Destiny 2 Light level cap

What is Light? And how do you get it? Good news: we know.

The Destiny 2 Light level cap is the maximum level you can reach as a Guardian in Bungie's new shared-world shooter, and will be a familiar concept to anyone who played the original game. However, if you're new to the series and find the levelling system in Destiny 2 a bit oblique, or you just want a refresher, then we've got you covered.

Destiny 2 max Light level

When you start playing Destiny 2, you won't have to think about Light all that much beyond all the waffle about it in the story cutscenes. First things first, you need to hit level 20, which you do by gathering experience points. Every time you complete activities and kill enemies, you'll add more XP to the green bar you see at the bottom of the screen, which represents your progress towards the next level.

When you level up, the game will throw up a message in the middle of the screen to highlight your progress. For the first 20 levels, you'll also receive Upgrade Points, which you can use to unlock the various abilities belonging to your subclass, like different grenade types and other passive and active capabilities.

Even as you level up, though, you'll notice that you also have "Power" number in the top-right of the character menu. This is what used to be called Light in the first Destiny, and the higher the number, the more damage you do and punishment you can sustain. You'll often see the Power number go up when you equip new weapons and armor, but once you reach level 20 through gathering regular experience, Power becomes the only way to continue levelling up. In theory you can take it all the way to 300.

How to get more Power in Destiny 2

Power in Destiny 2 works differently to regular experience. Rather than gaining Power by shooting enemies and finishing missions, you need to find equipment with higher Power ratings. That's because your character's Power rating is calculated based on the sum of all the gear you have equipped. So if everything you have is rated 200, you'll have 200 Power. But if you have even one item that is a lower Power level, that overall rating will fall.

As you play Destiny 2, you'll gain new gear from missions, engrams and other activities, and most of the stuff that drops will be around your current Power level or a little higher. Always make sure you equip your most powerful items as soon as you unlock them, because you don't want to miss out on any extra damage you could be dealing or withstanding. Those extra few hit points either way could mean the difference between life and death in Darkness zones where respawning is restricted.

If you find an item that has a higher Power rating but which you don't like, you can often use it to "infuse" an existing item you do like to increase that item's Power rating. You can only do this on higher-level gear, so unfortunately if you find a common scout rifle that you really like, you'll have to leave it behind at some point. And don't worry if you somehow end up with a high-powered item that your class can't equip - you can still use those for infusion as long as the item is of the same type as the one you want to infuse with it.

How to find more gear in Destiny 2

As for where to look for more gear in Destiny 2, Bungie has done a good job of tuning the game over the years so that fun new stuff falls into your lap very often. Just keep plugging away at your core activities - finish the story mode, run the Strike playlists, and take part in the Nightfall and Heroic activities and Crucible PvP. Before too long, you should get your hands on new things that will help increase your Power level.

Editor-at-Large

Tom is probably best known for the 15 years - FIFTEEN YEARS! - he spent at Eurogamer, one of Europe's biggest independent gaming sites. Now he roams the earth, but will always have a home here at AllGamers. You can try and raise him from his deep, abyssal slumber through tom.bramwell@allgamers.com or he's also on Twitter.

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