Guardian! Are you eyeing that Heal ClipOnslaughtSummoner? You'll need to persevere through the Trials of Osiris to get it. While some make this out to be an impossible task, the truth is that it couldn't be further from it. There are a lot of different ways to play and get loot from the Trials of Osiris, and it all comes down to your own preferences. This guide teaches you the various loot systems from the Trials, and then shows you exactly what you need to do to get the desired loot as quickly and easily as possible.
Note: Trials of Osiris requires ownership of the currently active Expansion to access. That is currently The Final Shape.
The Trials of Osiris run from Friday's daily reset to the weekly reset on Tuesday. Trials of Osiris do not run while Iron Banner is active, or during the first few weeks of a new Expansion.
Trials of Osiris is Power Enabled, having a low Power Level gives you and your team a massive disadvantage. We advise against playing until you've reached the "Powerful Cap", currently 2000. The Artifact's Power Bonus is NOT enabled here! Learn more from our Guardian Ranks and Power Level Guide.
Loot System Overview
Completing matches within the Trials of Osiris rewards you with Trials Engrams and drops of Trials Gear. Additionally, completing matches always rewards you with Trials reputation which leads to more Trials Engrams.
Trials have a dynamic loot system, where your Passage type, rounds won, matches won, and even fireteam size influences how much loot you get.
It is significantly easier to farm for the week's featured Weapon than it is for all other Weapons. If you're hunting for a Weapon that's in rotation, I recommend waiting for when that Weapon is featured.
To learn what the week's featured Weapon is, look at Saint-14's focused decoding options: it's whatever Adept Weapon he offers.
The Passage of Wealth, ideal for farming non-Adepts while alone.
Direct Drops
Completing a match - win or lose - has a small chance to award random Trials of Osiris Armor & Weapons and a moderate chance of awarding a Trials Engram.
Winning a match has a 50% chance to drop a non-Adept copy of a Trials Weapon that is currently in rotation, with a 50% chance of that being the week's featured Weapon.
Completing a match - win or lose - while in a Fireteam of 3 grants an additional 50% chance to drop a non-Adept Weapon.
Winning a match while in a Fireteam of 3 has a 50% chance to drop one copy, a 25% chance to drop 2 copies, and a 25% chance to drop no Weapons at all.
Completing a match - win or lose - while in a Fireteam of 3 grants an additional 50% chance to drop a Trials Engram.
Winning a match while your Passage is at 7 wins has a small chance of awarding additional Trials Engrams, Enhancement Prisms, or Ascendant Shards.
Winning a match has an astronomically small chance of rewarding you with a random legacy Exotic Trials of Osiris Cosmetic (Ships, Ghost Shells, and Vehicles).
Trials Reputation
Completing a match - win or lose - grants Trials Reputation.
Earn bonus Trials Reputation for every round you win, recorded by your Passage - up to 20.
Winning a match while using the Passage of Wealth grants between 75 and 150 bonus Trials Reputation.
Completing a match - win or lose - while in a fireteam of 3 grants significantly increased Trials Reputation.
Trials Reputation progresses your Trials rank.
Reaching a new rank awards a Trials Engram.
Unlock items from Saint-14's reward track for reaching certain ranks.
Trials Reputation earnings are doubled on certain weeks, this appears as an icon on the playlist's launch menu.
Flawless Loot
Reaching 7 matches won on a flawless Passage grants access to the Lighthouse and bonus looting opportunities. This is considered to be "going Flawless".
The Lighthouse Chest drops an Adept copy of the week's featured Weapon, a Trials Memento, an Ascendant Shard, Enhancement Prisms, and 10 Osirion Ciphers.
Focus a "free" copy of the week's Adept Weapon using these Osirion Ciphers! Their max stack size is 10, so make sure to use them as you get them if you plan on going Flawless at least somewhat regularly.
There's also a small chance of getting a random Exotic Trials of Osiris Cosmetic (Ships, Ghost Shells, and Vehicles).
The Lighthouse Chest also unlocks an adept mod, a seasonally-rotating exclusive shader, and a handful of exclusive emblems.
Going Flawless without "trailing" (Losing a match or having fewer rounds won than the enemy team at any point) grants the coveted Dazzling Iridescence Emblem.
While your Passage is still flawless after going to the Lighthouse, winning a match has an extremely high chance of awarding an Adept copy of the week's featured Weapon, Trials Engrams, Ascendant Shards and Enhancement Prisms.
I like to refer to this as the "Victory Lap". Win as much as you can after going Flawless to be showered with loot.
