Destiny has many currencies and resources to keep track of, and the game doesn't do a great job of telling you how to earn each type, or what to spend them on.
Xur's Gear And Location For This Weekend
One of these is the Strange Coin, a special currency type that can only be spent in one place. Every weekend in Destiny, a mysterious merchant named Xur appears in The Tower, bringing with him an inventory of Exotic weapons and armor. His stock is different each week, and he's the only vendor that sells Exotic gear.
It's this gear that Strange Coins are used to purchase, so it's important to stock up for Xur's visits. He appears Friday at 5 a.m. Eastern and departs at 5 a.m. Sunday, giving you a limited window to spend your hard-earned currency. Strange Coins can be gained randomly from various activities such decoding an engram or playing the Crucible, but there's only one surefire way to collect the amount you'll need to buy the best Exotics.
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The Weekly Heroic Strikes dish out Strange Coins as guaranteed rewards, though you can unfortunately only earn them once each week. The number of Strange Coins you earn scales with the difficulty you run the strikes on: you get 3 for level 24, 6 for level 28, and 9 for level 30. Playing at a lower level and then again at a higher one will earn you the additional coins for the jump in difficulty, but you won't get the three for the level you originally played on again. The max you can earn is nine, which is a lot considering how rare they are in other parts of the game. But is it enough?
Frankly, no. Armor from Xur costs 13 Strange Coins, and the Exotic weapon costs 23. One week of Heroic Strikes will not earn you enough for armor, unless you're lucky enough to get four individual coins elsewhere in the meantime. There might not be something you're dying to buy one week, and so saving up is a valid option, as much as it sucks to watch Xur come and go without purchasing something.
The best solution is simply to have more than one--ideally three--characters. Yes, not everyone has the time or desire for this, and I wouldn't blame you if it's a turn off. But having multiple Guardians is easily the best way to have plenty of Strange Coins for Xur every week--each one can earn nine Strange Coins weekly. Since you can transfer items between characters using the vault, you can pool your resources and buy pretty much whatever you'd like. A single week of not buying the weapon will give you plenty of surplus, but you could still afford at least a weapon (or multiple armor pieces) every week. It's also very helpful for buying Exotic Shards, which you'll need to upgrade Exotic gear, and only cost seven Strange Coins.
You'll have to run the same Strike three times, as well, but Bungie has at least made the much easier than it used to be. The developers recently patched in Matchmaking for the Weekly Heroic Strike, so you don't need a party of friends just to run it. Simply hop in, find two other Guardians automatically, and run the Strike as efficiently as possible. There's certain tricks to exploiting each--follow the lead of your partners if you don't know them to expedite the process. You have a full week to run the Strikes and earn your coins, so you don't need to do them all at once, and it's not as tiring if you spread them out. Bear in mind the weekly reset (Tuesdays) does not line up with Xur's appearances (over the weekend), so be sure to get your Strange Coins before he arrives.