The Best Early Vendor Upgrades To Get In Destiny 2’s Season Of The Haunted

Destiny 2′s Season of the Haunted has arrived and with it a bunch of new loot, new challenges, and a new vendor. Once players have completed the first mission of the season, they’ll find that the Fallen wing of the H.E.L.M is now retrofitted with a new artifact, the Crown of Sorrow, found aboard the Glykon back in the Season of the Hunt, which now functions as the seasonal vendor

Much like the War Table in the past season, the Crown of Sorrow is where players will be able to purchase upgrades, rank up for rewards, collect bounties, and focus Umbral Engrams for gear related to the current season. Early on, the most important thing players will be doing at the Crown of Sorrow is buying ability upgrades with Figments of Darkness, a currency that can be sparingly earned through seasonal story completion, as a rank reward through the Crown of Sorrow, and some seasonal challenges.

The upgrade tree is split into three paths depending on what players want:

• The Channeling path focuses on making sure players get better drops, like high-tier gear or guaranteed Deepsight weapons for crafting.
• The Reaping path optimizes how players gain Vestiges of Dread, a new currency unique to the Derelict Leviathan.
• The Manifesting path is all about umbral focusing, so these abilities will unlock the ability to focus armor and weapons as well make it easier to gain the Umbral Opulent Energy to do so.

Since Figments of Darkness are scarce this early in the season, they should be spent carefully and according to what players would like. This early in the season however, it’s likely best to just make sure you’re racking up materials that will help later, as well as completing seasonal challenges to get more rewards. Because of that, the best possible early route would be to primarily focus on the Reaping path.

The first ability on the Reaping tree allows Petrified Egregore, which are these sickly red plants players will see around the Castellum, to give Vestiges of Dread. The second upgrade will allow Vestiges of Dread to be gained from daily bounties and that’ll start anyone on the right foot. Vestiges of Dread are very important because they can be used at the end of the seasonal activity, Nightmare Containment, to earn greater rewards. Players will be running Nightmare Containment a lot. Collecting Vestiges of Dread is also important to a seasonal challenge that looks like it’ll recur, so being able to generate them more efficiently will help climb the ranks in the weeks to come.

Besides investments in Vestiges of Dread, players should invest in the first ability on the Manifesting tree, which will allow them to focus Haunted armor. That’ll make it easier to not only get new gear specifically, but also get it at a higher level. Once players have bought any four upgrades, they’ll be able to get an ability in the Manifesting path that allows them to focus Opulent weapons, meaning they can reroll their favorite weapons like Austringer and Beloved.

For more on Destiny 2’s Season of the Haunted, check out our guide where to find the Calus bobbleheads scattered around the Derelict Leviathan, how to get Opulent weapons, and more.