Resources and Pickups

Resources and Pickups are objects in the world which can be walked over or interacted with to add them to one's Inventory. As suggested by the title, two primary categories of these objects exist: Resources, which, like Loot Caches, require interaction to add to inventory and persist for a short time after harvest (so that others have a chance to harvest them as well); and Pickups, objects which are generated individually for each player and are automatically collected upon walking over them.

Resources

Planetary Resources

Most planetary materials are acquired exclusively from resources which can be detected using Resource Detector Ghost Modules or Nightstalker's Keen Scout passive ability. These itsms have been deprecated beginning in Season of the Seraph:

• Dusklight: Found in the European Dead Zone. Always grants a Dusklight Shard on harvest. Rarely grants a Dusklight Crystal as well. These Consumables are used to obtain EDZ Engrams.
• Alkane: Found on Titan. Always grants Alkane Dust on harvest. Rarely grants an Alkane Spore as well. These Consumables are used to obtain Arcology Engrams.
• Datalattice: Found on Nessus. Always grants a Microphasic Datalattice on harvest. Rarely grants a Quantized Datalattice as well. These Consumables are used to obtain Nessus Engrams.
• Phaseglass: Found on Io. Always grants a Phaseglass Needle on harvest. Rarely grants a Phaseglass Spire as well. These Consumables are used to obtain Io Engrams.
• Simulation Node: Found on Mercury. Always grants a Simulation Seed on harvest. Rarely grants a Simulation Bloom as well. These Consumables are used to obtain Lighthouse Engrams.

Weapons

Some Weapons appear in the world during specific Story Missions as "resources"; however, unlike normal resources, these weapons are generated for each player in the mission, so picking up the weapon does not prevent another fireteam member from picking up the weapon, too.

• In Homecoming, Origin Story (Homecoming) and The Last Dance (Homecoming) are acquired from a "resource node" within the armory of Lord Shaxx.
• In Adieu, the Sorrow MG2 appears in the abandoned Guardian camp as a resource.
• In Combustion, a Dead Zone Rifle appears in the passage leading to the Shank shaft as a resource.
• In Hope, a Penumbra GSm appears on a table before the locked door after crossing over into Siren's Watch as a resource.

Mission Objects

Mission objects, like proper resources, require interaction to acquire; however, they override your equipped weapons and force a third-person perspective while being carried, and picking up one of these objects prevents another player from picking up that object unless you drop it some time after picking it up.

Generic Mission Objects

• Elemental Charges, objects present in several activities, override your weapons and class melee attack with unlimited-use melee charge attacks of the appropriate element (performed using the Fire or Melee functions). Generally, class grenades are still available while holding an elemental charge; however, using a class ability or a Super ability will cause you to drop the charge.
  • Some elemental charges will disappear if they are not taken to their intended destination quickly enough. The remaining time until dissipation is given in seconds as the "bullets in magazine" count in the weapon ammo box (lower-left corner of the interface).
  • The Golden Age CPU in the mission Utopia behaves mostly like an unlimited-duration elemental charge. However, unlike normal elemental charges, the CPU prevents all abilities, not just melee abilities, from being cast while held, making it impossible to voluntarily drop the CPU after picking it up.
• Scorch Cannons, objects present in the Story Mission Six and the Weapons Exchange Public Event, are temporary weapons similar to Rocket Launchers, but with significantly larger magazines. They override one's equipped weapons until a) their ammo is fully depleted, or b) the related activity reaches completion.

PvP Mission Objects

• Power Ammo Dispensers, objects present in all Crucible and Trials of the Nine maps, grant a limited amount of ammunition to one player's Power Weapon before going on cooldown. Their locations are visible on the tracker, and special feed messages appear when they are used, of the form "[Loading player] loaded [Power Weapon type icon] at [Power Ammo Dispenser location]".

