Destiny 2 Season 11 Heroic Contact Guide, Plus How Umbral Engrams Work

Season 11 of Destiny 2 brings the Season of Arrivals with an engaging new public activity called Contact. This challenging event rotates between Io and Titan locations, requiring strategic coordination with fellow Guardians to overcome escalating enemy waves and secure valuable seasonal rewards.

Contact combines elements from previous seasonal activities like Seraph Towers and Escalation Protocol with Gambit-inspired mechanics. Your primary mission involves harvesting Motes of Darkness from defeated combatants and depositing them in a central banking mechanism. Success demands both offensive prowess and defensive awareness throughout the multi-stage encounter.

The event structure follows a progressive difficulty curve, with each successful wave introducing tougher adversaries and more complex mechanics. Understanding the core loop is essential for maximizing your efficiency and securing the best possible loot from each completion.

Your fundamental objective in Contact mirrors Gambit’s core loop: eliminate enemies and gather the Motes of Darkness they relinquish. Transport these energy fragments to the central deposit location to advance the event progress meter. Complete four full banking phases to trigger the final boss confrontation.

Guardians maintain a maximum carrying capacity of 10 motes simultaneously. Unlike Gambit, there’s no confirmed benefit for larger deposits, so prioritize frequent banking to minimize risk. The critical penalty remains identical—death before depositing results in complete mote forfeiture.

Advanced players should employ area-of-effect abilities and weaponry to accelerate mote generation. Supers like Stormcaller or top-tree Dawnblade excel at clearing groups efficiently. Coordinate with teammates to cover different spawn points rather than clustering in one area.

Common mistakes include over-committing for additional motes when near capacity and neglecting bank defense during transition phases. Always maintain situational awareness and communicate mote counts with your fireteam.

Larger Blooms become available when you kill the Champions protecting them.

As Contact progresses, distinctive orange luminescent pools emerge near enemy spawn locations, accompanied by the notification “Concentrated Darkness coalesces nearby.” These zones contain Champion-level adversaries that must be eliminated to access Darkness Blooms.

Darkness Blooms function as supercharged motes, contributing approximately 20% toward bank completion per deposit. These should become your immediate priority whenever available. Champion elimination requires coordinated fireteam effort, especially during later waves when their disruptive capabilities intensify.

Blooms serve dual purposes: accelerating regular progress and enabling Heroic version activation. To achieve Heroic status, you must locate and deposit every Bloom throughout all four banking phases. Completing any wave without depositing available Blooms permanently locks out Heroic mode for that instance.

Pro tip: Designate one fireteam member as dedicated Champion/Bloom hunter while others maintain standard mote collection. This specialization dramatically improves Heroic completion rates.

As in Gambit, you’ll need to deposit Motes of Darkness you gather from enemies. You can only carry 10 at a time.

During transitions between banking phases, Taken forces materialize to assault the deposit mechanism. Their attacks temporarily disable banking functionality while the event timer continues counting down. Rapid elimination of these interlopers is crucial for maintaining momentum.

Champions possess the additional capability to seal the bank during critical moments, further emphasizing their prioritization. Successful teams allocate defensive specialists during these periods while others continue mote gathering in preparation for the next wave.

Effective bank protection involves strategic positioning and area denial capabilities. Weapons with persistent damage fields (Anarchy, Witherhoard) or Supers that control space (Stasis, Void Wall) excel during defense phases. Communication regarding enemy focus targets prevents overwhelmed defenders.

Successfully completing all four banking phases summons a powerful Taken boss determined to terminate your efforts permanently. This confrontation follows straightforward mechanics but demands optimized damage output and add management.

The boss possesses significantly elevated power levels compared to regular enemies. Concentrate your most potent attacks and Super abilities while remaining vigilant against spawning reinforcements that can quickly overwhelm unprepared teams.

Weapons like Divinity create critical damage amplification zones, significantly accelerating boss elimination. Coordinate weapon debuffs (Tractor Cannon, oppressive Darkness grenades) with high-damage weaponry (Xenophage, Izanagi’s Burden) for maximum efficiency.

Advanced strategy: Designate roles with one player focusing on add control while others concentrate on boss damage. Well of Radiance or Ward of Dawn provide crucial survivability during intense damage phases.

New Umbral Engrams can only be redeemed at the Umbral Decoder in the Tower, but you can “focus” them with the Prismatic Recaster machine to determine what rewards you’ll get.

Contact serves as the primary source for Umbral Engrams, Destiny 2’s new seasonal reward system. These distinctive engrams require processing at the Umbral Decoder located in the Tower.

The Prismatic Recaster enables engram focusing, allowing targeted acquisition of specific gear categories. This system dramatically improves loot acquisition efficiency compared to random drops.

Optimization tip: Complete multiple Contact events to accumulate Umbral Engrams, then use the Prismatic Recaster to focus them toward your desired weapon types or armor slots.

For players seeking to maximize their seasonal power progression, our Weapons Unlock guide provides complementary strategies for gear optimization across different gameplay modes.

No reproduction without permission：SeeYouSoon Game Club » Destiny 2 Season 11 Heroic Contact Guide, Plus How Umbral Engrams Work Master Destiny 2's Contact event with expert strategies for motes, blooms, and heroic boss encounters