Destiny: The Taken King has introduced a number of new aspects to Bungie’s shared-world shooter outside of revamping the levelling system and introducing a wealth of new gear and weapons. Xur, Agent of the Nine, has also received some tweaking for his weekly wheeling and dealing, which includes him stocking a brand new item in the form of the Three of Coins. Costing seven Strange Coins for a pack of five, this item increases your chances of receiving an Exotic Engram after killing an Ultra enemy. However, there’s a lot of confusion surrounding the item, such as which enemies count towards an Ultra and whether or not it’s worth consuming multiple Three of Coins to take advantage of its supposed cumulative stacking effect.
Fortunately, we’re here with a new Destiny: The Taken King guide to shed light on Three of Coins and increase your chances of netting those elusive Exotic Engrams. Read on.
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Basic info on Three of Coins
First of all, it’s important to know that Three of Coins has no time limit. In other words, it won’t expire if you happen to go offline and come back the next day. In addition, the effect won’t disappear if you happen to perish in battle, so you can die as many times as you want (not that you’d actually want to die, obviously) and it will still be there. The only way it will vanish is if it has been used, i.e., if it has rolled the dice, figuratively speaking, on whether or not you are going to get an Exotic Engram when defeating an Ultra.
These enemies are those with yellow health bars and a skull next to their name, which pretty much accounts for most bosses in Destiny. However, there are some exceptions in that the Three of Coins will not work on some enemies, which we’ll go into later on in this guide. Three of Coins is only available from Xur, so keep this in mind if you’re planning on farming for some Exotic Engram; if he’s just left for the weekend, you’ll have to wait until the following Friday to get the chance to purchase the item again. It will cost you seven Strange Coins for a pack of five Three of Coins.
Thing to consider when decrypting engrams
So, you’ve managed to get your grubby mitts on an Exotic Engram, right? Well, before you pay a visit to the Cryptarch in the Tower or Reef, you should consider a few things. Firstly, if you are Light Level 299 or below, you’ll only be able to get gear worth 290. However, if you are 300 or above, then you have a small chance of nabbing something worth 310. Remember, there is no guarantee that just because you are Light Level 300+ you’ll get something better than 290 gear; the process is pretty random, and Reddit reckons there’s only a 10-40 percent chance of bagging high-end rewards. Therefore, it is recommend you hold off decrypting engrams until you are at least Light Level 300 to increase your chances of getting better gear.
Do any ultra enemies count towards the Three of Coins? If not, who should I avoid?
A good question, and no, not all Ultra opponents will count towards your chances of getting an Exotic Engram. Yes, there’s plenty of them who do work with Three of Coins, but you should probably pay attention to the following list just so you know who to avoid wasting your precious coins on.
Not compatible with Three of Coins
-Ultras with shields
-The Psion Flayers during the mission Dust Palace (there’s three of them).
-The Tank on the mission to eliminate Valus Ta’aurc
-Tiers 1 and 2 on the Court of Oryx
-Omnigul, the Hive wizard encountered in a strike from The Dark Below expansion
-Atheon
-Crota, Son of Oryx, during the Crota’s End Strike on The Moon
-Fallen Walkers
-Tanks
-Daughters during the King’s Fall Raid
How many Three of Coins should I use for each encounter?
This is a question that is highly contested among fans. Some believe that stacking them gives you a distinct advantage, while others believe that using just one or two is sufficient to increase your chance of nabbing an Exotic Engram. From what we’ve been able to discover, the buff is what stacks, not the coins themselves. To put it as succinctly as we can, when you first use a Three of Coins, your chance of getting an Exotic Engram after defeating an Ultra is increased by precisely 10 percent. No matter how many coins you decide to use right after, it won’t increase your chances beyond that 10 percent. Now, if you manage to get an Exotic Engram after killing your next Ultra, your Three of Coins bonus will be ‘used up.’ If you pop another one, it’ll be 10 percent again.
However, if the Ultra did NOT cough up an Exotic Engram, the effect of the Three of Coins will still disappear, BUT, when you next use one, your chances of getting an Exotic will increase by 20 percent. Essentially, each time you use a coin, fail to get an Exotic, then use another one, your chances will increase for the next Ultra you kill. It will then reset when you finally do grab an Exotic Engram. Make sense? Happy farming, Guardians!
Let us know your tips for Three of Coins and share your experience with the item in the comments section below.