Destiny 2 guide: What to do with your extra Exotic armor and weapons

Getting an Exotic (yellow) Engram in Destiny 2 feels momentous. And it really can be. They tend to have a pretty beefy Power level, so they help to increase your Power, and they usually come with worthwhile extra buffs and perks.

All of that makes it really tempting to hold on to those Exotics and just keep Infusing them over and over as you progress. But there’s a problem: You can only wear one piece of Exotic armor and carry one Exotic weapon at a time. And that means you’ll have some choices to make.

Except you don’t. The first time you dismantle an Exotic is a little heartbreaking, but they become a victim of the constant loot-chase that is Destiny 2 just like everything else. But every Exotic you pick up and decrypt can be reacquired at any time for a pretty cheap price.

Visit your Vault

Bungie/Activision

You can get to the vault at the Farm or at the Tower. Normally, this is where you keep extra stuff — or gear to share between characters. But if you tab over to the right, you’ll see your Collections. The second one down is your Exotics Collection. Every Exotic you’ve ever gotten is here, and you can repurchase them for a paltry 10 Legendary Shards each. They’ll come at a low Power level, but you can just infuse what you buy with something comparable to get it bumped back up to a useful point.

This means you can be a little pickier about which Exotics you keep around the longest and which ones you can let go for now.