Alright, Guardians, buckle up! The rulebook for getting that sweet, sweet Power Level in Destiny 2: Edge of Fate has been completely rewritten. Forget the days of the past where you had to painstakingly map out which Powerful Gear drop to get before a Pinnacle one. The new era of leveling is here, and it’s a streamlined, grind-as-much-as-you-want paradise. This is one of the key things to understand from the beginning: weekly reward limits are gone.
This guide is your all-in-one ticket to rocketing from a fresh-faced Power Level 10 all the way to the seasonal Power Cap. Here’s a quick overview of the key power caps and how to tackle them:
| Power Cap Stage | Power Level Range | Primary Method of Progress |
| Soft Cap | 10 → 200 | Any activity, story campaign, and blue drops. |
| Powerful Cap | 200 → 400 | Portal Activities with high Reward Ranks (A-Rank). |
| Pinnacle Cap (Hard Cap) | 400 → 450 | Prime Engrams from top-tier Endgame Activities. |
Now, let’s break down the basics and go deep into every nook, cranny, and cheese-filled corner of the system that governs your Power Destiny.
Phase 1: The Sprint to the Soft Power Cap
Everyone, from grizzled veterans to New Lights, starts on a level playing field at Power Level 10. The first major goal is to hit the soft cap of 200. Until then, nearly everything you do will reward you with gear that bumps up your level. Your Ghost will be working overtime tracking all the new loot.
- The Campaign is Your Best Friend: The most effective way to kickstart your journey is by diving into the Edge of Fate campaign. If you’re feeling particularly spicy, tackling it on Legendary difficulty will give you a massive head start, potentially launching you to Power Level 100 or even higher right out of the gate. Don’t wait to start this; it’s the best initial source of progress. Unlike the Final Shape campaign, this one is all about setting the stage for the new power grind in this new world.
- Side Quest Blitz: After the campaign, the most efficient next step is to mop up all the available side quests. These offer fantastic boosts with significant power increases. Plus, you can often tune the rewards to target a specific piece of armor that’s lagging behind.
- Infusion is Simple: As you get higher-level gear, you’ll want to infuse it into your favorite equipment. Before hitting Power Level 200, this process simply costs Enhancement Cores, making it easy to keep your preferred loadout powerful. Even blue drops will be a constant source of power, so don’t wait to infuse them if they’re an upgrade.
Phase 2: Welcome to The Portal! Your Path to the Powerful Cap
Say goodbye to the old Director and hello to The Portal, your new central hub for pretty much everything. This is where the real grind to the Powerful Cap happens. The Portal is broken down into a few key playlists:
- Solo: For the lone wolves, this section offers activities like revamped Lost Sectors and other solo-friendly missions.
- Fireteam: Your go-to for standard cooperative play, like your usual Vanguard strikes.
- Pinnacle: This is home to longer, more challenging endgame activities like Exotic missions.
- Crucible: For those who prefer to level up by demonstrating their superiority over fellow Guardians.
Understanding Difficulty Tiers:
Activities are split into five difficulty tiers, each with a corresponding Power bracket. Here’s how they break down:
| Difficulty Tier | Recommended Power Range | Typical Use Case / Reward Goal |
| Normal | 10 – 100 | Campaign progression and initial leveling. |
| Advanced | 100 – 200 | Reaching the Soft Cap efficiently. |
| Expert | 200 – 300 | Beginning the climb towards the Powerful Cap. |
| Master | 300 – 400 | The primary grind for Powerful rewards. |
| Grandmaster | 400 – 450 | Earning Prime Engrams for the final push to the Hard Cap. |
Phase 3: The Art of the Reward Rank
The most crucial element for leveling up fast is your Reward Rank. The goal is to get this into the coveted “A” rank on any given activity, as this provides the maximum power boost from drops. A successful completion at this rank is key.
To get that ‘A’ grade, one must embrace the challenge by customizing the activity with various modifiers:
- Negative Modifiers (Banes): These make the activity harder (e.g., making certain enemies tougher) but give your score a hefty multiplier. This will make you deal more damage to get through.
