How to get Essence of the Oversoul in Destiny 2

Necrochasm is the crown jewel of loot in the Crota’s End raid in Destiny 2, and players who need it will have to hunt down an elusive resource called Essence of the Oversoul.

Odds are you’ve seen this elusive resource if you’ve cleared any encounter in Crota’s End, and you’ll need more of it to complete the Bottomless Pit quest and bring Necrochasm to its full potential—or to even get it in the first place.

Essence of the Oversoul is required to evolve Eidolon Ally into Necrochasm, but Destiny players who already have the Exotic will also need some more to obtain its catalyst. This means if you were dedicated enough to take down Crota in contest mode, you’ll still need to step foot into the Son of Oryx’s raid and beat him around a bit.

If you see an Essence of the Oversoul pop up while you’re getting your drops, know that’s a good thing: It will get you one step closer to Necrochasm—if you’re lucky enough to get that resource, that is.

This rare resource has a chance of dropping from completing encounters in Crota’s End, though Update 7.2.0.4 on Sept. 19 made it considerably easier to get Essence of the Oversoul. Here’s what you need to know about it and what changes are coupled with Update 7.2.0.4.

Where to get Essence of the Oversoul in Crota’s End

After Sept. 19, you can get one guaranteed Essence of the Oversoul when you first beat Crota each week, and another drop by doing the full raid in order. The first guaranteed lockout is account-based, but doing a full clear will continue to award an Essence of the Oversoul regardless. The update also increases the chance of obtaining this resource from encounters. Lastly, if you’re lucky, you can get the necessary amount of Essence of the Oversoul as a random drop by killing Crota, just like you would with a regular raid Exotic.

This means players will need less than 20 Crota’s End clears in total to obtain Necrochasm, marking a huge departure compared to the initial state after Crota’s End launched. The weekly guaranteed Essence drop was only applied once a week, and the drop rate on Essence of the Oversoul was abysmal.

Before Patch 7.2.0.4, we obtained Essence of the Oversoul from our first clear on Abyss (Lamps), and we got another one from beating Crota that same week on the same character. After that, though, we farmed Crota 10 times and did another full run without obtaining another drop. Despite this being a quest, there is quite a bit of RNG involved, even if you can speed it up a bit.

If farming encounters isn’t good enough for you, some triumphs will also grant you a fixed amount of Essence of the Oversoul. Finishing an encounter triumph or an encounter challenge awards you with one, and so will clearing the encounters with the same class.

Looting hidden chests, finishing the raid itself, and completing with a team of matching subclasses doesn’t award you with extra Essence of the Oversoul, though.

Here are the triumphs that drop Essence of the Oversoul. These triumphs will only drop one Essence unless specified.

• Perfected Truth: Flawless clear (three Essence)
• In Unison: Clear Crota’s End with all six guardians using the same class.
• Conservation of Energy: Complete the encounter challenge for Abyss.
• Feather-Light: Complete the Abyss encounter without letting any players reach 10 stacks of Weight of Darkness.
• Precarious Balance: Complete the encounter challenge for The Bridge
• Threatening Reach: Defeat all Swordbearers in the Bridge encounter from the opposite side of the Bridge.
• Equal Vessels: Finish the Ir Yût encounter challenge.
• Communal Rites: At least one player must expunge Ir Yût on each round.
• All For One: Finish the encounter challenge for Crota.
• Singular Sensation: Beat Crota with only one player Enlightened at a time.
• Broken Throne: Complete all encounters in Crota’s End on Master (two Essence)

Can you farm Essence of the Oversoul?

Essence of the Oversoul is farmable if you clear Crota’s End repeatedly, as confirmed by Bungie. After Sept. 19, completing a full clear of Crota’s End guarantees an Essence of the Oversoul, and the patch also boosts the chance of getting this resource by completing an encounter.

The quest-based approach has gotten mixed opinions from the Destiny 2 community. While there is a deterministic path to obtaining Necrochasm, RNG still weighs heavily into the equation, which feels like a mixed situation. The changes in Update 7.2.0.4. show Bungie is willing to adapt to player feedback and should tackle most of the criticism players have shown since the raid released.