Destiny 2 What Is Max Power Level
In Destiny 2, your Guardian's Power Level is the average level of all its equipable gear and dictates how much damage you can inflict to enemies and take before dying.
Needless to say, Power Leveling is an essential part of the Destiny 2 experience, allowing you to tackle endgame activities. Our 2021 Beginner's Guide covers all the other D2 cornerstones, including XP farming, but Power Levels should remain a top priority.
Yet, every new season comes with a new Power Level cap. With Season of the Lost (Season 15), the max Power level was increased by 10 points.
This means you'll need Powerful drops to reach the Powerful cap set to 1320 and Pinnacle drops to reach the elusive Max Power Level in Destiny 2, the Pinnacle Cap now set to 1330.
Guide updated as of Season of the Lost (S15).
Pinnacle gear sources in Destiny 2
Unlike most MMOs, you can only increase your Power Level by finding higher-level gear. These are all the activities in the game that reward Pinnacle-level gear (needed to go reach the Pinnacle cap):
PS: This post only covers how to increase your Base Power Level. You can also gain extra Power Levels by earning XP. We cover that, and how to unlock your Season Pass rewards, in our XP farming guide.
Powerful gear sources in Destiny 2
These are all the activities that reward Powerful-level gear (needed to go reach the Powerful Cap):
These two tables cover absolutely every Powerful and Pinnacle gear source in Destiny 2. Depending on where you are on your road to Max Power Level, you can filter the tables accordingly. For example, you can filter sources to only see:
- Activities requiring a Fireteam (without Matchmaking)
- Activities considered "easy" (or hard)
- Activities that are free-to-play
For more details about these activities that rotate weekly, you can check out our Weekly Challenges guide which we update every Tuesday at reset!
Why Power Level still matters (TBU)
With so many activities requiring extremely low Power Levels, many guardians wonder if Power Levels even matter anymore. Truth is, for most activities, they don't. But if you're remotely interested in Seasonal or Endgame content, Power Level matters more than ever.
These are the activities that where Power Level is critical (either because there's a minimum requirement or because your opponents can take advantage of it in PVP modes):
| Activity | Minimum requirement | Power Level Enabled? |
| Grandmaster Nightfalls | 1345 | – |
| Crucible: Trials of Osiris | – | Yes |
| Crucible: Iron Banner | – | Yes |
This table summarizes the Power Level requirements for the main activities in Destiny 2:
| Activity | Recommended Power |
| All Crucible (except Iron Banner and Trials) | Power Levels disabled |
| Vanguard: Strikes | 1100 |
| Raid: Garden of Salvation | 1100 |
| Raid: Last Wish | 1100 |
| Dungeon: Pit of Heresy | 1100 |
| Dungeon: Shattered Throne | 1100 (tbc) |
| Seasonal: Battlegrounds | 1200 |
| Raid: Deep Stone Crypt | 1220 |
| Exotic Quest: Presage | 1240 |
| Nightfall: The Ordeals (Adept to Master) | 1240 to 1340 |
| Exotic Quest: Harbinger | 1270 |
| Seasonal (TBC) | 1300 |
| Seasonal (TBC) | 1300 |
| Raid: Vault of Glass | 1300 |
| Legend Lost Sectors | 1310 |
| Exotic Quest: Presage Master | 1320 |
| Master Lost Sectors | 1340 |
| Raid: Vault of Glass Master Mode | 1350 |
In conclusion, you can play several activities with the minimum Power Level. But if you're serious about progressing and eventually tackling endgame activities, you'll have to grind Power Levels.
Power Level scaling
Destiny 2 gives a lot of "recommendations" when it comes to Power Level requirements. Only Grandmaster Nightfalls have a strict minimum requirement.
So, what happens when do not follow the game's recommended Power Levels? Damage scaling.
Damage scaling is not easy to explain, but in a nutshell, the lower your Power level compared to your enemy, the more damage you take and the less damage you receive.
On the other hand, the higher your Power level, the less damage you take and the more damage you do.
These fine folks created an impressive chart that shows you how damage scaling works:
If you're struggling with a particular activity, increasing your Power Level will help. This includes Power levels earned through the seasonal artifact.
