A Destiny 2 Power Level glitch is being caused by a Heavy Grenade Launcher bug

A Destiny 2 Power Level bug is causing Guardians’ Power Levels to plummet down to the 1300s, and it’s caused by bugged Heavy Grenade Launchers. In short, an accidental buff for Heavy Grenade Launchers quickly led to the weapon type getting temporarily disabled by Bungie, which is now messing with players’ Power Levels. This sort of bug isn’t new, and it usually comes up whenever a broken or overpowered item gets disabled, altering Power numbers in the process. The simple fix is to switch your weapons, but we’ve got all the details on this Destiny 2 Power Level bug below.  

Destiny 2 Power Level bug cause and fix

The recent Destiny 2 Power Level bug is causing lots of players to have their Power Levels drop to the mid-to-high 1300s, despite having gear with Power levels closer to the Destiny 2 Season 18 Power Cap of 1580. However, there are rare cases where players have had their Power Level increase to over 1600 and even go as high as the 1630s! This Power Level discrepancy is caused by having a Heavy Grenade Launcher equipped while they have been temporarily disabled by Bungie due to a different bug, which we’ve detailed further down in this article.

If your Guardian’s Power Level has dropped to the 1300s, it’s because your equipped – but disabled – Heavy Grenade Launcher is effectively contributing 0 Power, therefore dragging your overall Power Level down massively. To fix your Destiny 2 Power Level, just equip a different Heavy weapon, such as a Machine Gun or Rocket Launcher, with an appropriate Power Level.

After the launch of Season 18, players quickly noticed that Heavy Grenade Launchers, both Legendary and Exotic, were dealing far more damage than usual. A Season of Plunder patch note mentioned an approximate 10% PvE damage buff to powerful enemies, but the in-game damage numbers for Heavy Grenade Launchers such as Tarnation, Typhon GL5, and Anarchy indicate the buff was closer to 150%, meaning Heavy Grenade Launchers are dealing over double their normal damage to bosses. Consequently, Bungie has disabled all Rare, Legendary, and Exotic Heavy Grenade Launchers with a few exceptions, notably Parasite, which did not receive the damage buff.