Destiny 2 Imperials: How to get Imperials, including the best way to farm Imperials
How to get the new currency added as part of the Season of Opulence.
Destiny 2 Imperials is a new currency introduced during the Season of Opulance in Destiny 2 Forsaken's Annual pass.
Though it's not a finite resource - it is possible to farm Imperials - the many ways for how to get Imperials in Destiny 2 are limited.
On this page:
If you haven't already, you must complete the entirety of the Destiny 2 The Invitation quest, which now only unlock the Menagerie (where this resource is ultimately used for) but also an introduction to Imperials themselves.
What Imperials are used for in Destiny 2
Imperials are used to unlock new upgrades for the Chalice of Opulence, which in turn give you improved and more customisable rewards when you complete the Menagerie mode
These range from giving you multiple Powerful Gear and Runes per week, and the ability to slot additional rune types that guarantee certain gear types drop.
If you're interested in the Menagerie and the many rewards on offer, then it's worth working out how to maximise your efforts by getting Imperials from a variety of sources - especially since most upgrades costs thousands of Imperials each. There's a lot of work to be done!
How to get Imperials in Destiny 2
There are a variety of methods to get Imperials in Destiny 2 - and the good news is there's some crossover with most of them, allowing you to earn Imperials from multiple sources by doing the same few activities.
Let's start with the essentials.
Upgrade the Chalice with Power and Efficiency II first, and buy Wealth of the Emperor buffs
Once you've completed The Invitation quest line, you'd have completed your first Menagerie run and learnt how to upgrade the Chalice.
There are more upgrades on offer, each costing a number of Imperials, and the first you should buy is 'Power and Efficiency II' for 3,000 Imperials. It's a bit of a grind - though you could argue all upgrades are - but this is one that, once activated, sees other playlist activities, such as strikes, gambit and crucible and Menagerie matches, drop 500 Imperials from time to time.
Once you have that, you should then buy the 'Wealth of the Emperor' buff from Werner 99-40. This "significantly increases the chance of earning Imperials from strikes, Gambit and the Crucible", and "greatly increases the chance of earning Imperials in the Menagerie" and lasts until Imperials are earned from one of those activities.
Remember you can only buy this buff once you have the upgrade, but you should use it whenever possible to keep Imperials rolling in - especially as it costs a small amount of Glimmer and Legendary Shards, resources you'll likely have plenty of.
Collect and complete Werner 99-50 Weekly Bounties
As well as giving you Powerful Gear and a Legendary Rune, it's worth picking up all four Weekly Bounties from Werner 99-50 each week. A lot of these aren't even tied to the Mengarie - from earning experience to completing Vanguard bounties looting Legendary Engrams from the ground, you should pick these up on reset before doing anything else for an easy supply of Imperials.
Upon completing, you have to then find a Imperial Treasure Map location, and you won't get many for each one (just 100 Imperials) but completing each one for the first time also unlocks an associated Triumph, with each worth 500 Imperials each. More on those shortly.
Open chests on Werner 99-50's barge
Once you have completed The Invitation quest line, you'll be pointed towards chests at the back of the barge where Werner 99-50 resides on Nessus.
Each one costs 5,000 Glimmer to open, and gives you 150 Imperials and a Rune. Not a lot of Imperials, but it all adds up. These should also reset every week, so this is a reliable and easy method, assuming you have Glimmer burning a hole in your pocket.
Complete Menagerie Triumphs
Running the Menagerie doesn't automatically give you Imperials - even with the Power and Efficiency II upgrade active, it's just a chance - but you can earn them by completing various associated Triumphs.
These are essentially completing the various activities and boss encounters with certain requirements. Each one is worth 500 Triumphs, so it's worth keeping them in mind.
As a matchmade activity is might be difficult for everyone to get on board with specific strategies, but hopefully as time goes on and power levels increase, these become more feasible.
