How to level up your Power in Destiny 2: The Final Shape

Published by Finn o n September 6, 2025, 7:56 pm

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Contents hide How does Power level work All Power level caps What does Power affect Best ways to level up in The Final Shape Finish the campaign on Legendary Get Powerful gear Get Pinnacle gear Reach Advanced, Expert, Master, and Grandmaster levels

As you work towards fighting the Witness in The Final Shape, you’ll want to level up your Power to be strong enough to take part in the Salvation’s Edge raid. If you’re just playing through the campaign, you can’t hit the Power cap even with an extended grind. Instead, here’s what you need to do to level up your Power.

How does Power level work

Players who start The Final Shape will have their Guardian characters start at 1900 Power. This is the sum of the Power values of your armour and weapons in addition to your Seasonal Artifact. Your Power impacts how much damage you deal and take from foes. In an event where you are under the recommended level, you will deal less damage and take more lethal hits.

All Power level caps

While leveling up the Seasonal Artifact by taking part in events and activities will give you a small Power boost, you’ll need better gear to take on the Witness. Here are the Power levels you need to be aware of:

Power floor: 1900 (starting)
Soft cap: 1940 (earned by most missions)
Powerful cap: 1990 (specific missions)
Pinnacle cap: 2000 (harder missions)

Unlike previous expansions, the difference between your starting Power and the soft cap is just 40 instead of 150. So you’ll be able to get here early on by getting Engram rewards and gear by playing pretty much any mission. We recommend starting with The Final Shape’s campaign to grab some new seasonal weapons. Once you reach the soft cap, it’ll take longer to reach the Powerful cap and there’s a longer grind awaiting you as you work towards the final Pinnacle cap.

What does Power affect

Activities in The Final Shape are now split into Power Disabled and Power Enabled categories. The former can be played without any restrictions while Power Enabled ones will let you grow further after reaching the soft cap. In The Final Shape, hitting a specific level on one of your characters will greatly boost the future drops for other characters as well. This means you don’t have to grind through the same missions thrice to max out your three Guardians. Here are the Power Disabled activities:

Main campaign
Seasonal story missions
Free-roam missions like Overthrow
Crucible
Legacy content from older expansions

And here are the Power Enabled activities to watch out for:

Vanguard playlists
Nightfalls
Seasonal activities
Exotic Mission Rotators
Trials of Osiris
Raids (like Salvation’s Edge)
Dungeons

Best ways to level up in The Final Shape

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how you can hit the maximum Power level in the game:

Finish the campaign on Legendary

Blazing through The Final Shape’s missions can be a challenge on Legendary. Expect to reload from the last checkpoint often if you aren’t accustomed to the campaigns in Destiny 2. But this will let you skip a good portion of the grind beyond the soft cap, dropping your Warlock, Titan, or Hunter straight into a Power level of 1960.

Get Powerful gear

Once you’ve cleared the soft cap of 1940, your next goal is to reach 1990. This can take a while with basic activities so we recommend doing the following:

Try Pinnacle gear challenges to get a Power boost of +6.
After getting an item with a large Power boost, finish Powerful gear weekly challenges that give you minor Power boosts. This will even out your loadout, giving you gear for different slots that are close to your best item’s Power.
If you’re a fan of Crucible, it’s another great way to even out your gear. If not, consider heading to the H.E.L.M. to clear Bungie’s seasonal activities and vendor challenges.

Here are all the activities you can do to earn Powerful gear:

SourceWhat to doPower BoostThe Final Shape campaign on LegendaryComplete all missions on the Legendary difficulty.Set with 1960 power levelPrime EngramsDecrypt Prime Engrams (from slain enemies and vendor rewards).3Core PlaylistsStrikes, Crucible, and Gambit matches will drop powerful gear.3Gunsmith BountiesComplete 8 Gunsmith bounties for Banshee-44.3Glory Rank UpIncrease your Glory division or subdivision rank.3The Pale HeartGain reputation in the Pale Heart region in The Final Shape by finishing missions here. This includes the weekly campaign mission and runs of the Episode: Echoes main activity.3Trials of OsirisWin 3 or 5 Trials matches on the same card.4 or 5

Get Pinnacle gear

After getting Powerful gear and reaching a Power level of 1990, it’s time for the upward climb towards 2000. Here’s how you can get Pinnacle gear:

Focus on seasonal challenges to level up your Seasonal Artifact. Like we mentioned, it won’t be a major jump but every point counts on the climb to the max level.
Clear Pinnacle dungeons to get +2 Power drops. One dungeon in addition to the newest one is selected as a Pinnacle dungeon each week so focus your efforts accordingly.
Clear Pinnacle raids for another +2 Power drop. This includes the latest Salvation’s Edge raid and a raid selected at random each week. To make things easier, consider joining a Fireteam leader with a high Power level. The new Fireteam Power mechanic will increase the Power of players up to five Power under the leader.

Here’s how you can get Pinnacle drops in the game:

SourceWhat to doPower BoostHawthorneGive 20 Commendations at the end of activities in-game.2PathfinderComplete a full set of Pathfinder tasks in a region. These can be redeemed multiple times per week.2Nightfall PlaylistClear a Nightfall with a score of over 100,000.2Trials of OsirisWin 7 games on the same card. Do this with no losses on a Trials passage to get a Flawless win. Win 50 rounds to secure this power boost once more.2Iron BannerComplete Iron Banner daily challenges.2Exotic Mission PlaylistComplete 2 missions in the Exotic Mission playlist. Higher difficulties let you boost your Power faster.2Weekly Campaign MissionGet a team score of 100,000 or higher.2Newest Dungeon or RaidComplete encounters in the most recent dungeon or raid.2Weekly RaidComplete the weekly rotating raid. These are the Last Wish, Garden, Deep Stone Crypt, Vault of Glass, and Root of Nightmares.2Weekly DungeonComplete the weekly rotating dungeon. These are Shattered Throne, Pit of Heresy, Prophecy, Grasp of Avarice, Duality, Spire, and Ghosts.2

Reach Advanced, Expert, Master, and Grandmaster levels

Endgame players will want to know how to get to these Power levels. Advanced (was Hero) is set to 1995 Power, an Expert (was Legend) has 2005 Power, while Master takes 2010 Power. Finally, Grandmasters have 2020 Power. Each of these take different activities to refine:

Focus on Nightfalls to hit the Advanced level.
Then try out Lost Sectors, Exotic missions, and seasonal activities to reach Expert.
Next, opt for raids and dungeons to reach the Master level.
Finally, go all-in on Nightfalls to max out your Guardian and reach the Grandmaster level.

About the Author

Nico Vergara

Nico Vergara is a Trends Writer for VideoGamer.com. When not writing about or playing RPGs, he spends time playing basketball, watching the latest movies, and brooding about his favorite sports teams.

How to level up your Power in Destiny 2: The Final Shape

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