Why You Need Tier 2 Essences
In my Progression Tree post, I calculated that you need around 3,000 Tier 2 (T2) Essences to fully unlock all designs and tilesets. But during the storyline, you’ll earn around 1,200, meaning you’ll need to farm the rest to unlock everything. In this guide, I’ll share the most effective ways to gather these resources.
If you’re still progressing through the storyline, my recommendation is to only unlock the items you actively need or use for quests. You can always return to the progression tree later with better gear, making it much easier to farm the remaining essences. Do not unlock everything just yet.
Table of Contents
Where to Farm Tier 2 Essences
T2 Essences drop in four realm types—two are wild realms (non-Ascended) and two are storyline realms:
- Wild Realms: Antiquarian and Astrolabe
- Storyline Realms: Sylvan’s Cradle and Welkin’s Reach
Higher difficulty levels yield more essences per encounter. I recommend heading to the Astrolabe realm on Nightmare difficulty, which sets the enemies to level 80, offering the best rewards.
How to Farm: Best Method
Unlike my T4 guide, where non-combat strategies are key, here you’ll want to focus on combat. Avoid time-consuming Insight and Intelligence encounters unless you can solve them quickly, as they typically yield around 23 essences.
Which realm to pick? While swamps offer more monster density, I prefer the desert for its clear visibility and smooth gliding using the Charm of the Raven for max-speed traversal with umbrella. Trees in the swamp can interrupt your glide, slowing down your farming.
For the best results, use a Ghost minor card (difference is minor, but every essence counts), rest until nightfall, and target Bound enemies, which can drop 8-12 Tier 2 Essences each spawn. These enemies die quickly, especially with a grenade or Quake spell. You can also add a Blood Moon minor card for more Bound spawns and improved visibility.
Equip a Charm of Essence in your gear, which grants additional essences every third kill.
Combat encounters yield around 45-60 essences, depending on the difficulty level.
Whisp Hunting Method
- Approach a whisp and use a Dispel grenade or enchantment.
- This will instantly kill the whisp. Quickly run in and manually pick up the essences.
- You have about 3-6 seconds before the body vanishes, so hand-picking can net you 5-15 extra essences.
- Upon death, whisps drop an additional 2-8 essences, making it possible to gain 30-75 essences from just three whisps.
Important: Always hand-pick the essences, as missing this step can mean losing out on the extra 5-15 drops per whisp. BTW this tactic works for T3 and T4 Essences too.
Alternative: Non-Combat Method
If you can’t kill the Bound enemies quickly, lower the difficulty to normal and focus exclusively on hunting whisps using the method above. Ignore all other encounters since their yield is minimal—focus solely on whisps for better results.
How Many T2 Essences Can You Farm?
- Combat Method: Expect to earn around 1,800-2,100 Tier 2 Essences per hour, depending on spawn density and your clearing speed.
- Whisp Hunting Method: You can gather around 800-1,200 essences per hour, making this a decent alternative.
Final Words
Backtracking to lower-tier realms to farm T2 essences can be inconvenient, especially if you’re focused on end-game content. That’s why I’ve created a feedback post on the official forum, suggesting that Tier 4 essences should be convertible into any lower tier, not just Tier 1. If you agree, cast your vote here to support this idea.
Once you are done, you might be interested in checking my Tier 3 and Tier 4 guides
Happy farming, and may your progression be swift!