Destiny 2 How To Get Ascendant Shards

With the release of the Beyond Light expansion late last year, Bungie removed entire Planets, quests, and activities from the game.

Everything was put into the Destiny Content Vault (DCV), and as a result, several Exotic quests required to earn some of the best Exotic weapons were removed too.

Luckily, Bungie was quick to react and created a new system to earn those weapons: The Monument to Lost Lights.

List updated as of Season of the Lost (S15).

Monument to Lost Lights Exotics list: What to get

Located at the Tower, the Monument to Lost Lights is a vendor that sells all the Exotics and Pinnacle weapons that can no longer be earned elsewhere in the game due to the removal of their original quests. Costs are high, though, requiring rare resources such as Exotic ciphers and Ascendant shards.

The list below features every Exotic offered by the Exotic kiosk and includes cost per weapon and Tier ranking to help you prioritize what weapon to get next (you can also filter and sort the list):

Name	Type	Slot	Rank	Excels in	Requirements	Weapon ❘ Type	Tier	Cost	Exotic Perk
Eriana's Vow	Hand Cannon	Energy	S › Best	PVE	Shadowkeep	Eriana's Vow \| Hand Cannon	Best ❘ S Excels in: PVE	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 100,000 Glimmer ► 150 Helium Filaments ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Energy \| Ammo: Special "Fires special shield-piercing ammunition. Bonus damage when aiming down sights on the opening shot of an attack."
Witherhoard	Grenade Launcher	Kinetic	S › Best	PVE	Shadowkeep	Witherhoard \| Grenade Launcher	Best ❘ S Excels in: PVE	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 100,000 Glimmer ► 150 Glacial Starwort ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Kinetic \| Ammo: Special "Projectiles fired blight the target or nearby area on impact. Blighted targets take damage over time and blight the nearby area on death."
Anarchy	Grenade Launcher	Heavy	S › Best	PVE	Forsaken	Anarchy \| Grenade Launcher	Best ❘ S Excels in: PVE	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 150,000 Glimmer ► 240 Spoils of Conquest ► 2 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Heavy \| Ammo: Heavy "Grenades stick to surfaces and chain Arc bolts to other mines. It also has the Moving Target perk."
Ace of Spades	Hand Cannon	Kinetic	S › Best	PVP	Forsaken	Ace of Spades \| Hand Cannon	Best ❘ S Excels in: PVP	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 125,000 Glimmer ► 200 Etheric Spiral ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Kinetic \| Ammo: Primary "Precision kills increase reload speed and cause the target to explode. Reloading after a kill increases damage. Grants radar while aiming down sights."
MIDA Multi-Tool	Scout Rifle	Kinetic	A › Strong	PVP	Free-to-Play	MIDA Multi-Tool \| Scout Rifle	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PVP	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 100,000 Glimmer ► 150 Dusklight Shard ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Kinetic \| Ammo: Primary "This weapon boosts move speed. Radar stays active while aiming down sights."
Traveler's Chosen	Sidearm	Kinetic	A › Strong	PVP	Shadowkeep	Traveler's Chosen \| Sidearm	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PVP	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 125,000 Glimmer ► 200 Dusklight Shard ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Kinetic \| Ammo: Primary "Final blows grant stacks of Gathering Light. Consuming stacks, grant melee, grenade, and class ability energy based on the number of stacks. Each stack of Gathering Light improves this weapon's reload, handling, and target acquisition."
Jötunn	Fusion Rifle	Energy	A › Strong	PVE & PVP	Forsaken	Jötunn \| Fusion Rifle	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PVP + PVE	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 125,000 Glimmer ► 200 Microphasic Datalattice ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Energy \| Ammo: Special "Hold down the trigger to charge up a tracking shot that explodes and burns on impact. Energy matched shield explosion disorients enemies."
Polaris Lance	Scout Rifle	Energy	A › Strong	PVP	Free-to-Play	Polaris Lance \| Scout Rifle	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PVP	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 125,000 Glimmer ► 200 Spinmetal Leaves ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Energy \| Ammo: Primary "Precision hits return ammo to the mag. Landing 4 precision hits loads a delayed Solar explosive round for your next shot."
Bastion	Fusion Rifle	Kinetic	A › Strong	PVP	Shadowkeep	Bastion \| Fusion Rifle	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PVP	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 100,000 Glimmer ► 150 Etheric Spiral ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Kinetic \| Ammo: Special "Charge to fire 3 spreads of Kinetic slugs. A portion of this weapon's damage bypasses elemental shields."
