Destiny 2 has many, many currencies, but Glimmer is its most universal. Used for everything from purchasing bounties to applying mods, Glimmer is as close to a standard money-equivalent as Destiny 2 has, which means it’s often in short supply for players looking to buy experience-granting bounties or upgrade their gear. In this Destiny 2 Glimmer farm guide, we’ll go over the fastest known farming methods for how to get more Glimmer in Destiny 2: Shadowkeep.
Destiny 2 Glimmer Farm | First method: Lost Sectors and Public Events
While there are certain steps you can take to further increase your Glimmer gain, there are two activities that appear to be the most efficient Glimmer farms in Destiny 2 without needing any additional buffs or specific processes. YouTuber JGOD conducted testing of several Destiny 2 activities, finding that Daily Challenges, Lost Sectors, and Public Events were the best methods for farming Glimmer. Daily Challenges were removed with the launch of Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, however, leaving just Lost Sectors and Public Events.
ALSO: Destiny 2 Bright Dust Bounties | How to farm Bright Dust in Shadowkeep
While the numbers specified in JGOD’s video could have changed since it was released, we’ve found Public Events and Lost Sectors to still be reliable and efficient methods. Below, you’ll find JGOD’s breakdown. While JGOD specifically mentions killing enemies on Titan, you should see similar results on other planets.
- Lost Sectors: 22,257 to 34,457 Glimmer per hour
- Public Events: 20,024 to 24,474 Glimmer per hour
- Killing random enemies on Titan: 9,833 to 12,019 Glimmer per hour
- Crucible: 9,127 to 11,155 Glimmer per hour
- Strikes: 8,192 to 10,013 Glimmer per hour
In our personal testing, Lost Sectors rewarded about 2,000 Glimmer per completion, so it seems current Destiny 2 numbers could be a little lower than JGOD’s tests. Most of this Glimmer comes from the chest unlocked at the end, so we recommend finding a Lost Sector without a Nightmare boss (since those are harder to kill), speeding past most of the additional enemies, killing the boss, and opening the chest. Run out of the Lost Sector and repeat the process.
Destiny 2 Glimmer Farm | Second method: The Risk/Reward mission “loot cave”
Destiny 2: New Light, the game’s free-to-play update that launched alongside Shadowkeep, introduced a small portion of Destiny 1’s Cosmodrome area into Destiny 2. Players automatically begin the game there when making a new character, but this farming method requires getting there another way. When you first arrive at the Tower, you’ll be given the Pain and Gain quest from Banshee-44, the Gunsmith. The second step of this quest sends you to complete the Risk/Reward mission, accessed through the EDZ destination map. You’ll return to that same area of the Cosmodrome, where you’ll find this building with a broken roof, immediately to the left of the spawn point. Major- and minor-level Fallen spawn here very regularly, meaning you can stand on the roof and fire down into the hole, earning loot over time.
There are a few major downsides to this “loot cave” method, however. First, the quest’s initial step requires you to complete a Nightfall and a few other tasks, which can be a tall order for solo players to complete. Second, repeatedly taking advantage of the loot cave means never completing the Risk/Reward quest. You’ll have to exit to orbit when you’re done looting and leave the quest behind, which means you won’t ever get the quest’s eventual reward: the powerful Riskrunner exotic SMG and its even more powerful Exotic Catalyst upgrade.
Destiny 2 Glimmer Farm | Third method: Trading for Glimmer with The Spider
While this method isn’t always possible, it’s one of the best for regular Destiny 2 players in need of a quick Glimmer boost. The Spider, destination vendor in the Tangled Shore, has a daily rotating stock of consumables that he trades for other consumables. This occasionally includes Glimmer. For example, The Spider might sell Glimmer in exchange for the Dreaming City’s destination material, Baryon Boughs. The exchange rate runs at 10,000 Glimmer for 20 destination materials, meaning you can get a significant hoard of Glimmer if you’ve got the right material sitting around in your inventory. The Spider also sells Glimmer for Legendary Shards on occasion, but Legendary Shards are more useful in other areas of the game and therefore probably aren’t worth trading for most players.
Destiny 2 Glimmer Farm | Final (and best) method: Glimmer-boosting items and mods
While all of these methods are relatively good ways of gaining Glimmer, they all require you to stop everything else you’re doing and focus solely on making money. These last few items and mods help you gain Glimmer while also doing other things — like completing bounties to advance your seasonal rank or completing specific exotic quests — making their use a much easier path to riches. All of these can be used in addition to the first two methods above, as well, further increasing your Glimmer gains.
Treasure Hunter Ghost shells
The Treasure Hunter Ghost shell perk only vaguely says it “increases Glimmer gain,” but Reddit user coffeehawk00 found that this increase amounts to a 25% boost, granting you significantly increased Glimmer drops from all sources. This means that, if you have a Treasure Hunter Ghost equipped, you’ll get 25% more Glimmer from chests, Public Events, bounty completions, and more. Here’s the full list of Treasure Hunter Ghosts, many of which have been on sale for Silver or Bright Dust during Shadowkeep’s Season of Undying and the Festival of the Lost event.
- Eris Morn Shell
- Friendly Fire Shell
- Harper’s Shell
- Jack-o’-Shell
- Lander Shell
- Lapine Shell
- Propheteer Shell
- Rust Punk Shell
- Solar Shell
- Star Map Shell
Rainmaker consumables
When dismantling items, you have a small chance of obtaining the Rainmaker consumable. Using a Rainmaker grants close-range precision kills a chance to generate a “shower of Glimmer.” The effect lasts for four hours and theoretically pairs with the Treasure Hunter perk for even larger showers. Try using pulse rifles and slug-firing shotguns for easy, close-range headshots.
Seasonal artifact mods
Finally, the Season of Undying’s seasonal artifact has a few mods that can help you increase Glimmer gain. The Circuit Scavenger mod, for instance, is equippable for only one energy on any armor piece and grants extra Glimmer for defeating Vex. While the seasonal artifact mods’ Glimmer drops won’t stack with each other (you can’t put on each armor piece), it’s not clear if it still stacks with Glimmer boosts like Treasure Hunter. Either way, these mods are a good option if you don’t have the right Ghost shell or any Rainmakers. Circuit Scavenger is especially useful if you equip it when in the Vex Offensive activity, since you’ll be killing lots and lots of Vex.