- Positive Modifiers (Boons): These give you a beneficial boost, but be warned! As your Power Level increases, using these will start to reduce your score multiplier.
Fine-Tuning the Challenge:
There’s a strategy to this. Making an activity just difficult enough to hit ‘A’ rank means you’ll have very little room for error to get the top-tier rewards. However, by making it even harder, you give yourself more wiggle room, making it easier to guarantee you hit the score threshold. You shouldn’t have to wait for a perfect run.
At some point, it might make more sense to jump to the next difficulty tier (e.g., from Expert to Master) with no negative modifiers than to stay on the lower tier with every possible disadvantage active. This is a great example of how to approach the new system.
Phase 4: The Road to the Pinnacle Cap (The Hard Cap)
Once you hit Power Level 200, the game changes slightly. To continue leveling up to the Pinnacle Cap, you’ll need to seek out Pinnacle rewards. This is where your journey to the absolute power peak begins.
- Getting Unstable Cores: You’ll need a new currency called Unstable Cores, primarily obtained by dismantling gear that is Power Level 200 or higher. Keep in mind, this currency resets with each new expansion, like The Final Shape, so you can’t hoard them forever.
- Tiered Loot: Edge of Fate introduces a gear tier system (Tier 1 to 5). The higher your Power and the tougher the content you tackle, the higher the tier of loot you’ll receive. Higher-tier gear comes with better stats and more perk options on your armor, making the grind for better gear more meaningful than ever. This system offers a wide range of possibilities.
The Secret Weapon: The Rewards Pass and Seasonal Bonus Power
The days of the Season Pass being a glorified sticker book are in the past. The new Rewards Pass is a critical tool for leveling up faster, getting better loot, and earning Seasonal Bonus Power. Don’t wait to claim its rewards.
Why it’s a Game-Changer:
- A Cascade of Experience: The pass offers up to a 40% XP bonus for both you and your fireteam, creating a self-fueling cycle of power.
- The All-Important Score Bonus: This is the big one. The pass can grant up to a 15% score bonus in Portal activities. This boost can be the difference between a ‘B’ rank and an ‘A’ rank, netting you higher-level, higher-tier loot.
- Prime Time & Other Perks: It also boosts your chances of receiving Prime Engrams and Exotic Engrams and helps you complete seasonal hub challenges faster.
How to Level the Pass at Warp Speed:
- The Seasonal Hub is Your New Home: Accessed from the Portal, the seasonal hub offers Daily and Weekly challenges that are a primary source of XP.
- Hunt Down Seasonal Challenges: The “Earn Ranks” section of the Rewards Pass holds Seasonal Challenges that offer a ton of experience.
- The Double-Dip: Before launching a Portal activity, head to the planet it takes place on, grab all the planetary bounties, and then launch the activity to complete them simultaneously.
- Never Waste a Reward: Always join a fireteam before claiming a big XP reward. The “Shared Wisdom” buff is free, extra XP. You just have to wait for your fireteam to be in the same instance.
The Ultimate Speedrun: Encore Mania and Powerful Gear Sources
Want to turn the leveling process into an absolute cakewalk? There is currently one method that stands head and shoulders above the rest, leveraging one of the game’s premier Powerful Gear sources to net roughly seven high-level drops in about 15 minutes. This is one of the best ways to get your average power level up quickly.
Step 1: The Not-So-Secret Weapon
Your build is almost completely irrelevant. The one item that turns this run from fast to ludicrously fast is the Third Iteration Exotic scout rifle, which can be acquired from the very first rank of the season pass. It appears to have a bug that grants it an absurd amount of bonus damage. We don’t know how much damage it’s supposed to do, but for now, it’s a monster. While this may be patched in the next season, the strategy remains top-tier even without it.
