Progression

This section details the optimal ways to gain levels and power for your Guardian. An explanation of the available vendors is given. An overview of engram collecting and decoding is revealed. In addition, a list of mission types, activities, and Milestones is explained. Lastly, an example Guardian (the Exo known as PR-1M4) is taken from inception to endgame.

Gaining Levels and Power

Character Level

Your character level determines the gear you can equip, the Subclasses and Abilities you can unlock, and the activities in which you can participate.

Each mission you fulfill, activity you complete, and enemy you defeat serves to fill your Experience bar. Fill the bar to capacity, and three things happen:

• Your character level increases by 1.
• You receive an Upgrade Point that you can use to unlock a latent Ability.
• Your Experience bar resets.

Of course, this is only true until you reach max level. At character level 20, filling your Experience bar yields an Upgrade Point and provides a chance for additional rewards.

There’s no real shortcut to increasing your character level; it’s an indication of your growth as a Guardian, so you should expect to put in a fair amount of effort. However, you can ensure that you make the most of your time.

Grinding away in an enemy hotspot can add up over time, but defeating enemies as you work toward completing an activity yields much better results.

If you’ve run out of missions, pick a planet and clear out some Lost Sectors; run a series of Patrols as you look for Public Events to join. Head to the Crucible and hone your skills as you work toward rewards, or better yet, as you work toward completing Challenges and Milestones.

Completing activities is the best way to increase your character level, and as luck would have it, it’s the best way to raise your Power Level.

This might seem obvious (considering that it’s determined by Attack and Defense values), but it’s important to remember that your Power Level is an average of all equipped items—including the weapons you aren’t currently using.

If, for example, you’re firing away with your Kinetic weapon, your Energy weapon, Power weapon, and all of your armor pieces help determine the damage you’re able to inflict. An outdated piece of armor can reduce the effectiveness of your attacks, and a low-quality backup weapon can increase the amount of damage you take.

Luckily, increasing your Power Level is simply a matter of acquiring better gear. Once again, activities serve as your best option. Complete available missions. Prioritize Adventures that grant gear items. Spend some time in the Crucible, or work to gain Reputation rewards with your preferred vendor. Virtually everything you can do out in the field has a chance to yield a upgrade, so get out there and put your Power Level to good use.

Power Level

In essence, your Power Level represents the average Attack and Defense values of your equipped gear items. The higher those values, the higher your Power Level.

In practice, your Power Level is much more than gear summary. It determines how much damage you’ll deal and suffer when squaring off against high-level enemies.

The Climb to Power Level 300

From activities to engrams, virtually every source of gear can provide a steady stream of incremental upgrades—until you reach Power Level 260, that is.

Early on, you’ll notice that rewards typically feature slightly higher Attack or Defense ratings than your currently slotted option. A new chest piece might be a point or two higher than the chest piece you’re wearing, even if your overall Power Level is noticeably lower.

These incremental upgrades are fairly common as your Power Level grows, but at Power Level 260, you’ll notice that what used to be a reliable source of upgrades now yields only sidegrades. And while an equal-level piece of gear might be a better fit for your playstyle, it won’t do anything for your Power Level.

What’s a Guardian to do?

In a word: Milestones. Weekly Milestones are the best (and currently only) answer for the Power Level 260 plateau. If you want to keep gaining Power, you’ll need to open the Director and get busy clearing those weekly Milestones.

See that Flashpoint? Go rustle up some Public Events. Call to Arms? Go start some trouble in the Crucible. If you’ve yet to finish any of the available Milestones, pick one from the list, and get to work. Then, check in the following week, and do it all over again.

Clans

If you’re in the market for a few new allies, a clan might be just what you’re looking for. No pressure! Joining a clan is extremely helpful, but it’s entirely optional. You can still look for likeminded Guardians out in the wild, or queue up to be matched with other lone wolves. But if you’re willing to take the plunge, you’re sure to find that joining (or starting) a clan can be an enjoyable and very rewarding experience. If you’re already running with a group of friends, there’s no reason you shouldn’t get together and form a clan of your own.

