Update: Since the latest Hotfix, the following farming spots have been nerfed. To that end, we've discovered a third spot, detailed here.
In Destiny, there are several ways to get Legendary Engrams, which have the possibility of yielding Legendary-tier equipment. Bright purple in color, you’ll know you got lucky when you see one laying on the ground, waiting for you to pick it up. To find them, however, you need to get lucky or ‘farm’ certain areas in the game, where monsters respawn constantly allowing you to shoot them for quick loot drops.
Beyond farming for Engrams, the only way to get Legendary Engrams is to level up the Cryptarch by decrypting Rare Engrams—which are blue in color. Whenever you level up your Cryptarch, you have a chance of getting 1-2 Legendary Engrams in the mail, which you can decrypt and hopefully get an Exotic or Legendary item. It all ties in together.
Engrams aren’t the most reliable way of getting Legendary and Exotic weapons and armor—that would be maximizing your reputation and buying them from merchants—but they are a guaranteed way of getting something good, at the very least.
There are a few places to get Legendary and Rare Engrams, all of which we’ve listed in this article.
Old Russia – Skywatch Unlimited Respawn Loot Cave Method
When you gain access to the “Old Russia — Patrol” mission, travel to the Skywatch area, which is to the left of where you spawn in on the map. To get there, take the left path through the Mothyards and Lunar Complex to find Skywatch.
There is a small cave where Hive Acolytes and Thralls respawn. You’ll have to hunt them down if they manage to escape the firing range in order to get them to start respawning again, so try not to miss your shots. This shouldn’t be a problem as there are usually other players with the same idea as you, in the same area, shooting the same mobs.
Shooting at the cave for an hour can yield tons of experience points, rare and legendary engrams, and glimmer. If you have a money boost item for Hive enemies, this is a good place to use it.
Watch the video above for details on how to get there and where to aim your gun at.
The Dark Beyond Checkpoint Method
There is a mission on the moon called The Dark Beyond, where you can work towards the area where the cutscene plays. Once you’re in control, you’ll get a save checkpoint. Simply shoot all the enemies that come running out of the entrance—but don’t kill them all! Just kill the Thralls but don’t kill the Knights or the next checkpoint will trigger.
Just kill as many Thrall as possible, and don’t worry about picking up the loot (it stays there). Don’t run into the entrance.
Once you’re done killing thralls, let the remaining forces kill you so the checkpoint restarts and do it all over again.
Get ready to listen to Peter Dinklage say the line “We’ve awoken the hive!” again and again.