Step 2: The Setup
Assemble a fireteam of three, head to the Pinnacle Ops playlist in The Portal, and select the Encore Exotic Mission. Here’s the recommended modifier setup to guarantee that ‘A’ rank:
Negative Modifiers: Use a few Banes like Caltrops Bane and Chill Touch. They are largely inconsequential since enemies will be defeated before they can pose a threat.
Positive Modifiers: This is where the magic happens.
- Full Throttle: Defeating targets without dying stacks a damage buff. By the end of the mission, this will result in insane boss damage.
- Grappler: Your grenade is replaced by a grappling hook with three charges that instantly refresh when you touch the ground. This turns traversal into a high-speed sport.
- Slayer: The player with the most final blows gets a damage boost, letting them deal more damage.
Step 3: The Speedrun Strategy
The key to a sub-15-minute completion is simple: Grapple. Everything.
- Opening Traversal: The moment you load in, start grappling to skip entire jumping puzzles. Don’t wait for your teammates!
- The Big Skip: After the first chest, instead of running around the large room, just jump out, turn 180 degrees, and grapple straight up to the next area.
- Encounters & Bosses: Use your speed and the absurd damage from the Third Iteration (and your stacked Full Throttle buff) to melt everything in your path. The Subjugator and Tormentor bosses will feel more like Major enemies than actual threats.
- The Final Boss: Use the same principles. Capture the plates to start the DPS phase and let the scout rifle rip. The boss’s health bar will simply vanish.
A single, clean run can be completed in 12-13 minutes, showering you with loot and dramatically boosting your Power Level. For an example of efficiency, this beats almost every other farm in the world. It even rivals the loot from the Iron Banner, but you can do it anytime.
Final Tidbits to Remember
Here are a few final key things to keep in your mind as you venture forth:
- Target Farming: Keep an eye out for green engram icons on activities in The Portal. These grant bonus drops, making them perfect for targeting a specific gear slot when your average level is held back by one item.
- Guardian Ranks Matter: Your Guardian Rank can now affect the quality of some drops, including Pinnacle rewards, so it’s worth taking the time to level it up. This will be even more important as we get closer to The Final Shape.
- Fireteam Power: Playing with higher-level friends? The game will boost your Power to be within 5 levels of the highest person, but your drops will still be based on your actual level. Don’t wait to team up!
- Account-Wide Leveling: Power is account-wide. When you switch to an alternate character, your drops will be based on the highest-level gear you own across your entire account, making catching up much faster. Your Ghost can pull gear from your other characters. This makes the progress feel much better than the usual character-specific grind.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the biggest change to leveling in Edge of Fate?
The most fundamental change to the leveling system is the complete removal of weekly reward lockouts for Powerful and Pinnacle gear. In the past, players had to meticulously plan their activities each week to maximize a limited number of powerful drops. Now, Edge of Fate has introduced a “grind-as-much-as-you-want” system. This means you can continuously play activities and earn Power upgrades without being artificially stopped by a weekly reset, allowing for much faster and more flexible progression if you have the time to play.
What are the new Power Level caps?
The guide outlines a clear, three-stage progression system for this season. Each cap represents a new phase in your leveling journey with different requirements:
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Soft Cap (Power Level 200):Â This is the initial cap you can reach just by playing the game. Any gear that drops, including blues, will be an upgrade until you hit this point.
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Powerful Cap (Power Level 400):Â After the soft cap, you must engage with specific systems. The climb from 200 to 400 is achieved by earning “Powerful” rewards, primarily from completing Portal Activities with a high Reward Rank.
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Pinnacle Cap (Power Level 450):Â Also known as the Hard Cap, this is the maximum gear score for the season. The final push from 400 to 450 requires earning “Pinnacle” rewards, which now primarily come in the form of Prime Engrams from the most challenging endgame content.
I’m at Power Level 10. What’s the very first thing I should do?
The absolute best way to begin your journey is to dive directly into the Edge of Fate story campaign. The guide emphasizes that this is the most effective kickstart available. For maximum efficiency, you should tackle it on Legendary difficulty if you feel up to the challenge. Doing so provides a “massive head start,” rewarding you with a large sum of gear that can rocket your Power Level to 100 or even higher immediately upon completion.
