Bungie has recently announced what’ll happen once the Iron Banner returns in Destiny 2: Shadowkeep. The expansion is in full swing this Season of the Undying and the Iron Banner should give some PvP lovers something to do. In fact, it might also be helpful for those who are at the endgame and are looking for pinnacle rewards. You’ll also get the chance to obtain the Season of the Undying’s Iron Will armor set which you can see below.
Update (10/15): The Iron Banner event is now live. For the pursuit quest steps and pinnacle bounties, head over to our event guide right over here.
Iron Banner returns in Destiny 2: Shadowkeep
According to the latest This Week at Bungie post, the first Iron Banner event in Destiny 2: Shadowkeep and the Season of the Undying will have, you guessed it, a seasonal pursuit. This is similar to last season’s implementation wherein you had to do multiple parts of a quest chain. The pursuit is character-based instead of being account-bound, so you have to rerun every step several times on your other characters if you want to obtain the rewards.
Just like last season, you’ll be able to obtain Iron Will armor pieces as you complete the steps in the Iron Banner pursuit. Do note that the pursuit tracks your progress throughout the entire Season of the Undying. It’s up to you if you don’t want to finish it in a week.
However, it actually becomes extremely important to complete the Iron Banner pursuit early on. The reason for that is because you won’t be able to turn in any of your Iron Banner tokens unless you complete the pursuit. In fact, Bungie has mentioned that all rewards (via bounties or at the end of matches) will be weapons unless you complete the seasonal pursuit.
Pinnacle rewards
Another major change is that Destiny 2: Shadowkeep will no longer have seven Iron Banner bounties that give powerful drops. Instead, you’ll only have four bounties throughout the event. The good thing is that all of these are guaranteed to drop pinnacle rewards.
Note: For those not in the know, you can check out our main leveling guide (750 to 950 power level) and our mini-guide for pinnacle drops (950 to 960 power level). These should explain how Destiny 2: Shadowkeep‘s power level and pinnacle rewards systems work.
The gist is that once you hit 950 base power level, the only way you’ll hit 960 base power cap (not counting your artifact’s bonus), is via pinnacle rewards. Currently, you can only get pinnacle rewards from the Garden of Salvation raid as well as the Nightfall. The problem, as mentioned in our other guides, is that you will only get +1 each time.
When you consider that you only have a limited number of activities, that each pinnacle drop only provides +1 power, and that you’ll need to get eight item slots to 951 power first before you reach 952, then that becomes a slog. You’re going to need a lot of luck to even get the drops you need.
I’m hoping that Destiny 2: Shadowkeep‘s first Iron Banner event will help players (such as yours truly) who are making the climb from 950 to 960. The additional four bounties will now bring up the number of pinnacle reward sources to nine. At the very least, some tweaks and refinements — such as increasing the power level drops of pinnacle rewards to +2 or +3 — might also be needed.
The first Iron Banner for Destiny 2: Shadowkeep and the Season of the Undying will commence at 10 a.m. PDT on October 15. It’ll end a week later on October 22.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is available on Steam. As usual, for everything else you need to know about the game, you can check out our guides and features hub.