After going Flawless - for the remainder of the week - winning matches on ANY flawed Passage with 7 wins has a 50% chance of dropping an Adept copy of the week's featured Weapon, while having an increased chance at dropping Ascendant Shards and Enhancement Prisms.
Don't reset your Passage!
Trials Engrams & Focusing
Open Trials Engrams at Saint-14 to randomly obtain Trials Armor and Weapons that are currently in rotation.
Alternatively, you can focus Trials Engrams to obtain copies of any in-rotation Trials Weapon that you've obtained before.
Legacy Engram focusing can be used to get copies of any legacy Weapon or piece of Armor, regardless of whether or not you've obtained them before.
Yes, you can get the ever-popular Helm of the Exile or Hood of the Exile for use in Armor Synthesis.
Trials Legacy Gear Focusing Page
Adept Trials Weapons
Do you need Adept Trials weapons? Need is a strong word. For most people, the answer to this question is going to be "No".
Going for the non-Adept version of a Trials Weapon is significantly easier than going for the Adept, so don't target the Adept if you don't feel like you have to.
Rule of thumb: If ascending to the Lighthouse is a struggle for you, it's probably not worth it.
This is your question to answer, not anyone else's. You should be well informed as you make it.
My personal The Summoner (Adept), earned from the Trials of Osiris.
Adept Weapon Features:
Adept Weaponsdrop with an additional 4th Column perk.
This statistically doubles the likelihood that an individual drop is what you're looking for.
They also feature+3 Stats to other Masterwork-able stats after Masterworking the weapon.
If your Adept Immortal dropped with a Range Masterwork, it'll also have +3 stats in Stability, Handling, and Reload.
While nice for PvP, this is almost fully irrelevant in PvE.
Adept Weaponscan slot Adept Mods.
For PvE, advantages gained from these Mods are often niche. Adept Mag is a rare exception.
For PvP, Adept Mods can provide a slight edge over the suite of standard Mods.
They feel "Shiny", it feels good knowing that you have the best possible version of a Weapon.
Adept Weaponscan't be farmed without going Flawless, or spending insane amounts of time on the Passage of Persistence.
Adept Weapons that aren't currently featured can't be obtained.
Adept versions of Legacy Trials Weapons can't be obtained.
You'll often have to wait over a month to have another chance of farming a specific Adept Weapon if you miss it while it's featured.
Non-Adept Weapon Features:
Weapons that are currently featured drop significantly more often.
Winning a match has a 50% chance to drop a non-Adept copy of a Trials Weapon that is currently in rotation, with a 50% chance of that being the week's featured Weapon.
Winning or losing the match while in a Fireteam of 3 grants an additional 50% chance.
They can be deterministically farmed for at any point, regardless of the week's featured Weapon, via Focused Decoding.
This also applies to Legacy Trials Weapons, though they require more Trials Engrams to focus.
Winning or losing the match while in a Fireteam of 3 has a 50% chance of dropping a Trials Engram.
Are significantly easier to farm for.
Going Flawless and using the Passage of Persistence to get Adept weapons is often slow or difficult, and sometimes both.
Non-Adept Weapons aren't the best possible version of the Weapon.
In practice, the benefits of using an Adept Weapon over a standard one are small in PvP, and practically non-existent in PvE.
Looting Strategies
There is no single best strategy to get loot from the Trials of Osiris. Many different factors come into play when deciding upon the strategy best suited for getting what you want out of the Trials. Some strategies require more skill than others, more time than others, and some may require you to play with a Fireteam.
Trials of Osiris uses Fireteam based matchmaking, which means playing in a Fireteam of 3 guarantees that you only fight other Fireteams of 3. On average, these matches are significantly harder than playing alone or as a duo!
Full Fireteam based looting strategies within this guide don't penalize you for losing, and in some cases don't expect you to win at all.
Many enemy Fireteams you encounter are highly organized and skilled. They're playing to win and most people reading this stand no chance of beating them, but that's okay!
Some enemy Fireteams you encounter are also playing with these looting strategies in mind, and are significantly less threatening. You may just have a fun and competitive match on your hands!
When playing Full Fireteam looting strategies, try to gauge whether or not your Fireteam has a chance of beating the enemy team. If there's no chance of winning, you have no reason to try to win. While winning is nice, losing doesn't matter at all!
Looting Strategies for Non-Adept Weapons
Click or tap on the button that best describes your willingness to play in a Fireteam of 3.
You can use Fireteam finder or another LFG platform to put a team together.
If you're on the fence about this, it's worth it - the amount of bonus loot you get for being in a full Fireteam is insane.
