Destiny 2 – Recommended Power Path

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Destiny 2 released for consoles back in September of this year, so we’ve had some time to learn what works and what doesn’t work in regards to your first month or two as a fresh, new Guardian. With the PC version launching, we’d like to use this opportunity to share what we’ve learned and provide some of the new folks with a recommended path and tips to their experience in Destiny 2 as they get started. Good luck, Guardians!

Recommended Path to 260 Power Level

  1. Create your main character and join an active Clan.
    • Milestones completed on console for a clan will yield weekly Clan rewards for PC players as well.
  2. Play through the campaign, do not turn in any world tokens
    • It’s best to save turn-ins to Devrim/Failsafe/Sloane/Asher Mir until higher Power, so the loot will roll higher.
  3. Grind Public Events for blues and engrams until 240 Power.
  4. Turn in your saved world tokens and accept weekly Clan rewards.
  5. Complete your weekly Powerful Engram milestones and the three exotic weapon quests.
    • There are plenty of YouTube guides on exotic quests.
  6. If desired, create a new character, transfer over your weapons and Sparrow, and repeat steps 1-5.

The Power Soft Cap

Unless you plan on doing the Prestige Nightfall/Raid, there’s no reason to push past 260. Being under-leveled hurts you, but being over-leveled does not help you. If the content is Power Level 260, you will do the same damage whether you’re 260 or 300. Likewise, you won’t be able to soak up tons of damage at 300, you’ll be the same as someone at 260. However, you will hit harder and take less damage than someone who’s 250, so it’s important to be at the level of the content you’re attempting, but more is irrelevant. Power Level 265 is when Legendary Engrams no longer become upgrades.

A Note on Infusion and Mods

Infusion is a process by which you can take a lower leveled item that you like the perks or appearance of, and consume a higher powered item of a similar type to increase the first’s level to that of the second. As an example, if you had been using Nameless Midnight (a Legendary Scout Rifle) at Power Level 180 and a Trax Lysis II (Rare Scout Rifle) drops at Power Level 200, you can choose to infuse the Trax Lysis II into the Nameless Midnight. The Trax Lysis II will be lost in the process, but your Nameless Midnight will now be Power Level 200.

It should be noted that while any quality item can be used as infusion fuel, only Legendary and Exotic items can be the recipient. Also, the items must be of the same type. Auto Rifles can only accept other Auto Rifles as fuel (kinetic or energy does not matter) and Titan Gloves can only use other Titan Gloves as fuel (no cross-class infusion).

Also, Legendary and Exotic items have a mod slot that can add additional effects. Rare quality mods only give a small perk or stat boosts, while Legendary mods grant an additional 5 Power Level to the item. Note that any mods in an item used as infusion fuel will be lost. Additionally, the 5 bonus Power Level from a Legendary Mod will NOT be added to the infused item. If an item that is 270 with a Legendary Mod is infused into an item that is 260, the end result will be a 265 item. Be sure to check for mods before infusing!

Weapons

I’m only going to list the recommended Legendary weapons you should keep an eye out for. While Exotic weapons are amazing, your goal should simply to be acquire one of each, regardless. Exotics that have been dismantled or used as infusion fuel can be repurchased from the Collections tab of your vault for a trivial cost; reacquiring a Legendary will involve finding it as a drop again. Legendary weapons play a huge role in being successful completing content and complementing your Exotics, so if you come across any of these, make sure you save them!

  • Uriel’s Gift
  • Better Devils
  • Nameless Midnight
  • Antiope-D
  • Scathelocke
  • Tone Patrol
  • Seven-Six-Five
  • Man-o’-War
  • Curtain Call
  • The Last Dance

Notable mentions:

  • Lincoln Green
  • Origin Story

Useful Resources

  • Destiny Item Manager – Whether you’re wanting to swap items from your Vault while out in the world or analyze your Vault inventory, DIM is your go-to.
  • PvP Weapon TTK (Tableau) – If you’re into charts and numerical breakdowns of weapon damage in PvP, Tableau is for you.
  • Explanation of Power Cap – The Power Level cap in Destiny can be confusing. This article does a good job of explaining it in detail.

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