The Imbaru Engine (activity)

This article is about the Season of the Witch seasonal mode. For the location in Savathûn's Throne World, see The Imbaru Engine.

The Imbaru Engine
Game:	Destiny 2
Campaign:	Season of the Witch
Player(s):	1-3
Recommended Power Level:	1600
Location:	The Imbaru Engine, Court of Savathûn
Enemy faction(s):	Lucent Brood
Hostile race(s):	Hive
Objective(s):	Investigate the chamber above the Altars of Summoning.

The Imbaru Engine is an activity introduced in Season of the Witch.

Overview

When Ikora Rey and Eris Morn discovered the engine above Savathûn's oubliette, The Guardian would be sent to infiltrate it. They discovered it was made to generate Imbaru, the Witch Queen's method of gaining tribute through others failing to understand her schemes.

Objectives

• Reveal the Path

Use your spellcraft to open the way to Savathûn’s Imbaru Engine.

• Part the Mists

Uncover the mysteries of the Imbaru Engine.

• Complete the Cunning Test
  • Chests remaining: X

Successfully uncover the pattern of the cryptic runes.

• Complete the Strength Test
  • Strength proved

Successfully test your strength against the combatants.

• Complete the Navigation Test
  • Mirrors navigated: X of 4

Successfully navigate the mirrors.

• Complete the Test Of Truth And Lies

Find the meaning behind the runes.

• Claim the Witch Queen's Hierloom

Discover the heirloom locked away in Savathûn’s vault.

Transcript

"And my vanquisher will read that book, seeking the weapon, and they will come to understand me, where I have been and where I was going."The following is a verbatim transcription of an official document for archival reasons. As the original content is transcribed word-for-word, any possible discrepancies and/or errors are included.

Entrance

Altars of Summoning, Savathûn’s Throne World

First Visit

The Guardian attempts to access the Imbaru Engine for the first time.

• Eris Morn: We have discovered a vast chamber above the Witch Queen's oubliette. Undoubtedly, it guards one of Savathûn's secrets. Uncover it.

The Guardian uses the Acolyte's Staff to unveil the path upwards to a hidden chamber.
The Guardian ascends to the Imbaru Engine.

Imbaru Engine, Savathûn’s Throne World

• Immaru: Hey! Where do you think you're going? Get out!
• Eris Morn: We need no permission. The Spire is open to us, and we will go where we please.
• Immaru: You don't even know what's in here.
• Eris Morn: An engine to generate imbaru, Savathûn's reinterpretation of her brother's logic.
• Ikora: Exercise caution, Guardian. This vault was designed to confuse you. Conquer it.

Second Visit

The Guardian attempts to access the Imbaru Engine for the second time.

• Eris Morn: Your spellcraft has unlocked a new configuration within the Spire, and Savathûn’s Vault beckons once again.

The Guardian uses the Acolyte's Staff to unveil the path upwards to a hidden chamber.
The Guardian ascends to the Imbaru Engine.

Imbaru Engine, Savathûn’s Throne World

• Eris Morn: The Witch Queen constructed this place as a great engine of Imbaru, just as she experimented with the logic of the sword beneath.
• Ikora: Confusion is Savathûn’s greatest strength. She used it to gain power for millennia. Deny her, Guardian.

Third Visit

The Guardian attempts to access the Imbaru Engine for the third time.

• Eris Morn: The Spire has shifted, and there is yet another enigma to unravel.

The Guardian uses the Acolyte's Staff to unveil the path upwards to a hidden chamber.
The Guardian ascends to the Imbaru Engine.

Imbaru Engine, Savathûn’s Throne World

• Eris Morn: Savathûn still desires to be beyond our understanding, even without the threat of her worm.
• Ikora: She fed on lies for eons. Perhaps she simply enjoys it now. Guardian, don't give Savathûn the satisfaction.

Fourth Visit

The Guardian attempts to access the Imbaru Engine for the fourth time.

• Ikora: I had assumed we were finished here.
• Immaru: Hah! You Vanguard types always walk right into it. Of course you thought that. It's what she wanted you to think. But no. She left you one last puzzle. Consider it a going away present.
• Ikora: Guardian. This is the culmination of Savathûn's trickery. Discover what she has hidden from us.

The Guardian uses the Acolyte's Staff to unveil the path upwards to a hidden chamber.
The Guardian ascends to the Imbaru Engine.

