Destiny Iron Banner Guide

Destiny Iron Banner Guide by AgentNine

Video: What’s new, tips for doing well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dT0BEsYW64

What is the Iron Banner?

The next Iron Banner event is coming “by the end of next week, if all goes well.”

The Iron Banner is a Faction led by Lord Saladin (vendor), a veteran of the Battle for Twilight Gap.
A hero to the City and a legend in his own right, Saladin led the City’s defense during the Battle for the Twilight Gap. His protégés, Commander Zavala and Lord Shaxx, now lead the Tower’s Vanguard and the Crucible, respectively.

Saladin remains close to Zavala (Titan Vanguard), though his relationship with Shaxx has been strained since the Twilight Gap.

The Iron Banner seeks great champions to lead the fight against the Darkness. It was born to honor the Iron Lords and their efforts in the earliest days of the City.

In normal Crucible matches, your character level and equipment’s Attack/Defense stats do not matter, as all weapons deal the same base damage relative to their archetype.

However, in matches where Level Advantages are enabled (IB & Trials of Osiris), those stats do matter, and will function similarly – though not as extreme – to how they do in PvE.

What Hasn’t Changed

• You’re randomly rewarded armor and weapons when you win a match.
• Unlock more gear for purchase from Lord Saladin & match rewards by increasing your rank.
• Your previous Iron Banner rank has been preserved for this (and only this) Iron Banner.

What’s New

• Only players Level 20 and above can lead a Fireteam.
• There are now five reputation ranks, which will be reset at the start of each new Iron Banner.
• Iron Banner armor now has the ability to raise your Light level to 30, but you’ll still need at least 1 Exotic & Raidarmor piece as well.
• The Tempered buff is a player-activated 12 hour boost in reputation gains.
• Reputation gains are only awarded to the winners, but partial reputation is awarded to the losing team via Medallions.
• You’re able to Reforge your IB weapons for Motes of Light.

What’s New: Explained

Gear Matters This Time

If you’re competing in a special PvP event like Iron Banner, take the time to gear up for it, as level advantages are enabled.

Your Defense rating and Attack level will not be equalized with everyone else like in normal Crucible modes.

• Only players Level 20 and above can lead a Fireteam.
• New exclusive reward armor will be bumped to Level 30, but will only be available in two slots.
• Players within 3 Levels can be “competitive” with each other.

You must meet with Lord Saladin before you can compete.

Reforging

• Victory earns you reputation and rank to unlock special Iron Banner weapons.
• Lord Saladin will offer players the option of Reforging any Iron Banner weapon.
• Reforging re-rolls all of the upgrades for a chosen weapon, but it’ll also reset any upgrades you’ve unlocked!
• The cost for each Reforge will be a small number of Motes of Light.

Tempered Buff

• Lord Saladin will offer a 12-hour buff called Tempered, which will boost Iron Banner reputation gains.
• As the week goes forward, this buff will boost gains even more, so people who start later in the week will be able to catch up easier.
• It’s up to you to decide when to activate this buff!

Iron Medallions

• Reputation gains are only awarded only to the winners, but when you lose, you’ll be rewarded with an Iron Medallion token.
• You can carry up to 5 of these Medallions, and they’ll be redeemed after your next win.
• Once redeemed, which happens automatically once you win a game, each Medallion you carry will convert into Iron Banner reputation!
• You’ll get nothing if you quit a match.

Iron Banner Rank

• There are now 5 IB ranks instead of 3.
• Your rank will unlock more gear to purchase from Lord Saladin, which can be Reforged (explained above).
• Your ranking from the previous Iron Banner will remain intact, but after this one is over, it will be reset each time.

Gear & Bounties

Normal Crucible matches rarely award you high-quality gear, but in the Iron Banner you’ll have better odds of Legendary rewards.

Each armor, weapon, and bounty is listed further down in this post, but here’s the gist of it:

Weapons

• There’s 4 weapon types available now.
• These weapon types are divided between match rewards and Lord Saladin.
• Reforge IB weapons; reset progression with new perks.

Armor

• There’s a new helm, chest, gauntlet, and boot for each class.
• New boots and gauntlets allow you to reach Light Level 30, but you’ll still need at least 1 Exotic & Raid armor piece as well.
• All of the old gear costs 10 Crucible Marks, with the required reputation rank. There is no known price for the new gear (designated with a “*”)
• Only 2 ‘raid-equivalent’ Iron Banner pieces can be equipped at once.

