Destiny 2 Umbral Incursions and Umbral Flames tips
How to clear the Vanguard Umbral quests and unlock new Stasis fragments
Complete the Destiny 2 Umbral Incursions, Umbral Flames, and Umbral Infiltration Stasis Fragment quests to get even more ways to bolster your new Darkness Subclass. As well as Stasis Aspects, you can also use Fragments to add little bonus effects for Stasis. Therefore, you'll want to get these Fragment quests done as quickly as possible, as there are a loads to unlock and experiment with. While the objective requirements for these quests has been toned down since the launch of Destiny 2 Beyond Light, they can still be a bit of a grind. With that in mind, here are some tips and strategies to help you clear through these Destiny 2 Stasis Fragment quests as quickly as possible.
How to get Destiny 2 Stasis Fragments
After you get your first Stasis Aspect during the Destiny 2 Born in Darkness questline, you'll also get to choose between a few quests from the Exo Stranger that unlock Fragments. The Fragment quests all have objectives that involve either Destiny 2 Strikes, Crucible, or Gambit, and we'll be focusing on the Strike-focused Vanguard quests here, as they're by far the most painless.
There are a few possible quest variants, but they all share objectives ranging from killing Champions with Stasis damage, getting Stasis ability (Super, melee, or grenade) final blows, or defeating combatants slowed by Stasis. Players have reported some inconsistencies with these objectives, and it's possible that there's a bit of bug interference, but we've found several ways to speed them up.
Speed up ability kills with the right gear and Exotics
One huge tip is to use Traveler's Chosen, the Exotic sidearm that replenishes ability energy, if you have it (if not, find it in the new Exotic kiosk in the Tower). This will dramatically speed up all Stasis kills, no matter your Destiny 2 Class or build. You can also use Salvation's Grip, the new Exotic grenade launcher in Beyond Light, for shatter kills, but it will not count as an ability kill. Salvation's Grip also does very little damage on its own, so think of it as a setup weapon rather than a finisher.
If you have a full team, run Blind Well for the fastest kills possible
Some quests require you to run through the Strike playlist, but these Umbral quests are generally open to any Strike, meaning you can load up a specific strike on a destination. This is especially helpful if you have two friends to play with, as you can then load into The Corrupted Strike in the Dreaming City and, rather than playing through the actual Strike, travel to the Blind Well and kill enemies there. The Blind Well is full of squishy enemies and its orb mechanic gives you functionally infinite Supers, so it's perfect for any ability grind. However, everyone in your fireteam will need to be on board with the plan, as playing the Strike normally will pull everyone forward.
Get faster Champion kills with precise abilities and checkpoints
For Champion kills specifically, you'll need to head into the Nightfall on Hero difficulty or higher - more Champions appear at higher difficulties, but you should make sure you're at an appropriate power level. Be sure you have suitable anti-Champion mods from the seasonal Artifact equipped or are using weapons that intrinsically have such mods.
Now play through the Nightfall Strike until you reach a checkpoint for an area with Champions in it. From there, damage the Champions until they're at low health, hit them with a Stasis ability until they're frozen, and then kill them with a finisher. As long as Champions are under the effects of Stasis when you finish them, killing them this way guarantees Umbral quest progress. After that, let the enemies defeat you so you can reset the checkpoint and repeat the process.
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Austin freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and he's been with 12DOVE since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a senior writer is just a cover up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.