Last Updated on October 17, 2022
Iron Banner Season 16 – Season of the Risen
In the March 10th This Week at Bungie, Bungie released some insight on what we can expect in Iron Banner this upcoming season. Before breaking down the newly introduced weapons, let’s delve into the near-monthly PvP event.
Lord Saladin comes to the tower to visit every 4-5 weeks, bringing with him the Iron Banner event. Iron Banner is a PvP Crucible Playlist that is active for one complete weekly reset before it goes away. There are two options for Iron Banner: The Freelance playlist and the regular Iron Banner playlist. The Freelance playlist is for solo fireteams. This is the best option if you’re playing by yourself, as you will not be matched up against a group of six guardians who are partied together and are communicating with each other. Remember, Iron Banner is one of only two Power Level enabled PvP playlists, so you will want to be sure to have your highest power-level gear equipped.
The game mode is similar to Control, where two teams of six guardians fight to maintain control of three designated areas on the map. Every kill is awarded between 1-3 points corresponding to how many zones your team has controlled at the time of the kill. If at any point one team holds all three zones, all zones lockdown for 30 seconds and every kill is worth 3 points to the controlling team’s overall score. Once the time limit or score limit has been reached, the match concludes. Post-match, you have a chance to receive random drops of weapons or armor and will also receive Iron Banner tokens. Iron Banner tokens can be used to rank up with Lord Saladin in the Tower.
Iron Banner New Rewards This Week
Wait until reset for full rewards
Two new weapons are coming with Iron Banner this season: Frontier’s Cry, a Solar 180rpm Hand Cannon, and Razor’s Edge, a Void Vortex Frame sword. As a Mouse and Keyboard user, I’m not crazy about 180rpm Hand Cannons, but as discussed in the podcast I co-host each week, Conqueror’s Corner, I will be looking for the following rolls:
Frontier’s Cry
Frontier’s Cry: Solar 180rpm Hand Cannon
PVP: Hammer Forged, Accurized Rounds, Tunnel Vision, Kill Clip
PVE: Corkscrew, Tactical Mag, Stats for All, One for All
Razor’s Edge Sword
Razor’s Edge – Void Vortex Frame sword
PVE: Jagged Edge, Swordmaster’s Guard, Wellspring, Chain Reaction
PvP: Not even an option
Obviously, as this is being written prior to the first Iron Banner of the season, this is subject to change. However, I feel confident that these will be your best options. I was lucky enough to have a few drops of each from Iron Banner Bounties I completed last season but did not redeem until after the expansion launched, hence how I had pictures of each. Interestingly, the origin trait of each, Skulking Wolf, will now roll on old weapons that are in the loot pool.
Skulking Wolf states that “During the Hunt, final blows with this weapon grant enhanced radar and remove you from opposing radar.” This trait will literally be useless outside of Iron Banner, so I don’t see myself grinding out old weapons I already have my desired rolls on just to add this perk. I imagine that in the following season, we will get the option to obtain Patterns of these weapons for Weapon Crafting, which will get all of us back in the playlist grinding again.
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