How do the Power Level and Gear drop systems work in Destiny 2 Lightfall?

Destiny 2 Lightfall is officially live, and that means it’s time to power up your gear once again. For some players, the most important question is “How does the Power Level system work?”, and we’ve got the answers you need. You need to have the best gear possible, but in this expansion, there are three Power Level caps.

As players dive deep into Destiny 2, there will be Power Level caps when certain gear will no longer increase your overall power in the looter shooter. As you grow stronger in this game, you’ll have to participate in different activities in order to grow past certain thresholds. Here’s what you'll need to know about going into Lightfall content in the future.

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How do Power Levels and gear drops work in Destiny 2 Lightfall?

In Destiny 2, your rating is a measurement of how much damage you can deal, and how much damage you’ll receive from enemies as you travel through the stars. Essentially, this is listed in the form of a Power Level number on your stats screen.

This system makes a lot of sense in Destiny 2 Lightfall, and clearly indicates which activities you can do in the game. All activities will have a Power Level requirement, and the closer you are to that Power Level, the easier it’s likely to be. Of course, having a higher Power Level than an activity requires is always a good thing.

Your rating is based on the average Power Level of your gear, and all additional levels come from your Seasonal Artifact. These extra artifact levels can easily be obtained by playing through a season’s content. If you want to get this as quickly as possible, focus on your bounties in Destiny 2 Lightfall, which is arguably one of the fastest and easiest ways to get XP in the game right now.

The gear system of Destiny 2 Lightfall is linked to your Power Level. Presently, the game has three level caps: Soft Cap, Powerful Cap, and Pinnacle Cap. What this means is that as soon as you reach these milestones, certain activities will stop giving you gear upgrades:

• Soft Cap: 1750
• Powerful Cap: 1800
• Pinnacle Cap: 1810

Reaching the Soft Cap in Destiny 2 Lightfall is the easiest part. At this point in the game, all the activities you take part in will reward you with gear that upgrades your Power Level. With blue drops from enemies and activity rewards, you’re likely going to get upgrades fairly often. However, when you reach the Soft Cap, you’ll stop receiving these convenient blue drops.

Just play Destiny 2 Lightfall and you’ll hit this cap easily enough. However, you can get to this point faster if you take part in the Legendary campaign. It can be difficult if you’re returning to the game after a long absence, but this difficulty setting frequently drops gear that's 20 levels above the Soft Cap.

The next cap is the Powerful Cap. The next 50 points of Power Levels requires you to only do activities that provide you with Powerful and Pinnacle gear. Presently, there are a few activities in the game that allow you to get these drops:

Powerful Cap activities

• Eight vendor bounties in: Gambit, Vanguard, Crucible, Banshee (+1 Power)
• Weekly Nightfall challenge (+1 Power)
• Gambit, Vanguard, Crucible, and Banshee rank rewards (+1 Power)
• Three Dares of Eternity runs (+2 Power)
• Prime and Exotic Engrams (Varies/Unknown Power rank increases)

Completing all of the objectives listed above will provide you with rewards that increase your power rating in small amounts. Powerful and Pinnacle loot drops are limited by week, so don’t commit time and resources to completing these objectives if they don’t do you any good.

Once you hit 1800 Power Level in Destiny 2 Lightfall, you can only grow from Pinnacle rewards. Between 1800 and 1810, this is your only option, and much like Powerful gear, Pinnacle gear is also limited each week.

Known Pinnacle Cap activities

• Hawthorne rewards and bounties (+1 Power)
• Three Crucible matches (+1 Power)
• Three Gambit matches (+1 Power)
• Three Vanguard Strikes while matching the weekly elemental singe (+1 Power)
• Latest raid - The Root of Nightmares (Opens on 3/10/23) (+2 Power)
• Latest dungeon - Spire of the Watcher (+2 Power)
• 100,000 Nightfall score (+2 Power)
• 250,000 score on Dares of Eternity (+2 Power)
• Iron Banner Challenges when active (+2 Power)
• Final encounter in raid/dungeon highlighted in the weekly rotation (Varies/Unknown Power rank increases)

If you don't break beyond 1800 Power in Destiny 2 during a weekly reset, you might as well complete these on a character instead of letting them go to waste. Nevertheless, it’s better that you obtain the Powerful rewards first, and evaluate where your stats are at before trying out the Pinnacle challenges.

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How does Destiny 2’s Slot Leveling system work?

Gear in Destiny 2 Lightfall is, as stated before, based on your average power rating. Some gear might be lower than others, while other pieces might be higher. When you’re trying for Powerful and Pinnacle drops, you’ll want to keep your gear within a few levels of each other.

The easiest way to help fix those pieces of gear that are lower is by doing content that's at your current average level. This way, you can pick up gear that will hopefully fix the weaker slots, which will raise your overall Power Level. Furthermore, this will likely help you avoid using your weekly Powerful/Pinnacle drops to increase those slots.

As you’re playing, you’ll pick up Prime Engrams as well, which are +1 Powerful rewards, but they don’t increase in power as you do. Thus, until you’re at the Powerful Cap, you’ll want to activate them when they drop. Since it won’t increase in power if you hold out, it’s better to just get them decrypted and see if they’re upgrades for you.

If you want to start raiding early in Destiny 2 Lightfall, you’re likely going to want to focus on one character. That way, you build their Power Level as quickly as possible, and then swap to other characters after you’ve improved your main.

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Destiny 2 has plenty of amazing gear and ways to increase your Power Level, and by keeping these things in mind, you’ll grow in no time.