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. Originally, it was overseen by Lord Saladin Forge, but the responsibility has since passed to Lady Efrideet. It is available once a month (Every 4 weeks) and lasts for one week. 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.^[1] A Guardian's level will also affect the outcome, as level advantages are enabled.^[2] 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.

Reputation in Year One and Year 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.^[3] 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.

Reputation in 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)

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.