In the MMO shooter Destiny, a loot table for the “Prison of Elders” is becoming apparent. Here’s how it works with the treasure key, the vault, and the loot.
There is quite a bit of confusion surrounding the vault and the treasure key. About 10 days after the DLC House of Wolves launched in Destiny, the patterns are now becoming clearer.
In the Prison of Elders, Bungie has deviated from the old model in Destiny: Not every enemy drops something anymore; instead, at the end of a run, there is a visit to the “vault” where two small chests and one large chest can be opened. The two small ones open automatically, while the large one requires a treasure key.
Where do you get the treasure keys?
There are four ways to obtain treasure keys. Only one guarantees success.
Guaranteed Treasure Key
Completing the main story of House of Wolves awards a guaranteed key. That’s it. The rest can only be obtained with a probability. It was thought that maybe there would be a guaranteed key each week. This is definitely not the case.
Chance for Treasure Key
Chances for a treasure key (in German Schatzschlüssel) include:
- when handing in the wanted bounties to Petra Venj
- when opening the “small” chests in the Prison of Elders
- when using an Aether key at one of the new public events to open an Aether chest
At first, it was thought that the bosses in the “Prison of Elders” had a chance to drop treasure keys: this is not the case.
The Vault in the Prison of Elders in Destiny
Guaranteed Rewards
For guaranteed rewards in the Prison of Elders, there are once a week and per character when the activity is completed and the small treasure chests are opened:
- At Level 32, an armor core, 200 reputation with Variks
- At Level 34, a weapon core and an Aetheric Light, 300 reputation with Variks
- At Level 35, an armor and weapon core and Aetheric Light, 500 reputation with Variks
To obtain all guaranteed rewards, one must also complete all modes. It is not possible to just do the 35 and expect to get everything. The armor and weapon cores can be exchanged with Variks for weekly changing rewards (42-level armors, 365-level weapons). Or one can purchase a surprise package from him for both cores.
What’s in the small chests?
The two small chests in the vault can always be opened. Here, there is a chance for strange coins, light particles, planetary materials, and treasure keys. Various tokens for which Variks hands out ships or shaders have also been observed.
What’s up with the large chest?
To open the large chest, you need a treasure key.
The content of the chest appears to be the same at levels 28, 32, and 34: There is a chance for an exotic item (armor and weapons), one out of 10 different Queen’s weapons, one class item (only one per class), strange coins, and light particles.
The guaranteed exotics from the large chest
Upon the first opening of such a large chest with a character, there seems to be a significantly increased, almost guaranteed chance of an exotic weapon. After that, according to a survey among players on reddit, the chance is about 7%.
At the moment, it seems that the weekly reset does not play a role here – the question is just: Have you opened a large chest with this character before? Yes or No?
- If No, you have almost a 100% chance of getting an exotic weapon.
- If Yes, then about a 7% chance for a weapon or armor.
However, like much in Destiny, this is currently not set in stone but more like written in pencil.
The large chest at Skolas
At level 35, there is all of this plus another ship, a shader, and an emblem. These are always the same three items. They are available the first time one kills Skolas and opens the large chest , similar to the corresponding items with Atheon and Crota.
What’s else in the Prison of Elders?
The bosses at levels 34 and 35 have a chance to drop an “Elder Cipher” directly upon their death. This triggers an exotic bounty, which leads to one of the 3 new exotic weapons in House of Wolves: Dreg’s Promise, Queenbreakers’ Bow, and Lord of the Wolves.
Skolas, the final boss of the 35 Prison, also has a low chance to drop special primary weapons.
What does this mean for me? How do I do this best?
It seems best to obtain the treasure keys by farming the public events and applying the tricks we’ve described.
However, it doesn’t seem like they are “worth it” to farm at the moment. The yield is just too low. Except if one is opening a chest for the very first time with a character, is keen on the cosmetic items from Skolas, or wants the Queen’s pink weapons.
The actual rewards in the Prison of Elders are rather the cores, Aetheric Light, the elemental weapons from Skolas, and the “Elder Cipher” for the 3 exotic weapons – none of these require farming treasure keys.
