Before making promises with regards to levelling up other characters in The Taken King, we’re going to assume that you’ve conquered the majority of the King’s Fall Raid. Given the time it takes to reach the required Light 290+, it’s likely you’ll have everything you need to quickly build an alt by now.
It takes approximately 7 hours to take an alt through a similar journey that lasted around 30 for your main: reaching maximum EXP 40, before equipping enough Light 290+ gear to ring the Raid bell. We pushed our first alt to 290+ inside of one long shift, just to see if it was possible. You’ll most likely spread efforts across two or three of your regular 2-3 hour stints, wherever you can fit these in.
Most alts will be at the Light 160 mark if beginning with a basic Level 34 House of Wolves character. You may have hit 170 or so if you took part in the pre-launch Crucible event, acquiring a Ghost. Either way, short cuts to Light 290 depend very much on forward thinking while using your main.
Before starting your new character, collect a stash of 290+ Rare, Legendary or Exotic armour that you’ll eventually use to Infuse Legendary and above gear on your alt. Armour and Class Items can be infused regardless of class. A Warlock’s Bond can Infuse a Titan’s Mark for example. Since Infusion is a gradual process, best keep a couple of e.g. 290+ gauntlets ready to boost those 170+ on your alt. This is going to prove extremely handy for speedily boosting your newbie after reaching EXP 40.
If you haven’t done so already, get after the Boolean Gemini Exotic Scout Rifle. It is a Light 290 beast of a gun that can be equipped by a EXP 30+ character, significantly increasing your damage potential. The gun is worth having anyway, and it’s likely you will have pursued most if not all Quests required to attain it, simply by rinsing the Taken King for all its worth with your main: The Taken War Petra; Lost and Found, and The Wolves of Mars. You also need Rank Three with the Queen’s Wrath faction. Sadly, that last requirement is the thing that’ll eat up time if you didn’t invest in House of Wolves.
Equipping one of your main’s 30+ EXP level Ghosts should quickly bump your Light 170 Guardian to around Light 180. Every little helps to speed toward EXP 40 when you can start feeling ‘normal’. You should also remember to align with a Faction, and consider a new one since EXP progress is smaller to begin with, delivering ranking-up rewards sooner. As soon as you’ve done this, trade in every last one of your old and useless armour materials (Hadronic Essence, Plasteel Plating, Sapphire Wire) as ‘Donations’ that contribute to faction EXP. Don’t waste Motes of Light or Weapon Parts here though.
Completing the first story mission opens up other Quests that include your character’s new subclass and The Taken War Petra, acquired from Variks. Much of what you kill during the Taken King story contributes to Petra’s requirements, saving backtracking later on. As soon as you’re done with The Coming War, take this detour to the Reef, speak to Variks and grab The Taken War Petra Quest.
After receiving your next mission from Cayde-6 in the Tower, speak to your Vanguard leader to acquire your new subclass Quest. This takes less than an hour to complete, but means that you’re now building the new subclass capabilities while completing the rest of the story. Reaching the end of the story should take around 3 hours, and is broadly the most beneficial way of reaching EXP 40. While you’re about it, be sure to take with you every Vanguard Bounty as many can be accomplished without giving them a second thought. It all adds to your EXP, boosting Faction Reputation.
Upon completing the Taken King story, Cayde-6 asks you to undertake the Dread Patrol mission, which unlocks the Dreadnaught as a Patrol area. In addition you receive 25 Legendary Marks that you can put toward purchasing Light 280 armour from the Vanguard and/or chosen Faction. A further 20 Legendary Marks are earned by completing the Never Ending Battle Quest for Ikora Rey, roughly an hour’s worth of basic Vanguard Strikes – five in total – that are also your chance to drop engrams for decryption. That’s 45 Marks to go toward armour straightaway, and if you’ve been playing The Taken King since launch it’s likely you’ll have enough to purchase Legs, Arms and a Class Item for 75 Legendary Marks apiece. All of this can be Infused with gear from your main character.
By now your character should be pushing Light 290 mark. If you have every 290+ weapon, Class Item and Ghost equipped, the thing holding you back is your class-specific Artifact. Upon completing the Sunless Cell strike Quest for Eris Morn she asks you to Depose the Court of Oryx, which is one short Quest line that rewards you with a Light 300 Artifact. You are very much dependent on other players to assist with higher tier Runes required to activate and defeat the enemies in the Court of Oryx, found on the Dreadnaught. But since these are public events, there are usually enough random players willing to jump in for the chance of easy engrams. Reciprocal Runes used to activate Tier 1 events are very easy to come by during standard Patrol missions on the Dreadnaught.
