Destiny 2 Iron Banner armor guide: Quest, Rewards, Full sets

Destiny 2’s Iron Banner is back for the second time in Season of Arrivals and it comes with 2 reprised weapons and armor from Year 1.

Iron Banner continues to struggle. It is supposed to be a pinnacle PVP activity in Destiny 2, yet most people see it as a chore needed to grab 4 pinnacle rewards. This time around, Iron Banner does include two “new” exciting weapons the chase: the Forward Path auto rifle and the Foul’s Remedy sidearm need a revamp.

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 and spend some time in Iron Banner.

In this guide:

High stat armor
How to farm it: The Quest
All Iron Banner sets

Before we get started:

Iron Banner starts on Tuesday, August 4, 2020, at 10 AM PDT
And ends on Tuesday, August 11, 2020, at 10 AM PDT

This means you’ll have an entire week to complete the seasonal quest and farm high stat Iron Banner armor.

Iron Banner armor (60+ high stat)

It was disappointing to learn that Season 11’s Iron Banner armor is again a reprised armor set from Year 1. 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 disappointment.

Bungie has been recycling Year 1 Iron Banner armor since September 2019 with the release of Shadowkeep and Season 9. This season, Iron Banner features the reprised Iron Fellowship set:

But aesthetics aside, Iron Banner armor usually comes with high stats.

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 in Year 3 (seasons 8 to 11), 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 a 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 and now you’re free to turn in tokens as soon as you see Lord Saladin for the first time.

That said, completing the very short seasonal quest will add the new weapons to the loot table, allowing you to potentially farm the new Auto Rifle. I definitely recommend you to complete the seasonal quest before turning in tokens.

Also, 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 Arrivals, the quest, named Red-Hot Iron, involves the following steps:

Defeat opponents using Sidearms and Auto Rifles. Precision kills grant the most efficient progress:

25 Sidearm kills in Iron Banner
25 Auto Rifle kills in Iron Banner

Recommended loadout: SUROS Regime for the Auto Rifle kills (this should be easy) and a good rolled Last Hope, Lonesome or Breachlight for the Sidesarm kills.