Don’t get me wrong I love Destiny 2. But man oh man do I sometimes hate Destiny 2. I’m all for the grind, but Bungie‘s latest update Shadowkeep makes my previous power level 750 grind feel pretty fruitless. In Shadowkeep all players get to start off at a 750 power level and the cap is 960. Am I annoyed? Yes. Will be hitting that 950 power level? You bet I am. With the new updates, here are a couple of ways for you to help max out your character.

Getting To 900

Here’s the easy bit. It’s really the levels after that, that it becomes a pain in the ass. So 900 is considered the soft cap in Destiny 2: Shadowkeep. What this means is that any drops you get while playing Destiny 2, no matter their source, can potentially help to increase your power level all the way up to 900. That even includes the normally worthless blue items that come from completing public events, simply killing enemies etc. Ideally, you’re going to want to hit 900 as quickly as possible in Shadowkeep before you even start on the campaign.

If you’re reading this I’m pretty sure you’ve played Destiny before but just for anybody who’s forgotten, I’ll list out how to get here. Do your daily activities, run crucibles, strikes, public events and lost sectors. Get those blue items and bump up that power level. If you have any tokens which I’m sure a lot of you do, turn them into the different vendors to collect those rewards. I know I’ve got a ton of Dusklight Shards and Microphasic Datalattice just sitting around.

Pinnacle Drops

The reason you don’t even start the campaign until level 900 is that the campaign tends to drop decent items for you, even if you’re over-levelled for all the missions. You also want to maximise any Pinnacle drops at your highest power level. Which is exactly what Ikora will give you at the end of the Shadowkeep campaign. A Pinnacle drop offers massive power gains. So regardless of whether you’ve already started the campaign, you should absolutely farm to 900 before picking up Ikora’s loot.

Other potential powerful drops you’re going to want to save until after you hit 900 are Hawthorne’s clan rewards. If you’re new to Destiny or simply haven’t joined a clan yet, go find one. Simply being in an active clan ensures you multiple powerful rewards per week. Note that this doesn’t apply to prime engrams, whose levels are set the moment you pick them up or they arrive in your postmaster.

Level 900 Challenges

Congratulations you’ve made it to 900! At this level, you’ll unlock new Challenges around the solar system. You can see them in the Destination menu denoted with a gold star against a blue background. If you hover over a challenge’s icon, you’ll get detailed descriptions on how to complete it. These specially named engrams are guaranteed to award you armour or guns that are above your current maximum possible level. They even have tiers now – Tier 1, Tier 2, etc. to indicate exactly how much of a boost they’ll give you.

Level Up Your Artifact

Your seasonal Artifact can grant you bonus power that increases your ability to fight without affecting your Light level. This bonus exists across all of your characters and is a great way to over-level content by just playing the game. You can level your Artifact up by working on Bounties. Bounties give a ton of XP, and Artifact levels get more and more expensive every time you level up. Note that the new power display system on your character is very confusing with the bonus power system. You need to hover over your power to see what your gear power is separate from your Artifact power.

Beyond Level 950

Once you’re 950, the only way to go higher is through Pinnacle rewards like the 100,000 point Nightfall: The Ordeal. I don’t know I’m not there yet. Don’t quote me.