Dragonflight Season 3 (Patch 10.2) will bring a lot of exciting changes to the game, together with the new Raid, Outdoor Zone and Mythic+ dungeon pool.
One thing that can easily get overlooked is the addition of a new type of enchant, especially one for the Head slot, something we haven’t had for some time now.
The Incandescent Essence is an interesting change to the gearing system, available in Patch 10.2, the Guardians of the Dream. It is a re-usable item, that once applied to your Head piece, will give you a buff according to the current specialization. There is one for melee DPS, ranged DPS, Healers and Tanks.
For PvP focused players, don't worry, because the effects listed below will be disabled for PvP combat.
Season 4 Update: The Incandescent Essence continues to be relevant in Season 4, since the effects scales with the item level of the Helm its applied to.
However, you can only obtain it from the original questline inside the Amirdrassil raid, leaving returning players for Season 4 to either, do Heroic and Normal Amirdrassil outside of the Awakened week, since you can still get the Echoed Ephemera and the 4 quest drops, or wait until the Awakened buff is present, then farm it when more players are actively making groups for that raid.
How do you get the Incandescent Essence?
This new enchant will be a reward from a questline that starts from the Twisted Dreaming Essence item. This item drops from Gnarlroot, the first encounter in the Amirdrassil, the Dream's Hope raid.
This questline will require several items that drop exclusively from raid bosses to be completed, which includes 50 Echoed Ephemera and 4 boss specific drops.
When you have collected all of the items required, you hand in the quest to Merithra, one of the NPCs that move around the raid (where they are located depends on which bosses are killed in that lockout). You will then get a quest to channel an item, handing in this quest will reward you with the Incandescent Essence in your inventory.
When is the Incandescent Essence Available?
Blizzard's official statement outlined that there will be a weekly cap for this quest. After the 5th week of the Season 3 (December 12th, 2023) players who have consistently gathered the weekly cap amount will have collected enough Echoed Ephemera to unlock the Incandescent Essence.
For players that are missing some still, the progress for this quest will be accelerated, starting the same week, making it easier to acquire the enchant on alts and for returning players. This is a very welcome quality of life design, since the enchant itself is a unique and reusable item for the character that completes the quest.
Which Incandescent Essence Buff does each role get?
Melee DPS
Melee DPS get the Igira’s Cruel Nightmare buff, dealing Shadowflame damage on a single target, and Fire damage in AoE situations. The damage is increased per enemy hit, up to five targets.
Ranged DPS
Ranged DPS gets the Tindral’s Fowl Fantasia buff, dealing Fire damage, split between enemies hit, but does increased damage per enemy hit on up to five targets!
Healers
Healers receive the Larondar’s Fiery Reverie buff, which gives you a potentially very powerful buff for raid groups. The buff is composed of 2 components, both proccing from your healing spells. When it procs on an ally, it gives them a medium size absorb effect for 10 seconds. If the barrier is completely consumed by damage, it procs a healing-over-time effect on that target; alternatively, if the absorb expires, the target gains a pretty significant Versatility buff.
Tanks
Tanks receive the Smolderon’s Delusion of Grandeur buff. This buff gives you a chance when taking damage to make your next attack leave a Fire damage DoT effect on your targets, gaining a shield for the damage dealt. The damage is increased per enemy hit, up to five targets.
It will be interesting to see how this additional enchant impacts the meta, and whether this will become a requirement for every character during Season 3.