Aside from the obvious benefits of forging new alliances, clan benefits include:

A Clan Banner: If you join a clan, you’ll finally have something to put in that final gear slot. Assist your clan to unlock special Clan Banner Perks for your Guardian.

Clan Rewards: If your clan members complete a specified endgame activity (such as a Nightfall Strike), every member of the clan receives an engram. Just head to Hawthorne and claim your not-so-hard-earned reward.

A Weekly Milestone: Not ready to tackle endgame content? You don’t need to be the best to be an asset. Experience earned by every member goes toward unlocking new Clan Banner Perks, and every member receives a new Milestone encouraging them to do so.

Guided Games: Lead interested Guardians through endgame content. Success will boost your Clan’s Oathkeeper’s Score.

Of course, you can expect clan-related features and benefits to evolve over time. For now, it’s important to note some things:

• You can’t start a clan in the game. Would-be founders can visit Bungie.net to establish their clans and set member permissions.
• You can issue clan invites in the game. Assuming you have the required permissions, you can use the Roster to invite prospective members.
• You can only be a member of one clan at any given time, and membership is account-wide (all characters). There’s no penalty for leaving a clan, but if you join a new one right away, you won’t be eligible for Clan Rewards until the weekly activities reset.
• Unlocked Clan Banner Perks only last until the end of the season. At that point, all clans receive a new selection of Perks to unlock.
• Before you can lead a Guided Game, you must take a Guardian’s Oath—basically, you agree to be friendly and helpful and see the activity through to the end. Failing to honor your oath lowers your Clan’s Oathkeeper’s Score and temporarily bars you from leading another Guided Game. This penalty is waived if the fireteam votes to surrender, but the failure is still factored into your Clan’s Oathkeeper’s Score.

Vendors

Vendors are an integral part of your continued survival and progression as a Guardian. The majority of these traders reside in the Social Sectors, though each Region has its own vendor, as well. The following table lists all available vendors:

Redeemable Tokens and Reputation

Overseers, Gunsmiths, and some Vanguards have a Reputation rating that you need to earn with them. After you complete tasks in a particular area (by checking in first to see if they have a Reputation you need to improve with them), you can return and hand in these circular Tokens. In return, your Reputation increases with them. Continue to gain favor with a vendor, and you’re soon able to purchase the specific items they sell, gain better items from them, and claim rewards.

For example, Devrim Kay, who is sniping from the steeple of the church in Trostland, requires that you provide him with EDZ Tokens. Keep giving him these (which are found as loot in the vicinity Sectors of his location), and you’re eventually given access to a random offering of EDZ weapons and/or armor.

Postmasters

Check the Postmaster at the Farm or the Tower for items you failed to pick up during your adventuring that are of a Rare quality or better. Additional loot, such as items like pre-order bonuses and gifts from Bungie, as also available here.

Cryptarch Archivists

Engrams are decoded by Cryptarchs, and there are two available: Tyra Karn (an Archivist on the Farm) and the infamous Master Rahool at the Tower. Provided you have the funds, bring them any engrams you have gathered, and they are turned into random items for you.

Eververse Promotions

Tess Everis runs this company, which shifts from the Farm to the Tower when you do. She offers certain promotional items (usually engrams), along with purchasable goods that cost Bright Dust or Silver bought with real-world funds.

Overseers

This general category of vendor covers each trader in a particular Region and various vendors in either Social Sector. Gain Reputation, and purchase unique equipment from them. Certain Overseers may have additional functionality; speak to them to find this out.

Gunsmiths

Gain Reputation with either Gunsmith, but especially Banshee-44 at the Tower. When you bring him a collection of dismantled weapon and armor elements, he grants you more powerful items in return. Continue endgame activities by gradually raising the quality of the random loot he trades you until you start to receive Legendary equipment.

Vanguards

Your Guardian Mentors have their own particular equipment for you to obtain once you gain Reputation with them. Additionally, Cayde-6 and Ikora have particular activities you can help them out with.

Xur, Agent of the Nine

Xur is a strange vendor who randomly appears in a Public Sector in each of the four Worlds, depending on planetary alignments and Bungie’s whim. Xur sells Exotic equipment and only takes Legendary Shards in exchange for them.

