Destiny House of Wolves Guide: How to Increase Your Light Fast

Getting Started

Destiny‘s latest expansion, House of Wolves, not only includes some brand new story missions that have players tracking down some powerful Fallen enemies, but it also includes some serious challenges. Trials of Osiris looks to prove once and for all who the greatest PvP contenders are, and the Prison of Elders arena activity will test the limits of guardians all over the world. In order to help players, the Light level has been increased to 34; and if any guardian wants to stand a chance in completing some of the higher tier challenges in House of Wolves, they’re going to want to hit that new cap fast.

Luckily, we’ve put together a few tips that will help everyone get into high level fighting form quickly. Follow these simple steps and you could be sitting at House of Wolves’ new level cap before you know it, providing a nice leg up on the competition. Before getting into the tips, it should be noted that the process could be further expedited by having more than one guardian. The classes of the guardians don’t really matter unless you’re trying for specific armor. The possession of more than one is really to increase your chances of getting certain drops from the weekly activities.

Players looking to increase their Light quickly in House of Wolves will need to decide which of their guardians they would like to pool all of their resources into. These tips could potentially get one level 32 guardian to the new cap of 34 over a few days, but it will require focus on one, while the other guardians just look on with jealousy. Players can easily switch focus to another guardian the following week, and so on.

Step 1: Ascend One Exotic Piece of Armor

House of Wolves comes with a mechanic that will allow players to ascend pieces of exotic armor. This means a piece of exotic armor that currently has a Light cap that brings guardians to level 32 can be upgraded to help them reach the new cap of 34. The best part is that if the materials are already collected, players will be able to accomplish this task as soon as the Destiny expansion goes live. In case you’re wondering what is needed to increase the light on a piece of exotic armor, here is a handy list:

1. According to the video shown by Bungie you will need 1500 glimmer. Try to have more just in case.
2. 25 class materials. Those are Hydronic Essence, Sapphire Wire, and Plasteel Plating for Warlocks, Hunters, and Titans respectively.
3. 1 Exotic Shard. These can be purchased from Xur, or obtained by dismantling an exotic weapon, or armor piece.

One thing to keep in mind is that Destiny: House of Wolves includes a vendor that sells Prison of Elders gear that can increase a guardian’s light as well. His name is Variks, the Loyal, and he can be found in the Reef. Apparently he changes his wares every week, so check and see what he has at launch so that you can upgrade an exotic that doesn’t match what’s being sold. That would just be a waste of resources, and increase the time it would take for a guardian to reach that highly coveted level 34.

Step 2: Complete House of Wolves Story Content

Just as in Destiny‘s previous expansion, House of Wolves contains story missions outlining the events of this latest DLC. In order to get the most out of these missions, guardians will want to seek out Petra Venj in the Reef. She is the vendor/emissary in charge of providing guardians with their missions and brand new bounties. Completing these missions will provide experience towards existing armor, and weapons. However, the main reason players will want to run through these missions (if your goal is to get 34 ASAP) is to gain access to House of Wolves‘ end game content, the Prison of Elders.

Just like the raids in Destiny, and its first expansion The Dark Below, the Prison of Elders (although not a raid) will give players access to powerful armor, weapons, and much needed materials. Of course, players will want to get access to this activity with each of their guardians, so grab some friends and run through the missions back to back.

Step 3: Dominate the Prison of Elders…Twice…With the Same Guardian

The Prison of Elders arena activity is the meat and potatoes of House of Wolves‘ PvE content. This horde mode is played with two other guardians and starts at Level 28. The good thing is that if you want to play Prison of Elders at level 28 there is matchmaking, something that will make this first part really easy. No having to wait for friends in order to tackle Destiny‘s latest challenge. If you do have friends ready though, tackle the arena at Level 32 where you will receive an Armor Core. This item can be traded to Variks, the Loyal for that armor piece you should have checked out in the first step.

If all of the previous steps have been done correctly (and you started with a Level 32 guardian) then you should now have a Level 33 guardian ready to wreak havoc in the Prison of Elders, yet again only this time at Level 34. This will not be easy, but the reward will definitely be worth the trouble since players will receive one of Destiny‘s new materials introduced in House of Wolves, Etheric Light.

Etheric Light is a material that will allow players to raise the Light of any Legendary item to the maximum potential. This means a guardian will be able to hit Light Level 34 using old legendaries such as raid or Iron Banner equipment. Players should now have a guardian that is almost Level 34 with only a couple more steps to go.

Step 4: Prison of Elders or Nightfall

Now, your actions here depend entirely on whether or not you have more than one guardian who is at a high enough level to participate in the new House of Wolves content. If you do, then just repeat the steps above in order to obtain another Armor Core and/or Etheric Light. Once obtained, transfer the items over to the guardian that is being leveled up. It’s as simple as that.

If you don’t have another guardian however, you will have to hope for some serious luck. Completing the weekly Nightfall Strike has a chance to drop an Etheric Light. If the randomness of Destiny shines down upon a player they will have obtained everything they need with just a single guardian (awesome!). If not, then you will need to power level an extra guardian or be patient and wait until next week.

Step 5: Grind it Out

Once all of the required armor is obtained, all a player needs to do is level up its light. Complete the Nightfall Strike for an EXP buff, then go to town in either the Strike Playlists or PvP. Grabbing and completing bounties from both the Tower and the Reef will help speed up the process as well. After a little while sit back and marvel at the new and improved guardian that you just created. Take a screenshot and share it with friends so they can be envious of your legend. You worked hard for it, so now put it to the test in House of Wolves‘ ultimate challenges.

Do you tackle the Level 35 Prison of Elders, or do you get some rest as you ready up for the Trials of Osiris? Whatever it is that you decide to do, you (and your guardian) should be ready for whatever gets thrown your way.

Now go and show the world what you’re made of. And, as always, safe travels guardians.