There are a ton of shaders in Destiny 2. These cosmetic items change the texture and color of your gear, and while many of them are quite common — being awarded on the season pass or found in the Eververse for small amounts of Bright Dust — some are quite rare. While Bungie is making a number of shaders more accessible to players through Ada-1 next season (most notably the old faction shaders), many will remain difficult or impossible to obtain. But before we run down the top 10 rarest shaders in Destiny 2, let’s check out some honorable mentions.
Iris Gossamer (9.23%) was available through the Upgraded Solstice Event Card in 2022. Watcher’s Shade (8.84%) was created to mark the release of the official Destiny 2 Twitch Extension, and required players to gift subscriptions to streamers playing the game during a certain window of time.
When it comes to in-game earnable shaders, Benevolence of the Nine (7.61%) was obtained from the old Trials of the Nine activity. Vanguard Divide (6.51%) was only obtainable shortly after the release of Forsaken. Iron Bone (6.62%) and Iron Gold (6.59%) were tied to old Iron Banner Triumphs. Another Iron Banner shader, Iron Countershade (4.27%) is currently available and we’ve only had one week of the activity so far this season, so we’re leaving it off the list for now. Devil in the Details (6.08%) was available during Season Five through the Crucible.
Now, let’s get into the top 10 rarest shaders in Destiny 2. As a quick disclaimer, we used the site Braytech to figure this out, since Bungie doesn’t publish official statistics on items. As a result, these percentages might not reflect the full population of Destiny 2 players.
10. Cryptic Legacy (5.79%) — Rarest Destiny 2 Shaders
One of several shaders obtained from flawless runs of Destiny 2 Raids, Cryptic Legacy comes from the Deep Stone Crypt. You can still get it, but you’d better practice your spacewalks plenty if you decide to go for this one. It’s pretty neat-looking, though Lunar Gloom from Shadowkeep is comparable and requires a lot less work to obtain.
9. Ancient Defender (5.43%)
Like Cryptic Legacy, Ancient Defender is tied to a flawless completion of a Destiny 2 Raid — in this case, it’s Garden of Salvation. There are a number of Vex-themed shaders in the game, but this is one of the rarest.
8. Noble Rime (5.21%)
If you wanted Noble Rime, you had to upgrade your Dawning Event Card in 2022. Was it worth it? We’ll let you be the judge — it’s nice enough, but there are already a lot of classy-looking Dawning shaders in Destiny 2 that have been obtainable through means other than Silver.
7. Corrective // Protective (4.61%) — Rarest Destiny 2 Shaders
We’re back into Flawless shaders here — to get Corrective // Protective, you need to complete a flawless run of Vault of Glass. Your prize for doing so is this pretty bangin’ green shader.
6. Crucible Solemnity (3.73%)
You could get Crucible Solemnity way back in season 4 of Destiny 2 by defeating opponents while wearing a full set of Crucible armor. Due to these conditions and the short period of time during which it was available, it remains one of the rarest shaders in the game.
5. Divinity’s Caress (2.87%)
Want Divinity’s Caress? All you have to do is complete a Flawless run of Vow of the Disciple. Unfortunately, a lot of players were pretty let down by how this shader actually appears on armor, expecting a black/gray combo and getting something a little different.
4. Sundered Flesh (1.92%) — Rarest Destiny 2 Shaders
The last Flawless Raid shader on this list, Sundered Flesh comes from King’s Fall. It’ll likely fall a little in the rankings over time as more players complete a Flawless run of the raid, though given that many other such shaders are still in the top 10, it will probably stay among the rarest in the game for a long time.
3. 3 Connections (1.91%)
Now we’re getting into some unusual territory. The 3 Connections shader was only available through a promotion on Bilibili, a Shanghai-based video sharing site. Some players outside of China were able to obtain 3 Connections using translation services, but it remains extremely rare.
2. Terrachroma (0.45%)
Another limited promotional shader, the code to unlock Terrachroma came with an issue of the Japanese game magazine Famitsu.
1. Small Luminance (0.01%) — Rarest Destiny 2 Shaders
The rarest shader in Destiny 2 was no small feat to achieve — it was given out to players who raised $10,000 for the Bungie Foundation during charity events. As a result, unless Bungie introduces similar shaders in the future, it will likely stay the rarest shader in the game for years to come.