How do I get from Power Level 10 to the Soft Cap of 200?
The journey to the Soft Cap is the most straightforward part of the grind. During this phase, virtually every gear drop from any activity will be an upgrade. The recommended path is to first complete the main campaign to get a large initial boost. Afterward, you should focus on completing any available Seasonal quests and Exotic quests. These not only provide significant Power increases but also keep the gameplay varied. Don’t ignore any drops during this time; even common blue gear will consistently raise your average Power Level until you reach 200.
How do I get “Powerful Gear” after hitting the Soft Cap (200)?
Once you reach Power Level 200, standard drops will no longer increase your Power. To progress towards the Powerful Cap of 400, you must turn your attention to The Portal. Your main source of progress will be completing activities within The Portal’s playlists (like Strikes or Exotic missions) on higher difficulty tiers. The key is to achieve a high Reward Rank, ideally an ‘A’ rank, by skillfully using the activity modifiers. This ensures your rewards are “Powerful” and drop at a level that will continue your climb.
How do I get “Pinnacle Gear” to reach the Hard Cap (450)?
The final, most challenging phase of the grind is going from Power Level 400 to the Hard Cap of 450. For this, you need what the game considers Pinnacle rewards. In the new Edge of Fate system, these rewards primarily come in the form of Prime Engrams. These are no longer just random bonus drops; they are the main currency of endgame progression. You earn them by achieving the highest scores (an ‘A’ Rank) in the game’s most difficult endgame content, such as Grandmaster-tier activities in The Portal.
Is playing the campaign on Legendary difficulty really worth it?
Yes, the guide strongly recommends it and for good reason. It’s not just a matter of bragging rights. Completing the campaign on Legendary provides a tangible, significant advantage by giving you a “massive head start.” This accelerated boost means you spend far less time grinding through the lower levels and can jump into the mid-game progression loop (The Portal) much faster than players who complete it on Normal difficulty.
What is “The Portal” and why is it important?
The Portal is the new central activity hub in Edge of Fate, effectively replacing the old Director for launching most playlists. It is critically important because it’s the core of the entire leveling system after the Soft Cap. It’s organized into distinct playlists—Solo, Fireteam, Pinnacle, and Crucible—and it’s where you will customize activities with modifiers (Banes and Boons) and select difficulty tiers to earn the Powerful and Pinnacle rewards necessary to reach the max Power Level.
What is a “Reward Rank” and why do I need an ‘A’ rank?
A Reward Rank is a performance grade (from C to A) you receive after finishing a Portal activity, calculated based on your score. Achieving an ‘A’ rank is described as the “most crucial element for leveling up fast.” An ‘A’ rank guarantees that you receive the highest possible Power Level drop for that specific activity and difficulty. Consistently hitting this rank is the central gameplay loop for efficient progression from the Soft Cap to the Hard Cap.
What are Banes and Boons? How should I use them?
Banes and Boons are the new activity modifiers you can select within The Portal to customize the challenge.
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Banes are negative modifiers that make an activity harder (e.g., making enemies tougher or adding environmental hazards). Their benefit is that they significantly increase your potential score multiplier, making it easier to reach an ‘A’ rank.
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Boons are positive modifiers that give you an advantage (e.g., faster ability recharge). They make the mission easier but will lower your score multiplier.
The strategy is to find a balance: add enough Banes that you can comfortably handle to boost your score high enough for an ‘A’ rank, while avoiding Boons that might prevent you from reaching that threshold.
What is the absolute fastest way to level up my Power?
According to the guide, the most dominant and efficient leveling strategy currently in the game is the Encore Exotic Mission speedrun. This specific farm leverages a combination of high rewards, fast completion times, and powerful modifiers. A coordinated fireteam can complete a run in roughly 12-15 minutes and be “showered with loot,” receiving approximately seven high-level drops per run.