Outbreak Perfected	Pulse Rifle	Kinetic	A › Strong	PVE	Forsaken	Outbreak Perfected \| Pulse Rifle	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PVE	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 150,000 Glimmer ► 250 Dusklight Shard ► 2 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Kinetic \| Ammo: Primary "This weapon creates SIVA nanite swarms on rapid hits and precision kills and does more damage to enemies based on the number of SIVA nanites that attach to them."
Thorn	Hand Cannon	Kinetic	A › Strong	PVP	Forsaken	Thorn \| Hand Cannon	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PVP	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 125,000 Glimmer ► 200 Dusklight Shard ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Kinetic \| Ammo: Primary "Rounds pierce targets and deal damage over time. Kills leave behind Remnants which, when absorbed, increase damage."
Le Monarque	Combat Bow	Energy	A › Strong	PVP	Forsaken	Le Monarque \| Combat Bow	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PVP	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 125,000 Glimmer ► 200 Dusklight Shard ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Energy \| Ammo: Primary "Arrows fired quickly after a full draw become poison arrows. Precision hits with poison arrows spread poison to nearby enemies."
The Last Word	Hand Cannon	Kinetic	A › Strong	PVP	Forsaken	The Last Word \| Hand Cannon	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PVP	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 125,000 Glimmer ► 200 Etheric Spiral ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Kinetic \| Ammo: Primary "This weapon fires full auto. Hip-fire shots deal bonus precision damage while increasing reload speed and accuracy."
Sleeper Simulant	Linear Fusion Rifle	Heavy	A › Strong	PVE	Free-to-Play	Sleeper Simulant \| Linear Fusion Rifle	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PVE	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 125,000 Glimmer ► 200 Baryon Bough ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Heavy \| Ammo: Heavy "The weapon's laser over penetrates enemies and refracts off hard surfaces."
Whisper of the Worm	Sniper Rifle	Heavy	A › Strong	PVE	Free-to-Play	Whisper of the Worm \| Sniper Rifle	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PVE	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 150,000 Glimmer ► 250 Baryon Bough ► 2 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Heavy \| Ammo: Heavy "Higher base precision damage. Rapidly landing three precision hits refills the magazine and missing a shot has a chance to return ammo."
Sturm	Hand Cannon	Kinetic	A › Strong	PVP	Free-to-Play	Sturm \| Hand Cannon	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PVP	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 100,000 Glimmer ► 150 Microphasic Datalattice ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Kinetic \| Ammo: Primary "Kills fill the magazine of the equipped Energy weapon from reserves. Kills with Drang reload this weapon and provides bonus damage."
Rat King	Sidearm	Kinetic	A › Strong	PVE	Free-to-Play	Rat King \| Sidearm	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PVE	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 100,000 Glimmer ► 150 Helium Filaments ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Kinetic \| Ammo: Primary "This fully automatic weapon becomes stronger when nearby allies also have it equipped. Reloading immediately after a kill grants a brief period of invisibility."
Legend of Acrius	Shotgun	Heavy	A › Strong	PVE	Free-to-Play	Legend of Acrius \| Shotgun	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PVE	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 150,000 Glimmer ► 240 Spoils of Conquest ► 2 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Heavy \| Ammo: Heavy "This weapon fires blasts of high-damage Arc energy that over penetrates enemies. Its radar detects enemies from farther away."
Izanagi's Burden	Sniper Rifle	Kinetic	A › Strong	PVE	Forsaken	Izanagi's Burden \| Sniper Rifle	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PVE	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 150,000 Glimmer ► 250 Spinmetal Leaves ► 2 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Kinetic \| Ammo: Special "Holding reload consumes the magazine and loads a round with additional range and damage."
Duality	Shotgun	Energy	A › Strong	PVP	Deluxe Edition	Duality \| Shotgun	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PVP	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 100,000 Glimmer ► 150 Glacial Starwort ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Energy \| Ammo: Special "Fires a pellet spread in hip-fire or a single high-damage slug while aiming. Pellet final blows grant a stacking precision damage and reload speed buff. Precision hits with slugs extend the duration."
Ticuu's Divination	Combat Bow	Energy	A › Strong	PVE	Deluxe Edition	Ticuu's Divination \| Combat Bow	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PVE	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 100,000 Glimmer ► 150 Microphasic Datalattice ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Energy \| Ammo: Primary "Hipfiring this weapon fires multiple tracking projectiles. Targets marked explode upon death, or when struck again. Arrows fired while aiming down sights cause Sacred Flames to instantly detonate."
