What to do After Level 20 in Destiny - More Tips

Dailies, Weeklies
You unlocked the first tier of Vanguard Strikes at level 18. There are four Vanguard Strike playlists from level 18 to level 24. These four playlists can be completed as often as you'd like to earn marks, reputation, and gear. In addition to these playlists are the daily chapter, which is a standard story mission with enhanced difficulty modifiers to increase its level from 20 to 28. There is also the weekly Strike which its own set of modifiers that starts at level 22. Afterwards you have the weekly Nightfall, which the same strike but at level 28 with a heavy set of modifiers. Each weekly strike and Nightfall can only be completed once on each level to earn its rewards. While the Vanguard Strike playlists offer random matchmaking, the daily and weekly challenges do not so remember to bring your own fireteam.

Exotic Bounties
Exotic bounties have a chance to unlock after completing a regular bounty after level 20. Rather than a single task, they are a series of difficult challenges that combine PvP and PvE objectives that ultimately reward you with a piece of exotic equipment.

Gear and Upgrades
There are five qualities of gear. Common (white), uncommon (green), rare (blue), legendary (purple), and exotic (orange). At this point you most likely understand the minor differences between the different qualities, such as upgrades, stat bonuses, and armor upgrades. The largest difference between rare and legendary quality armor, is the significant defense/attack upgrades available to legendary weapons, and each exotic armor or weapon offers a unique bonus. Exotic has one caveat: only one exotic weapon and armor piece can be worn at any time. While upgrading rare weapons and armor requies weapon and armor parts (related to your specific class), legendary and exotic armors require materials (such as Spin Metal) as well as Ascendant Materials.

Don't invest in anything below purple quality. Upgrading rares is very resource intensive, but unfortunately they max out earlier. The 16 gun parts or armor pieces that you spend on your level 18 rare can upgrade the level 20 legendary around the corner. With two possible damage/armor upgrades per rare item, these costs stack up significantly: a max set of rare armor could cost you up to 96 weapon parts, and 120 armor. That isn't even to mention rare items that you may find that are marginally better than what you're wearing.

Don't be a slave to the random number generator. Instead of farming spawns for engrams, invest in factional reputation with the Vanguard, Crucible, and faction of your choice between the Dead Orbit, New Monarchy and Future War Cult. The costs of these items (a helmet costs as much as 120 marks) may seem staggering, but they're guaranteed Legendaries to increase your light level and take on higher level strikes.

If you feel compelled to farm, look for quantity of enemies, not the quantity of drops people mention. The items dropped by enemies are random, and the best way to increase your odds of finding a rare or legendary engram is to kill as many enemies of any level as possible in as short a time as possible. People are using the Treasure Cave on Earth, and the Dark Below to earn their engrams because of the high volume of low level enemies that can be killed in a short time.

Don't destroy your rare and legendary equipment just because you find a replacement and better alternative. Keep them in your vault for a rainy day. Certain exotic bounties require people to destroy a certain number of rare or better quality items. Exotic armor can only be equipped in one slot, and you might found yourself with an empty slot if you find a better exotic in a different slot but have destroyed the legendary that you have initially replaced.

Etiquette
As always, don't be a dick. There are some things to understand about farming. You don't have a claim over any one spot. If you did, that doesn't matter, because loot drops for everyone clientside. That means that no one can pick up your loot, and you can't pick up their loot. It doesn't matter who kills what, a drop is a drop.

Do you have any advice for players reaching Level 20? Let us know in the comments below!

If you've enjoyed this, here's a few more that you'll definitely enjoy: