Destiny 2: Easiest Level Modifiers for A-Rank in Solo Ops

TL;DR

• Grade A is the minimum threshold for positive Power progression in Destiny 2 — anything below Grade A doesn’t push your Power level.
• The single most powerful modifier for hitting Grade A with minimal difficulty is Equipment Locked Activity — it locks your loadout but grants a massive score multiplier (x5 Challenge Multiplier).
• On Expert difficulty, Equipment Locked Activity alone is often enough to hit Grade A without any other modifiers.
• The safest Bane to stack for score is Caltrops — enemies drop elemental pools on death that are easy to avoid at any range.
• Boons increase your score on Normal difficulty only — on Advanced and above, Boons decrease your score. Stop using them once you leave Normal.
• The Grappler Boon is an exception that helps on any difficulty — it gives you a grappling hook instead of your grenade, dramatically speeding up traversal without reducing your score on Normal.
• As of Monument of Triumph (June 2026), bane combinations increased from 15 to 21, and a new Medusa bane was added — but the core easiest modifier logic hasn’t changed.

Destiny 2 level modifiers are the challenge and boon settings you apply to an Ops activity before launching it. The right modifier combination pushes your forecasted grade from B to A without meaningfully increasing how difficult the activity is. This guide covers the easiest modifiers to use at each difficulty tier — Advanced, Expert, Master, and Grandmaster — to hit Grade A every run.

How the Modifier and Grade System Works

Every Ops activity in Destiny 2 has a grade forecast shown on the pre-launch customize screen. This forecast is determined by your base difficulty selection plus any modifiers you add. Grades run from B at the low end to S+ at the top. The threshold you’re aiming for is Grade A — that’s when loot starts dropping above your current Power level.

There are three types of modifications:

• Difficulty level: Sets the baseline grade. Normal starts at B, Advanced at B+, Expert at A, Master at A+, Grandmaster at S, and Ultimate at S+. Each also sets enemy Power — higher difficulty means enemies hit harder and have more health.
• Challenge Modifiers: These are the banes and activity restrictions that increase enemy Power level or impose restrictions on the player. Each Challenge Modifier stacks flat bonuses onto the forecast score. Equipment Locked Activity is a Player Stakes modifier in this category and grants a x5 Challenge Multiplier — by far the largest single score bonus available.
• Boon & Event Modifiers: Positive effects that help you — stronger abilities, faster movement, healing triggers. On Normal difficulty, Boons increase your score. On Advanced and higher difficulties, Boons decrease your score. The Grappler Boon is a practical exception — it doesn’t raise your score but replaces your grenade with a grappling hook that speeds traversal, making runs faster overall.

The grade forecast updates live as you add and remove modifiers. Always check the forecast before launching. If it shows A or higher, you’re set. If it shows B+, you need one more modifier. If it shows B or lower, add more challenge modifiers until it reaches A.

One more factor: completing the activity quickly adds a time bonus to your final score. Most activities offer around 15% extra score for finishing within a set time limit (typically 8 minutes for Solo Ops). This means a B+ forecast can sometimes hit Grade A on the final score if you clear fast enough — but relying on the time bonus is risky. Set your modifier forecast to A or close to it before launching.

The Single Best Modifier for Grade A: Equipment Locked Activity

Across all difficulty tiers, Equipment Locked Activity is the highest-value modifier for hitting Grade A with the least actual gameplay difficulty. It lives in the Player Stakes tab on the customize screen.

What it does: prevents you from changing your equipment at any point during the activity. You can’t swap loadouts, change weapons mid-run, or adjust mods. Your build is locked from the moment you launch to the moment the activity ends.

Why it’s the best modifier: the x5 Challenge Multiplier it grants is the largest score bonus from a single modifier in the game. On Expert difficulty, equipping Equipment Locked Activity is often enough to push the forecast from B+ to A+ by itself — no Banes required at all.

The practical impact is minimal for most players. Solo Ops missions like Caldera and K1 Logistics are short enough that swapping builds mid-run adds almost no value. If you build your loadout before launch — matching Champion coverage, element, and DPS weapon — you won’t miss the ability to swap. Set your loadout in orbit before the run, lock it, and go.

Easiest Modifiers for A-Rank on Advanced Difficulty

Advanced difficulty is the tier for Power 200 and below. On Advanced, enemies sit at +20 Power above your character. The baseline grade is B+, so you need a small score push to hit A.