Imbaru Engine, Savathûn’s Throne World

Test of Cunning

The Guardian uses the Acolyte’s Staff to begin the Test of Cunning.
Multiple chests manifest, marked by various different Hive runes.

If the Guardian opens the correct chest.

You display your cunning.

Savathûn’s laughter echoes throughout the chamber.

• Savathûn: [laughs sinisterly]

If the Guardian opens the incorrect chest.

You strengthen Savathûn’s imbaru

The failed choice causes Imbaru and kills the Guardian.

The Guardian successfully completes the Test of Cunning.

You have conjured cunning...

• Ikora: Imbaru is a... complicated thesis. Moreso than sword logic. Instead of killing, Savathûn used her cunning to feed her worm.
• Eris Morn: Every time the Witch Queen outpaced our understanding, she gained power. Every falsehood, fiction, rumor, and misplaced theory gave Savathûn her tribute.
• Ikora: Even in death she seeks to outwit us, and she's failed once again.

Test of Strength

The Guardian proceeds through the Imbaru Engine to the second floor.
The Guardian uses the Acolyte’s Staff to begin the Test of Strength.

• Immaru: You Guardians think you're so smart. Well try this one out. See how far you get.
• Ikora: We’ve bested Savathûn before. I have no doubt the Guardian will do it again.

Multiple Ceded Knights and Craven Thralls arrive, kneeling in various directions.
Eternal Executioners arrive.

Your war march begins...

If the Guardian starts slaying the correct order of Ceded Knights and Craven Thralls.

Your war march continues...

If the Guardian slays the incorrent foe

Your war march in halted...

The failed choice causes Imbaru.
The failed choice causes the Ceded Knights and Craven Thrall to stand and engage the Guardian. The Eternal Executioners activate, also attacking the Guardian.

The Guardian successfully completes the Test of Strength.

You have conjured war...

• Ikora: Imbaru and the sword logic. Powerful forms of Hive magic, and you've subverted both.
• Eris Morn: As above, so below. We will accept the Hive's power. Use it, Guardian. It is yours.

Test of Navigation

The Guardian proceeds through the Imbaru Engine to the third floor.
The Guardian uses the Acolyte’s Staff to begin the Test of Navigation.

• Eris Morn: Another obfuscation. Guardian, overcome this puzzle as you have the others.

Multiple hive runes manifest around the column of mirrors, each infused with Arc, Solar, or Void Light.

If the Guardian attunes to the correct Hive rune, activating the mirror’s portal.
The Guardian navigates through.

You have explored and inquired

Savathûn’s laughter echoes throughout the chamber.

• Savathûn: [laughs sinisterly]

If the Guardian navigates the wrong mirror portal.

You have failed to explore and inquire

The failed portal leads the Guardian to fall down the fatal spiked chasm.

The Guardian successfully completes the Test of Navigation.

You have conjured navigation...

• Savathûn: My brother's logic was always so inelegant. Xivu adored it, but I wanted something with a little more finesse. You fed me my tribute for a long time... but now you've dispelled the mist of my spire. If I still had my worm, it would be eating me up from the inside. Well, good riddance. Thank you for that.

Test of Truth and Lies

The Guardian proceeds through the Imbaru Engine to the third floor, into a newly active portal.
The Guardian uses the Acolyte’s Staff to attune with the braziers.

Hive soulfire ignites throughout the Spire...

A trio of unlit braziers manifest around the Guardian.

This flame burns within the halls of the Spire...

Savathûn’s Spire, Savathûn’s Throne World

The Guardian returns to the Spire, using Deepsight to find a hidden lit brazier.
The Guardian grasps the flame.

Flame grasped

This flame burns within the Altars of Summoning...

Altars of Summoning, Savathûn’s Throne World

The Guardian returns to the Altars of Summoning, using Deepsight to find a hidden lit brazier.
The Guardian grasps the flame.

Flame grasped

This flame burns within the mist below...

Imbaru Engine, Savathûn’s Throne World

The Guardian returns to the lower levels of the Imbaru Engine, using Deepsight to find a hidden lit brazier. The Guardian grasps the flame.

Flame grasped

With all three flames grasped, the Guardian rekindles the braziers; the doors open to the final test.
The Guardian uses the Acolyte’s Staff to begin the Test of Truth and Lies.

Immaru: Boss liked to play a little game about truth and lies. Left you Guardians stumped. A real humdinger. Let's see how you deal with this one.

The Guardian unveils the Hive runes to the Lie and the Truth.
The Guardian is bestowed one boon of Truth and two boons of Lies.
The Guardian modifies the Hive runes to a sequence, and submits their final tribute.

