Lightfall introduces a number of changes to the worlds of Destiny 2, but the expansion also levels the playing field across the board with a power level reset for all players. Whether you’re a rookie Guardian or a seasoned veteran, everyone starts Lightfall at the new power level of 1,600, and as you progress through the game, you’ll steadily increase those numbers.
For experienced players, the race is on now to reach a high power level ahead of March 10’s The Root of Nightmares raid launch. That grind to power up will go through three phases, as there’ll be soft, power, and pinnacle caps to reach on the way, which we’ll explain in more detail below.
What is the Destiny 2 power level?
That number on your Guardian screen is essentially the sum total of your power gleaned from your equipped weapons, armor, and seasonal artifact. This is what determines just how much damage you can dish out and receive, with other factors like armor mods and subclass loadouts also influencing your survivability.
How to increase your power level quickly in Destiny 2
The shortest route to maxing out your power quickly is also the most challenging one in Lightfall. Doing the new campaign on Legend difficulty will see greater and more powerful rewards handed out to you, and if you can complete it, you’ll earn a 1,770 power level item for each of your weapon and armor slots. Additionally, you’ll also be rewarded with unique Exotics for your subclass. Some of the options include the Swarmers leg armor for Warlocks, Cyrtarachne’s Facade helmet for Hunters, and the Abeyant Leap leg armor for Titans.
There are plenty of other options available as well, as virtually all of Destiny 2’s activities have a reward to help you power up. All you’ll need to do to gain a quick numerical advantage is to simply equip armor and weapons with better numbers onto your Guardian. That’s the basic way to increase power, although you’ll still want to invest in your gear by upgrading it. The more energy your gear has, the more options you have to insert armor mods and gain useful benefits along the way, but fortunately, you can enhance your existing armor with better pieces.
At the same time, you’ll want to invest in your seasonal artifact, the Ascendant Scepter. Not just a source of powerful perks and armor mods, the Ascendant Scepter also contributes to your overall power level, although you’ll need to do a lot of bounties and missions to earn the experience points necessary to level it up. Being in a fireteam also helps with earning XP, as you’ll get a boost from all sources when you squad up. If possible, wait until you’re in a fireteam to redeem your completed bounties and seasonal challenges in order to gain bonus XP
Once you reach power level 1,770, the best path forward is to focus on earning Powerful and Pinnacle engrams. You’re going to want to focus on getting Powerful engrams first, and save the Pinnacle engram challenges for last. It’s more efficient to reach the hard cap with Powerful gear engrams first, and then use Pinnacle engrams to push beyond that ceiling. Save them for the very end of the week, so that you can squeeze out every point of power before the weekly reset kicks in on Tuesday at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET.
If you get a Powerful engram drop while out on patrol, you’ll also want to have that decrypted as quickly as possible. These higher-tier drops are set at a fixed level, so it’s worth paying a visit to Master Rahool in the Tower to transform them into gear that can increase your power level.
Once you’ve got a Guardian sufficiently leveled up for the week, you can then shortcut the power-up process by moving your high-level weapons over to one of your other characters. While each Guardian class has unique armor, weapons can be used amongst them universally and can give them a very quick level up towards the soft cap. Go through the same process of earning new gear and weapons with your second Guardian as they reach the Power and Pinnacle caps, and then repeat this process again with your third subclass for quick gains.
You’ll also be able to upgrade your favorite gear using Upgrade Modules, which can be acquired from a variety of sources. Banshee-44 sells them at the Tower, they can be earned by ranking up on your battle pass, they drop from world chests in the Lightfall campaign, and you can purchase Concentrated Mattergems from the Eververse Store, which will allow an Upgrade Module to drop from a boss-level enemy.
Whether you slap on new gear or upgrade your existing pieces, you’ll want to ensure that you’re always pushing your power level upwards, as the higher your number, the better your overall stats in Destiny 2.
What is the Lightfall soft cap?
For Lightfall, you’ll be chasing a 1,750 power level. Starting from 1,600, you’ll quickly earn engrams and gear from defeated enemies as you progress through the campaign, and other sources of gear include the Defiant Battlegrounds playlist, strikes, PvP, Gambit, and other world activities. All the armor and weapons that drop from these activities will be higher than your 1600 starting point, and you can keep these items in your character inventory as a method to guarantee higher-level drops as you gradually rank up.
What is the Lightfall Power cap?
Once you hit 1,750 with your Guardian, you’re going to notice a slower grind upwards to 1,800. From this point, you’ll be on the hunt for Powerful and Pinnacle Engrams to reach the hard cap with your Guardian, from a variety of sources. A number of Destiny 2 world activities offer the sought-after Powerful engrams for completing weekly challenges, which usually revolve around playing through them a set number of times. You’ll want to focus on these particular activities to reach the Power cap:
- Dares of Eternity
- Completing eight Vanguard vendor bounties per week
- Completing eight Gunsmith vendor bounties per week
- Completing eight Crucible vendor bounties per week
- Complete Nimbus reputation challenges
- Random Prime engram drops
What is the Lightfall Pinnacle cap?
At the very top of the power level mountain, there is the Pinnacle cap of 1810. This is the slowest part of the power level grind, and only Pinnacle rewards will increase your power level beyond 1800. The weekly Partition mission also drops powerful gear, which is unlocked as you explore more of Lightfall.
Only a limited number of these rewards can be collected every week, so make certain that you chase after them when you reach the Power cap, and you’ll want to take part in these activities to earn them:
- Completing three Gambit matches
- Completing three Crucible matches
- Completing three Defiant Battlegrounds playlist matches
- Completing the final playlist dungeon or raid encounter
- Completing Vanguard playlist strikes with a matching elemental surge
- Complete the weekly campaign mission
- Earning 200,000 points or more on a Nightfall strike
- Earning 250,000 points or more in Dares of Eternity
- Completing the Spire of the Watcher dungeon
More Lightfall guides
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