The Edge of Fate DLC completely changed how power leveling works in Destiny 2. New systems, different mechanics, and fresh approaches to progression affect everyone, whether you've been playing for years or just picked up the game. This guide covers everything you need to know to climb from power level 10 all the way to 450.
The New Power System Explained
Everyone Starts Fresh
Bungie reset all players to power level 10 with Edge of Fate's launch. Your previous achievements don't matter here. Veterans and newcomers begin this DLC journey on equal ground. No head starts, no advantages. Just pure progression from the bottom up.
How Power Progression Works Now
The system breaks down into clear phases:
- Level 10-200: Regular drops boost your power (soft cap)
- Level 200+: You'll need specific activities and new materials (seasonal cap)
- Level 450: The current maximum power target
Getting to the Soft Cap (10-200 Power)
The Basics
Power leveling feels much simpler in this first phase. Almost every piece of gear that drops will bump up your overall power level. Just play the game, and you'll naturally climb toward 200. The system works exactly like you'd expect. No complicated mechanics or confusing requirements.
Your Best Route: Edge of Fate Campaign
Running the Edge of Fate campaign on Kepler is your most efficient path forward. Both difficulty options work differently:
Campaign Difficulty Options
Brave Difficulty
Perfect for players who want steady progress without getting overwhelmed. You'll get consistent gear drops throughout the campaign, and the difficulty won't make you want to throw your controller.
Legendary Difficulty
Finishing the legendary campaign shoots you straight to power level 100. Some drops during the run can even go higher than that. If you're planning to jump into the contest raid, this route gets you there fast. Power level 100 is the highest that actually helps in contest mode.
New players might find legendary intimidating, but don't worry. The community has your back through LFG groups and live streams where experienced players help others clear tough content.
Mix It Up
You don't have to stick to the campaign if it gets boring. Any activity in the game pushes your power level forward during this phase. Want to run some strikes? Go for it. Prefer Crucible matches? That works too. The flexibility makes this phase pretty enjoyable.
Mastering the Portal System
What Makes the Portal Special
The portal system changes everything. Bungie removed the daily and weekly caps on gear drops, so you can grind as much as you want. No more artificial limits holding you back.
Daily Featured Activities
Each day, certain activities get highlighted with special bonuses. Look for green engrams on activity icons. That's your signal that the activity drops guaranteed bonus loot. These featured rotations give you specific weapons or armor pieces, which brings us to target farming.
Target Farming Changes Everything
Ever had your chest piece stuck 10 power levels behind everything else? Target farming fixes that problem. When you spot a gear slot lagging behind, check the portal for activities that drop exactly what you need. Find the right featured activity, run it until you get the upgrade, and move on.
The process is straightforward:
- Check which gear slots need power bumps
- Look for featured activities dropping those items
- Farm those activities until your power levels balance out
Free-to-Play Players Pay Attention
If you're playing without the season pass or expansions, the portal becomes your lifeline. It's the most reliable way to get guaranteed drops when you don't have access to premium content.
Breaking Through the Seasonal Cap (200+)
When Regular Drops Stop Working
Hit power level 200, and you'll notice something different. Regular gear drops won't boost your power anymore. The game shifts gears here. You'll need to focus on specific "rewarding activities" to keep climbing.
Portal Activities Become Critical
The portal stays important after 200, but now it's about featured activities and difficulty scaling. The game offers five main difficulty tiers:
| Difficulty | Power Requirement | Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | 10 power | Basic gear drops |
| Advanced | 100 power | Improved drop rates |
| Expert | 200 power | High-tier gear |
| Master | 300 power | Premium rewards |
| Grandmaster | 400 power | Maximum tier loot |
Some preview footage showed an Ultimate difficulty at 500 power, but that didn't make it into the official patch notes.
Challenge Modifiers Raise the Stakes
Want better rewards? Crank up the difficulty with challenge modifiers. These can get intense. Some will turn off your HUD completely, hiding your health bar, ammo count, and everything else. The trade-off? Much better loot.
The game shows you exactly what you're getting into with an activity forecast. Before you start, you can see your predicted reward rank and what power level your drops will be. In one example from Skywatch solo ops, bumping the difficulty from normal to advanced with a couple modifiers increased completion rewards from 107 to 108 power.
Weekly Rewards and the Seasonal Hub
Your Weekly Hookup
The seasonal hub hands out reward passes every week. You'll get materials for general upgrades, but the real prizes are powerful engrams, armor requisition tokens, and arsenal credits.
Working with Zavala
Two token systems run through Zavala in the tower, and they work differently:
Armor Requisition Tokens
Use these the same week you get them or lose them. They provide solid powerful gear upgrades, so don't sit on them.
Arsenal Credits
These work the opposite way. You use them the week after you earn them to pick specific weapons from Zavala's inventory. Plan ahead with these.
New Materials and Upgrade Costs
Unstable Cores Enter the Game
Once you hit 200 power, you'll need unstable cores to keep upgrading gear. You get these mainly by dismantling gear that's above 200 power level. The source material doesn't spell out other ways to get them, so dismantling becomes pretty important.
Use these cores to infuse your favorite gear with higher power levels. Costs scale with power gap size.
Infusion Gets Expensive
The new infusion system scales costs based on how big the power gap is. Upgrading from 200 to 250 costs more than going from 200 to 210. Bigger jumps mean bigger material requirements, so plan your upgrades carefully.
Smart players will:
- Make smaller infusion jumps to save materials
- Save unstable cores for major upgrades
- Focus on their most important gear pieces first
End-Game and Activity Variety
What's Coming
New raids and high-level activities will slot right into this progression system when they launch. The framework is built to handle whatever Bungie throws at us next.
PVP Players Have Options
You can do the entire power grind through PVP if that's your thing. Bungie made it clear that the portal system includes PVP options for every progression phase. Hate PVE? No problem. Love raids but can't stand Crucible? Also fine. Play what you enjoy.
Your Complete Game Plan
The Optimal Route
- Levels 10-100: Run the Edge of Fate campaign on legendary difficulty
- Levels 100-200: Hit the portal hard, focus on featured activities and target farming
- Levels 200+: Switch to seasonal cap progression with portal challenges and weekly rewards
- Levels 300+: Start incorporating high-difficulty portal activities with challenge modifiers
- Levels 400+: Prepare for grandmaster content and new raid integration
Focus on What Works
Flexibility is king in this system. You can choose activities based on what you actually want to play, not what some guide tells you is "most efficient." Stay consistent with featured activities, manage your materials well, and don't be afraid to use community resources when content gets tough.
- No daily or weekly caps on progression
- Target farming for specific gear slots
- Flexible activity choices
- Clear progression phases
- Expensive infusion costs
- Material management required
- Challenge modifiers can be punishing
- Complete power reset from previous seasons
The Bottom Line
Edge of Fate's power leveling system puts control back in your hands. No more daily caps holding you back, no more weekly limitations stopping your progress. Your dedication and smart activity choices determine how fast you climb, not some arbitrary time gate.
You decide when to grind, what to play, and how to spend your time. The game finally respects your schedule instead of forcing you into its weekly routine.