Boons work differently here than at higher difficulties — on Advanced, Boons still give score bonuses. Use them. On Expert and above, Boons reduce your score, so stop using them once you move up.

• Caltrops (Bane): Enemies drop damaging elemental pools on death. The pools linger briefly but are trivially avoidable at range or by simply not standing where the enemy died. Each Bane raises enemy Power by 10, giving a meaningful score bonus for a very low actual threat. Caltrops is the default Bane pick across all difficulties because it has no meaningful impact on how the fight feels for ranged builds.
• Subtle Foes (Challenge Modifier): Certain enemies become stealthy at distance but become visible when you approach. Their health bars and outlines are still visible at range — they’re not truly invisible. This gives a score bonus without meaningfully changing how you fight.
• Haste Trade-Off (Challenge Modifier): Moving quickly slowly regenerates health. Standing still slowly deals damage. Since you are always moving in a Solo Ops mission, this modifier is effectively a passive health regen buff. The standing-still damage condition never triggers during normal play.

With Caltrops, Subtle Foes, and Haste Trade-Off active on Advanced, most players hit Grade A without further stacking. Add the Grappler Boon on top to speed up traversal sections without losing score.

Easiest Modifiers for A-Rank on Expert Difficulty

Expert difficulty covers Power 200 to 300. Baseline grade is A, which means Expert already starts at Grade A without any modifiers — but only if your activity clear is fast. Adding a couple of modifiers gives you a grade buffer so slow or imperfect runs still land at A.

• Equipment Locked Activity (Player Stakes): The single most important modifier to add at this tier. On Expert, Equipment Locked Activity alone often pushes the forecast to A+ or S, giving you a significant grade buffer. Even if your run is slower than usual, the forecast headroom means you still land at A.
• Rage and Caltrops (Bane): This dual-Bane combination is available at Expert and above. Rage makes enemies deal more damage and gain damage resistance as their health drops. Caltrops adds the pool-on-death effect. The Rage portion sounds threatening but in practice, most enemies are eliminated before they lose enough health for the resistance scaling to matter. Caltrops remains the safe half of this combination. Together they add +20 to enemy Power for a strong score bonus.
• Hot Step (Challenge Modifier): When defeated, challenging enemies drop fire at their location. Challenging enemies aren’t common, and they’re almost always eliminated at range. The fire pool from their death doesn’t affect you if you’re not standing directly on top of them at the moment they die.
• Glass Cannon (Challenge Modifier): The player with the most kills takes additional incoming damage. In a Solo Ops mission, you are always that player — but the actual damage increase is minimal, and with a well-built character, it doesn’t change how fights play out. This is effectively a free score bonus in exchange for nothing meaningful.

The ideal Expert loadout: Equipment Locked Activity + Rage and Caltrops + Glass Cannon. That combination reliably forecasts A+ on most Expert missions, giving you a full grade of buffer against slow clears.

Easiest Modifiers for A-Rank on Master Difficulty

Master difficulty is the main Power grind tier from Power 300 to 400. Enemies are significantly tougher than Expert, and the baseline grade is A+. This is where modifier selection starts to matter more — you need score bonuses to maintain Grade A on runs that don’t go perfectly, but you also need to avoid modifiers that make enemies survivable enough to kill you.

• Equipment Locked Activity (Player Stakes): Still mandatory. Always the first modifier to add. At Master, it moves the forecast from A+ toward S or S+ depending on the mission.
• Caltrops (Bane): Remains the safest single Bane at Master. The pool damage is unchanged across difficulties — enemies hit harder, but the Caltrop pools they leave are just as avoidable at Master as they are at Normal. Always pick Caltrops as your primary Bane at Master and above.
• Subtle Foes (Challenge Modifier): Returns at Master as a reliable low-impact score modifier. Enemies become visible at close range, and Master-level content has you working at medium-to-close range anyway. The stealth effect is essentially cosmetic for players who are already watching enemy health bars.
• Hot Step (Challenge Modifier): Same logic as Expert — challenging enemies are rare, fire pools from their deaths don’t affect engaged players. A score bonus for almost nothing.

If you need additional score at Master beyond this set, look at modifiers that affect specific enemy types rather than your player stats. Void Threat (increases Void damage taken from enemies) is manageable if you aren’t running a Void shield-breaking mission. Arc Threat is similarly fine if the mission faction doesn’t lean on Arc debuffs.