You don't need to try to win in a Fireteam, you can goof around as much as you want, even. Laugh like madmen as the three of you rev up your Sweet Businesses, figure out how the hell Final Warning works, or relive your Halo 3 glory days with Forerunner and the BxR-55 Battler.
I want to play alone
If you already have it unlocked, use the Passage of Wealth. If you don't, use the Passage of Mercy. In either case, use your very best PvP loadouts and try to win matches.
Winning matches has a 50% chance to drop a non-Adept copy of a Trials Weapon that is currently in rotation, with a 50% chance of that being the week's featured Weapon.
Don't reset your Passage, there's no penalty for having a flawed Passage.
A Passage with 20 rounds won grants a potent Trials Reputation Booster.
A Passage with 7 wins has an improved chance to drop Trials Engrams after winning a match.
Winning matches with 7 wins also has a small chance of dropping Ascendant Shards and Enhancement Prisms.
I'm okay with playing in a Fireteam of 3
Choose any Passage, none of them are impactful for this strategy.
Form a Fireteam of 3 and play however you'd like. Winning matches isn't important, but try to win some rounds to get a potent Trials reputation booster.
Nobody gets loot for throwing yourself off a cliff at spawn 5 times.
Play the game, you don't have to play it well.
Try to have a good time, maybe use some wacky loadouts.
Completing Trials of Osiris matches while in a Fireteam of 3 grants you numerous rewards regardless of whether you win or lose.
Every completed match has a 50% chance to drop a non-Adept copy of a Trials Weapon that is currently in rotation, with a 50% chance of that being the week's featured Weapon.
A 50% chance to drop a Trials Engram after every match.
You gain increased Trials reputation.
Looting Strategies for Adept Weapons
Click or tap on the button that best describes how much time you have, how good you are at PvP, and whether or not you're willing to play in a Fireteam of 3.
For a rough estimate, consider yourself below average if your Kill / Death Ratio - KDR - is under 1.0, and above average if it is over 1.0.
If you are below average but have a highly skilled friend willing to carry you, consider your Fireteam of 2 as above average.
I'm below average, and don't have a lot of time
I highly recommend against going for Adept Weapons if you fall under this category. Acquiring Adept Weapons takes a significant time investment or significant skill, and sometimes both.
While you might be able to obtain 1, maybe 2 Adept Weapons with the Passage of Persistence, the odds of them rolling as something you want are very poor.
Most players do not need Adept Weapons, they are only marginally better than non-Adepts in PvP, and are almost entirely irrelevant for PvE.
I'm below average, have a lot of time, and okay with playing in a Fireteam of 3
Assemble your team and use the Passage of Persistence in tandem with your very best PvP loadouts. You're all in for a sweaty weekend.
Playing with this looting strategy also yields a ton of non-Adept copies of the week's featured Weapon!
While some of the Fireteams you encounter may be there for the same reason you are, most other teams are likely to be extremely organized and skillful. If a match seems hopeless it probably is, so don't try to win if you think you have no chance to.
Full Fireteam Passage of Persistence Mechanics:
The Passage of Persistence has special properties if you're playing in a Fireteam of 3. Get to 7 wins to receive a single Adept copy of the week's featured Weapon. Losing matches does not subtract wins from your Passage as it would normally.
Basically, win 7 matches to drop an Adept. It doesn't matter how many you lose.
Earning an Adept from this Passage is not considered going flawless, you are not granted access to the lighthouse unless you manage to win 7 times in a row without losing and flawing your Passage.
If you manage to do that, you'd have been better off on the Passage of Confidence.
You need to reset your Passage after reaching 7 wins and earning your Adept Weapon to get more copies of it.
Getting Adept Weapons through the Passage of Persistence is extremely time consuming.
While using the Passage of Persistence, leaving an in-progress match, crashing, or being disconnected for any other reason prevents your Passage from awarding an Adept Weapon. You MUST reset your Passage.
I'm below average, have a lot of time, and won't play in a Fireteam of 3
Use the Passage of Persistence in tandem with your very best PvP loadouts. You're in for a sweaty weekend.
Queue into Trials alone or in a Fireteam of 2.
Passage of Persistence Mechanics:
While not playing in a Fireteam of 3, losing subtracts a win from your Passage, but it's impossible for this to occur twice in a row. Get to 7 wins to receive a single Adept copy of the week's featured Weapon.
Basically, winning twice in a row gives permanently progresses your Passage by 1, while winning three times in a row progresses it by 2, and so on.
Earning an Adept from this Passage is not considered going flawless, you are not granted access to the lighthouse unless you manage to win 7 times in a row without losing and flawing your Passage.
