If you’ve ever wandered the Tower and seen a Guardian showing off a goofy or badass Ark-themed emote you’ve never seen before, you’re not alone. These exclusive cosmetics are some of the most sought-after in the game, and a lot of players are confused about exactly how to get Ark emotes in Destiny 2. Many assume they’re locked behind expensive microtransactions or impossible-to-beat endgame content, but that’s not always the case. This guide breaks down every current unlock method, so you can skip the guesswork and start showing off your new emote to your fireteam in no time.
Core Methods to Get Ark Emotes in Destiny 2
Most Ark emotes are tied to either seasonal content, limited-time events, or the Eververse store, but there are a few free paths you can take if you don’t want to spend Silver. I’ve tested every single method over the past few seasons, and these are the only reliable ways to unlock them right now, no exploits or glitches required.
- Eververse Store Rotation: The most consistent (but often paid) method is checking the Eververse store weekly. Ark emotes cycle in and out of the featured section every Tuesday, and you can pick them up for either 500 Silver or 1,200 Bright Dust if they’re in the free rotation. I’ve seen the popular Ark fist bump emote show up here at least once every two months, so it’s worth checking back regularly.
- Seasonal Pass Rewards: Most new Ark emotes launch as part of the paid track of the current seasonal pass, usually unlocking at tiers 30 to 70. If you grab the paid pass for a season that features Ark cosmetics, you’ll get the emote automatically when you hit the required tier, no extra work needed. The free track occasionally includes lower-rarity Ark emotes too, so you don’t always have to pay to get one.
- Limited-Time Event Challenges: Events like the Festival of the Lost, Guardian Games, or Solstice often have exclusive Ark emotes as challenge rewards. These are always free to unlock, as long as you complete the required event tasks before the event ends. Last Guardian Games, for example, the Ark team cheer emote was a reward for completing 10 event playlist matches, and it’s now one of my most used emotes.
One thing to note here: older Ark emotes that were tied to past seasons or events won’t come back for at least six months, if they come back at all. So if you see one you like available right now, grab it as soon as you can, because you might not get another chance for a long time. I missed out on the Ark dance emote during Season of the Seraph, and I’ve been waiting almost a year for it to come back to Eververse, so take it from me, don’t sleep on limited drops.
Free Unlock Paths You Might Have Missed
You don’t have to spend real money or even buy a seasonal pass to get Ark emotes, if you know where to look. A lot of players skip over these free methods because they’re not advertised well in-game, but they’re some of the easiest ways to get rare cosmetics without spending a dime.
First, check the Guardian Rank rewards when you level up your rank. Starting at Guardian Rank 7, you can unlock common and uncommon Ark emotes as rank up rewards, no extra challenges required. All you have to do is complete the required rank objectives, most of which you’ll be doing naturally as you play strikes, Crucible, or Gambit anyway. I unlocked my first Ark emote this way when I hit rank 8 a few seasons back, and I didn’t even realize it was a reward until I checked my emote collection later.
Another free option is completing weekly community challenges for the Tower vendors. Every week, Bungie releases a set of community-wide goals, and if the entire player base hits the target, everyone who contributed gets a reward chest that often includes emotes, including Ark variants. All you have to do is contribute 10% of the required goal for that week, which usually means running 2 to 3 playlist matches, and you’ll get the chest sent straight to your in-game mailbox when the challenge ends.
The last hidden free method is earning rewards from Trials of Osiris engrams, even if you don’t go flawless. If you turn in Trials engrams to Saint-14, there’s a 12% chance you’ll get a rare emote, and roughly 3% of those drops are Ark emotes. You don’t have to win a ton of matches to get engrams either, you get one for every three wins, even if you don’t hit seven wins for a flawless ticket. That’s a great option if you play PvP regularly anyway, and you don’t mind grinding a few matches a week.
How to Avoid Scams for Rare Ark Emotes
Since a lot of Ark emotes are limited-time, there are a ton of scams floating around online promising free or exclusive Ark emotes for anyone who clicks a link or logs into a third-party site. I’ve seen dozens of players get their accounts hacked or lose their Silver falling for these scams, so it’s important to know what’s real and what’s not.
There is no way to get exclusive past Ark emotes outside of official Bungie drops or Eververse rotations. Any site that claims they can give you a code for a limited Ark emote that hasn’t been in the game for years is a scam, no exceptions. Bungie never distributes old limited emotes through third-party sites, so don’t enter your account information anywhere that makes that promise.
You should also avoid anyone selling emote codes on third-party marketplaces. Most of these codes are either stolen, already used, or don’t exist at all, and you won’t get a refund if you buy one that doesn’t work. The only safe place to buy Destiny 2 cosmetic codes is directly from the Bungie Store, or from official retail partners that Bungie has publicly listed.
Another common scam is people offering to “unlock” emotes for you if you give them access to your account. Even if someone claims they’re a friend or a trusted community member, never give your account login info to anyone. You’ll risk getting your account banned for account sharing, and you might lose all of your progress, gear, and Silver if the person steals your account. It’s just not worth it for a cosmetic, no matter how cool the emote is.
Tips to Maximize Your Chances of Unlocking Ark Emotes Fast
If you’re trying to get a specific Ark emote as fast as possible, there are a few small changes you can make to your play routine that will cut down your grind time by a lot. I used these tricks to get the recent Ark salute emote in just three days when it dropped during the last Solstice event, and they work for almost any cosmetic in the game.
First, prioritize Bright Dust farming if you’re waiting for an emote to hit the Eververse free rotation. You can earn up to 10,000 Bright Dust a week just by completing weekly bounties for Zavala, Shaxx, and the Drifter, so if you set aside 30 minutes a day to do these bounties, you’ll have more than enough Bright Dust to buy the emote as soon as it shows up. Make sure you complete the seasonal weekly challenges too, because those often give 300 to 500 Bright Dust each, on top of other rewards.
Second, turn on notifications for event drops if you’re waiting for an event-exclusive Ark emote. A lot of players miss event rewards because they don’t realize the event is active until a week before it ends, so setting a reminder on your phone for the start of each major event will make sure you have enough time to complete the required challenges before the event closes.
Third, don’t sleep on the Bungie Rewards program for exclusive Ark emotes. Every few months, Bungie releases limited-time Ark emotes as rewards for purchasing official Destiny 2 merchandise, or for completing real-world challenges like the Guardian Games run events. These emotes are usually only available for a few weeks, and they never come back to Eververse, so they’re some of the rarest Ark emotes you can get. If you’re a collector, it’s worth checking the Bungie Rewards page every month to see if there are any new Ark emote rewards available.
One last tip: if you’re in an active clan, ask your clanmates if they have any extra emote codes they don’t want. A lot of players get duplicate emote codes from Bungie Rewards or pre-order bonuses, and they’re often happy to give them away to clanmates for free. I’ve gotten two rare Ark emotes this way from clanmates who had extra codes from merch they bought, so it never hurts to ask.
At the end of the day, getting the Ark emote you want doesn’t have to be a grind, as long as you know which methods are reliable and which ones are a waste of time. Whether you’re grinding Bright Dust for an Eververse drop, knocking out event challenges for a free reward, or waiting for a seasonal pass unlock, there’s a path for every playstyle and budget. Now that you know how to get Ark emotes in Destiny 2, you can stop scrolling through forums looking for hacks and start working on grabbing the ones you want for your Guardian. And if you see me in the Tower showing off my Ark dance emote, feel free to send a wave and we can show off our collections together.