Ruinous Effigy	Trace Rifle	Energy	B › Average	-	Shadowkeep	Ruinous Effigy \| Exotic Trace Rifle	Average ❘ B	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 125,000 Glimmer ► 200 Helium Filaments ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Heavy \| Ammo: Special "Final blows with this weapon collapse victims into Void Transmutation spheres. Transmutation spheres you create can be picked up and wielded as weapons by you or your allies."
Tarrabah	Submachine Gun	Energy	B › Average	-	Forsaken	Tarrabah \| Submachine Gun	Average ❘ B	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 150,000 Glimmer ► 240 Spoils of Conquest ► 2 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Energy \| Ammo: Primary "This weapon stores power when dealing or receiving damage. Once full, hold reload to unleash the beast."
Truth	Rocket Launcher	Heavy	B › Average	-	Forsaken	Truth \| Rocket Launcher	Average ❘ B	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 125,000 Glimmer ► 200 Baryon Bough ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Heavy \| Ammo: Heavy "This weapon's rockets have tracking and detonate when they are within close proximity of their targets."
Symmetry	Scout Rifle	Energy	B › Average	-	Shadowkeep	Symmetry \| Scout Rifle	Average ❘ B	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 100,000 Glimmer ► 150 Baryon Bough ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Energy \| Ammo: Primary "Precision hits build up Dynamic Charge. Swapping to Arc Seeker mode increases damage and partially reloads the magazine. Arc Seekers track toward combatants you target."
Leviathan's Breath	Combat Bow	Heavy	B › Average	-	Shadowkeep	Leviathan's Breath \| Combat Bow	Average ❘ B	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 100,000 Glimmer ► 150 Microphasic Datalattice ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Heavy \| Ammo: Heavy "Fires a massive heavy bolt that staggers unshielded combatants. When fully drawn, the bolt knocks combatants back."
Tommy's Matchbook	Auto Rifle	Energy	B › Average	-	Shadowkeep	Tommy's Matchbook \| Auto Rifle	Average ❘ B	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 100,000 Glimmer ► 150 Spinmetal Leaves ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Energy \| Ammo: Primary "Sustained fire with this weapon overheats it, increasing damage but burning the user. Overheat damage is reduced while hip firing."
Bad Juju	Pulse Rifle	Kinetic	B › Average	-	Forsaken	Bad Juju \| Pulse Rifle	Average ❘ B	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 125,000 Glimmer ► 200 Microphasic Datalattice ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Kinetic \| Ammo: Primary "Kills refill the magazine, increase damage for a short duration, and grant Super energy based on the number of kills. Fires full-auto."
Devil's Ruin	Sidearm	Energy	B › Average	-	Shadowkeep	Devil's Ruin \| Sidearm	Average ❘ B	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 100,000 Glimmer ► 150 Dusklight Shard ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Energy \| Ammo: Primary "Variable trigger. Press and release to fire individual shots. Hold to charge up a high-powered, staggering laser."
Lumina	Hand Cannon	Kinetic	B › Average	-	Forsaken	Lumina \| Hand Cannon	Average ❘ B	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 125,000 Glimmer ► 200 Baryon Bough ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Kinetic \| Ammo: Primary "Kills with this weapon leave behind Remnants which convert your next hip fired shot into an ally-seeking Noble Round that heals them and grants both of you a weapon damage bonus for a short duration."
The Fourth Horseman	Shotgun	Energy	B › Average	-	Shadowkeep	The Fourth Horseman \| Shotgun	Average ❘ B	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 125,000 Glimmer ► 200 Dusklight Shard ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Energy \| Ammo: Special "This weapon's rate of fire is increased significantly and fires full auto. Each successive shot has more damage and more spread."
Cryosthesia 77K	Sidearm	Kinetic	C › Weak	-	Deluxe Edition	Cryosthesia 77K \| Sidearm	Weak ❘ C	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 100,000 Glimmer ► 150 Spinmetal Leaves ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Kinetic \| Ammo: Primary Exotic Perk: "Final blows with this weapon enable a Charged Shot for a short duration. Targets hit by this shot are instantly frozen at the cost of the weapon's entire magazine."
Worldline Zero	Sword	Heavy	D › Worst	-	Free-to-Play	Worldline Zero \| Sword	Worst ❘ D	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 125,000 Glimmer ► 200 Glacial Starwort ► 1 Ascendant Shards	Slot: Heavy \| Ammo: Heavy "Press while sprinting to launch a heavy blink attack. Attacks partially bypass elemental shields."
Always on Time	Vehicle	Vehicle	-	-	Forsaken	Always on Time \| Vehicle	-	► 1 Exotic Cipher ► 150,000 Glimmer ► 240 Spoils of Conquest ► 2 Ascendant Shards	-

