Destiny 2’s Lightfall expansion has finally been released and there’s a ton of new content for players to sink their teeth into. Along with a new story, exotics, loot, endgame content, and a build crafting system, Lightfall also introduces our second Darkness subclass, Strand. Players will also want to hit the new Soft, Powerful, and Pinnacle Cap if they want to participate in this expansion’s most challenging content. While the Soft Cap is fairly simple to achieve, hitting the Powerful Cap will take a bit more work. Here’s how to hit the 1800 Powerful Cap in Destiny 2:
How to Reach the Powerful Cap
To hit the Powerful Cap in Destiny 2 you will need to earn either Powerful or Pinnacle tier rewards from completing various activities and quests. Additionally, there are three different tiers of Powerful rewards which will drop gear at different Power levels above your highest available Power level. Powerful Gear Tier 1 drops loot +3 levels above your highest level available gear while Powerful Gear Tier 2 is + 4 levels above. Finally, there’s Tier 3 which is +5 levels above your highest, making it the last Powerful reward you should claim.
Keep in mind, your Artifact Power will not influence what Power your rewards are. So if your Power Level with the Artifact is 1810, but your actual Power Level without this item is 1802, your Powerful and Pinnacle gear will drop above 1802, not 1810. For the unfamiliar here is a breakdown of all the Powerful reward sources we currently know about in Destiny 2. Remember, this is a new expansion so will be updating this list as new methods for gaining Powerful Gear are revealed and old ones are removed.
Tier One
- Complete 3 Dares of Eternity
- Complete 3 Runs of the Wellspring
- Complete 3 Altar of Reflection
- Complete Nightfall Strikes
- Complete 8 Crucible Bounties (Lord Shaxx)
- Complete 8 Vanguard Bounties (Zavala)
- Complete 8 Gambit Bounties (Drifter)
- Complete 8 Gunsmith Bounties (Banshee-44)
- Complete the Weekly Campaign Mission
Tier Two
- Win Trials of Osiris Rounds
Other Powerful Gear Sources
- Prime Engrams
- Exotic Engrams
- Exotics Rewarded at the end of Exotic Quests
Once you hit 1570, I recommend grabbing bounties from the four main vendors in the Tower and completing those. If you’re trying to min/max your grind, make sure to leave at the end of Crucible and Gambit matches, to ensure you don’t hit the three matches completed to earn a piece of Pinnacle gear. You’ll also want to save any exotic quests you might unlock if you didn’t complete the campaign on Legendary difficulty. This is because you might not be at the Soft Cap, which can be easily achieved by just grinding out activities like Strikes, Public Events, or Crucible Matches.
Additionally, you’ll want to try and knock out any Tier One Powerful sources first before moving on to Tier Two or Three. This will ensure that you’re claiming the highest Light gear last, which will make leveling a bit easier. Currently, there aren’t a ton of Tier Two or Three sources that we know of at launch. However, I suspect there will be more that are either tied to new world activities on Neomuna or seasonal activities linked to Season of Defiance.
Whatever way you choose to grind, just remember that you have over a week before the new raid releases. There’s no need to burn yourself out during the first couple of days.
