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Power levels in Destiny 2 determine the eligibility of a Guardian when it comes to participating in activities. While most activities are set at a basic level, the end-game content requires players to have powerful items.
Bungie increases the power levels with every new season. Sometimes they see a very small increase, while in other cases the increment might be huge. That said, here's a quick guide to all the power level caps in Destiny 2 Season 18 and how to quickly climb through them.
Explaining power level caps in Destiny 2 Season 18
As mentioned before, the power level caps increase with each new season in Destiny 2. For Season of Plunder, which happens to be the current iteration, here are all the power level caps that a Guardian will find in the game:
- Base Gear level - 1350 Power Level
- Soft Gear cap - 1520 Power Level
- Powerful Gear cap - 1570 Power Level
- Pinnacle Gear cap - 1580 Power Level
How to increase power level quickly?
The only way to increase power level quickly is by grinding the game. Gear in Destiny 2 can be earned by killing enemies anywhere in the entire system. It isn't necessary to participate in any activity in order to get gear.
However, better quality gear drops from activity completions only. The harder the activity, the better the items. All drops in the game are controlled by the RNG. Despite that, the RNG mechanic controls only the stats of items, and the overall power rating of any gear drop depends upon the current power level of the Guardian.
In order to increase it, they need to start using higher-powered gear. If what they're using has better stats than a higher-powered gear, they can use Upgrade Modules to infuse the two items together.
Gear sources in Destiny 2 Season 18
1520: This is the base power level in the game. Gear obtained from Rare Engrams and Legendary Engrams can come in handy while pushing past this level. Activities include Public Events, Lost Sectors, and Patrols.
1540: Thanks to a current promotion in Destiny 2 Season 18, Guardians can get their power level up to 1540 quite easily. There's a chest at the H.E.L.M. known as the Gift of the Thunder Gods, which contains weapons and equipment that can help them hit 1540 power level easily.
Those who are already at 1540 and above will receive gear that has up to five points more than their power level. Other than that, this chest also contains an Exotic Machine gun known as the the Thunderlord, and a class-specific Exotic Armor.
1570: Completing most playlist activities like Nightfall Strikes and Gambit can help Guardians reach this power. Since these are slightly harder, and come with certain mission modifiers, the gear drops are also better. Here is a list of all the activities that drop Powerful Gear:
- Strike, Gambit, Crucible playlist activity completions.
- Rewards from each of the Vanguard, Crucible and Gambit ranks.
- Completing eight vendor specific bounties.
- Season pass drops
- Trials of Osiris (third win)
- Prime Engrams (random world drops)
- Exotic Engrams
1580: This is known as the Pinnacle cap, and the activities that drop this level of gear are some of the toughest in the game. That said, here are all the activities that drop Pinnacle gear in Destiny 2 Season 18.
- Weekly playlist challenges for Crucible, Strike and Gambit activities
- Clan engrams from Hawthorne
- Raid encounter completions
- Dungeon completions
- Preservation completion (post Witch Queen campaign completions)
- Trials of Osiris (seven wins, flawless)
- Nightfall: The Ordeal reward for scoring more than 100,000 points.
- Clan engrams from Hawthorne
- Weekly Raid completions
- Weekly Dungeon completions
- Weekly Duality completions
- Preservation completion (post Witch Queen campaign completions)
- Trials of Osiris (seven wins, flawless)
- Weekly Nightfall Completion (Team Score 100,000 and above)
- Weekly King’s Fall completions
- The Wellspring (Master completion)
- Dares of Eternity Completion (Team Score 250,000 and above)
As mentioned above, Guardians can use Upgrade Modules to climb through power levels in Destiny 2 Season 18.