Engrams and Decoding

Engrams are crystal-like items encoded with the properties of randomly determined weapons, armor, Perks, Mods, and other items. They are dropped by foes, found after defeating particularly hardy enemies (Elites and Bosses), located in chests, and given as rewards for completing Milestones and other activities. They are also bought from the Eververse vendor or Cryptarch vendors, although some other vendors may have them or gift them to you in exchange for Tokens. They are decoded by Tyra Karn or Master Rahool, the Archivists listed previously.

Engrams can be colored white (Encoded), green (Encrypted), blue (Decoherent), purple (Legendary), or gold (Exotic). The color of the engram, like the weapons and armor you collect, signifies the quality of the expected items you receive once the engrams are decoded.

Activities and Milestones

What is there to keep a Guardian occupied as the fires of humanity are rekindled? Quite a lot, actually.

Missions and Quests

There is a wealth of missions and quests to complete.

Campaign (16 missions): This single-player set of story missions is the key to unlocking all of the different Regions in the solar system. Complete the Campaign, and you can return to Ikora to “meditate” and play through these missions again, with a fireteam if you so desire. This unlocks Tokens and Reputation with her so you can purchase her equipment, including the best Guardian weapons and armor used before Ghaul’s invasion.

Adventure (29 missions): These are smaller missions that begin in a Public Sector across all of the four Regions. They drift into adjacent Sectors, and they take an hour or two to complete. Replay them at your leisure.

World Quest (4 quests): Each of the four Regions has a single World Quest that involves the Region’s vendor and requires you to explore much of the Region and complete multiple sub-missions within the quest. These are done once.

Strikes (5): These are high-level fireteam missions where you visit Activity Sectors and deal with a large number of enemy forces, including unique and powerful Elite and Boss foes. Expect to be tested.

Activities

Crucible: A series of PvP competitions under the watchful gaze of Lord Shaxx. Compete to win Tokens, other loot, and unique prizes. An entire chapter is devoted to this activity.

Patrols: Small tasks to complete in each Public Sector after finishing all Campaign Missions on Io and visiting Cayde-6.

Public Events: Enemy incursions in Public Sectors that occur randomly and are designed so that Guardians can work together to deal with threats.

Lost Sectors: Most Public Sectors have a hidden subterranean Lost Sector where you can find additional foes and a special chest.

Chest Hunts: There are resource materials to harvest and Enemy Chests scattered across most Public and Lost Sectors. Grab them, and visit Cayde-6 at the Farm or the Tower for scout reports, giving you positions of a few of these chests.

Scannable Objects: Try to find scannable lore objects that give you insights, courtesy of Ghost.

Challenges: A selection of activity-specific tasks that reset daily (or weekly, in the case of weekly activities). They give you rewards when you complete them, either in Public Sectors or during Crucible matches.

Treasure Hunts: Once you find him at the Tower, Cayde-6 has a number of treasure chests to hunt for. Bring the odd contents back to him.

Milestones

Milestones are time-sensitive tasks to complete that Bungie has decided are particularly useful for your continued Guardian advancement. These tasks change weekly, giving you a stream of new and exciting content to discover and complete. The previous picture details all of the general available Milestones. Below is a general description of some common Milestones:

The Crucible and Call to Arms: Amazingly, some Guardians may not have completed the first few Campaign Missions and then spoken to Shaxx at the Farm in order to access the Crucible PvP content. This is an easy Milestone to accomplish and grants you Crucible access (both from the Social Sector and the Director Menu). Afterward, expect frequent Crucible Milestones (with a 100 percent total to reach) to be set for special gear and other prizes.

Flashpoints: These are requests to complete Public Events in specific Regions. For example, you might be asked to find and finish Public Events on Io, continuing with this task until the percentage rating reaches 100. Success is likely to yield high quality gear.

Nightfall: Bungie usually allows access to a different Nightfall Strike on a weekly basis. This is a toughened version of a regular Strike, with certain modifiers to make the mission even tougher. Access this from the Strikes section of the Director Menu. Success is likely to yield high quality gear.

Daily Milestones: These daily tasks ask you to complete challenges related to a given activity. Doing so yields a large stack of redeemable Tokens.