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Helium Fragments aka Helium Filaments are one of the oldest resources in Destiny 2. For an item that’s been around over seven years, there’s very little lore regarding them. In fact, there’s none at all. All we have for them is the in-game description, and all that tells us is that they’re essentially just batteries.
They don’t even have all that many uses. The only real reason you would need an abundance of them is for a handful of exotic weapons at the Monument to Lost Lights.
Still, there are a lot of players that don’t know how to get Helium Filaments, or even what they are, which is why I’ve put together a short Helium Filaments guide for Destiny 2. I’ve also included a painful anecdote of the one time Bungie tied Helium Filaments to a quest back in Destiny 1. If the name Essential Elements doesn’t mean anything to you, then consider yourself lucky.
So, with all that being said, here’s a definitive, comprehensive guide to Destiny 2’s Helium Filaments.
Key Details Up Front
Location:Â Master Rahool/the Moon
Cost:Â Five Legendary Shards for 10 Helium Filaments.
Use:Â Purchase exotic weapons at the Monument to Lost Lights.
Description/Overview
We know basically next to nothing about Helium Filaments in all of Destiny. There are literally no lore entries on them, so we’re left to speculate. In fact, the only reference we get to anything helium in the lore is in the Book of Sorrows which speaks of Helium Drinkers back on Fundament. The only direct reference to Filaments is a reference from Destiny 1’s exotic sword quest, which states that Helium Filaments are a source of Soliton Flares.
The in-game description of Helium Filaments refers to them as filaments of Helium-3 fusion fuel that has been collected by a Helium Coil on Luna. That, combined with their cylindrical shape, lets us draw a fairly conclusive assumption that Helium Filaments are, for lore purposes, batteries of some sort. Although, they don’t serve any purpose adjacent to that in-game.
Key Features
Helium Filaments have had a variety of uses over the last seven years of Destiny 1 and 2. For a time, they served no purpose at all despite being farmable in the game.
Once Bungie’s focus on material-based weapon upgrading shifted, Helium Filaments, along with other destination resources, lost a lot of their usage and value.
In fact, as of Witch Queen and likely for the remainder of Destiny 2’s lifespan, both Filaments and other destination materials are, more or less, exclusively used at the Monument to Lost Lights. Each exotic weapon at the kiosk has a list of materials you need to trade for it, including 200 of various destination materials, including Helium Filaments.
Alternatively, you can also sell them to Rahool for a chunk of Glimmer, but it’s unlikely you’ll ever run low enough for you to resort to that.
How to Farm Helium Filaments in Destiny 2
Buy Them From Rahool
Gone are the days of mindlessly running loops around a planet location looking for material and chest spawns. That old, archaic farming method is a way of the past. Granted, you can still do that if you want, but you would be subjecting yourself to mindless, unnecessary torture.
Instead, capitalism has prevailed in Destiny 2. Why would our god-killing super Guardian waste their time collecting Helium Filaments when they can pay someone to do it for them?
You can buy them in batches of 10 for five Legendary Shards. Given that you get three shards every time you dismantle a legendary, and you get dozens of legendaries every day, this is an easy way to get a big chunk of Helium Filaments on-demand, even for new players that don’t have a big store of Shards.
Related Quests
Essential Elements
In the history of Destiny, to my knowledge, Helium Filaments have only been attached to one quest: Essential Elements. If there are any other D1 TTK veterans out there, that name alone should be giving you some sort of horrific flashback.
You see, back in the Taken King, we finally got to use swords as a weapon. This new weapon type, much like the more recent glaives, came with three exotic variants based on the three light elements.
For the solar exotic sword, players needed to collect Soliton Flares. These were a rare material that had a chance of dropping every time you looted some Helium Filaments on the moon. I say rare, but the drop rate for these things was excruciatingly low. It took, and I am dead serious when I say this, over 10 hours for me to collect the 10 I needed for the quest. That was the last time I ever needed to farm Helium Filaments again.
FAQ
Question: Where can I find Helium Filaments in Destiny 2?
Answer: There are two sources of Helium Filaments in Destiny 2. You can find them in chests and randomly scattered around the ground on the Moon, or you can buy them from Master Rahool in the Tower.
Question: How do I get Helium Filaments fast in Destiny 2?
Answer: The fastest way to get Helium Filaments in Destiny 2 is to buy them from Master Rahool in the Tower. Each batch of 10 costs five Legendary Shards, meaning you can get the 200 needed for the Exotic Kiosk for 100 Legendary Shards.
Question: Where do I spend Helium Filaments in Destiny 2?
Answer: Helium Filaments have two uses in Destiny 2. You can sell them to Master Rahool for a chunk of Glimmer, or you can use them to buy exotics at the Monument to Lost Lights.
Conclusion
I’ve kept this Destin 2 Helium Filament guide short and sweet because, well, there’s no reason for it not to be. There’s no lore on Helium Filaments to discuss or dissect. They’re literally just moon batteries. It’s also not like you need to try hard to obtain them, you just buy them, and they only have one real purpose.
Still, I’ve tried to provide a little bit of backstory and history on them. We, as a community, should never forget the pain and sorrow that Essential Elements caused, lest Bungie decides to make us go through something similar again.
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