What is Light and how to increase level cap in Destiny
When you hit Destiny’s base level cap (20), higher level gear items get additional stat named- Light. Most 18+ level pieces of armor have Light stat.
This stat is very important in your further leveling, because you stop gaining levels from experience points, but based on a number of Light points on your gear. New Light level cap (30) can be reached when you collect 120 Light points. For the 21st Light level you’ll need 21 points, and for every new level you’ll need additional 11 Light points. Upgrading the armor, will also increase the Light points number on that piece of gear. Upgrading Rare armor item will bring you +1 Light point, Legendary +2, and Raid and Exotic items up to +4.
In order to get new Exotic and Legendary items, you’ll have to grind hard mode game content and wait for high quality drops, or increase Vangard or Faction Reputation with chosen vendor and buy purple items from him. You should also know that you have to achieve Reputation Rank 2 for Armor pieces and Rank 3 for Weapons, if you decide to buy a gear item from any vendor.
If you have full Rare armor on your character, you’ll only achieve level 24 (60 light), thus you need legendary items. With full Legendary item set you can increase your Light level up to 28 (108 Light). In order to hit Light level cap you’ll have to combine 1 Exotic and 3 Raid gear items or simply all four pieces of Raid armor, fully upgraded. Raid Gloves, Chest, and Boots can be obtained from Vault of Glass – Normal Mode while the helm is obtained from Raid – Hard Mode.
Each Legendary armor item starts with 18 Light, even Raid armor. Exotic armor starts with 21 Light. The cost of Ascendant Shards for Raid armor and Exotic Armor upgrades towards the end cost more than normal Legendary armor (8 instead of 6).
In order to get new Exotic and Legendary items, you’ll have to grind hard mode game content and wait for high quality drops, or increase Vangard or Faction Reputation with chosen vendor and buy purple items from him. You should also know that you have to achieve Reputation Rank 2 for Armor pieces and Rank 3 for Weapons, if you decide to buy a gear item from any vendor.
If you have full Rare armor on your character, you’ll only achieve level 24 (60 light), thus you need legendary items. With full Legendary item set you can increase your Light level up to 28 (108 Light). In order to hit Light level cap you’ll have to combine 1 Exotic and 3 Raid gear items or simply all four pieces of Raid armor, fully upgraded. Raid Gloves, Chest, and Boots can be obtained from Vault of Glass – Normal Mode while the helm is obtained from Raid – Hard Mode.
Each Legendary armor item starts with 18 Light, even Raid armor. Exotic armor starts with 21 Light. The cost of Ascendant Shards for Raid armor and Exotic Armor upgrades towards the end cost more than normal Legendary armor (8 instead of 6).
We would like to thank reddit user noz3r0 for explaining Gear items and Light mechanics in detail.
