How to get Exotic Ciphers in Destiny 2

A Guardian stands in front of the Monument to Lost Lights

Exotic Ciphers have been around in Destiny 2 for a few years, but Bungie added several new ways for players to use and acquire them in The Final Shape expansion. Now, what was once a resource used almost entirely by new players is highly desirable for the entire player base.

In this Destiny 2 guide, we’ll walk you through where you can earn Exotic Ciphers in Destiny 2, and what you should spend them on if you’re a new player or a Destiny veteran.

A Guardian works to complete the Xenology quest in Destiny 2

Exotic Ciphers are a limited currency in Destiny 2, meaning they aren’t an endlessly farmable resource, and you can only acquire so many each season. However, there are still plenty of ways to get Ciphers each week if you need a few of them to catch up at the Monument to Lost Lights or you just have a lot of armor to upgrade.

Here’s a quick glance at all the Exotic Cipher sources, which we’ll go into with more detail below:

Season Pass free and paid track
Reputation track for Rahool and Xur
Weekly repeatable “Xenology” quest
Random seasonal offerings and promotions

First, let’s touch on the passive ways to earn Exotic Ciphers. The Season Pass holds a number of Exotic Ciphers each season or episode (for example, Episode: Revenant has three in its 200 levels, with two on the free track and one on the premium track). As you play the season and complete challenges, you’ll level up your Season Pass and eventually gain access to these Exotic Ciphers.

There are also two different reputation tracks that regularly offer Exotic Ciphers: Master Rahool and Xur. By decoding Exotics with Rahool and spending your Strange Coins with Xur, you can earn reputation and eventually pick up a shiny new Exotic Cipher.

Second, there is only one real active way to farm Exotic Ciphers, and that’s with the “Xenology” quest. Each week, you can grab a “Xenology” Exotic quest from Xur, and he’ll ask you to complete 21 Vanguard/Exotic playlist activities or win PvP/Gambit matches. (More challenging activities or playing with clanmates offers bonus progress). You can do one “Xenology” per Xur visit to the tower (so once a week per account) and you get one Exotic Cipher out of it. This is a very slow grind if you’re actively pursuing it, but it’s worth having a “Xenology” on your person at all times, as you’ll inevitably complete it while doing other things in the game.

Finally, there are one-off or seasonal offerings for Exotic Ciphers. This includes stuff like Rahool stash offerings you get for pre-ordering expansion, or season-only items like the Exotic Cipher tonic in Episode: Revenant. While always worth taking advantage of, you can never really count on these methods, as they aren’t consistently available in-game.

What new players can buy with Exotic Ciphers

A new player purchases an item from the Monument to Lost Lights

If you’re a new player who hasn’t collected every Exotic weapon and armor piece, your Exotic Ciphers will likely all go to Master Rahool or the Monument to Lost Lights, both of which are in the Tower.

If you’re looking for Exotic weapons you don’t own — which are typically more interesting and worth grabbing than armor — take your Exotic Ciphers, a massive amount of Glimmer (between 100,000-125,000), and the occasional Ascendant Shard to the Monument to Lost Lights, which is near the Vaults. Here, you’ll be able to exchange your currencies for any Exotic weapon that is from a retired piece of content and no longer available to get via traditional means. This includes old season pass Exotics and Exotics whose quests have expired. You can even pick up Exotics from old raids that are no longer in the game, although you’ll also need a whopping 240 Spoils of Conquest on top of your Exotic Cipher to get those.

Once you’ve grabbed all of the weapons you’re most interested in (or if you need an Exotic armor piece to put together a sweet build), bring your Exotic Ciphers over to Master Rahool. Once you fully level him up once in a season and prestige him, you’ll be able to focus any Exotic armor piece in the game with an Exotic Engram and an Exotic Cipher. This is the only way to get new Exotic armor pieces each season, and is a great way to fill out your collection as you grow your arsenal.

What veteran players can buy with Exotic Ciphers

A Guardian upgrades their Exotic armor in Destiny 2

Once you have all of the retired Exotic weapons in the game and all of the Exotic armor pieces, you have two uses for your Exotic Ciphers, both of which were added in 2024’s Final Shape expansion.

First, you should hold three Exotic Ciphers for the next season or expansion. Each new content drop adds one Exotic armor piece per class, and most expansions bring two per class for a total of six. If you’re getting close to a new drop and you regularly play all three classes, it’s a good idea to hold onto your Exotic Ciphers until these new armor pieces come out, so you can immediately upgrade Master Rahool, buy the new stuff, and start putting together cool new builds. Just make sure to bring 5-10 Exotic Engrams into the new content launch with you as well, as you’ll need them to both level up Rahool and focus the new armor pieces.

Second, you can spend your Exotic Ciphers to upgrade your Exotic armor pieces into Artifice Exotic armor. This causes your Exotic armor piece to function just like a piece of Artifice armor that you can get from Master Dungeons, and allows you to slot a free +3 stat mod into your Exotic. This is invaluable for late-stage build-crafting, as it’s very common to be just three little stats away from a breakpoint. Just remember that Exotic Ciphers are very rare, and this process can’t be undone, so make sure to only use the Artifice Unlock slot on well-rolled Exotic armor pieces that you use frequently.