History of Essence of Despair

Overview

This is one of the Nightmare Essence quests from Shadowkeep. It is a Eris Morn / Lectern of Enchantment quest: you buy the Essence at the Lectern in Sanctuary on the Moon, cleanse it by completing the objectives below, then return to the Lectern to turn it into gear. It is a pure Moon-activity grind. Sources describe the Essences as costing one Phantasmal Core each, and objectives only need completing once per account (later identical Essences auto-complete those steps). The quest was part of Season 8 content; I could not confirm from the sources whether it has since been removed or vaulted, so check in game.

Walkthrough

1. Pick up the Essence of Despair at the Lectern of Enchantment.
2. On the Moon, complete 65 activities: collect resources, open loot chests, and complete patrols, public events and Lost Sectors. Lost Sectors and public events speed this up.
3. Return to Eris Morn with the Cleansed Essence.
4. Visit the Lectern of Enchantment in Sanctuary to create the gear.

Rewards

Class item: Dreambane Cloak (Hunter), Dreambane Mark (Titan), Dreambane Bond (Warlock).