Easiest Modifiers for A-Rank on Grandmaster Difficulty

Grandmaster is the endgame difficulty tier, used from Power 380 to 450. The baseline grade is S, meaning Grandmaster already starts above A — Grade A is not a concern here. Your goal shifts from “hit Grade A” to “maintain Grade S for Tier 5 drops.” At Grandmaster, Grade A is the floor, not the ceiling.

The modifier logic changes slightly at Grandmaster. You’re not trying to push the score up — you’re trying to avoid adding modifiers that make the activity impossible while still reaching maximum grade. The key is not over-modifying with stacking enemy Power boosts that turn already-hard enemies into damage sponges.

• Equipment Locked Activity (Player Stakes): Still the most valuable modifier. At Grandmaster, it’s especially important to plan your loadout before launch — you cannot adapt mid-run. Set Champion coverage, DPS weapon, and survivability tools in orbit before entering.
• Rage and Caltrops (Bane): At Grandmaster, Rage becomes more relevant — enemies deal increased damage as they lose health. This means finishing enemies quickly is more important than at lower difficulties. If your build can burst-kill most enemies before they reach half health, Rage is manageable. If you’re struggling with sustained DPS, avoid Rage and use Caltrops alone.
• Subtle Foes (Challenge Modifier): Still one of the most benign score modifiers available. At Grandmaster, enemies become visible at close range which is where most Grandmaster fights happen — you’re rarely engaging at long range in tight mission corridors. Effectively harmless for the score it provides.
• Avoid stacking Power-increasing modifiers unnecessarily: Each Bane adds +10 to enemy Power. At Grandmaster, enemies are already near the cap — adding too many Banes turns manageable fights into impossible ones. Aim for the minimum number of modifiers needed to maintain Grade S, not the maximum.

The Grappler Boon is especially useful at Grandmaster. It doesn’t improve your score, but replacing your grenade with a fast-refresh grappling hook cuts traversal time dramatically. In longer Grandmaster missions, saving 2–3 minutes on movement sections compresses the total run time and makes hitting the time bonus much more likely.

Modifier Tier Summary: Easiest by Difficulty

• Advanced (Power up to 200): Caltrops + Subtle Foes + Haste Trade-Off. Add Grappler Boon for faster traversal.
• Expert (Power 200–300): Equipment Locked Activity + Rage and Caltrops + Glass Cannon. Forecasts A+ or S on most missions.
• Master (Power 300–400): Equipment Locked Activity + Caltrops + Subtle Foes + Hot Step. Maintain grade buffer without over-stacking enemy Power.
• Grandmaster (Power 380–450): Equipment Locked Activity + Rage and Caltrops + Subtle Foes. Avoid unnecessary Banes. Add Grappler Boon for speed.

Modifier Mistakes to Avoid

Don’t stack too many Banes. Each Bane adds +10 to enemy Power. Three Banes stacked on Master adds +30 to enemy Power on top of the difficulty base. At some point you’re fighting enemies who are 40–50 Power above you, which negates the time savings from fast missions and turns Grade A farming into a chore. Two Banes is the practical maximum for most players.

Don’t use Boons on Advanced and above. Boons reduce your score on Advanced difficulty and higher — they actively work against you. The only exception is the Grappler Boon, which doesn’t contribute to score in either direction but dramatically improves run efficiency through faster traversal. Use Grappler freely at any difficulty.

Don’t ignore the time bonus. Finishing the activity quickly adds roughly 15% to your final score. A B+ forecast cleared in 6 minutes can beat an A forecast cleared in 12 minutes. When choosing between two modifier setups with similar forecast grades, always pick the one that produces a faster run.

Don’t forget Equipment Locked means pre-planning your loadout. The #1 mistake when running Equipment Locked Activity is not thinking about the mission before you launch. Check which Champions appear in the activity. Check which element the enemy faction uses. Set your loadout to cover those requirements in orbit. Once you’re in, you cannot adjust.

For related power grinding tips, see our guide on the best Solo Ops missions for power grinding — Caldera and K1 Logistics are the fastest missions to clear at Grade A across all difficulty tiers. And for how all of this feeds into reaching 550 Power cap efficiently, see the broader progression context in our Festival Flight god roll guide, which was farmed efficiently during Solstice using Solo Ops with these exact modifier setups.