Bounties

• IB Bounties are now claimed and turned in at Lord Saladin.
• There are 2 new Salvage-specific bounties (which may or may not be active during the upcoming IB).
• IB Bounties reward more rep/XP.

Iron Banner Gear & Bounties

There’s nine names on the IB weapons. These are most likely the Iron Lords.
The Iron Banner seeks great champions to lead the fight against the Darkness. It was born to honor the Iron Lords and their efforts in the earliest days of the City.

All of these weapons have random upgrade perks.

Seeing a trend? Hard-hitting from a distance, but slow and unstable. Good weapons for methodical Guardians.

Armor

New armor is designated with a *

All of the old gear costs 10 Crucible Marks. It’s unknown how much the new gear will cost, or whether it’ll just be acquired via random rewards after matches.

Aesthetic Items

Preparing for Iron Banner 2.0

Overview

Here’s a rundown on a few important things to keep in mind:

• You don’t earn IB rep when you lose, but you will earn an IB Medallion (for reputation) that will be converted into reputation once you win your next match.
• Wearing IB Emblems/Shaders each give you a stacking +10% reputation boost.
• Wearing an Iron Banner class item (Rank 2) grants an additional +10%
• The new Iron Banner gear will allow you to reach level 30, with the help of 1 Exotic and 1 Raid piece.
• There’s now 5 ranks, which will reset after this Iron Banner event concludes.
• Only players Level 20 and above can lead a Fireteam, but lower level players may join the 20+ Fireteam leader.
• Players within 3 Levels “can be competitive with each other.”

In this preparation section, to avoid making this post too long, there are many links which lead to other guides and useful information! :)

Gear Up!

Vanguard and Crucible Vendors

You need to have a Vanguard/Crucible reputation level of 2+ to purchase armor, and level 3 to purchase weapons. If you’re not quite there yet, finishing bounties is the quickest way to get there.

Use these vendors to pick up the remaining pieces of Legendary equipment you need.

Faction Vendors

New Monarchy, Future War Cult & Dead Orbit are the main PvP factions in Destiny. Even though they promote Crucible gametypes, gaining reputation with them can be done just as easily in PvE.

By choosing a Faction by equipping the class item they sell, completing both Vanguard and Crucible activities will add towards your Faction’s reputation.

Faction vendors’ inventories never change, so be sure to check out each of their inventories to see which is best for your playstyle.

Playstyle

Making sure you aren’t carrying any uncommon or rare items is your priority, and pick the one that fits your PvP play style the best.

Do you like grenades? Some armor lets you carry two! Do you rely on your shotgun or fusion rifle? Consider finding equipment that lets you carry more ammo. Large clip size? High rate of fire? Explosive rounds? Melee bonuses?

There are a lot of options out there, look at the entire upgrade path of an item before buying it, and make sure it fits what you’re best at and enjoy.

Level Up

Between Xûr & Faction vendors, you shouldn’t have too much of a problem getting all of your equipment slots filled withLegendary and Exotic gear.

Obtaining the items is just the beginning though; to make them truly effective, you’ll have to level them up and upgrade them.

In this Iron Banner, there’s a huge difference between an item that you just acquired and one that you’ve maxed out, especially considering that your Light level is increased when you upgrade an item’s defense rating.

Planet-specific crafting materials are pretty easy to find when you’re out on a patrol. The high-end materials that you’ll have a harder time finding are Ascendant Energy & Shards, but they’re necessary for unlocking your item’s full potential.

Dismantling Legendary or Exotic items is the easiest way to acquire these Legendary materials (energy from weapons, shards from armor).

Xûr

After you’ve bought an Exotic weapon, check out this video guide to learn how to level it up quickly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQnrHeINliM

Know Your Build

Once you have all of the items you need, spend some time tweaking the skill loadout you’ll be going into the Iron Banner with.

Not only should you choose the subclass that matches your PvP style, but you’re going to want to take the time to really examine what skills you’ve chosen, and how they work together.

Some options are geared more towards PvE, so make sure you’re only bringing in skills that will benefit you in the Crucible. Understanding how your movement, melee, and super abilities work will let you better evaluate situations, and know when you have the advantage.

There’s no cost to toggling skills on and off, so experiment as much as you can to really refine your build!