Nightingale: How to get Essence

Wondering how to get Essence in Nightingale? Described as a "fundamental magick" in Nightingale, Essence is an essential resource used as both a currency and a means of upgrading and repairing gear. It's important to start gathering Essence as soon as possible, but Nightingale doesn't entirely say very much about the different types of Essence available to players, nor which items yield the greatest amount of Essence.

Luckily for you, intrepid Realmwalker, we've broken down the details below. Read on for both an explanation of the different types of Essence as well as strategies for utilising Essence and stockpiling it in Nightingale's early game.

In this guide:

• Types of Essence in Nightingale
• How to use Essence in Nightingale
• Gathering Essence as a Nightingale beginner

Nightingale | Release Date Trailer | gamescom 2023

Types of Essence in Nightingale

Essence is a building block of all living and inanimate matter within the Fae Realms. It comes in four distinct tiers, each of which represent a different level of rarity. We've outlined the tiers below, along with how to obtain them:

• Essence Dust: This is the most basic form of Essence. Colourless and common, Essence Dust is created when you break down items. Simply right-click on an item in your inventory that isn't coloured and choose the Extract option. You'll find that nearly every item in the game offers up at least a small amount of Essence Dust.
• T1 Essence: T1 Essence is an elevated form of Essence that is coloured green to denote its uncommon status. In order to find it, you'll have to Extract it from other green items or complete quests, such as unlocking Sites of Power littered throughout the map. You're most likely to encounter T1 Essence when exploring the Realms created by the Antiquarium, Astrolabe, and Provisioner cards.
• T2 Essence: T2 Essence is coloured blue and rare. Like T1 Essence, it can be Extracted from blue items, but you'll primarily encounter it as a reward for finishing objectives and quests. You're most likely to encounter T2 Essence when exploring the Realms created by the Gloom, Herbarium, and Hunt cards.
• T3 Essence: The ultimate form of Essence, the legendary T3 Essence is coloured purple. This is Fae matter in its most potent form, and as you might expect, T3 Essence is an endgame material primarily found in the most dangerous of Realms. You'll encounter T3 Essence when exploring any higher level Realm Cards that have "Ascended" in their title - for instance, the Antiquarian Ascended Card or the Gloom Ascended Card.

How to use Essence in Nightingale

You're likely to first utilise Essence for repairs. Once you've acquired enough Essence Dust by extracting it from items, simply right click on any armour or weapons in your inventory that have taken damage and select the Repair option to get them as good as new.

Essence is also equivalent to money in the world of Nightingale. You can use Essence when purchasing gear and schematics from Essence Traders, who are scattered throughout the various Realms and act as Nightingale's shopkeepers. Essence Dust serves as a basic level of currency when trading, nabbing you low level schematics and items. You can also use T1-T3 Essence to purchase higher level schematics, rare items, and Realm Cards.

Aside from acting as currency, T1 Essence and the higher tiers are needed to upgrade your gear. Upgrading boosts factors like an item's melee damage, strength, durability and so on, and since levels in Nightingale are tied to the quality of your gear, it's always worth augmenting everything with Essence.

To begin the equipment upgrade process, you'll need a Simple Upgrade Bench on your base, which can be built from 4 Lumber, 2 Ingots, and 3 Twine. Open up the bench's menu, and you'll see a list of upgradable common items. Improving these items follows the same process as crafting other gear in Nightingale - simply drag and drop the item you wish to upgrade and the Essence you want to use into the appropriate slots, and voilà.

Gathering Essence as a Nightingale beginner

No matter which Nightingale starting biome you begin in, it's always a good idea to gather as many common resources as you can carry and proceed to Extract them in bulk to acquire a decent supply of Essence Dust. Plant Fibre makes for an excellent starting item to break down, for instance. You'll regularly acquire more Plant Fibre than you can possibly use simply by running through the shrubbery in your starting Abeyance Realm and picking up everything you can, and each Fibre equates to a single Essence Dust.

Aside from breaking down items, your best bet to find Essence drops is to travel to points of interest in your Realm, defeat enemies and alpha creatures, and visit Fae Towers. Fae Portals can also be found at certain points on the map, typically in caves that lead underground. These portals will transport you to alternate Realms that are basically small dungeons packed with Bound enemies. Defeat all the enemies within, and reap the rewards of the bountiful Essence drops aplenty.

And that's all you need to know about the various forms of Essence in Nightingale. For more in-depth tips on navigating the wild worlds of the Fae, check out our guide to the best starting biome in Nightingale. You can also take a peek at our guide on Nightingale multiplayer for tips on setting up a Fae expedition with friends.