Destiny 2 has introduced a new power level cap with Shadowkeep and changed the way there. However, it seems that this peak level cannot be reached normally at the moment. You definitely need the help of the seasonal artifact. And if nothing changes, you could end up below the cap at the end of Season 8.
What does leveling look like now? At the start of Season 8 and the Shadowkeep expansion, there were some changes to the leveling system in Destiny 2.
Initially, all players were set to power level 750 on October 1 to ensure everyone starts at the same level.
The soft cap is now at power level 900. This means that items found from 750 to 900 provide a power upgrade and help you on the way up.
From 900 to the hard cap of 950, only Powerful rewards will take you further, the sources of which are limited weekly.
To get from 950 to the peak cap of 960, you depend on so-called pinnacle gear. This gear is even rarer than the powerful items and is only available through very few specific activities.
Additionally, there is the seasonal artifact. This also allows you to level up to the peak cap of 960 and even beyond. However, the additional levels gained through the artifact are only available seasonally (reset at the end of a season) and do not count in the calculation for the power level of your loot.
So if you want to reach and maintain the peak cap regularly at the end of the season, it can only be done through pinnacle gear.
How can you actually reach the new peak cap of 960? Without the help of the seasonal artifact, you rely on pinnacle gear. Only this grants you power upgrades beyond 950.
This gear is currently only available from the following sources:
- New Shadowkeep raid Garden of Salvation
- New Nightfall mode The Ordeals with a team score of 100,000 or more
- Iron Banner
What is the problem here? The path from 950 to 960 is initially very tedious without the help of the artifact and heavily dependent on luck.
To normally reach a power level beyond 950, you need to have an item with power level 950 for each of the 8 gear slots (3x weapon, 5x armor). You do not need to have it equipped, but at least own it.
Then you need to play activities that drop pinnacle gear as rewards. This gear will drop at a power level above your current level, starting at 951. And only when you have gear with power level 951 for all 8 slots will pinnacle gear with power level 952 start to drop for you.
Moreover, it currently seems that it is not possible to regularly reach 960 during Season 8. The tedious leveling will then continue item by item up to power level 960. Theoretically, you need a total of 80 perfectly matching drops to get a character from 950 to 960.
However, with the sources currently available (5x weekly and a total of 12 from the Iron Banner), you will only reach 62 pinnacle items in a 10-week season (estimated duration of Season 8). Additionally, you need to level up to 950 from the start, which also takes time. Once you reach 950 – I emphasize, normally, i.e., without the artifact – you have only about 7 weeks left and 8 Iron Banner pinnacle drops, which corresponds to 43 pinnacle items.
Furthermore, not every drop will bring the desired missing item, and you can also expect duplicates.
What does this mean for the players? Specifically, this means that if no further pinnacle rewards are added during the season, it will currently not be possible to regularly reach a power level of 960. Even if the artifact may take you far beyond, you will likely end Season 8 below 960 after the reset of the seasonal levels.
However, it is conceivable that Bungie may introduce further sources for pinnacle gear during the season, for example with the new dungeon or raid challenges, to close this gap. Currently, however, there is no official information on this.
How far are you with your regular power level? And how much is the artifact boosting you now?
