Guardian Confirms That Power Doesn’t Increase Damage in Destiny 2 Activities

For years we’ve all been wondering exactly what the impact of Power Level in PvE activities is. Bungie has never gone into detail on this, but its always been clear that Power Level is something that’s important. We know that it matters in Iron Banner, and we know that above a certain level, enemies won’t take damage from us at all. Now, thanks to a Guardian on Reddit, we know how Power Level affects damage output in activities. At least in Last Wish.

The Guardian in question held an experiment in the Last Wish raid. All of this was a solo effort, so it’s entirely possible that the results could change with multiple Guardians. I’m sure we’ll know that soon enough if these experiments continue though.

The experiment was to test whether the Power Level of your Guardian increases the damage you deal. The Guardian used some of the most powerful weapons in the game, and recorded the DPS for all of them. The top two weapons dealt the same DPS, and no matter what the Power Level, as long as it was at or above the recommended level, the damage output was steady.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’ve had an experience where particular weapons dealt more damage. Now that is entirely possible. The elements and other things like traits or perks can all drastically alter the damage output of your Guardian. However, the bottom line is always the same as long as you have the right Power Level.

I think that most of us have this perception that we deal way more damage with certain weapons in certain cases. This is all because in specific circumstances, we’ve dealt huge amounts of damage and made some impressive kills. These live in our minds as peak experiences of what we’re capable of. The thing is, the data hasn’t changed just for those instances.

I think that it’s fascinating that one of you went out there to figure this out. With Bungie keeping a lid on things, it’s experiments like this that provide us with the small details we need. Now we know that as long as we haver the right Power Level, we just need to use our most powerful weapons to deal the most damage.

I’d love to see how this plays out in Iron Banner. Let us know what you want to see from this data in the comments.

Jamie Moorcroft-Sharp

I'm an avid Destiny 2 fan and player. I fell in love with Destiny 1 during the early alpha and have been hooked by the universe ever since. I really enjoy playing with other Guardians, speculating about the lore, and writing about as much of the Destiny universe as I can.