you can get Exotic Engrams by completing your Weekly Ritual Activity challenges.
Strike, Crucible matches, and Gambit matches will reward you will an Exotic Engram for every three activity completions within a week, up to three times for a total of three Exotic Engrams a week per character after completing nine playlist activities.
So, which of these methods is the best for farming Exotics? That depends.
It is definitely a good idea to complete all of your Weekly Ritual Activity challenges for free Exotic gear every week, though you can not rely on this method to continually farm out Extoic drops throughout the week.
By far, the best method for farming Exotics alone is to run Solo Legendary Lost Sectors. With the right build and a high enough Power Level, you should be able to complete the weekly Lost Sector in about 10 minutes.
Though you are not guaranteed an Exotic reward from the final chest, over the course of a few runs you should be seeing plenty of Exotic rewards popping up. The only downside to this method is how much of the process relies on your Power Level and skill.
Legendary Lost Sectors have a specific loot pool that the rewards pull from when you get an Exotic drop. These rewards rotate between the different types of armor pieces every day.
Be sure to check what type of armor pieces the Lost Sector is rewarding before you run them if you run them to avoid wasting time.
If it is Helmet Day and you already have all of the Helmets unlocked on your character, come back tomorrow after the daily reset for the next rotation of rewards.
The faster you can complete Lost Sectors, the more efficient it is to run them for Exotic gear. If you aren’t confident in clearing the Legendary Lost Sector consistently, then you may want to consider Nightfall Strikes.
Grandmaster Nightfall Strikes will always reward you with Exotic Engrams from the final chest, along with some much-needed Exotic materials for crafting.
While challenging, you will have two other teammates to help you out during the activity.
The downside to Grandmaster Nightfalls is their length. For the average player, a Grandmaster Nightfall could take anywhere between 20 to 40 minutes per completion.
This makes them far less efficient than Legendary Lost Sectors for farming Exotic Engrams. That is, until the Vanguard Double Rewards Week.
If you log onto Destiny 2 and happen to see that Nightfall Strikes are giving double the amount of rewards this week, then this is your chance to really start farming Exotics.
While the name suggests that you will receive twice as many rewards as usual, Grandmaster Nightfalls can reward several Exotic Engrams per completion.
This, combined with the fact that Grandmaster Nightfalls also reward very valuable end-game crafting materials and Ascendant Shards, makes Nightfall Strikes a must during Double Reward Weeks.
Exotic Weapons
Unlike Exotic armor pieces, Exotic weapons aren’t normally obtained through Exotic Engrams.
While many of the older Destiny 2 Exotic weapons can still be obtained from Exotic Engrams, many of the newer Exotic weapons added to Destiny 2 are tied to Exotic Quests and Season Passes.
Also unlike Exotic armor pieces, Exotic weapons don’t have randomized rolls, instead dropping with a pre-determined set of Perks and Traits.
When you unlock an Exotic weapon, you will always be able to reacquire that weapon from your Collections tab.
If you are a new player looking to flesh out your Exotic weapon collection, then you will want to get as many Exotic Engrams as you can.
The best way to do this is by running Grandmaster Nightfalls, as Legendary Lost Sectors only reward you with armor pieces.
If you want to unlock Exotic weapons from more recent Seasons, you will need to purchase them from the Exotic Kioske in the Tower next to the Vault.
Each of these weapons can be bought for 125,000 Glimmer, 1 Ascendant Shard, and 1 Exotic Cipher.
Exotic Ciphers are very, very rare items that you will want to spend wisely. You can acquire more Exotic Ciphers by completing Xur’s Exotic Quest every week.
It is a good idea to pick up this Exotic Quest on each of your characters to maximize your Exotic Cipher gains. Check out our guide on How to Get Exotic Ciphers for more info.
How Many Exotics Can You Equip at a Time?
As Exotic weapons and armor pieces are very rare and very powerful pieces of gear, there is a limit to the number of Exotics you can have equipped at once.
You can only have one Exotic weapon and one Exotic armor piece equipped at a time.
You can not equip an Exotic Special Weapon if you already have an Exotic weapon in your Kinetic weapon or Heavy weapon slot. The same is true for armor.
If you have an Exotic Helmet equipped, you won’t be able to equip any other Exotic armor pieces in your Gauntlet, Chest, Leg, or Class Item slots. No one Guardian should have that much power.
While it may be disappointing to have so many Exotics unlocked and not be able to use them all at the same time, it creates a unique build-crafting choice for players as they try and combine the best Exotic armor pieces and Exotic weapons to create a cohesive build for their characters.
Now you know how to get Exotic gear as well as some of the fastest and most efficient methods for farming Exotics in Destiny 2.
What Exotic armor pieces and weapons are you trying to get right now? Are there any specific pieces of gear that you just can’t get to drop? Let me know in the comments!
