Destiny 2’s Iron Banner is back for the second time this season and comes with a new chance to get the 2 new reprised weapons and armor.
Overall, Iron Banner continues to struggle. It’s supposed to be an end-game PVP activity in Destiny 2, yet most people see it as a chore needed to grab 4 pinnacle rewards. This Season, though, Iron Banner does include two “new” weapons to chase: Time-Worn Spire Pulse rifle and the Multimach CCX SMG.
Both are Year 1 weapons that have been reprised and updated with new random rolls. Keep an eye on the Time-Worn Spire, as Pulse rifles are in a good place right now!
On the armor front, Iron Banner sets are considered some of the sexiest armor in the game. On top of that, Iron Banner remains a reliable source of high stat armor, and for that reason alone, you should definitely pay Lord Saladin a visit.
In this guide:
Before we get started, Iron Banner:
- Starts on Tuesday, March 23, 2021, at 9 AM PDT
- Ends on Tuesday, March 30, 2021, at 9 AM PDT
This means you have an entire week to complete the seasonal quest and farm high stat Iron Banner armor.
Beyond Light Iron Banner armor (60+ high stat armor)
It was disappointing to learn that Season 13’s Iron Banner armor was again a reprised armor set from Year 1. This time around, Iron Banner features the Iron Truage set:
If you’re a somewhat new Destiny 2 player, this won’t be an issue for you but if you’re a veteran, I feel your pain. In fact, this set was also reprised for the launch of Shadowkeep, which means we’ve been served the same recycled content twice already.
This is becoming harder to swallow, especially when some excellent Iron Banner sets from Destiny 1 could be easily reprised instead. Granted, Beyond Light did introduce several armor sets, but a brand-new Iron Banner set was definitely expected.
Recycled aesthetics aside, Iron Banner armor does come with high stats and that helps it stay relevant no matter what.
Farming 60+ stat armor
Of all the sources of high stat armor in the game, Iron Banner is the most reliable.
Looking at all the Iron Banner armor I have accumulated this past year, you can expect armor pieces with at least 58 base stat points. That may not sound like a lot but it’s still better than most of the armor you’ll find while playing the game. More importantly, armor pieces with 62+ base stat points are quite common. In fact, my best Iron Banner piece has 66 total base stat points:
Prime engrams can also drop 60+ stat armor pieces, but you cannot farm Prime engrams as directly as you can farm Iron Banner tokens.
On top of that, Iron Banner armor acquired this season will be viable for end-game content for one full year.
How to farm it: The Quest
Normally, farming armor and weapons from Iron Banner by turning in your Iron Banner tokens required you to complete the seasonal quest first. Luckily, Bungie changed that and now you’re free to turn in tokens as soon as you see Lord Saladin for the first time.
That said, completing the seasonal quest will add the new weapons to the loot table, allowing you to potentially farm the new hand cannon. I definitely recommend you complete the seasonal Iron Banner quest before turning in tokens.
Also, last season there was a bug with the quest, so if you pick the quest with your three characters first, once completed, you will get triple the rewards! I already completed it, so I can’t confirm this is still valid. If someone can, please let us know in the comments!
In Season of the Chosen, the Saladin’s Gauntlet quest involves the following steps:
- Step 1: Smelting Pot
- Defeat Guardians: 0/30
- Capture zones: 0/10
- Sola or Arc ability final blows: 0/5
- Step 2: Sounding Bell
- Complete Iron Banner matches: 0/6
- Capture zones: 0/20
- Power weapon final blows: 0/10
- Step 3: Live Fire
- Defeat Guardians: 0/100
- Capture zones: 0/30
- SMG final blows: 0/20
- Step 4: Steady Drums
- Defeat Guardians with Super: 0/15
- Capture zones: 0/40
- Pulse Rifle final blows: 0/15
- Step 5: Gauntlet’s Chosen
- Speak with Lord Saladin: 0/1
Recommended loadout: For the specific objectives, I recommend the new Messenger (or Cold Denial if you don’t have a Messenger yet) for the Pule rifle kills and the IKELOS_SMG_v.1.0.2 for the SMG kills.
All Iron Banner armor sets
Iron Banner armor generally comes with high stat armors, but even if the sets you’ve amassed this year weren’t impressive, they will certainly be useful once Transmog becomes available. Similarly, if you collected several high stat armor pieces, but you don’t like the Iron Banner looks, you will be able to use Transmog to apply them to other armor such as the Black Armory or the Escalation Protocol sets.
In case you’re curious, these are all the Iron Banner armor sets (2.0 versions) available in Destiny 2:
Iron Truage: 2.0 version reprised for Season 9 and 13:
Iron Remembrance: 2.0 version reprised for Season 10:
Iron Fellowship: 2.0 version reprised for Season 11:
Iron Will: 2.0 version reprised for Season 8 and 12:
Good farming!
