Umbral Engrams are special Engrams earned from playing the Last Wish Raid. These Engrams can decrypt into gear that is almost as good as Raid gear, but only the very best rolls drop from these engrams. There are a few ways to go about opening Umbral Engrams on Destiny 2
Complete the main raid and the subsequent “take a knee” mission. You can also get them from an NPC in The Last City as well as getting them as a random drop from enemies on Nessus, Io, Titan and Mercury.
They are not guaranteed to decrypt into new gear but have been confirmed by Bungie to give you a chance at endgame level rare and legendary gear.
There is a known bug where these engrams will sometimes not decrypt any new items after you open them and you’ll be stuck at the same power level as before you opened it. Bungie has said they are aware of this issue but for now it’s best to hold off on opening any Umbral Engrams until Warmind releases on May 8th 2018.
What is an Umbral Engram?
Umbral Engrams are a special engram that drops from completing the Last Wish raid on any difficulty. These engrams can decrypt gear very similar to endgame Raid gear, however they will only have the best rolls from regular legendary drops. This means items like Sunblast and Mulligan can drop but they can also be of lower power levels. The only way to obtain raid gear is by decrypting an Umbral Engram or getting lucky from the final reward chest.
Umbral Engrams are the only way to obtain Exotic items called Knucklehead Radar, Worldline Zero, and Starfire Protocol in Destiny 2. These engrams will decrypt into a random exotic item from the base Destiny 2 exotic loot table.
What Bounties and Quests give Umbral Engrams?
There is a hard mode version of Skolas’s Revenge (Tier 1) that rewards an Umbral Engram upon completion. This can be repeated on both Xbox and Playstation to get more engrams.
On top of this, there are two weekly quests on Nessus also called “Relics of the Golden Age” which rewards an Umbral Engram upon completion with a chance at one of the Knucklehead Radar Exotics.
What is the most efficient way to get Umbral Engrams?
There are 2 known ways to farm for Umbral Engrams. The first one is the easiest but most time consuming. This method involves running 3-4 levers on various chests in the Last Wish Raid. Bungie has stated that there are over 10 hidden chests in this raid, with 1 being behind a secret door. Once this door is opened you have to complete the entire raid within the 30 second time limit or the door closes and you have to go restart it.
This method is the most time consuming but also gives you a guaranteed number of engrams as well as a chance at additional drops such as armor and weapons which would be worth even more than the gear earned from decrypting the engrams themselves.
How to use umbral engrams
- First get the raid done on any difficulty to get an Umbral Engram from Shuro Chi or from a random drop from one of the three chests in the secret area (you can run these chests in Normal and it’ll give you a guaranteed time limited engram).
- On top of this, there are two weekly quests on Nessus called “Relics of the Golden Age” which rewards an Umbral Engram upon completion with a chance at one of the Knucklehead Radar Exotics.
- Once you have done all these things, open your engrams… If it’s not what you wanted move on to step 4.
- If you got something good go to the Leviathan Raid on Prestige difficulty. The way it works with the guaranteed guaranteed random rolls is that when you open an engram it goes into a priority list of what you have already gotten. So if you’ve gotten everything in that priority list then the next engram opened will always be something new or better.
Conclusion
Umbral Engrams are a great way to gear up for endgame content. If you get something good, keep opening them until you have acquired all the items available in their drop list. It’s better than getting nothing at all!
