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Although Destiny was already plenty packed with upgrade materials, currencies, and other consumables, the recent Dark Below expansion has introduced a few more into the fray. Exotic shards, for example, are the new upgrade material for all of Destiny’s exotic gear and weapons, replacing ascendant shards and energy.

But while exotic shards may be one of the most important new upgrade materials, they are certainly not the rarest. That distinction befalls radiant shards and radiant energy, the new upgrade materials for the The Dark Below's new selection of raid gear.

As the name suggests, radiant materials will only drop during the Crota’s End raid, either during one of the three main sections or from a chest. Raid chests should be plenty familiar to Vault of Glass raiders, if only because they have become a primary source for ascendant materials.

Because those materials are so important for upgrading raid gear and getting to the new level cap of 32, the Crota’s End chests are very important. Destiny players will want to make sure they don’t miss a single one, or else they might have to wait another week to upgrade a piece of raid gear.

Destiny Expanding Inventory

Luckily, one of the Crota’s End chests is extremely easy to find. So easy in fact, you don’t actually need a full 6-player raid team to get it. All you need is a light foot and a little bit of luck.

The first chest in Crota’s End is a little unique in that its location is somewhat random. Off to the left side (when facing the first lamp) of the first section, which is a nearly pitch black cave overwrought with Thralls, is a long wall with a series of doors.

It's a little hard to see the doors - or anything for this matter - so we'd recommend turning up the game brightness a bit just for this section. That way, you can see the doors clearly. These doors open once players come near, and one of them holds the first of the raid's chests. It’s unclear how the randomization works, but the chest will appear in one of these doorways.

However, the chest always changes positions every time the whole raid team dies, provided they don’t pick up the chest first. Which means that every so often the chest will appear in the closest doorway, which any player can get to on their own.

Destiny Dark Below Launch Trailer

Just to be safe, though, it’s best to switch to a class loadout that maximizes agility, as this section of the raid puts a special debuff (called 'A Dark Burden') on players that eventually prevents them from sprinting or jumping. It’s not a long run that players will need to make, but the sooner they get to the chest the better, as those Thralls swarm in fast and are deadly. Hunters actually have it the easiest, as they can simply go invisible and walk to the doorway, or even one of the doorways further on, with no trouble.

The best thing about this strategy is that if the chest isn’t in the first doorway, players can simply let the Thralls kill them and go for it again. Eventually, the chest will be in that first doorway, and it’s much better to get it there then to try for one of the doorways further on.

Some have said there are more chests waiting in this section of the Crota’s End raid, but so far we have only encountered the one. Similarly, we’ve only ever seen radiant materials come from the chest, but YouTube videos show that it is possible to get other gear and weapons, even exotics like the Dragon's Breath rocket launcher. Given how easy it is to get this chest, though, we don’t expect it to be long before Bungie patches the first doorway out of the random spawns. For now players should take advantage, as its an easy way to get (at the very least) 2 radiant materials.

Have you found any other chests during the Crota’s End raid? Do you think Bungie will patch out this easy to find chest?

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Follow Anthony on Twitter @ANTaormina