Gaming Reaper
Destiny 2 is notorious for the number of loot items that drop in the form of engrams. These engrams are native to Destiny only and contain weapons and armor pieces that can only be viewed and equipped after the engram is opened. The game describes engrams as encrypted states of matter that represent an item’s purest form. They can be unlocked through the skills of a cryptach who for Destiny 2 players ends up being Master Rahool.
Types of Engrams
Before we get into opening the engrams though, let’s take a look at all the types of engrams that exist in the game first so that you know what you should and shouldn’t bother decoding.
Rare Engrams
Rare engrams are blue in color and drop very frequently through various means. They can drop from enemies, completing activities, chests, and quest/bounty rewards. Almost all of them are worthless for Destiny 2 players as the weapons have static rolls and decreased perk slots. They are weaker than legendary weapons and are not usable in most end game activities.
The best thing to do with these engrams is to unlock them and dismantle the weapon for glimmer. Once you get a blue weapon or armor it will be added to your collections so you can pull it whenever you feel like obtaining it. There won’t be any need to do so though because those weapons are extremely weak and are more used as fillers for lore and collections rather than being part of any meta.
These engrams usually don’t drop as encrypted because Bungie knows that no one wants to spend glimmer in order to decrypt them. That’s why you can just safely dismantle all the blue weapons that you get so that you can have more glimmer to spend on more valuable endeavors.
Legendary Engrams
These are the engrams that you are going to spend most of your time decrypting. They are found quite often from completing activities but can also rarely drop from enemies and chests. Legendary engrams contain coveted weapons and armor that will carry you through most of the game. These engrams contain gear that has random rolls which means you’ll go through a bunch of them before you get gear that is actually worth keeping.
Legendary engrams can be picked up by walking over them or can be found in the Post Master’s office in the tower if you didn’t pick any up. These engrams are definitely worth the glimmer that you spend decoding them as they can have god rolls which are way better than any gear that you could have.
Since Destiny 2 is focused heavily towards RNG, there are god rolls for every purple weapon and armor piece post-Forsaken. These can be seen through the symbol that they have which shows which expansion they belong to although static rolls are highly uncommon now because of sunsetting. Every piece of gear can have a good roll so it’s worth it to decrypt every legendary engram that you come across, even if you do end up dismantling it eventually.
Umbral Engrams
These engrams were available in Destiny 2’s Season of Arrivals and allowed players to select the weapon as well as perks and rolls for that weapon through the Umbral Recaster that was present in the Drifter’s area. This was one of the most innovative things that Bungie did in recent times and the response from players was overwhelmingly positive. That is why Bungie was said that they are bringing back Umbral Engrams in the upcoming Destiny 2 season.
These engrams are always worth getting and opening as you can select rolls that fit your playstyle and have the desired rolls. It is worth spending in-game currency on them and once they start dropping with the new season they should be grinded out by players.
Exotic Engrams
These are the best of the best when it comes to engrams. They contain exotic weapons that change the way you play the game. There are many ways to get these engrams but they can also be obtained through random drops. They will usually contain exotics that you do not possess although there is still a chance to get duplicates. You should try to decrypt as much of these as you can because god rolls on exotic armor are highly desirable, especially if it is one of the armor pieces that you use frequently.
How to Open Engrams
Opening engrams is extremely simple although Umbral Engrams are opened in a different way. For all other engrams, all you have to do is talk to Master Rahool who can be found at the right when you spawn into the tower. There you can unlock every engram you have without a hassle.
As for Umbral engrams, you will have to visit the Prismatic Recaster which can be found by the Drifter in the tower. There you can get Umbral Engrams opened as well as choose the rolls and perks you want for them.
