The Cryptarch: Identifying Engrams, bringing him special items from each enemy race in the game, and purchasing Engrams from him all serve to increase your reputation with the Cryptarch. Earning sufficient reputation eventually allows you to purchase Rare Engrams from him, and further levels earn you rewards just as they do for any other Faction in the game.
Engrams share the same rarities as other items in the game, and they appear as glowing crystals in the world. Any enemy can potentially drop an Engram, though Majors and Ultras have a better chance of doing so. Very rare Engrams may contain additional bonus items, such as Glimmer or Ascendant Materials. You can earn Exotic Engrams from completing high-level Strikes, from PvP, from Raids, or from Faction reputation rewards.
Engrams sometimes contain items of a different rarity than the Engram. This means that it is possible (albeit very rare) to find a Legendary item inside a Rare Engram. Unfortunately, this also means that you may not get a Legendary item from a Legendary Engram…
Have you ever wondered what the odds were for getting an Exotic from a Legendary engram? How about a Rare from a Uncommon Engram? Thanks to Reddit user GrievouzOCE and friends, they decrypted nearly 600 Engrams, and have gathered some interesting statistics. [divider]
Total engrams gathered
- Uncommon (Green): 290
- Rare (Blue): 250
- Legendary (Purple): 55
Results
Uncommon:
- Common: 68 \ 23.45%
- Uncommon: 201 \ 69.31%
- Rare: 21 \ 7.24%
- Legendary: 0
- Exotic: 0
Rare:
- Common: 0
- Uncommon: 53 \ 21.2%
- Rare: 186 \ 74.4%
- Legendary: 11 \ 4.4%
- Exotic: 0
Legendary:
- Common: 0
- Uncommon: 2 \ 3.64%
- Rare: 33 \ 60%
- Legendary: 19 \ 34.55%
- Exotic: 1 \ 1.82%
Of course these stats are just based on their findings, and are not official. Many people aren’t happy with the low chance of getting a Legendary item from a Legendary Engram, so hopefully those odds will be tweaked in the future.[divider]In other news, DestinyOverwatch has a new video giving a good overview about some of Destiny’s materials. He explains what Destiny’s materials are for and how they can be obtained.