All Powerful gear tiers and sources in Destiny 2

Learn where to get Powerful gear in Destiny 2, what tier it is, and what Power increase you can expect to receive.

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Powerful gear sources have undergone a change in Destiny 2. These days, Powerful gear is classed as a Tier 1, Tier 2, or Pinnacle. Depending on your Power level, which reward you chase is going to be different. If you want to reach the max Power level, you’re going to need to start completing all these activities.


Powerful gear explained

Destiny 2 Powerful gear tiers
Powerful gear is now rated on a tier list, with Tier 1 being the lowest and Pinnacle being the highest.

The release of Shadowkeep on October 1, 2019, ushered in a change to how Powerful rewards work in Destiny 2. Instead of each reward offering the same increase to Power, Powerful drops are now based on a tier system.

There are four tiers of Powerful gear. In order to reach the soft cap of 950, players will need to collect Powerful gear from tiers 1-3. Once at this soft cap, the only way to reach the gear hard cap of 960 is from Pinnacle tier drops. These are exclusive to end-game content like the Garden of Salvation raid, Nightfall, and from reaching the Legend Glory rank.

After reaching Power 960, the only way to get more Power is to level up your Seasonal Artifact. You receive 1 point of Power each time you level up the artifact. Each level requires exponentially more XP to level, so it will take a while to increase it. For example, to get from 13 to 14 bonus Power requires 1.4 million XP.


All Powerful gear tiers and sources

Powerful gear source Powerful Gear Tier Power increase Frequency
Gunsmith bounties Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Weekly
Vanguard bounties Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Weekly
Crucible bounties Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Weekly
Gambit bounties Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Weekly
Flashpoint Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Weekly
Crucible Core Matches Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Weekly
Crucible Rotator Matches Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Weekly
Vanguard Strikes - Burn Match Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Weekly
Nightfall: The Ordeal Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Weekly
Nightmare Hunts Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Weekly
Story Mission - Eris Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Weekly
Memory Pursuit - Eris Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Weekly
Vex Invasion Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Quest
Clan Crucible Engram Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Weekly
Clan Nightfall Engram Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Weekly
Clan Raid Engram Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Weekly
Clan Gambit Engram Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Weekly
Valor Rank Up Package Tier 1 +3 to base Power  On rank-up
Glory Rank Up Package Tier 1 +3 to base Power  On rank-up
Infamy Rank Up Package Tier 1 +3 to base Power  On rank-up
Exotic Engrams Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Random
Prime Engrams Tier 1 +3 to base Power  Weekly
Clan Weekly XP Tier 2 +4 to base Power  Weekly
Gambit Matches Tier 2 +4 to base Power  Weekly
Campaign Exotic Reward Tier 2 +4 to base Power  Once
Sai Mota Quest Tier 2 +5 to base Power  Once
Symphony of Death Exotic Quest Tier 2 +5 to base Power  Once
Vex Offensive Tier 2 +5 to base Power  Weekly
An Arm and a Leg - Ikora Tier 3 +6 to base Power Weekly
Legend Glory rank Pinnacle  +6 to base Power  Seasonal
Nightfall: The Ordeal 100k points Pinnacle  +6 to base Power  Weekly
Garden of Salvation Pinnacle  +6 to base Power  Weekly

The introduction of Shadowkeep to Destiny 2 brought some welcomed changes. Of these changes, the new way Destiny 2 handles Powerful gear provides players a clear path on gaining Power. With more sources of Power and Powerful gear tiers, players should be able to quickly ascend the ranks and focus on Pinnacle activities. Check out the Shacknews Destiny 2 guide for more end-game guides and ranking breakdowns.

Guides Editor

Hailing from the land down under, Sam Chandler brings a bit of the southern hemisphere flair to his work. After bouncing round a few universities, securing a bachelor degree, and entering the video game industry, he's found his new family here at Shacknews as a Guides Editor. There's nothing he loves more than crafting a guide that will help someone. If you need help with a guide, or notice something not quite right, you can message him on X: @SamuelChandler 

From The Chatty
  • reply
    October 8, 2019 5:00 AM

    Sam Chandler posted a new article, All Powerful gear tiers and sources in Destiny 2

    • reply
      October 8, 2019 5:22 AM

      The clan engrams are not +3 unless they slow gains the closer you get to the cap. I picked them up last night at 939 (without the artifact) and they gave 940 rewards.

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        October 8, 2019 7:43 AM

        I think they were a lot bigger gains below the 900 cap

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          October 8, 2019 8:00 AM

          The Tier 2 bumps look wrong as well, I'm pretty sure they were +4. Also no mention of Ikora's Tier 3 for sweeping up all the litter Vex leave across the solar system or defeating the Overlord during Vex events on the moon.

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            October 8, 2019 8:25 AM

            the reward system is overly confusing, yet doesn't mean anything. Unless you have a very minimal amount of time to play each week. Those players should focus on T2 rewards over others. They won't have access to T3 and Pinnacles.

            This chart should note which rewards are one time only story rewards.

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              October 8, 2019 4:29 PM

              The column on the right, could that be made clearer which ones are single-use rewards and which are weekly etc?

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                October 9, 2019 5:42 AM

                I see it says Once for the quests. maybe I missed that the first time.

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            October 8, 2019 4:29 PM

            I'll take another pass at the Tier 2 rewards. Thanks for pointing that out.

            As for the Tier 3, mine weren't appearing when I wrote this so I didn't want to give misinformation - I'll take another look at this too!

            Any other discrepancies you notice?

    • reply
      October 21, 2019 7:48 AM

      "Arm and a Leg" quest is not available for me from Ikora. I've completed the moon quests far enough to unlock Vex Offensive, and I've completed the Vex Offensive itself a million times. Any ideas?

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