If the Guardian submits the wrong sequence

Savathûn relishes her tribute

The failed sequence causes Imbaru and kills the Guardian.

If the Guardian submits the correct sequence

Savathûn recognizes your cunning

The Guardian successfully completes the Test of Truth and Lies.
Another hidden chamber opens up.

Inside the chamber, the heirloom is revealed to by an Ahamkara egg, uncorrupted by Taken energy.

• Eris Morn: This... this is an Ahamkara egg... uncorrupted by Taken energy. Of Riven's clutch? Impossible.
• Ikora: We drove the wish-dragons to extinction during the Great Hunt. Riven's eggs were destroyed... or so we thought.
• Eris Morn: Guardian, you must leave the Spire at once. Ahamkara are powerful beings. Even a newly hatched whim is dangerous.
• Ikora: Wait. Savathûn left it here for us to find. Why?
• Eris Morn: So that it may wreak havoc.
• Ikora: We have to take it back to the Athenaeum.
• Eris Morn: What?
• Ikora: It can't stay here. Not with Savathûn. There's no other course of action.
• Eris Morn: And if it hatches? What then?
• Ikora: Like you said: the kind of havoc only an Ahamkara whim could wreak. Initiate the transmat, Guardian. We'll make sure it's contained.
• Eris Morn: This is reckless.
• Ikora: I've decided to follow your example.
• Eris Morn: Ha... Guardian, do as Ikora says. I know who to speak to about this discovery.

The Guardian transmats the Ahamkara egg to the Athenaeum.

{Activty Ends}

{Cutscene}

Vanguard Orbital Command, Hub for Emergency Logistics and Maneuvers

The Guardian stands before a table in the southern wing of the H.E.L.M.
Eris Morn walks up to the Guardian.

• Eris Morn: Guardian, what have you been working on in here?

The Guardian turns and gestures Eris to see their work.

The scene replays Savathûn’s latest resurrection; the Guardian noticing four small pinholes in the Witch Queen’s left wing.

• Eris Morn: A pattern... in Savathûn’s wings...

In the present, the Guardian shows their work. Notes covered with Savathûn’s anatomy, Hive rune sigils, and symbols from the Wall of Wishes.

• Eris Morn: She did give us what she promised. The last wish!

With the revelation of the Ahamkara egg, the Guardian’s newfound proficiency in Hive spellcraft, and the winged pattern, they decipher a combination to use in the Wall of Wishes.

Gameplay

The Imbaru Engine is a puzzle-focused activity, launched from the H.E.L.M. Players will have to complete different types of puzzles. If they make a mistake, they will get the Imbaru debuff, killing them in 3 seconds.

The Cunning Test

After progressing through the Season of the Witch narrative, a Minor Arcana card from the Deck of Whispers will unlock. After revealing it at the Lectern of Divination, it enables them access to the Imbaru Engine activity and subsequently the cunning test. Invoke the Hive magic at the center of the room to begin the cunning test. When beginning the test, there will be two chests with arrow plates pointing at them. Each arrow plate has a rune symbol, one shaped like an X, the other shaped like a jellyfish. The X shaped one is the correct symbol. Do not open the chests with the incorrect symbol as this will kill you. Open the chest with the correct rune. This will begin the next encounter spawning four other chests. Open the two chests with the correct symbol. Once this is completed, the final three chests will spawn. These chests can spawn anywhere across the room. Once all the correct chests are open this will complete the test.

The Strength Test

The strength test can be unlocked after collecting an Opaque Card found in Savathûn's Spire, just before proceeding to the boss encounter and then revealing it at the Lectern of Divination. Once the card is revealed, the player can either engage in the cunning test or skip it by interacting with the door. Regardless of the player's option, they must avoid the traps and ascend on the Hive lift. A Hive portal will cause the player to teleport to the previous level, so do not go through the portal. Once you enter the gateway, you will use Hive magic to begin the test. This will spawn Ceded Knights and Craven Thralls on arrow plates. Find the Deepsight orb and and interact with it. Once you do this footsteps will appear and will lead you to the enemy you are meant to kill first. If the enemy is a Knight, kill the enemy on the next plate. If the enemy is a Thrall, skip the next plate and kill the enemy ahead. Follow the path until you complete the test.

