Destiny: The Taken King – Guide to Reach Level 40

This feature will tell you how to reach level 40 in Destiny to prepare for The Taken King, which releases September 15, 2015. 

Quite a few things changed with the Destiny 2.0 Update on September 8. Bungie replaced Peter Dinklage with acclaimed video game voice actor Nolan North, the once all-powerful Gjallarhorn rocket launcher is no longer the mightiest weapon and perhaps most importantly, the developer upped the level cap from 34 to 40. In fact, you no longer level up by equipping armor with Light. Instead you earn XP, similar to when you first started playing.  Now you’ll see a progress bar along the bottom of your heads-up display (HUD) with the amount of XP required to hit the next level. 

Don’t breathe too easy. The aforementioned bar has a life-draining habit of not moving much, despite turning in lots of bounties. Bottom line, you’ll still need to grind in order to see level 40 in time for The Taken King. With this in mind, we have three ways to “speed” things along. 

Complete Bounties, but don’t turn them in yet 

Destiny Update 2.0 allows you to have 16 bounties active and/or complete at one time. We suggest finishing as many Crucible and Vanguard Bounties as possible before The Taken King arrives, but don’t turn them in until the expansion launches on September 15. Right now, bounties level up weapons and armor.  Important? Sure, but it’s best to turn a bunch of these in to give your Guardian a boost next week.

Hold on to those Public Event Packages 

An official day in Destiny begins at 5:00 AM ET and concludes at 4:59 AM ET.  During this time, you’re able to take part in a public event with each created character and receive a public event package upon completion. Then you head to the Postmaster and collect materials to upgrade weapons and armor. 

Additionally, you’ll earn XP. Similar to bounties, take part in public events and do not accept the rewards until September 15; this will help you rank up faster. Remember you can only earn one public event package per character per day. Bungie did this so players can’t fast track their way to level 40. 

Consume lots of Red Bull

We think this only applies to Destiny players in the U.S. and Canada. Apologies to the rest of the world.

Bungie partnered with Red Bull to feature an XP boost on each can of the popular beverage. Wait until September 15, then redeem your code and activate it via the Postmaster. Now turn in all of those bounties and claim public event package rewards for even more XP.  This also applies to finishing story missions; the XP boost eventually wears off. 

Note: If you’re below level 34 in Destiny, do whatever it takes to reach this mark prior to September 15. If you already reached this milestone, it’s cool to wait until The Taken King arrives.

For more Destiny, visit Prima’s walkthrough and guide for The Taken King.