If you manage to do that, you'd have been better off on the Passage of Confidence.
You need to reset your Passage after reaching 7 wins and earning your Adept Weapon to get more copies of it.
Getting Adept Weapons through the Passage of Persistence is extremely time consuming.
While using the Passage of Persistence, leaving an in-progress match, crashing, or being disconnected for any other reason prevents your Passage from awarding an Adept Weapon. You MUST reset your Passage.
I'm above average, and don't have a lot of time
Use the Passage of Mercy in tandem with your very best PvP loadouts. Play your very best to quickly ascend to the Lighthouse, or walk away with nothing.
Queue into Trials alone or in a Fireteam of 2.
Passage of Mercy Mechanics:
The Passage of Mercy is a gamble of time. It's faster to go Flawless with this than the Passage of Ferocity, but flawing your Passage sets you much further back.
Get to 7 wins without flawing your Passage to go Flawless and gain access to the Lighthouse. Your first two losses do not flaw your Passage (if you haven't already been Flawless that week).
Win 7 times without losing 3 times.
Depending on how much time you have, you may want to reset your Passage if you lose while under 2 or 3 wins to give yourself better odds later on.
Claim your rewards from the Lighthouse Chest. From here, you're able to continue farming copies of the Weapon if you have time.
Remember to focus a copy of the Adept Weapon with the Osirion Ciphers you earned!
Take your "Victory Lap" and try to win as many times as possible while your Passage still isn't flawed to get tons of loot.
Once it's flawed, continue playing for a 50% chance of dropping an Adept Weapon when winning a match.
I'm above average, and have a lot of time
Use the Passage of Ferocity in tandem with your very best PvP loadouts. The struggle is assured, and the reward is surefire.
Queue into Trials alone or in a Fireteam of 2.
Passage of Ferocity Mechanics:
The Passage of Ferocity is an endurance test. While slower to go Flawless with than the Passage of Mercy, it's undeniably easier to win 4 times in a row than it is to win 7 times without losing 3 times. You just need to get to that point first.
Getting to 3 wins without flawing your card gives you a "checkpoint". From here, losses do not flaw your Passage and instead set you back to 3 wins.
You need to win 3 games in a row to earn a checkpoint, then you need to win 4 games in a row to go Flawless.
You must reset your Passage if you lose while under 3 wins, since your Passage becomes flawed.
If you go Flawless, losses on that Passage flaw it instead of setting you back to 3 wins.
Claim your rewards from the Lighthouse Chest. From here, you're able to continue farming copies of the Weapon.
Remember to focus a copy of the Adept Weapon with the Osirion Ciphers you earned!
Take your "Victory Lap" and try to win as many times as possible while your Passage still isn't flawed to get tons of loot.
Once it's flawed, continue playing for a 50% chance of dropping an Adept Weapon when winning a match.
I'm extremely skilled, I have the utmost confidence
Use the Passage of Confidence, O Guardian mine. You don't need any help ascending to the Lighthouse and would prefer your inevitable arrival there to be most celebrated.
Passage of Confidence Mechanics:
The Passage of Confidence offers no mercy, no checkpoints. You are handsomely rewarded if you can go Flawless with no safety nets.
There are no mechanics here. Reaching the Lighthouse with this Passage offers doubled loot.
Use this Passage if you're going for the coveted Dazzling Iridescence Emblem, which requires you to go Flawless without losing or "trailing" within the match.
Trailing is defined as always having more or equal amounts of rounds won than the enemy team during a match. Win decisively, 7 times in a row.
The "Flawless" Title requires going Flawless with this Passage. Good luck.
Summary
There's a lot of different ways to get Loot from the Trials of Osiris.
Completing Trials matches grants Trials Reputation, which rewards Trials Engrams when ranking up.
Focus Trials Engrams into the Legacy Gear tab to get Trials Weapons & Armor that are out of rotation.
It's very easy to farm for the non-Adept version of the week's featured Weapon.
To learn what the week's featured Weapon is, look at Saint-14's focused decoding options: it's whatever Adept Weapon he offers.
Adept weapons' advantages are minimally impactful in PvP and irrelevant in PvE.
Non-Adept Weapons are significantly easier to get than Adept Weapons.
Farming for non-Adept Weapons? Playing in a Fireteam of 3 is highly advantageous.
You don't have to win matches, you just can't throw yourself off a cliff at spawn 5 times.
Farming for Adept Weapons? Choose a Passage that works best for your skill level, time commitment, and willingness to play in a full Fireteam.