The Navigation Test

The navigation test can be unlocked after collecting an Opaque Card from the Altars of Summoning, located on the Altar of Flesh, where a statue of Sathona is holding a crystal. Destroy the crystal to collect the Opaque Card an then reveal it at the Lectern of Divination. The player can either engage with the previous 2 tesrs or skip them, but this time must interact with the door on the right, after ascending the first Hive lift. Regardless of their choice they must avoid the traps and ascend on the next Hive lift. When you enter the room, you use Hive magic to begin the test. Around the room are empty portal frames. Upon beginning the test, elemental runes will spawn on the top, left, and right of the portal frames. On the door their will be an Arc rune on the left side of the entrance. Use an Arc weapon to shoot the portal frame that also has a Arc rune on the left. Once you shoot the rune this will open a portal at the mirror you shot. Enter the portal to begin the next part of the test. Once you enter the portal this will teleport you back to the entrance. At the top of the door, a Solar rune will spawn. Use a Solar weapon to shoot the portal frame that has also has a Solar rune on the top to open the portal and enter it. This will once again spawn you at the entrance. On the right side of the door will be a Void rune. Find the portal frame that has a Void rune on the right there will another rune in front of it. Shoot it with a Void weapon and enter the portal to begin the final encounter. In the middle of the room, many Solar runes in different directions will appear. On the side of the door a Solar rune will appear on the right. Shoot the Solar rune that is pointing to the closest portal frame to the entrance on the right. Then enter the portal to complete the test.

The Test of Lies & Truth

To unlock the test, players must retrieve the final Opaque Card from the Altars of Summoning. The card is located at the Altar of Feracity on top of a large pillar on the right side. Once you acquire the card, return to the Lectern of Divination at the Athenaeum to reveal it. Now that the card is revealed you can now enter the new portal close to where the navigation test took place. In this room you can interact with Hive magic to summon three braziers. Then, they must find the three flames located at the Altars of Summoning, Savathûn's Spire, and the Imbaru Engine. The players must have completed the cunning test, the strength test, and the navigation test at least once before they are allowed to interact with the Hive flames.

To find the flame at the Imbaru Engine, players must go to the room where the cunning test took place. Then, interact with the Deepsight orb, below the bridge, this will reveal footsteps and the flame. Players must traverse the walls then interact with the flame. When searching for the flame at the Altars of Summoning, players must go to the right side of the Altar of the Sword, where a Deepsight orb resides. Interact with the orb to reveal the platforms, traverse across the platforms to the flame and interact with it. Once the second encounter is completed at Savathûn's Spire, just before passing through the final set of pottals leading to the boss encounter, players will be able to interact with a Deepsight orb on a platform. Once you interact with the orb this will reveal platforms, traverse across to find and interact with the flame.

Once all the flames are acquired, return to the new room at the Imbaru Engine and interact with the Hive magic once more to reveal the braziers. Rekindle the flames in each brazier. This will open the door to a new room, enter it and interact with the Hive magic to begin the next puzzle. In the room, a plate with a triangle and a Hive statue with four Hive runes on each corner of the room will be revealed. Interact with the Hive symbols on opposite sides of the room and acquire the Truth and Lie x2 buffs. Once you retrieve the buffs, you will be able to interact with the Hive statues that reveal 16 runes displaying either a triangle or a circle. The rooms where the cunning test, the strength test, and the navigation tests toom place will also have Hive statues with 16 runes displaying either a triangle or a circle.

Interact with the correct runes close to each statue in the room containing the plate with a triangle on it. At the top left statue, interact with the rune closer to the door, and at the top right statue, interact with the pair of runes on the right. For the bottom left statue interact with the pair of runes on the left, and at the bottom right statue interact with the rune by the entrance and the rune past the statue facing right. Once you have interacted with all the correct runes, submit your final tribute to the plate. This will open a door leading to a room with the heirloom, revealed to be a pure Ahamkara egg. After listening to some dialogue between Eris Morn and Ikora Rey, interact with the egg and the final test will be complete.

Unique Enemies

• Ceded Knight
• Craven Thrall
• Eternal Executioner

Rewards

Weapons

• Kept Confidence — Legendary Hand Cannon
• Locus Locutus — Legendary Sniper Rifle
• Brya's Love — Legendary Scout Rifle
• The Eremite — Legendary Fusion Rifle
• Eleatic Principle — Legendary Machine Gun
• Semiotician — Legendary Rocket Launcher

Armor

• Veiled Tithes Suit

List of appearances

• Destiny 2
  • Season of the Witch (First appearance)