How to level up to 1560 quickly
With the start of the new Witch Queen expansion and the new Rebel Season, as always, Destiny 2 has seen a change in Power Levels. And while many previous seasons boasted a 10-point improvement in maximum Power Level, now the maximum Power Level has been increased to 1,560.
In this article, we will explain step by step where to start and what is the best strategy for reaching the maximum power level as quickly as possible, as well as share observations and useful tips.
First of all, for new players who started exploring content with the Witch Queen expansion, let’s understand what the power level in Destiny 2 affects. Your power level determines how much damage you deal to enemies and how much damage you can take from them. These are the two main parameters needed to determine whether a particular activity is easy or overpowered for you – the higher your power level, the more damage you can deal and therefore receive before your enemies defeat you. Don’t forget that each activity has a recommended power level for its passage, so don’t make it tough for yourself and try to pass the activities with requirements significantly higher than your current power level.
In the Witch Queen expansion and accordingly in Season of the Risen, all players, regardless of experience in the game, start at 1,350 power level. The power level in Destiny 2 is divided by caps which change every season: soft cap, hard cap and pinnacle cap.
The Season of the Risen power level ranges are as follows:
- Soft Cap: 1,500
- Hard Cap: 1,550
- Pinnacle Cap: 1,560
Reaching Soft Cap fast
To increase your power level and first get to the soft cap you need to obtain weapons and armor with a higher level. Note that the power level will increase all loot, except the sunset ones.
Once you reach the soft limit, you need to switch to weekly activities that give you Powerful Gear. You can check the activities for which you get Powerful Gear in your Director or in our loot table. Prime Engrams also can help you in leveling up at this stage.
By increasing your power in this way, you will reach the 1,550 power level and the hard cap, which, contrary to logic, is not the real cap. As you already know, it is followed by the 1,560 power level and pinnacle cap. Similarly to the previous cap, you need to get Pinnacle Gear, which is not easy to get: it drops out from the most difficult content in the game, including PvP activities (raids, Trials of Osiris, etc).
Reaching the pinnacle cap you can increase the level of power only by raising the level of the Seasonal Artifact, which levels passively by receiving XP.
Reaching Hard Cap fast
So, let’s take a closer look at how best to level up your character.
The general sources of leveling are Seasonal Artifact and World Drops (soft cap only). The Seasonal Artifact will always add power level by earning XP, but it is disabled in Trials of Osiris and Iron Banner. And World Drops will give a level to power for each item received until you reach the soft cap.
Before you start leveling up to the hard cap, make sure you’ve reached 1,500 power level (soft cap). The easiest way to do this is to complete the Witch Queen campaign on Master Difficulty, for which you’ll get a full set at 1,520 power. This will not only allow you to reach the soft cap quickly, but also to get almost halfway through the hard cap. Unfortunately, this method is not suitable for those who, for whatever reason, have not purchased this DLC. In fact the whole process of leveling will be more difficult for those who don’t have some of the other DLCs, including the Bungie 30th Anniversary Pack.
For those who are playing Destiny 2 for the first time or logged into the game after a long break, it may be difficult to understand which DLC or season certain activities relate to. That’s why here is a table with hints:
| Free | The Witch Queen |
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| 30th Anniversary Pack | Season Of The Risen |
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Next, the basic idea is that you need to get the Power Gear that will give you the biggest power jump. For the process to go smoothly, you have to level up in a certain order. You should start with a pair of Pinnacle Gear sources, which will first give you +6 per item. They will go into certain slots. Then you should do 3 or 4 weeklies that give you Powerful Gear, that will almost always fall into other slots, which will eventually balance out your power level. Then repeat this cycle. It looks something like this:
- Claim a Pinnacle Gear reward.
- Complete 3 or 4 Powerful Gear weeklies.
- Claim a Powerful Gear (+4 or +5) reward.
- Complete 3 or 4 Powerful Gear weeklies.
- Claim a Powerful Gear (+4 or +5) reward.
- Complete 3 or 4 Powerful Gear weeklies.
- Play Glory Crucible to balance out your gear.
This is how you can reach a hard limit in one or two weeks.
And by the way, the sneaky tip – these activities are character-based, so if you have more than one character, you can transfer the received equipment from one character to another, boost it a bit, level up the power level, and then transfer the reverse to your main character and continue leveling up. Doing this all your characters will reach the hard cap in one or two weeks.
