Iron Banner

The Iron Banner

"The Iron Banner calls Guardians to prove themselves in the Crucible. Their emissary waits in the Tower to reward those who excel."

— Event summary

The Iron Banner is a Crucible event held to commemorate the Iron Lords. It is overseen by Lord Saladin Forge, but the responsibility was temporarily passed to Lady Efrideet during the SIVA Crisis. It is available once a month (Every 4 weeks) and lasts for one week, but as of Season of the Haunted is held twice a Season only. The Iron Banner offers exclusive gear as a reward for those who compete.

Gameplay

Unlike normal Crucible matches, where gear is leveled to make an even playing field, having the best gear matters in the Iron Banner. Therefore, gear acquisition and selection is crucial before entering the event, and the players who have the highest light are typically the most competitive. A Guardian's level will also affect the outcome, as level advantages are enabled. While it's not impossible to fight competitively against players one or two levels ahead, there is a noticeable disadvantage in terms of damage dealt and taken. While anyone over level 20 can join, being as close to the level cap as possible is the key to staying competitive, as well as having experience in highly competitive environment.

Each time a new expansion comes out and the level cap is increased, Efrideet will offer players the opportunity to re-forge any Iron Banner weapon, including those from the previous event. This will re-roll any upgrades and reset progression. Each re-forge costs a few Motes of Light. The Gunsmith will also reforge weapons, including Iron Banner weapons.

During Year One of Destiny 2 and again from Season of the Haunted onwards, level advantages are disabled unlike the first game. Unlike Destiny 1, Saladin takes Shaxx's place as the announcer for Iron Banner matches.

Destiny Year One and Two

Rewards for the Iron Banner depends on how rapidly players can progress in Iron Banner reputation, as reputation levels are reset with every new event. Achieving rank 5 requires 8500 total Iron Banner rep. Completing bounties, as well as wearing Iron Banner shaders, class items and emblems, each of which give an additional 10%, all boost reputation gains. Furthermore, players can lose up to five times in a row to earn Iron Medallions, to be cashed in with every win to earn reputation. Available rewards per event include two Iron Banner weapons, two Iron Banner armor pieces, an Iron Banner class item, two emblems and two shaders.

Saladin also offered a 12 hour buff called "Tempered," which boosted Iron Banner reputation gains. As the week progressed, this boost became increasingly potent to help players starting later in the week to catch up. Later Iron Banners applied the Tempered buff automatically to all players. Lastly, players with more than one character get a 100% boost for any character who has a lower rank than one of their other characters.

The methods of gaining reputation are:

• Winning an Iron Banner match (50 rep)
• Turning in an Iron Medallion after winning a match (40 rep each)
• Turning in an Iron Banner bounty (100 rep each)

The following buffs (all of which will stack) which affect all methods of gaining reputation are:

• A 10% boost for wearing an Iron Banner class item
• A 10% boost for wearing an Iron Banner shader
• A 10% boost for wearing an Iron Banner emblem
• The Tempered buff
• A 100% boost for any character who is at a lower rank than another character on the same account.

Destiny Year Three

With Rise of Iron, the mechanics of increasing Iron Banner rank have been simplified. Iron Banner shaders, emblems, and class items no longer provide boosts to earned Iron Banner reputation, and the Tempered buff has been removed. In place of these boosts, more reputation is gained per each victory, loss, and completed Iron Banner bounty. Iron Medallion mechanics and the total amount of reputation needed to achieve rank 5 remain unchanged.

The methods of gaining reputation are:

• Winning an Iron Banner match (250 rep)
• Turning in an Iron Medallion after winning a match (150 rep each, stacks up to 5 times)
• Turning in an Iron Banner bounty (750 rep each)

Destiny 2

Like all other faction representatives and vendors in the game, Iron Banner gear is awarded by turning in tokens to Lord Saladin. Each victory in an Iron Banner match rewarded five Iron Banner tokens, while a loss rewarded two. Matches are played on a variant of Control where power play is replaced with the Hunt, where zone control is temporarily locked before resetting to uncaptured states.

In Forsaken, Iron Banner bounties return from Destiny, with two of the seven weekly bounties granting powerful rewards. Iron Banner Tokens were changed where a win now rewards 10 tokens and a loss rewards five tokens. Shadowkeep reduced the number of weekly bounties to four and all of them grant pinnacle rewards instead.