How to reach Max Light Level in Destiny 2
You may be familiar with the struggle that is chasing Pinnacle gear to eventually reach the Max Power level (and the frustration of getting everything but the one item you need for 3 weeks in a row).
But whether you're a returning player or a brand-new player, this section covers how leveling works and how to level up as fast as possible in Season 15.
Guiding principles to Power Leveling in Destiny 2:
- Your Power Level is the average of the Power Level of all your gear
- That average takes into account equipped gear, gear in your inventory, and even gear in your vault.
- Never dismantle your highest Power Level item per slot (even if it's a blue).
- Worst case, you can infuse that blue into a better item.
- Playing on 3 characters will help you level up faster
- The activities and strategies to level up will change depending on what cap you're currently at.
As a reminder, this chart summarizes what type of gear you will need to increase your Power Level until reaching that elusive Max Power Level, currently set at 1320:
| Level Cap | Power Level | Gear needed |
| Starting Level | 1100 | – |
| Soft Cap | 1270 | Any |
| Hard Cap | 1320 | Powerful |
| Pinnacle Cap | 1330 | Pinnacle |
Reaching the Soft cap in Beyond Light: 1270 Power Level
To reach the soft cap (1270), drops from any source will help you increase your Power Level.
This part is simple. Basically, everything in the game will drop gear that will help you increase your Power Level. This includes Legendary and Rare gear. In fact, Rare gear (blues) plays an important role at this stage and you should be actively seeking blue drops whenever possible!
You should preferably never chase Powerful nor Pinnacle rewards before hitting the soft cap first.
Tips to reach the soft cap as fast as possible:
- Play the Beyond Light campaign (and/or the New Light campaign at the Cosmodrome), and in parallel:
- Participate in Public Events when you see one (and turn them into Heroic Public events when possible)
- Actively search for chests (especially the golden chests in the Cosmodrome)
- Do every quest that rewards gear
Again, everything works at this stage. All you need to do is grind and play a lot.
Reaching the Powerful cap in Beyond Light: 132
0 Power
Now that you've reached the soft cap, only Powerful and Pinnacle sources will help you progress. Both Powerful and Pinnacle sources are highlighted in the Directory and in the table above.
Note you won't be able to see Powerful and Pinnacle gear challenges in your directory until you hit the soft cap!
Tips to reach the hard cap as fast as possible:
- Only Powerful and Pinnacle gear will increase your average Power Level
- Always be equalizing your gear. More on that below.
- The Competitive Playlist in PVP is one of the best sources of Powerful rewards in the game. The timing is perfect too as Comp matters more than ever:
- Every Valor and Glory rank-up will reward you with a Powerful reward, therefore the Comp playlist will help you with both.
- Bonus: You can work on your Crucible, Strikes, and Gambit Bounty Challenges to also earn Bright Dust to spend in the Eververse store.
Equalizing your gear: When leveling up, some of your gear will be below the average of the rest of your gear. When that happens, you should chase lesser rewards to bring that lagging gear up to the average!
How to equalize your gear
Seasoned players already know about this crucial method to efficiently increase your Light Level. In fact, true GAMERS used to keep track of their current Power Levels per slot in an Excel sheet. They would then identify the gear that was lagging behind and find ways to bring those slots to the average.
Luckily for you and me, the process is much easier now. All you need to do is launch DIM (shot for Destiny Item Manager, my absolute favorite D2 tool in the world) and click on your Power Level:
This will tell you exactly what slots are lagging behind your average. This means even a Blue piece of gear could help you increase your Power Level for that slot.
For example: You're going for the Pinnacle cap and see one or more slots lagging behind your average. You basically just need to stop chasing Pinnacle gear and only run activities that reward Powerful gear until all your gear is at the same level as your average.
Even better: You can actively chase rewards that will match the slot you're looking to upgrade. Some examples:
- The Season Pass is full of low stat gear that is generally useless. Do not claim it and keep it for when you're working towards your Powerful or Pinnacle caps and need upgrades for specific slots!
- Seasonal Activities often let you chose specific weapons and armor. These are generally Powerful rewards and should be used to level up the slots that need it the most!
And by the way, this equalizing tip is also valid when going for the Powerful cap.
