If you’ve spent even a few hours running missions in The First Descendant, you’ve probably stumbled across locked, glowing chests marked as encrypted vaults while clearing out Vulgus outposts or completing void intercepts. A lot of new players walk right past these because they don’t want to waste time figuring out how to open them, but skipping these is one of the biggest mistakes you can make if you’re hunting for high-tier gear, upgrade materials, or rare cosmetics. I missed out on three legendary module drops my first week playing because I ignored these vaults, so I put together this full breakdown to help you avoid that same mistake.
What Are Encrypted Vaults in The First Descendant, Exactly?
Encrypted vaults are rare, procedurally spawned loot containers that only appear in non-story missions across Albion. They’re marked with a distinct blue lock icon on your mini-map when you get within 1km of their location, and they’re protected by a layered security system that requires you to collect special items to unlock them. Unlike regular chests that drop common credits and basic materials, vaults are designed to reward players who take extra time to explore mission areas off the main path.
There are three distinct tiers of encrypted vaults, each with different spawn rates and loot pools. Common vaults are the most frequent, spawning in roughly 60% of eligible missions, while rare vaults pop up around 25% of the time. Legendary vaults are the rarest, with a spawn rate of just 15% even in the highest difficulty missions. Encrypted vaults never spawn in story mode missions, so don’t waste time looking for them while you’re working your way through the main campaign.
You’ll also notice that vaults are always guarded by a small group of elite Vulgus units, even if the surrounding area only has basic enemy mobs. That’s a quick visual clue that you’re near a vault if you haven’t spotted the map marker yet. It’s easy to miss the marker if you’re focused on chasing a main objective, so keep an eye out for clusters of high-health enemies with red skull icons above their heads during runs.
How to Unlock Encrypted Vaults During Missions
Unlocking an encrypted vault is a fairly straightforward process once you know the steps, but a lot of new players get confused by the lack of in-game guidance for the system. The process is the same for all vault tiers, aside from the number of required items for higher rarity vaults. If you’re playing with a team, all progress towards unlocking the vault is shared, so you can split up to cut down on the time it takes to get everything you need.
The full step-by-step process to unlock any vault is:
- Look for the small vault marker on your mini-map as soon as you load into a non-story mission to confirm one has spawned in your run
- Eliminate all elite enemy units marked with a red skull icon within 500m of the vault marker to collect the required cipher shards
- Insert all collected shards into the vault terminal within 2 minutes of collecting the final shard to open the vault and claim your loot
You don’t have to collect shards in any specific order, but if you leave the 500m radius around the vault for more than 30 seconds, you’ll drop any uninserted shards and have to collect them again. That’s a common mistake I see new players make when they run off to complete the main objective before inserting their shards. Legendary vaults require 5 shards instead of 3, so make sure you clear all nearby elite enemies before you assume you have everything you need to open one.
Loot You Can Expect From Encrypted Vaults
The loot you get from an encrypted vault is tied directly to its tier, but even common vaults offer far better rewards than regular chests you find scattered around mission areas. The drop pool for each vault tier is fixed, so you’ll always know what you’re working towards when you stop to unlock one. There are no mission-wide loot penalties for opening vaults, so you won’t lose out on main objective rewards for taking the extra time to get into a vault.
Common vaults typically drop uncommon to rare quality modules, 10,000 to 25,000 credit packs, and basic upgrade materials like refined metal and power cores. Rare vaults step that up, dropping rare to epic quality modules, weapon blueprints for all weapon types, and premium currency fragments that can be traded for cosmetics in the in-game shop. Legendary vaults are where the best rewards live, with drops ranging from legendary modules and exclusive weapon skins to permanent descendant stat boosters and rare endgame crafting materials like void alloy.
The loot from encrypted vaults is scaled to your current character level, so you won’t get useless low-tier gear when you’re playing at max level. I once got a legendary assault rifle blueprint from a rare vault when I was level 28 that I used for 12 levels straight, so don’t sleep on lower tier vaults even if you’re close to the level cap. You can also get void trace shards from all vault tiers, which are required to unlock endgame void challenge missions that drop the best gear in the game.
Pro Tips to Farm Encrypted Vaults Efficiently
If you’re looking to farm encrypted vaults specifically to grind for gear or materials, there are a few tricks you can use to cut down on wasted time and increase your chances of getting high tier drops. I’ve spent dozens of runs testing different farm methods, and these tips have helped me double the number of vaults I can open per hour of playtime. They work for both solo and multiplayer runs, though multiplayer runs have some built-in advantages for vault farming.
First, stick to supply run missions on normal difficulty if you’re farming for common or rare vaults. These missions have the highest vault spawn rate in the game, with almost 80% of runs spawning at least one vault, and they’re short enough that you can complete a full run in 10 minutes or less. If you’re hunting for legendary vaults, switch to void intercept missions on hard difficulty, as these have the highest legendary vault spawn rate of any mission type.
You can reroll vault loot by leaving the mission immediately after opening if you don’t get what you want, but you’ll lose all other mission rewards if you do this, so only use that trick if you’re only farming for vault items. If you’re playing solo, use a fast descendant like Bunny to zip around and collect shards before the timer runs out, as their movement speed ability cuts the time it takes to collect shards in half. Multiplayer runs have a 30% higher chance of spawning legendary vaults, so team up with friends if you’re hunting for top-tier drops, and split up to collect shards even faster.
One last tip: Don’t open vaults right away if you’re in a mission with a strict time limit. Finish the main objective first so you don’t fail the mission and lose the vault loot entirely. I made that mistake once when I stopped to open a legendary vault 2 minutes before the mission timer ran out, and I lost the vault drop and the mission rewards because I didn’t leave enough time to finish the main objective.
At the end of the day, taking 2 extra minutes to open encrypted vaults in The First Descendant is almost always worth the effort, even if you’re only getting basic materials most runs. You never know when you’ll land a legendary drop that completely changes your build, or a rare cosmetic that makes your character stand out from other players. Next time you see that little vault marker pop up on your mini-map, don’t walk past it – take the time to grab those shards and open it up, you won’t regret it.