Why is the Encore Exotic mission so good for farming?
Its incredible efficiency comes from a perfect storm of factors. First, the mission itself has a very high drop rate, rewarding about seven powerful items per completion. Second, when combined with the “Grappler” Boon, traversal sections that would normally take minutes can be cleared in seconds. Finally, the existence of the bugged “Third Iteration” weapon allows teams to melt bosses and encounters, drastically reducing the overall time commitment for such a high yield of loot.
Do I need the “Third Iteration” scout rifle for the Encore farm?
While the Encore mission strategy is still considered top-tier without it, the guide makes it clear that the Third Iteration is the secret sauce that makes the farm “ludicrously fast.” The weapon is currently bugged to deal an absurd amount of damage, turning what should be difficult bosses into trivial encounters. You can acquire this exotic from Rank 1 of the free track of the Rewards Pass, so it’s accessible to everyone. Be aware that Bungie will likely patch this bug in the future.
What are Unstable Cores and do they expire?
Unstable Cores are a brand-new infusion material introduced in Edge of Fate. They are required for any gear infusion you perform on items that are above Power Level 200. You acquire them by dismantling any gear that has a Power Level of 200 or higher. A critical piece of information from the guide is that Unstable Cores expire each season (every 6 months). This means you cannot hoard them indefinitely; you must use them within the season they are earned.
What’s the difference between Tier 1 and Tier 5 gear?
The tiered loot system is a new layer of gear progression focused on quality, not just Power. A higher tier means objectively better gear. For example, the guide notes that a Tier 5 piece of armor can roll with exceptionally high stats (around 75 total), feature a full 11 energy capacity, and come with a special “Tuning” mod slot. A Tier 5 weapon can roll with powerful perks like two enhanced traits. This system makes the endgame grind more meaningful, as you’re chasing truly superior items.
Is the new Rewards Pass important for leveling?
Yes, it is far more than a source of cosmetics now and is described as a “critical tool” for leveling. Its most significant benefits are the direct boosts it provides to your grind. This includes a massive 40% XP bonus for you (plus a 20% bonus for your fireteam) and, most importantly, a 15% score bonus in all Portal activities. That 15% can easily be the difference between a ‘B’ rank and an ‘A’ rank, directly resulting in better, higher-level loot.
My helmet is lagging behind in Power. How can I target farm a specific armor slot?
The guide points out a new, very helpful feature for this exact problem. As you look through the activities in The Portal, you should keep an eye out for a green engram icon next to certain missions. This icon signifies that the activity is currently offering bonus drops for a specific gear slot (e.g., helmets). Running these “Bonus Focus” activities is the perfect way to target a lagging slot and bring your average Power Level up.
My friend is a much higher Power Level. Can I still play with them?
Yes, and it’s easier than ever. Edge of Fate introduced a fireteam power scaling system. When you join a higher-level friend, the game will temporarily boost your effective Power to be within 5 levels of the highest-powered player in the team. This allows you to survive and contribute effectively in high-level content. However, it’s crucial to remember that the gear that drops for you will still be based on your own actual, un-boosted Power Level, ensuring the progression remains fair.
I’ve leveled my main character. How hard is it to level up my other characters?
Leveling alternate characters is significantly faster now because progression is essentially account-wide. While your characters don’t share a Power Level directly, the game calculates drops based on the highest-level gear you own across your entire account, including items in the Vault. You can transfer your best weapons to your alt, and their drops will immediately start appearing at a much higher level, allowing them to skip most of the initial grind and catch up quickly.
Do I still need to wait for the weekly reset to get Powerful and Pinnacle rewards?
Absolutely not. This is one of the most celebrated changes in Edge of Fate. The old system of being limited to a specific number of Powerful and Pinnacle rewards per character per week is gone. The new system allows for continuous, uncapped grinding. If you have the time and dedication, you can play Portal activities back-to-back and constantly earn rewards that progress your Power Level, without ever having to wait for a weekly reset.
