Destiny 2 Powerful Gear & Luminous Engrams Explained

In Destiny 2 Powerful Gear is obtained from so called Luminous Planetary Engrams. The game never explains what they do and where to get them, so this guide will clear things up.

First of all, it’s important to note that both items are very closely related. They are essentially the same thing with different names. The Luminous Planetary Engram is the “engram” that you get for certain tasks (more on that in a second). The Powerful Gear is the randomized reward you draw from the Luminous Planetary Engram. Often times you will earn more than one item per engram.

The Importance of Powerful Gear

After reaching character level 20 the only way to improve is through finding gear with higher power values (the light levels from Destiny 1). Problem is, there is a cap of 265 power on all item drops and faction rewards. The only way to increase your power level beyond 265 is from this weekly powerful gear and select exotic quests (which are one-time only).

What really differentiates the powerful gear from the rest, is that these items can be earned weekly (so it’s repeatable) and they scale to your power level even beyond 265. They usually drop gear 5 levels higher than your current average power. This is slightly random and it can drop with an even bigger margin. Especially when preparing for the raid the powerful gear is invaluable.

How to Get Powerful Gear / Luminous Planetary Engrams

The only way to get powerful gear is from the luminous engrams! Powerful gear is never dropped randomly.

There are only 4 weekly quests that reward you with these engrams. Do note that one single engram tends to contain 2 or more items at once (with a high chance for an exotic)! They look purple just like legendary engrams, so be wary not to mix them up.

The 4 Weekly Quests:

• Weekly Flashpoint Milestone – given to you by Cayde-6 after unlocking patrols via one of his side quests.
• Weekly Nightfall Milestone – given to you by Zavala after completing 2 strikes.
• Weekly Clan Rewards – given to you automatically while talking to Suraya Hawthorne later in the story. Must create/join a clan to earn these rewards and do events of all kind to get clan XP.
• Weekly Call to Arms Milestone – given to you by Lord Shaxx. You must play a dozen Crucible matches or so (winning is not a requirement).

*Click the links for in-depth guides on each topic

You can keep track of all of these quests and their progress by pressing the Touchpad + L2 (PS4) / View-Button + LT (Xbox One). The exact nightfall and planet for the flashpoint changes each week but the procedure is always the same.

Important Notes:

• Do NOT pick up any powerful gear until reaching 265 power! It would be a total waste of your efforts. If you can, try to push over 270 before picking it up.
• One special thing many people don’t know about, is that the Luminous Engram scales with your power level, even after finishing the quest for it! For example, after completing the flashpoint you don’t need to pick up the engram from Cayde-6 right away. You can let it sit with him and the engram will scale with your level in real time. The level of all other engrams in the game is set in stone once you find them. But with luminous engrams you don’t have that problem, when your level increases so does the engram.

When do the Weekly Quests for Powerful Gear Reset?

The 4 quest types mentioned earlier (flashpoint, nightfall, call to arms, clan rewards) reset each week on tuesday at 2AM Pacific Time / 5AM Eastern Time / 10AM British Summer Time. Make sure you have retrieved all luminous engrams before then!