Just wanted to compiled what I've learned and heard about light leveling for easy reference.
I'm honestly still barely that far into TTK myself so please offer any corrections or clarifications you notice. My apologies if someone has already done this and I missed it, please link me if so so that I can include it in the OP.
First off,
basic principles:
- Your currently equipped Light determines your drops. Always wear your best Light gear (highest attack/defense) when looking to progress
Examples of times when this is very important:
- Decrypting engrams
- End of story/strike missions (rewards screen loot rolls)
- Crucible matches (rewards screen loot rolls)
- Claiming quest rewards
- Ranking up/claiming Faction rewards
- Any engram can potentially equal progression. If an item drops with higher attack/defense than what you are currently wearing, either equip it immediately or, if you don't want it, infuse a Legendary item you do want.
- Note on decrypting engrams: if you're decrypting a stack of engrams, look at each new item you get and if it is an upgrade, equip it before decrypting your next engram.
- Infusion: any rare or legendary item with higher light that occupies the same slot (primary, secondary, heavy, helm, gauntlets, chest, boots, class item) can be infused into a legendary item of lower light to raise its attack/defense most of the way to the level of the sacrificed item. Use this to upgrade treasured legendaries you do want by sacrificing new, higher Light items you don't want. You CAN infuse armor items for another class to infuse armor for your target class as long as it's the same armor slot.
- You can play just about anything for a shot at progressing with these concepts in mind. That said, the Vanguard Heroic Playlist seems to have high drop rates for engrams in general and fair drop rates for Legendary Engrams. Additionally, focusing on Faction rank, which can now be raised in a huge number of ways, can provide many chances for progression upgrades as well.
- Early on, if you acquire a Legendary and then a Rare that outclasses it- counterintuive as it may be, consider merely equipping the Rare and dismantling the Legendary for marks. If you are very attached to the Legendary, of course, you can keep it and infuse the Rare instead.
- Of your gear slots for determining Light, Weapon attack value is weighted the most and Class Items are weighted the least.
- Legendary Marks are acquired as follows:
- Daily Heroic Story mission: 15 marks (once) per day per account
- Vanguard Heroic Strike playlist: 10 marks, 3 times per week, per account. NOTE: The first Heroic Strike you complete on each character per week also awards a guaranteed Legendary Engram, which could be looked at as an extra 9 marks for the week if you do one per character.
- Daily Crucible Playlist match: 15 marks (once) per day per account
- Weekly PvP Quests: unsure of amount
- Dismantling Legendaries: 3-5 marks
- Certain Quest rewards: variable amounts
Bear in mind, though, that Legendary Marks are not a primary source of progression in the way that Vanguard and Crucible Marks were. They are meant to be supplementary, to help you specialize after the initial progression phase, or used longer-term for specific desired gear from each vendor- particularly weapons as there are some really powerful ones on display. However,
- Buy a 280 Ghost Shell with your first set of 75 marks as soon as possible. Unlike the flow of upgrades for every other gear slot, Ghost Shells drop extremely rarely, and this will be a significant boost to your total Light.
- Don't forget Xur. He will be a guaranteed source of very high Light Exotics for Strange Coins. Because Xur hasn't arrived for the first time yet as of the typing of this guide, progression feels a bit more onerous than it will in the long run.
Specific notes for Alts:
- To jump-start progression on your alts, transfer your highest Light weapons and Ghost shell to them before doing any activities or decrypting engrams. The higher base level will accelerate upgrades rapidly.
- Bear in mind cross-class armor infusion; a new armor item of slightly lower light than your max level character may be useless on your Hunter but perfect to transfer and infuse into your Warlock with 50 less Light.
That's all I got for now, again please feel free to add any notes you can think of!
