Engrams

Engrams are unidentified loot items randomly dropped by enemies or awarded from missions such as Strikes in Destiny. Players can bring the Engrams to the NPC Cryptarch in The Tower to decipher the Engrams and recover the weapons, armor and other items within. Deciphering Engrams also increases your Crypto-Archaeology Reputation. Sometimes engrams will yield material items such as Ascendant Energy, Ascendant Shard, Motes of Light and Strange Coins with rarities corresponding to the rarity of Engrams.

• Majors and Ultras enemies have greater odds of dropping engrams.

Engrams can be purchased directly from Cryptarch. As your reputation with Cryptarch increases, you can purchase rarer Engrams.

• Each Engram is of a specific rarity, indicated by its color, and contains a specific type of weapon or slot of armor.

• Note that Engrams sometimes contain items of a different rarity. It is possible to decipher a rarer item but not a less rare one.

After the release of The Taken King, engrams, especially engrams of higher rarity (rare and higher), are deciphered based on the Light score of your equipped gear. The higher your Light level at the moment of decryption, the higher your decrypted item will be.

Players can recommended to decrypt 1 engram at a time. Decrypt it, go to your inventory, check it, if it’s an upgrade then equip it, go back to the Cryptarch and decrypt the next one.

Iron Engram

Dusty Iron Engram

Legendary - Released in Rise of Iron and sold by Lord Saladin. Iron Engrams allow players to acquire Year 1 and Year 2 gear that are no longer available.

Rarity

Encoded Engrams - White - Common

Encrypted Engrams - Green - Uncommon

Decoherent Engrams - Blue - Rare

Legendary Engrams - Purple - Legendary

Sublime Engrams - Purple - Legendary - PS exclusive items

Exotic Engrams - Gold - Exotic

Legacy Engrams - Gold - Exotic

Arena Engram - Contains Year 1 and Year 2 Crucible Armor

Exodus Engram - Contains Year 1 and Year 2 Dead Orbit Armor

Icy Engram - Contains The Dawning Chroma Armor

Sterling Engram - Contains Spektar Armor

Triad Engram - Contains Year 1 and Year 2 Vanguard Armor

Unity Engram - Contains Year 1 and Year 2 New Monarchy Armor

Warpath Engram - Contains Year 1 and Year 2 Future War Cult Armor

Dusty Iron Engram - Contains Year 1 and Year 2 Iron Banner Armor