Here are all readily known Menagerie Triumphs (in order words, not the secret ones) including:
Completions and unlocks
- A Taste of Power - Unlock any Chalice Slot
- Purchase Makes Perfect - Unlock any upgrade for the Chalice
- Drink Deep - Unlock every Chalice Slot
- Rolling Deep - Slot runes in your Chalice to collect rewards from the Menagerie (200 total)
- Sightseeing - Complete encounters with the Menagerie (50 total)
- Fire is the Test of Gold - Earn the complete Menagerie weapon set
- Mine in Box - Earn the Season of Opulance collections badge
Weekly Werner 99-40 bounties
- Benevolence - Complete the bounty 'Benevolence', available from Werner 99-40
- Golden Experience - Complete the bounty 'Golden Experience', available from Werner 99-40
- Imperial Bestiary - Complete the bounty 'Imperial Bestiary', available from Werner 99-40
- Trial by Wits - Complete the bounty 'Trial by Wits', available from Werner 99-40
- Trial by Combat - Complete the bounty 'Trial by Combat', available from Werner 99-40
- Trial by Valor - Complete the bounty 'Trial by Valor', available from Werner 99-40
- Gaze into Death's Eyes - Complete the bounty 'Gaze into Death's Eyes', available from Werner 99-40
- The Emporor's Embrace - Complete the bounty 'The Emperor's Embrace', available from Werner 99-40
- The Imperial Salute - Complete the bounty 'The Imperial Salute', available from Werner 99-40
- Salvaged Goods - Complete the bounty 'Salvaged Goods', available from Werner 99-40
- Revered Treasures - Complete the bounty 'Revered Treasures', available from Werner 99-40
- Spoils of War - Complete the bounty 'Spoils of War', available from Werner 99-40
- Treasure Hunt - Complete Werner 99-40's weekly bounties (16 total)
Menagerie Trial challenges
- Faster than Lightning - Complete The Arkborn in the Menagerie with time left on the clock
- Time Manipulation - Complete The Crystals in the Menagerie with time left on the clock
- The Hunted Becomes The... - Complete The Hunted in the Menagerie with time left on the clock
- Parry, Strike, Parry - Complete The Riposte in the Menagerie with time left on the clock
- Going the Distance - Get a perfect score in The Gauntlet by having all six players complete every lap before time runs out
- Safe Haven - Defeat the Ogres in The Mockery in the Menagerie with all three havens preserved
- Like Clockwork - Complete a run through the Menagerie without running out of time in any encounter
- Imperial Finery - Complete a run through the Menagerie in a complete set of Opulent gear
- Dangerous to Go Alone - As a fireteam, light one lamp each during The Lamplighting in the Mengaerie
- Chariots of Fire - Complete a run in the Gauntlet where all six players complete any lap together
Menagerie boss completions
- Sweet and Shiny - Defeat Pagouri, Beloved by Calus
- Prize(d) Fighter - Defeat Arunak, Beloved by Calus
- Flair for Drama - Defeat Hasapiko, Beloved by Calus
So - those are all the ways to get Imperials in Destiny 2. But what if you need to get them quickly?
The Season of the Deep is here alongside the Into the Depths quest. You can know go fishing too! Don't forget to keep an eye on the Lost Sector and King's Fall challenge rotation schedule!
How to farm Imperials in Destiny 2
If you've ran out of the above sources, a reliable way to farm Imperials is once you have Power and Efficiency II unlocked, run any matchmade activity - strikes, Crucible, Gambit and Menagerie - to have a chance of getting Imperials drop upon completion.
Couple it with the Wealth of the Emperor buff you can buy from Werner 99-50, and it increases your chances further.
In theory all matchmade activities (apart from the Menagerie, which has less of a chance) have the same chance of dropping Imperials at the end as one another (according to Harmonicragex on reddit, the chances are about 20%) so choose the one you like and keep completing it. The fastest is arguably Crucible matches, so that could be the quickest method.
That said, for a limited time only (as we assume Bungie will patch this out sooner than later) there is an Imperial chest cheese which acts as the best Imperial farm at launch of the Season of Opulence.
If you're not familiar, it's possible to open the chest at the end of the Menagerie more than once by leaving the area then coming back, which sees the chest respawn.
Here's PlanetDestiny on YouTube showing how it's done towards the end, as well as a useful tip for Menagerie runs:
Not only does this allow you to get multiple drops from the chest per run (remember to load new Runes into the Chalice each time) but it also gives you additional chance at Imperials dropping with the Power and Efficiency II upgrade active.
Again, there's only a chance Imperials will drop, so having the Wealth of the Emperor active can increase this further. You only have 300 or so seconds, which is enough for several runs, and with a dose of luck you can squeeze out several Imperial drops from a single Menagerie run.