Powerful Gear Sources
| Source | What to do | Power Level |
| Witch Queen Legendary Campaign | Complete every Witch Queen campaign mission on Legendary difficulty. | Gives a full set of 1,520 Power gear |
| Prime Engrams | Decrypt Prime Engrams (rarely drops from slain enemies, and certain vendors can give them as part of their respective reward tracks) | +3 |
| Vendor Weeklies | Complete 8 bounties for a given vendor | +3 |
| Core Playlists | Strikes, Crucible, and Gambit can drop powerful gear on completion | +3 |
| Nightfall Playlist | Clear 3 Nightfalls. Higher difficulties grant more progress | +3 |
| Competitive PvP | Complete 3 Survival games | +3 |
| Glory Rank Ups | Increase your Glory division or subdivision rank | +3 |
| Fynch’s Challenge | Gain reputation with Fynch | +3 |
| Altar of Reflection | Complete 2 Altars of Reflection | +3 |
| The Wellspring | Complete 3 runs of the Wellspring | +3 |
| Dares of Eternity | Complete 3 Dares of Eternity runs. Legend difficulty grants additional progress | +3 |
| Weekly Campaign Mission | Complete the weekly campaign mission on any difficulty | +3 |
| PsiOps Battlegrounds | Open 2 Runic Chests in the Season of the Risen Battlegrounds playlist | +3 |
| Hawthorne | Earn 5,000 Clan XP | +4 |
| Trials of Osiris | Win 3 Trials matches on the same card | +4 |
| Trials of Osiris | Win 5 Trials matches on the same card | +5 |
| Vault of Glass | Complete the Vault of Glass raid | +5 |
Reaching Pinnacle Cap fast
This is where knowing how to quickly level up by transferring equipment from one character to another comes in handy. Start with the least playable character. Do all weekly Pinnacle Gear activities on this character and pass the weapons to the other one. Do the same here and move on to your main character. The order of the weekly activities in the current Season of the Risen does not matter, but the logic of the previous seasons is the same: first you complete those Pinnacle Sources that give +2 to the power level, and then those that give +1, so you increase your power level faster.
And this is where it’s time to remember about the Seasonal Artifact. Seasonal quests give you a huge amount of XP. And XP in turn increases your Artifact level. As we remember, the Artifact does not give an advantage in Trials of Osiris and Iron Banner, but it will allow getting 1,560 power faster to pass Nightfalls and Lost Sectors on Master difficulty.
And of course completing the Vow of the Disciple raid, released in the Witch Queen expansion on March 5, 2022, will give you a huge bonus to your power level if you do it weekly.
Basically achieving 1,560 strength will depend on the RNG. If you are lucky enough to get a drop in the right slots, you can reach your maximum Pinnacle cap in three weeks of the season.
Pinnacle Gear Sources
| Source | What to do | Power Level |
| Strike Playlist | Complete 3 strikes using the same subclass as the weekly burn | +1 |
| Crucible Playlist | Complete 3 games in any Valor Crucible playlist | +1 |
| Gambit Playlist | Complete 3 Gambit matches | +1 |
| Nightfall Playlist | Clear a Nightfall with a score of 100,000 | +2 |
| Trials of Osiris | Win 7 games on the same card | +2 |
| Trials of Osiris | Win 7 games with no losses on a Trials Passage | +2 |
| Trials of Osiris | Win 50 rounds | +2 |
| Iron Banner | Complete Lord Saladin’s Iron Banner weekly bounties | +2 |
| H.E.L.M. | Defeat 10 Champions in PsiOps Battlegrounds | +2 |
| Weekly Campaign Mission | Get a team score of 100,000 or better | +2 |
| Preservation | Complete the “Preservation” weekly mission | +2 |
| Vox Obscura | Defeat powerful Cabal and Champions in the “Vox Obscura” Exotic quest | +2 |
| The Wellspring | Complete a run of The Wellspring on Master difficulty | +2 |
| Dares of Eternity | Complete Dares of Eternity with a score of 250,000 or higher | +2 |
| Grasp of Avarice | Clear the Grasp of Avarice dungeon | +2 |
| Vow of the Disciple | Complete encounters in Vow of the Disciple | +2 |
Other Tips
As soon as you notice that all items on your character have the same power level, switch to Pinnacle Gear challenges. Each such item will give a boost to the power in its slot, and rewards for Powerful Gear challenges will balance your overall power level.
Don’t forget the weekly bounties, because they give a nice XP boost, XP powers the Artifact, and the rest you remember, right?
And last but not least, play Glory Crucible playlists. A couple of hours in Competitive Crucible will give you more than 10 points of power. So if you’re skilled enough in this type of activity and will win almost all of your matches, you will be rewarded with both the subdivision and division rank ups with Power Equipment, and with that you will also get power points.
And as always, if you need any help in the game, you can always turn to Overgear. Now we even have special coaching from Destiny 2’s top players (for example Grasp of Avarice dungeon coaching).
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