How to unlock the Act 2 Engram Focusing Upgrade in Destiny 2’s Echoes

Destiny 2 Echoes adds a few new weapons, though players who want to farm them may have to wait until they unlock the Act Two Engram Focusing Upgrade to decode Engrams into those coveted guns.

The new weapons in Act Two include Aberrant Action (a Solar rocket sidearm), Corrasion (A Vex-inspired, two-shot burst rifle), and the return of the coveted Perfect Paradox shotgun from Season of Dawn.

Though Guardians can generally use Engrams to guarantee rolls of those two Vex weapons early on, the usual process came to a brief halt in Echoes due to a time-gate. The Act Two Engram Focusing upgrade was locked for the first week of the second act, though it’s finally available if you’ve progressed far enough into the seasonal quest.

Here’s what we know about the Act Two Engram Focusing Upgrade in Destiny 2.

Can you unlock the Act 2 Engram Focusing Upgrade in Destiny 2?

The Act Two Engram Focusing Upgrade is available after week two of Echoes‘ second act. Players must advance the A Rising Chorus until they’ve reached around step 21 of the quest, which will let you start and complete the Specimen ID:NES005 side quest. This upgrade is a reward from this quest, allowing Guardians to guarantee copies of Corrasion and Aberrant Action at last.

Guardians were expecting this high-profile upgrade on the first week of Echoes’ second act. Bungie didn’t give them this option from the get-to, however: this bonus was unavailable even after wrapping up the weekly steps in A Rising Chorus: Act Two and finishing the Specimen ID:NES004 quest. The fourth specimen quest only gives a boost to reputation earned from the seasonal armor set, which is hardly the upgrade fans had been waiting for.

Is the Act 2 Engram Focusing Upgrade time-gated in Destiny 2?

The Act Two Engram Focusing Upgrade is no longer time-gated—or rather, we have reached the time-gate for it. This reward only became available after the episode’s eighth week in total, so anyone who tried to focus Act Two weapons before then couldn’t get rolls for the new weapons directly. Now, however, it unlocks after reaching step 21 in A Rising Chorus Act Two and completing the quest that starts after that point.

If you’re not that far ahead, you can try your luck by focusing your Echo Engrams into Echo weapons, which have a chance of awarding the two new guns (on top of the old ones). You may also wait until the upgrade is available if you want to take advantage of your weekly Deepsight roll.