Reaching the Pinnacle cap in Beyond Light: 1330 Power
This section is straightforward. When you reach the Powerful cap (1320), only Pinnacle sources will give you progress.
Tips to reach the Pinnacle cap as fast as possible:
- You can use Powerful gear to equalize your equipment closer to the average (as covered in the previous section)
- You can filter the table at the top of this post to only see Pinnacle rewards:
- Most of these activities are not matchmade, which means you'll have to find a Fireteam beforehand.
- Pro tip: Discord is a great place to find groups and our LFG guide covers all the best Destiny 2 Discord servers you should check out.
By the way, Bungie made the Pinnacle climb slightly easier in Season 10: Some Powerful gear sources were turned into Pinnacle sources providing +1 Power.
How Level-Up faster in Destiny 2: Tips and Tricks
If you've read this far, you already know how to efficiently increase your Max Power Level in Destiny 2. Those are the basics, but if you're struggling to level up or simply want to increase your Power Level even faster, the following tips will definitely help:
Prime Engrams
Prime Engrams are a technically unlimited source of Powerful gear (as long as you play the game a lot and RNG stays on your side). Just remember: The Power Level of the Engram will remain at the level it was when found, not when decrypted.
Therefore, decrypt your engrams as soon as possible!
In any case, doing challenging activities (such as the Raid or Dungeons) will reward you more Prime Engrams which can either help you reach the Powerful cap faster, or help you equalize gear if you're already chasing the Pinnacle cap.
Grinding 2 or 3 characters?
If you're prepared to level up your 3 characters (or 2), you can follow the same steps described above. You just need to start with your least important character and finish with your most important character.
As soon as you're done with the first character, transfer its highest Power Level weapons to the next character. Rinse and repeat. If you'd prefer a video version of this strategy, CastleIsLive did a great video on that topic:
Easy Pinnacle sources in Destiny 2
Powerful sources are fairly common and not particularly challenging.
Pinnacle sources are a different story. And it makes sense they're difficult. They are, after all, supposed to be part of the end-game activities, but they can be particularly challenging when you don't have a pre-existing group of friends to play with.
These are, in my opinion, the easiest Pinnacle sources in the game (trust me, I've done them weekly just by using LFG tools):
- Playlist Pinnacles: These only grant +1 Power Level but they are extremely easy compared to the other ones.
- 100,000 in Nightfall: The Ordeal: Most people know how to run it. Finding a capable group in LFG is very easy.
- Exo Challenge in Europa: This one can be done solo and is easy enough. All you need to do is upgrade it to a Pinnacle reward via Varyks.
And these are, in a nutshell, easier ways to slowly reach the max Power Level cap in Destiny 2.
The Last Word
Your Power Level is more than a number in Destiny 2. The higher your Power Level, the more accessible end game content will be for you, including Raids, Nightfalls, and Legend/Master Lost Sectors for PVE, and Trials of Osiris for PVP.
Hopefully, you now know everything there is to know about reaching the Max Power level fast.
So what's the plan? Will you grind all 3 characters or just your main?
Latest changes
It's worth noting that several Powerful & Pinnacle sources changed with the release of Season of the Lost (Season 15):
- Season of the Lost related Pinnacle and Powerful rewards
- Revamped Trials of Osiris Pinnacle rewards
The release of Beyond Light and Year 4 seasons have also brought these changes so far:
- Vault of Glass is now the only raid rewarding Pinnacle rewards
- Deep Stone Crypt no longer grants Pinnacle rewards
- Powerful sources released with Shadowkeep no longer grant Powerful rewards:
- Rune table
- Repeatable campaign missions
- Nightmare Hunt completion and time trials
- Pit of Heresy completion
- Garden of Salvation completion
- Strikes, Gambit, Crucible, and Seasonal drops now have a chance to reward Powerful rewards all the way up until the Hard Cap
- Gear earned through token purchases will be 20 Power below your Power Level
- Collection buybacks will be capped at 1100 Power.
This means the old "cheese" to spam tokens at vendors to "equalize" your gear level no longer works. On the flip side, playing random Crucible matches and the like can now reward Powerful gear.
Destiny 2 What Is Max Power Level
Source: https://www.blueberries.gg/leveling/destiny-2-max-power-level/
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