The Tier ranking above uses the following Tier levels:

S Tier – Best : Highest ranking weapons in our Tier List.
A Tier – Strong : Very strong weapons, but not on the same level as S Tier Choices.
B Tier – Average : Decent choices that can be lethal in the hands of a skilled player.
C Tier – Weak : The middle of the pack, somewhat mediocre.
D Tier – Worst : Lagging behind the competition, these don't have much to offer.

Best Exotics

These are the best Exotic weapons you can purchase from the Exotics archive:

Anarchy
Ace of Spades
Witherhoard
Eriana's Vow

Note that as a former raid exotic, Anarchy requires Spoils of Conquest. More about costs and materials and below.

Location

The Monument to Lost Lights is located in the central area of the Tower, near the Gunsmith and right next to the Vault.

Here you can see the kiosk's exact location:

Monument to Lost Lights Tower Destiny 2

The Monument to Lost Lights in the Tower

Other Exotic kiosk items

Despite being referred to as the Exotics kiosk, the Monument to Lost Lights has more to offer.

Legendary weapons

While Exotics are the main highlights offered by the Monument to Lost Lights, this kiosk also offers Legendary weapons. To be clear, most of its Legendary weapons were sunset and are no longer viable for endgame content.

The only exception is the incredibly good shotgun, Felwinter's Lie, which can still be purchased there.

Monument to Lost Lights Destiny 2

Legendaries are offered within the "Legacy gear" section

Exotic armor

Unlike Exotic weapons, Exotic armor was not impacted by the removal of Planets and Quest last year. Therefore, you won't find any armor at the Monument to Lost Lights.

Exotic Catalysts

As of today, Exotic catalysts whose quests were removed have not been added to the Exotics kiosk. Taking into account that both Outbreak Perfected and Whisper of the Worm were eventually added to the Monument to Lost Lights, it would make sense that their catalysts, which came from the very same quests, were added to the kiosk too.

For more information about Exotic catalysts, this guide covers them all, including their effects, how to find them, and how to unlock them.

Costs & Materials: Buying weapons from the Exotics archive

As mentioned before, these Exotics are quite expensive. Even if you're a veteran with maxed-out glimmer and thousands of planetary resources, these weapons still require hard-to-find resources including Ascendant Shards and Exotic ciphers.

The table above includes the exact cost for every Exotic in the kiosk, but in a nutshell, this is how you can farm all the needed materials:

Exotic Cipher

Exotic Ciphers are perhaps the hardest material to "farm" in the sense that you are limited to one cipher at a time per account. Currently, the only 2 ways to acquire a cipher are via a weekly quest offered by Xur and the Season Pass.

Xur's quest itself is not hard, just long (E.g. doing 21 strikes…). Xur appears every weekend on Friday. You can track him using this neat site.

Ascendant Shards

Ascendant Shards are extremely sought after because they are both valuable and hard to obtain.

They are valuable because they are needed to Masterwork armor, which means you'll need at least 7 to Masterwork a single armor set (including an Exotic). In parallel, they are tough to farm for most players as they mostly drop from Nightfalls at high difficulties or 7 wins/flawless Trials of Osiris passages.

Spoils of Conquest

This brand-new material was created entirely for the Monument to Lost Lights and is required to purchase Exotics previously locked behind Raid bosses. To earn this currency, you have to complete raid encounters, which means it cannot be endlessly farmed as you can only run one raid per character per week.

So far, it seems each encounter drops 3 Spoils of War. This means you're looking at around 20 full Raid runs to be able to purchase one of these Exotics.

Planetary Resources

Planetary resources are not hard to find. If you put the right Ghost mod, you can go right ahead and farm them. That said, most of these weapons require 100 or more resources, which could take a while to physically collect.

The other alternative is to purchase them from Spider, an NPC located in the Tangled Shore, in exchange for glimmer.

Glimmer

Glimmer shouldn't need an introduction, as it's one of the most basic currencies in the game. Virtually everything in the game rewards glimmer, so as long as you play the game, you will earn glimmer. That said, the requirements here are steep (100,000+ glimmer per weapon).

If you're struggling, Spider can also be a good alternative to buy some glimmer in exchange for other materials.

The Last Word

It is undeniable that way too many Exotic quests were removed from the game and put into the DCV. Taking into account how brilliant some of them were, it is truly a shame they were replaced by a mere vendor (namely, the exotic quests for The Whisper of the Worm and Outbreak Perfected, by far the best Exotic quests ever created by Bungie).

If you have very limited resources and can only chase 1 or 2 of the impacted weapons, I would recommend either Eriana's Vow if you're in need of an excellent PVE weapon or Ace of Spades if you're interested in one of the best PVP weapons in the game.

What weapon will you buy first?

Latest changes

Things change fast in Destiny 2, especially the Meta. The weapons we call the best one day can completely change the next. All it takes are a few minor changes on Bungie's end. For that reason, this ranking will be updated at least once per season.

Changes introduced this season:

The following exotics were added to the ranking:

Lorentz Driver
Ager's Scepter

The following weapons types significantly moved in the ranking as a result of recent buffs/nerfs:

Fusion rifles moved up
Scout Rifles moved up

Finally, a few "Drops from" entries have been updated to reflect their move to the Monument to Lost Lights or Deluxe Edition requirements.