Destiny 2 – Maximum Power Level and How to Get There

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I just hit power level 900 rather quickly after playing D2 for the last 3 days. However, it seems now that my power level goes up rather slowly, by at least 1-2 every few hours.

It doesn't seem level is tied to the power level — in fact for some reason, when I started playing, I was already at max level, with all the skill trees unlocked.

What is the max power level in D2, and how do I get there?

Best Answer

What is the max power level?

The maximum light changes with each season and/or major update. This answer is to track the increases to the caps (historical1 and current). The following light levels are based on equipped gear only and does not take artifacts into account.

  • Season of the Chosen: 1300 (1310 with Pinnacle gear)
  • Season of the Hunt (Beyond Light Expansion): 1250 (1260 with Pinnacle gear)
  • Season of the Arrivals: 1050 (1060 with Pinnacle gear)
  • Season of the Worthy: 1000 (1010 with Pinnacle gear)
  • Season of the Dawn: 960 (970 with Pinnacle gear)
  • Season of the Undying (Shadowkeep Expansion): 950 (960 with Pinnacle gear)
  • Season of the Opulence: 750
  • Season of the Drifter: 700
  • Season of the Forge: 650
  • Season of the Outlaw (Forsaken Expansion): 600
  • Moments of Triumph event: 400 (405 with mods)
  • Warmind : 380 (385 with mods)
  • Curse of Osiris: 330 (335 with mods)
  • Initial Release: 300 (305 with mods)

How do I get there?

Powerful Gear

Powerful gear is the primary way of reaching the light level soft cap. There are various ways to obtain Powerful Gear, which are included (but not limited to):

  • Completing 8 bounties from various vendors
  • Completing a Nightfall Strike
  • Random drops

Pinnacle Gear

Without taking artifacts into account (see below), Pinnacle Gear is the only way to reach the light level hard cap. Pinnacle Gear is much harder to come by than Powerful Gear, and takes more effort to acquire. The primary sources of Pinnacle Gear are (but not limited to):

  • Completing 3 Gambit matches, Crucible matches, and Strikes (with the weekly elemental burn subclass equipped)
  • Obtaining 100,000 Points during Nightfall Strike
  • Completing the seasonal raid

Seasonal Artifacts

Released in Season of the Undying, the Seasonal Artifacts are another way to increase your maximum light level outside of your equipped gear. To view the seasonal artifact, it is located in your character menu on the bottom left of the screen just below your ghost shell.

The Seasonal Artifact provides a light level boost that is uncapped (this Reddit thread says that some players reached 1100 light during Season of the Arrivals).

By simply playing and gaining experience, you can increase your light level that effects all of your guardians by gaining bonuses through the artifact. You can view the current bonus apply by hovering over your light level on the top right of the character menu.

The light level bonus resets with every season.

Armor Mods (Destiny Armor 1.0)

This is legacy information and does not apply to how Destiny 2 is currently designed.

To simply put it, armor mods were upgrades you could apply to gear to increase your maximum light level. Destiny Armor 2.0 was released alongside the Shadowkeep expansion in 2019, changing the way how armor mods work and effectively making 1.0 armor mods obsolete and no longer affecting your light level.

1 Historical light level caps referenced from here

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