In your situation, I would try to fill your low spot by doing Europa activities or Wrathborn hunts, where you can pick the activity that will reward the appropriate slot. No guarantee those will drop on level, but they definitely can.

It’s about how much time you want to spend. The smartest thing might just be to cash in the powerfuls you have a quit worrying about it, which is what I usually end up doing.

Say I have some +3 rewards waiting and ready to be cashed in.

Supposed that I am 7/8 of the way to the next point. This includes a -1 in one slot and two +3s.

My question is kind of two parts: optimization and the actual process by which to increase that -1.

1) Should I do activities in the world and until I fill in my -1 slot, so that my overall average increases to the next whole point, and those +3s's into +2's? Waiting would mean that the +3 reward has an 8/8 chance of being an improvement as opposed to the current 6/8 chance (two slots are already +3).

2) Do patrols/PEs/Lost Sectors/messing around on Europa or other destinations actually give at-level drops like this where my -1 would increase to my average? Or do I need to do playlist activities like Gambit, Strikes, Crucible? I can't tell if it is just RNG but it seems like often my lowest slot doesn't get filled in by world activities.

I just remembered that there is a soft cap. Is it at 1230? I am only at 1225 right now. How does that change these decisions?

https://www.d2checklist.com/

Hit the Sign In button in the top right to authenticate with Bungie, then click 'My Info' (just below the sign in button). The first tab (Milestones) lists every powerful+ reward available each week, in descending order of power, along with an indication of how far along you are in completing it.

Along with Braytech, DIM, and Destiny Power Bars, it's in the pantheon of websites that make Destiny considerably better than it is alone.

Doing 8 Bounties for Zavala, Shaxx, Drifter, Banshee, and Variks will all give you a Powerful. You can hold off on picking up the rewards until you have a roughly equal power level in every slot for maximum growth.

Stuff like the Empire Hunts, weapon quests from Variks, and Wrathborn hunts are especially helpful for bringing up low slots, as you can see exactly which reward you will get from those activities.

So, uh. Hmm. Not sure how I did it, but... final end of day tally (quoting from D.I.M);

1261⅛ = 1249⅛ + 12

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well... Guess I'll go to bed and sleep now. Ta!

This happened to me. I had a high cloak relative to everything else. What are the odds? I got a cloak one higher. I thought I would cry.

I actually think the odds are pretty good - because they're fixed by Bungie. It happens too often that if you've got one super-high thing, that your next super-high thing is in the same category for it to be pure RNG. I think there might be some weighting.

(Happened to me a couple of nights ago. Chestpiece was higher than everything else, by at least +3 - got a pinnacle drop, it was a chestpiece.)

I pulled one powerful this morning (Variks' 8-bounty reward) to hit this. Still have quite a number left.

I thought it would take at least another few days.

There are definitely tools and spreadsheets out there. I saw one on reddit last week, but I’ve just come to accept that if I ever really need a tool like that, I will have to reevaluate if I want to play at all.

Like I get not completing weekly challenges too early since that drop just hits you directly.

And right now I'm waiting on finishing up my Bounty based challenges by holding onto the completed bounty. But it's weird since they result in an engram that I have to turn in?

Also I finished up the new chaperone quest yesterday and left it with Amanda, will it go up if I leave it?

As a general rule of thumb, powerful drops are most likely to be useful when all your gear is approximately the same level. In that sense it doesn't really matter whether you use the powerful drops "late" or "early" in the week, what you want is for them to occur at the right times with your gear distribution.

The most important thing to avoid when leveling is getting a powerful drop in your "leading" slot, because that's when it's least effective, especially if your leading slot is well ahead of your other slots. If you have that situation, you want to fill in your other slots with normal drops prior to activating a powerful. For example, if your gear average is 1212-6/8 on DIM, and you have a class item that's 1210, that's a great time to consider pulling a class item out of your season pass. It will drop at 1212, and push your average up to 1213, which is essentially giving you +1 on your next powerful drop.

In this way, having a dedicated slot powerful drop is extremely effective (if it does go up as you wait, which I can't confirm but seems highly likely). To get the most use out of it, you should wait until your primary weapon slot is the lowest value of your gear, and then grab it, giving you the most bang for your buck in terms of power increase.

Last night if I picked it up would have been 2017, got a new level, and now it's 2018... so keep that in mind!

My plan was to start with him this week (but he just started the campaign) and I realize I should probably start with my highest and switch back.

Yeah, it for sure did, given the power levels you gave last night. Filling in the gaps can often give you 1 or 2 power levels, depending on how many low slots you have, and doing that will also increase the power of your next Powerful by an equal amount, so it can really snowball.

I should have joined you guys, but I was paranoid about getting everything even before my next powerful drops.