Raid Mission Objects

• Standards, objects present in the Castellum encounters of the Raid Leviathan, are required in order to open doors to the other, reward-granting encounters of the raid.
• Psionic Orbs, objects present in the Gauntlet encounter of the Raid Leviathan, are limited-duration elemental charges which kill their carrier if they are held for too long without being deposited or having their timer reset within the Gauntlet proper.
• Royal Pollen, objects present in the Pleasure Gardens encounter of the Raid Leviathan, behave like limited-duration elemental charges. They must be held next to an activated flower to grant the essential Empowering Spores buff to the raid team.
• Prism Weapons, objects present in the Pleasure Gardens encounter of the Raid Leviathan, are temporary weapons which are primarily used to activate flowers while standing on pillars of light.
• Vex Craniums, objects present in the Argos encounter of the Raid Lair Leviathan, Eater of Worlds, are temporary weapons which must be charged at an elemental furnace for 20 seconds, then used to destroy specific objects of the same element and/or deal massive damage to the boss.

Pickups

Ammunition

Ammunition pickups, dropped by Enemies of all toughness levels which are killed by player-sourced damage (exploding enemies do not grant ammo if they self-detonate), grant reserve ammo to compatible weapons. They will not be picked up if all compatible weapons are already at maximum ammo (including both loaded and reserve ammo).

Primary Ammunition

Primary Ammunition, white in color, grants unlimited ammo to the following weapons and weapon types as of Year 6:

• Auto Rifles
• Pulse Rifles
• Scout Rifles
• Submachine Guns
• Sidearms
• Hand Cannons
• Combat Bows
• Fighting Lion (Exotic Breech Grenade Launcher)
• Vex Mythoclast (Exotic Fusion Rifle)

Special Ammunition

Special Ammunition, green in color, grants reserve ammo to the following weapons and weapon types as of Year 6:

• Shotguns
• Sniper Rifles
• Fusion Rifles
• Breech Grenade Launchers
• Trace Rifles
• Glaives
• Rocket Sidearms
• Eriana's Vow (Exotic Hand Cannon)
• Arbalest and Lorentz Driver (Exotic Linear Fusion Rifles)
• Forerunner (Exotic Sidearm)

The Year 1 spawning rules were as follows:

• Normal & Elite:
  • Drops on the first kill upon entering a new zone
  • Commonly drops on subsequent kills while holding Kinetic Weapons, Power Weapons or temporary weapons
• Major & Ultra: Always drops on kill

Heavy Ammunition

Heavy Ammunition, purple in color, grants reserve ammo to Power Weapons, including the following weapon and weapon types as of Year 6:

• Drum Grenade Launchers
• Linear Fusion Rifles
• Rocket Launchers
• Swords
• Machine Guns
• Legend of Acrius and Tractor Cannon (Exotic Shotguns)
• Leviathan's Breath (Exotic Combat Bow)
• D.A.R.C.I. and Whisper of the Worm (Exotic Sniper Rifles)
• One Thousand Voices (Exotic Fusion Rifle)
• Winterbite (Exotic Glaive)

The Year 1 spawning rules were as follows:

• Normal: Rarely drops on kills while holding Kinetic Weapons, Energy Weapons or temporary weapons
• Elite, Major & Ultra: Sometimes drops on kill (formerly guaranteed before Season 3)

Loot Pickups

Mission Loot Pickups

During activities, such as Collection Patrols and specific Adventures, which require the player to obtain items from enemies, these items will drop as white triangular pyramids from the appropriate enemies on death.

Chest Loot Pickups

• Glimmer Cubes, commonly spit out by chests in the world, grant chunks of Glimmer currency upon collection.
• Reputation Items and Prophecy Offerings, often spit out by chests in the world as triangular pyramids, are color-coded based on rarity: green for Uncommon items, blue for Rare items.

Engrams

Rarely dropped by enemies on death and sometimes spit out by chests in the world, five types of Engrams are commonly spawned as pickups: Encoded Engrams (white, auto-decrypts on pickup), Decoherent Engrams (green, auto-decrypts on pickup), Encrypted Engrams (blue, auto-decrypts on pickup), Legendary Engrams (purple, requires decryption at a Cryptarch if year 1, otherwise auto-decrypts) and Exotic Engrams (yellow, requires decryption at a Cryptarch if year 1, otherwise auto-decrypts).

Loot chests for Nightfall Strikes, Raids and Raid Lairs spit out Powerful Gear versions of Legendary and Exotic Engrams when they are opened for the first time since the last weekly reset. These engrams, in addition to having higher Attack/Defense values than normal, also auto-decrypt on pickup, allowing players to make use of them immediately upon acquisition.