Destiny 2's Umbral Engram focussing is all over the place this season

The Umbral Engrams are probably more sought after than Prime Engrams in Destiny 2. With the prismatic recaster now revamped in the Season of the Chosen, and with better focussing methods available this season, there is more demand for Umbral Engrams in Destiny 2 than ever before.

However, there's something really weird about focussing the engrams this season. As discovered by Ehroar, the probability behind gaining weapons from focussing on Umbral Engrams isn't that great.

Players can come across Umbral Engrams in a lot of places in Destiny 2. Nightfall strikes have a chance of dropping these Umbral Engrams. The only place where players won't come across these Umbral Engrams are the Lost Sectors in Destiny 2.

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A fair warning about focussing Umbral Engrams in Destiny 2

With the Season of the Chosen in Destiny 2, focussing on Umbral Engrams requires hammer charges. Tier 1 needs 1 hammer charge, Tier 2 needs 3 hammer charges, and Tier 3 needs a whopping 5 hammer charges. Players would expect that as the number of hammer charges go up, the likelihood of getting a better weapon with proper rolls would go up.

However, that's not the case. Considering the example of an SMG here, players may get this weapon once every six tries in case of Tier 1. However, players stand a chance to earn five bonus weapons with equally good rolls.

In the case of Tier 2, players have a 50-50 chance of acquiring an SMG. So players would need a total of six hammer charges, but they'd stand to earn only one bonus weapon from it. If players miss, then they waste six charges and have only two weapons.

When it comes to Tier 3, the probability remains the same, but players would require a total of ten hammer charges to acquire one SMG. The miss count remains the same on this, but players waste ten charges instead.

From the looks of it, Tier 2 and Tier 3 aren't the best ways to earn seasonal weapons in Destiny 2. Players have a better chance of getting the weapon of their choice by just focusing on Tier 1 Umbral Engrams. In short, players spend ten hammer charges for two weapons from Tier 3 while they could earn ten weapons from Tier 1, which indeed is a better bet.

Focusing on Umbral Engrams in Destiny 2 is the best way to go about obtaining weapons, because the armor drops from these engrams aren't that great. But then again, all items from these Umbral Engrams in Destiny 2 yield legendary gear or weapons. So if these weapons or pieces of gear aren't really worth it, players can dismantle them and acquire legendary shards, which plays a vital role in weapon masterworking, and acts as a currency for Xur as well.