The Shadowkeep expansion marks a major milestone for Destiny 2, as it serves as the first big story expansion release since Bungie’s split from Activision. The game brings us back to the Moon, where we’re reunited with Eris Morn to see what the Hive are up to this time. Here’s what Unstable Essence does in Destiny 2 Shadowkeep.
What Unstable Essence Does in Destiny 2 Shadowkeep
In Destiny 2 Shadowkeep, you’ll start encountering Nightmare and Lesser Nightmare enemies, and as you kill the Lesser variants, they’ll occasionally drop a red orb.
Picking up the red orb will give you the Unstable Essence buff, which lasts 15 seconds. Essentially, Unstable Essence will allow you to deal extra damage to Nightmare enemies, which should make combat a lot easier and more manageable as you progress.
In addition to that, it’s also worth noting that killing Lesser Nightmare enemies is required to progress through the story, whether it’s to open a new pathway so you can keep going, or to weaken a boss by removing its shield and immunity. In these cases, it’s not actually to pick up the red orbs to get the Unstable Essence buff, but it can still help in such situations.
With that in mind, whenever you do encounter Lesser Nightmare enemies in Destiny 2, it’s certainly worth killing them and picking up the red orbs if they do drop. This should allow you to get through combat situations quickly and more efficiently, even in boss fights.
It gives you a 15 second buff where you deal increased damage to Nightmare enemies in the expansion.
That’s all you need to know about what the Unstable Essence buff does in Destiny 2 Shadowkeep. Be sure to check our Shadowkeep guide wiki for more tips and information on the game.
Here are a few other guides to help get you started: