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Destiny 2 consists of numerous materials that can help upgrade weapons and armor. Each gear within the Guardian's inventory can be upgraded to masterwork, which grants bonus stats in return. While exotic weapons can be upgraded using catalysts, legendary and exotic armor is upgraded using 1 or 3 Ascendant Shards, respectively.
Ascendant Shards in Destiny 2 are considered one of the most major end-game currencies, and are acquired through different means. Each legendary armor needs at least one of these shards to get a max upgrade.
The numerous ways to get Ascendant Shards in Destiny 2
1) Banshee-44 and Ada-1
Banshee and Ada at the Tower can be found dealing Ascendant Shards with the exchange of 10 Enhancement Prisms, 100 weekly random materials, and 50,000 Glimmers. While it's a bit costly compared to other methods, players can buy multiple shards at once instead of running a grandmaster nightfall.
Each Enhancement Prism further requires ten Enhancement Cores and a handful of Glimmers. The cores, however, can be acquired by completing daily bounties provided by Banshee-44 at the Tower.
2) Activity vendors
Another way to get Ascendant Shards is via the activity vendors at the Tower. Currently, there are four activity vendors in Destiny 2 named Zavala, Drifter, Shaxx, and Saint-14. Ascendant shards can only be picked up from these vendors once reaching Reputation rank 16.
Each vendor can be ranked up by doing their respective activities, such as Vanguard Strikes, Crucible PvP, and Gambit. Completing the bounties from each of these activities also boosts one's rank, therefore leveling up the Reputation.
Additionally, Saint-14, the Trials of Osiris vendor, follows a reputation system similar to the other vendors. Players can acquire one Ascendant shard after leveling up the Saints' Reputation to level 16.
3) Nightfalls
Grandmaster Nightfalls are the quickest and most efficient way to farm Ascendant Shards in Destiny 2. These end-game upgrade materials start to drop from Master difficulty to Grandmaster. Naturally, the drop rate of these shards changes from uncommon to more common with each difficulty level.
Running numerous Grandmaster strikes will land the Guardians with enough Ascendant Shards to last for three separate characters.
