Power Level

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Power is a value that affects a player character's overall strength in combat, as well as their ability to access certain activities. It is the equivalent of the Light level from Destiny. This level is determined by the Power value of the character's equipped gear. As of the release of Lightfall, newly created characters begin the game at 1600 Power.

Overview

A character's Power is displayed on the Character menu, as well as on their Emblem. It is an aggregate of the Power value across all of the character's currently equipped weapons and armor, and determines the player character's damage output and defense.

Each activity has a certain recommended Power level, which determines the strength of the enemies the player will encounter. If the player character is significantly below the recommended Power, they will be unable to deal damage to the enemies, and will die quickly. If the character is above the recommended Power, they will deal more damage to enemies and can sustain more hits. Some activities, such as Legend and Master difficulty Lost Sectors, may be inaccessible until the character has reached a certain Power threshold. Power level advantages are disabled in some game modes, including Gambit and most Crucible modes.

Increasing Power

The player receives gear at their character's average Power score from most drop sources. The average Power score is determined by the items with the highest Power value that the character can equip, including all gear in their inventory and the player's Vault.

The player can infuse a piece of gear with other gear from the same inventory slot to increase its Power level. Items infused into other items will be destroyed. For example, infusing a Kinetic Auto Rifle with a Kinetic Shotgun of a higher Power value will destroy the Shotgun and give the Auto Rifle its Power value. Rare gear cannot be infused higher than the Powerful Cap. Armor from one class cannot be infused into armor belonging to a different class. Weapons can be transferred to the player's other characters and equipped to help increase their Power, as they are usually not exclusive to specific classes.

All drops will increase the character's Power until they reach the Soft Cap. After reaching the Soft Cap, Prime Engrams and Powerful Gear will reward gear slightly above the character's average Power score until they reach the Powerful Cap. After the character reaches the Powerful Cap, Pinnacle Gear rewards will be the only way to increase their gear's Power. They can continue increasing their Power until they reach the Pinnacle Cap, the highest possible Power level in the current season. Powerful and Pinnacle Gear rewards can be obtained by completing Weekly Challenges.

As of Shadowkeep, each character carries a Seasonal Artifact, usually obtained through the current Season's free introductory quest or mission. As players gain Experience account-wide, the Artifact will grant bonus Power levels, which are added to each character's current Power level. This bonus Power has no limits, allowing the Artifact to be leveled infinitely. However, this additive Power bonus is not used to determine the Power value of gear drops, and it cannot unlock challenges. When the Season ends, the Artifact is removed and replaced with a new Artifact, resetting the player's bonus Power.

Power Bands

There are several Power level boundaries that determine the Power level of gear drops and rewards. These affect the player's ability to raise their character's Power level.

• Floor: The lowest possible Power level. All new characters will start at this level. When the Power floor is increased, all existing gear in players' inventories and Vaults will be raised to this level.
• Soft Cap: While the character is below this level, all drops will have higher Power than the most powerful item in the character's inventory or Vault. When they reach this cap, only Powerful and Pinnacle rewards will increase their Power.
• Powerful Cap: When the character reaches this cap, all normal rewards will drop at this Power level. Powerful rewards will drop at the character's current highest-equippable Power level. Pinnacle rewards are the only way to increase the character's level past this point.
• Pinnacle Cap: Also known as the "hard cap." This is the highest possible Power level at which gear can drop.

The Soft Cap, Powerful Cap, and Pinnacle Cap are usually increased with each Season, while the Power floor is only raised when a new expansion releases.

Power Bands by Season

Season	Floor	Soft Cap	Powerful Cap	Pinnacle Cap
Season of the Wish	1600	1750	1800	1810
Season of the Witch	1600	1750	1800	1810
Season of the Deep	1600	1750	1800	1810
Season of Defiance (Lightfall)	1600	1750	1800	1810
Season of the Seraph	1350	1530	1580	1590
Season of Plunder	1350	1520	1570	1580
Season of the Haunted	1350	1510	1560	1570
Season of the Risen (The Witch Queen)	1350	1500	1550	1560
Season of the Lost	1100	1270	1320	1330
Season of the Splicer	1100	1260	1310	1320
Season of the Chosen	1100	1250	1300	1310
Season of the Hunt (Beyond Light)	1100	1200	1250	1260
Season of Arrivals	750	1000	1050	1060
Season of the Worthy	750	950	1000	1010
Season of Dawn	750	900	960	970
Season of the Undying (Shadowkeep)	750	900	950	960

Older Power Caps

Season	Power Cap
Season of Opulence	750
Season of the Drifter	700
Season of the Forge	650
Season of the Outlaw (Forsaken)	600
Warmind	385
Curse of Osiris	330
Red War (Destiny 2 launch)	300