Destiny 2: Season of the Worthy Power Leveling Guide
The current season of Destiny 2 is already more than halfway done, ending on June 10th, but if you haven’t hit level cap yet — don’t worry, neither have I. There’s definitely an optimal way to approach leveling, so let’s run through some basics to make sure the grind runs efficiently.
Reach power level 950
Simple enough, go through any story quests you have and you should be good. Before level 950 all armor and weapons will drop above level until you hit this cap. On the off chance you finish all story quests and still need a few more levels to hit this first cap just go clear a few Lost Sectors out in the solar system or run some Strikes.
Note: The ‘Grove of Ulan-Tan’ Lost Sector on IO is extremely effective if you just jump straight into the boss room from the right side of the entrance and dip out immediately after for quick experience.
The Powerful Grind to Level 1000
All weapon and armor drops will cap out at power level 950 until you receive higher level gear from Powerful Rewards. There are currently 13 Powerful Rewards in Destiny 2 that refresh weekly and boost your level beyond the 950 cap. Weapons and Armor from all sources will be able to drop beyond the 950 cap as your character’s base level increases with Powerful Rewards. These rewards are spread across different activities in the game and divided into three separate tiers that drop rewards between +3 and +6 of your base power level. Your base power level can easily be found by hovering over the Power Level on your equipment menu.
So your main goal at this point is to work your way through these quests before the weekly reset:
Tier I (+3 Power Level)
- Spare Parts (Complete Gunsmith Bounties)
- Live-Fire Exercises (Complete Crucible Bounties)
- Vanguard Service (Complete Vanguard Bounties)
- Shady Schemes (Complete Gambit Bounties)
- Flashpoint (Complete Planetary Activities)
- Nightmare Slayer (Defeat Nightmares on the Moon)
- Nightmare Hunts (Complete any Nightmare Hunt Activities)
- Replayable Story Mission (Complete the Current Replayable Mission on the Moon)
- Luna’s Calling (Complete ‘Luna’s Calling’ Quest Line on the Moon)
- Weekly Crucible Rotator (Complete Crucible Rotator Matches)
- Nightfall: The Ordeal (Complete Nightfall: The Ordeal Activities)
Tier II (+4 Power Level)
- Clan Rewards (Earn Clan Experience)
Tier III (+5 Power Level)
- Weekly Rasputin Challenge (Complete Weekly Warmind Bounties)
- Pit of Heresy Dungeon Bosses (Except the Final Boss)
A good tip is to even out the power level of all your gear in between your powerful rewards. The simplest way to do this is to check which vendors are selling on-level gear, grab all the tokens/resources you can carry, and slap them like they owe you money until you receive on-level gear that matches your newly acquired powerful reward. If you don’t have enough resources to do this more than once (or at all) you can just go ahead and cash in all your powerful rewards as you go and not worry about vendors. Balancing out your gear just makes sure your power level is as high as possible to maximize the level gains from those Powerful Rewards, but it’s not required.
If You’re About That Life, hit the Pinnacle Cap (1010)
Pinnacle Rewards will be the only source of gear above the soft cap of 1000. There are 7 Pinnacle Rewards that grant a +6 Power Level increase, with most coming from some of the most difficult content in the game:
- Weekly Crucible Core Matches (Complete Crucible Core Matches)
- Weekly Gambit Matches (Complete Gambit and/or Gambit Prime Matches)
- Weekly Vanguard Strikes (Complete Strikes with Active Elemental Burn)
- 100K Nightfall: The Ordeal (Complete Nightfall: The Ordeal with 100K Team Score)
- Master Nightmare Hunts (Complete a Nightmare Hunt on Master Difficulty)
- Pit of Heresy Dungeon (Defeat the Final Boss)
- Garden of Salvation (Defeat the Raid Boss)
As always, you can just play the game your way and level at your own pace. I’m hoping to reach the level cap by the end of the season, so I’ll be busy hustling my way through the content during my free time.