Destiny 2 Year Five

Season of the Haunted introduces an overhaul to Iron Banner, which now occurs twice each Season and will rotate game modes every Season, starting with Rift. Level advantages have been disabled and the event is now treated on the same level as Eva Levante's holiday events. Bounties have been replaced with daily challenges, which unlock one at a time in the first four days of an Iron Banner event. The system of tokens for reputation has been replaced with one based on matches played like Valor, with increased gains on consecutive matches and wins. Reputation gains can be further boosted in the following ways:

• Equipping up to five Iron Banner weapons, armor, or armor ornaments (Max 200% boost)
• Complete daily challenges (100% boost for each completed challenge)
• Equipping an Iron Banner emblem (10% boost)

Players will earn Iron Engrams, cosmetic rewards, and materials from reputation, and can also focus Iron Engrams into a previously-earned Iron Banner item of their choice for a material cost.

Weapons and gear

Each time the Iron Banner comes to Destiny, there are typically one or two items from the loot pool that are featured each month and given to players at the highest rate.

In Year One of Destiny 2, turning in Iron Banner tokens was one of the only ways to obtain gear; the Warmind expansion allowed direct purchases of gear after reaching certain ranks. In Year Two, Iron Banner armor and weapons can be purchased directly from Saladin, with unique rolls varying with each Iron Banner event. Iron Banner gear can also drop upon match completion.

Destiny 1

Primary weapons

• The Lingering Song- 110 RPM Hand Cannon
• The Unbent Tree- "Bullet-hose" Auto Rifle
• The Clever Dragon- High rate-of-fire Pulse Rifle
• The Distant Star- MIDA Multi-Tool-archetype Scout Rifle

Special weapons

• The Laughing Heart- Medium-impact Sniper Rifle
• The Binding Blaze- High rate-of-fire, low impact Sidearm
• The Branded Lord- Fast charge rate, low impact Fusion Rifle
• The Proud Spire- Low range/impact, high rate-of-fire Shotgun

Heavy weapons

• The Titanium Orchid- Low rate-of-fire and high blast radius/velocity Rocket Launcher
• The Silvered Dread- Adaptive frame machine gun

Sparrows

• S-40 Iron Revelry

Destiny 2

Primary weapons

• The Forward Path- 600 RPM Kinetic Auto Rifle
• The Guiding Sight- 150 RPM Kinetic Aggressive Frame Scout Rifle
• The Steady Hand- 120 RPM Kinetic Aggressive Frame Hand Cannon
• The Time-Worn Spire- 540 RPM Kinetic Rapid-Fire Frame Pulse Rifle
• Claws of the Wolf- 540 RPM Kinetic Rapid-Fire Frame Pulse Rifle
• Orimund's Anvil- 450 RPM Kinetic Precision Frame Auto Rifle
• Crimil's Dagger- 120 RPM Kinetic Aggressive Frame Hand Cannon
• Talons of the Eagle- 150 RPM Kinetic Aggressive Frame Scout Rifle
• The Fool's Remedy- 450 RPM Energy Rapid Fire Frame full auto Sidearm
• The Hero's Burden- 900 RPM Energy Adaptive Frame Submachine Gun
• Breath of the Dragon- 900 RPM Lightweight Frame Submachine gun
• Frostmire's Hex- 260 RPM Energy Rapid-Fire Frame Scout rifle
• Jorum's Claw- 360 RPM Energy Adaptive Frame Pulse Rifle
• Multimach CCX- 900 RPM Kinetic Lightweight Frame Submachine gun
• Finite Impactor- 140 RPM Energy Adaptive Frame Hand Cannon
• Peacebond- 491 RPM Kinetic Adaptive Frame Sidearm

Special weapons

• The Wizened Rebuke- 900 RPM High Impact Frame Energy Fusion Rifle
• Gunnora's Axe- 55 RPM Precision Frame Slug Energy Shotgun
• Riiswalker- 80 RPM Lightweight Frame Shotgun
• Orewing's Maul- 90 RPM Lightweight Frame Energy Grenade Launcher (Breech Loaded)
• Bite of the Fox- 72 RPM Aggressive Frame Sniper Rifle
• Occluded Finality- 72 RPM Aggressive Frame Sniper Rifle

Power weapons

• The Day's Fury- 100 RPM Precision Frame Grenade Launcher
• Roar of the Bear- 15 RPM High-Impact Frame Rocket Launcher
• Swarm of the Raven- 150 RPM Aggressive Frame Grenade Launcher
• Archon's Thunder- 360 RPM High-Impact Frame Machine Gun

Ornaments

• Iron Pledge Ornament
• Named Lords' Ornaments

Armor

• Iron Remembrance Armor
• Iron Fellowship Suit
• Iron Truage Armor
• Iron Will Armor
• Iron Symmachy Armor (Titan)
• Iron Symmachy Armor (Hunter)
• Iron Symmachy Armor (Warlock)
• Iron Forerunner Suit

Sparrows

• Iron Gallop

Shells

• Iron Companionship Shell

Ships

• Iron Pendragon

Gallery

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List of appearances

• Destiny (First appearance)
• Destiny 2