D2 Exotic Help

# Intro
Legendary armor in Destiny 2 rolls with random stat values that are constrained by a few rules. Exotic armor rolls follow these rules, with a few exceptions. This document outlines the rules and exceptions that govern armor stat rolls.
In order to understand the rules that govern armor stat rolls we must first understand the concept of
stat groups
. The six armor stats in Destiny 2 are grouped in two buckets of three stats each:
  • Mobility, Resilience and Recovery
  • Discipline, Intellect and Strength
We will refer to these stat groups as
Stat Group 1
and
Stat Group 2
moving forward.
Given these
stat groups
, the rules that govern legendary armor stat rolls are as follows:
  • No single base stat value may be less than 2
  • No single base stat value may equal 3, 4 or 5
  • No single base stat value may be greater than 30
  • The sum of the base stat values in each
    stat group
    may be no less than 22 and no greater than 34
  • While wearing an
    armorer ghost mod
    , armor pieces with random stats you acquire will have a guaranteed minimum of 10 in the stat that corresponds to the equipped armorer ghost mod
To put that in plain English: any single stat can roll with any value between 2 and 30 except for 3, 4 or 5. The maximum total base stat value for any legendary armor piece is 68, where 34 stat points come from
Stat Group 1
and 34 stat points come from
Stat Group 2
. The minimum total base stat value for any legendary armor piece is 44, where 22 stat points come from
Stat Group 1
and 22 stat points come from
Stat Group 2
.
Additionally,
armorer ghost mods
(e.g. Discipline Armorer) can be used to force a minimum of 10 for any single stat of your choosing.
There are a few more rules that govern exactly how stat values are distributed. These rules involve triplets of numbers called
Stat Plugs
. This document will not go into detail about
Stat Plug
rules, but you can read more about such rules in this Reddit post and explore
Stat Plug
values on this website if you are curious. For the vast majority of people, the five rules listed above are all that matter.
Exotic armor rolls follow the same rules as legendary armor rolls with a few exceptions:
# Intrinsic Stat Points Exception
Some older exotics armor pieces always roll with up to +3 total additional
intrinsic stat points
. The allocation of these
intrinsic stat points
is always the same for any given exotic and the maximum
intrinsic stat points
that can be allocated to any single stat is +2. Such
intrinsic stat points
allow some exotic armor pieces to achieve minimum base stat values of 3 or 4 and maximum base stat values of 31 or 32, which are impossible for Legendary armor pieces to achieve. Such exotics can achieve higher base stat totals as a result, up to a maximum base stat total of 71. For example, Gwisin Vest always rolls with
intrinsic stat points
of +2 Mobility and +1 Resilience. A full list of exotic armor pieces with
intrinsic stat points
can be found here.
Some exotic armor pieces have an
intrinsic stat focus
that can override a user's equipped
armorer ghost mod
. An exotic armor piece with an
intrinsic stat focus
is (almost always) guaranteed to roll with a minimum of 10 in the stat that corresponds to the
intrinsic stat focus
. More on that "almost always" clarification can be found in the Contraband Exotics section of this document. A full list of exotic armor pieces with an
intrinsic stat focus
can be found here.
There are a few additional things to note about how
intrinsic stat focuses
work:
  • If an exotic armor piece has an
    intrinsic stat focus
    and you have an
    armorer ghost mod
    equipped, the
    intrinsic stat focus
    can override the
    armorer ghost mod
    if, and only if, the stats associated with the
    intrinsic stat focus
    and the
    armorer ghost mod
    are both in the same
    stat group
    . For example, Mask of Bakris has an
    intrinsic stat focus
    of Mobility. If a Mask of Bakris drops while you have a Resilience
    armorer ghost mod
    equipped, the Resilience stat on the Mask of Bakris may roll with less than 10 points since Mobility and Resilience are both in
    Stat Group 1
    . Note that it is still possible for both Mobility and Resilience to roll with 10 or more points, but only Mobility is guaranteed to roll with 10 or more points.
  • There is one outlier
    intrinsic stat focus
    found only on Ursa Furiosa.
    Ursa Furiosa has an
    intrinsic stat focus
    of Intellect, but it is only a
    partial intrinsic stat focus
    . The minimum guaranteed Intellect stat value on Ursa Furiosa is 6 instead of the usual 10. I am unsure if this
    partial intrinsic stat focus
    can override
    armorer ghost mods
    . If you have video proof of receiving an Ursa Furiosa, while having a Discipline or Strength
    armorer ghost mod
    equipped, rolling with at less than 10 in the
    armorer ghost mod's
    stat please contact me and I will update this document.
Contraband Exotics
are exotic armor pieces that break
intrinsic stat focus
rules (i.e. an exotic with less than 10 in the stat that corresponds to its
intrinsic stat focus
).
Contraband Exotics
can be very useful when making a build that not lean into the
intrinsic stat focus
of your preferred exotic.
Contraband Exotics
come from a few sources:
  • Before the Beyond Light expansion,
    intrinsic stat focuses
    did not exist. If you acquired an exotic armor piece before the Beyond Light expansion, it may have less than 10 in the stat that would normally be governed by an
    intrinsic stat focus
    , thus making it a
    Contraband Exotic
    .
  • Both
    Advanced Decryption
    and
    Precision Decryption
    at Rahool can result in a
    Contraband Exotic
    . Receiving a
    Contraband Exotic
    from
    Advanced/Precision Decryption
    does not require the usage of an
    armorer ghost mod
    , but if you do use an
    armorer ghost mod
    it will be respected.
    • Here is video proof of
      Precision Decryption
      resulting in a
      Contraband Exotic
      .
    • Here is video proof of
      Advanced Decryption
      resulting in a
      Contraband Exotic
      .
    • Here is video proof of
      Advanced Decryption
      resulting in a
      Contraband Exotic
      , without using an
      armorer ghost mod
      .
  • At this time I do not believe that
    Raw Decryption
    at Rahool can result in a
    Contraband Exotic
    . By
    Raw Decryption
    I mean: just decrypting the engram the same way you would decrypt a prime engram. Please contact me with video proof of
    Raw Decryption
    resulting in a
    Contraband Exotic
    and I will update this document.
    • Here is video proof of
      Raw Decryption
      respecting world drop rules when using an
      armorer ghost mod
      .
These people contributed to the creation of this document in some capacity:
  • Mijago
  • nznaza
  • cbro
  • Apprentice Salesman
  • Trogdor437
  • SkjaldOfRuss
  • My Derpy Turtle (me)