Destiny 2’s Exotic armor focusing and Shader icons are changing for The Final Shape

The Final Shape is coming, and ahead of the new Destiny 2 expansion launch, Bungie previewed how Shaders and Exotic armor acquisition is changing. The latest This Week in Destiny update explained that Master Rahool would once again become a gatekeeper to Exotic riches, and that Shader icons would become more identifiable.

Exotic armor is the key to powering different builds and effects during play. While Exotic armor has varying sources, one of the consistent methods for earning new pieces was running daily Lost Sectors solo on Legend or Master difficulty. That will change with The Final Shape, alongside an update to how the unlockable color palettes, Shaders, appear in-menu.

Exotic armor changes

Starting in The Final Shape, Master Rahool will become the premier destination for Exotic armor. The vendor is due for a bit of a rework, offering a reputation track and cheaper focusing options after players max it out. Players can spend one Exotic Engram and one Exotic Cipher for any piece of Exotic armor, on any character, without limit. This will be in addition to the currently offered focusing options.

Solo Lost Sectors will no longer provide specific Exotic armor drops in favor of this new system. Instead, the activity will reward Exotic Engrams, which can be taken to Master Rahool for either precise or general decoding. Players increase Rahool’s reputation by decoding engrams, with specific armor Exotic-tier focusing on providing the most progress. That said, anything Guardians decode with Rahool, including Legendary Engrams, will offer reputation for the new system. 

Trying to offer perspective about how much decoding players will need to reset Rahool’s rank, Bungie said, “Without going into the exact numbers, the actions that will give the most reputation will be precision decryption (aka Tier 2 focusing), followed by advanced decryption, then opening an Exotic engram, and last but also least, opening a prime engram. So, if you want to be ready for the Witness’s forces as soon as possible, make sure to stock up on Exotic engrams and Ascendant Shards before June 4, as with a little more than a full stock of Exotic engrams you’ll be able to start focusing new armor.”

Shader changes

While Bungie previously took strides to make Shaders more accessible via making them infinitely usable, it can still be a challenge identifying which colors and textures a Shader will apply. That’s changing in The Final Shape with a Shader icon rework that aims to better showcase how Shaders will make gear look.

Bungie noted, “Shaders are a core way a player can provide a unique look and feel to their Guardian, and we wanted to help continue to make that a better experience. Our goal with this update is to help make the shader icons more accurately reflect the colors and textures they will apply.”

The studio went on to detail how Shader icons would change in the new expansion, highlighting that all six Shader colors will be displayed with the new icons. The new design has a diamond shape in the middle. The outside of the diamond represents the more dominant primary colors, while the tones inside the diamond are secondary colors included with the Shader. Any ambient lighting or glow offered by the Shader is also represented via thin bars at the top and bottom of the icon.

Along with the power updates and a closer look at Prismatic, players can now rest assured that they’ll be able to look their best while taking the fight to the new Dread foes.