In the MMO shooter Destiny the PvP event Iron Banner is running until Tuesday. Is it worth it this month? Why will it always be worthwhile to reach Rank 3 and 5 in the future? And what attributes should one forge Efrideet’s Spear and Timur’s Lash into?
The Iron Banner event will be “guaranteed” more rewarding than before. That has been clear for a few days now. Because Lord Saladin will sell two “Etheric Light” with “House of Wolves”. Once at Rank 3 and once at Rank 5. Players who have reached these ranks can then guaranteed reap them. This was corrected by Bungie on Twitter, after something different was stated in the last Weekly Update. There it was only mentioned as a chance, but it is guaranteed.
The “Etheric Light” can be used to bring any legendary armor piece and any legendary weapon to the “maximum values” of 365 damage or 42 light level. The Etheric Lights are likely to be quite rare and therefore in demand. Depending on how rare they will be found in other drop locations (the Nightfall, the Trials of Osiris, and the Prison of Elders) the Iron Banner could therefore become a mandatory event for everyone, even for PvP haters, if they want to quickly upgrade many legendary items.
Rank 5 in Destiny’s Iron Banner is not that far away
Reaching Rank 3 and Rank 5 is not as tough as it sounds at first. In Iron Banner, unlike the Trials of Osiris, winning is not what matters. Losses give almost as many points as wins indirectly. Droughts just shouldn’t become too long. With the buff “Hardened” and the 3 reputation items, only relatively few wins are necessary late in the week to gather reputation.
Thus, on Saturday, 112% reputation can already be earned, on Sundays 166%, and on Mondays even 232% with all bonuses. But even then, players have to invest quite a bit of time in Destiny to reach Rank 5.
The special features in Iron Banner this time
The helmets are more for style
In April, Iron Banner introduced helmets from the Iron Banner sets for the first time, in addition to chest armors. They come with a light level of 36 and bring guardians to light level 32 – however, their attributes are not optimal. Our friends from PRO NDC analyze the entire inventory and show for which situations the armors are suited.
We have introduced the inventory itself to you here.
Efrideet’s Spear sniper rifle becomes the “one-shot killer”
It’s different with the sniper rifle Efrideet’s Spear. It comes directly from the vendor with such strong values that it hardly needs to be forged. Only if you absolutely want a sniper rifle with “Void-Explosion” or “Arc-Explosion” is rolling worthwhile. This only applies to PvE.
Our friend Nexxos-Gaming, a Destiny specialist, has other plans: He is throwing away the PvE version of the vendor with Firefly, swearing by “Last Round” as the crucial perk. Because the weapon only has 3 rounds in the magazine, the “last shot” often occurs and the bonus damage hits hard. In PvP, Efrideet’s Spear thus becomes the “one-shot killer”, no matter where you hit.
You can find his tips for forging here, and what he says about what to do with Jolder’s Hammer in this article.
Hand cannon Timur’s Lash should reload faster
A tough case awaits the players with the hand cannon “Timur’s Lash”. Nexxos-Gaming has some tips on how to roll it. For him, “Timur’s Lash” is a pure PvP weapon that can be quite useful with the right attributes: Including again “Last Round” and additional perks that let the shooter reload faster. But Nexxos also knows alternatives for the revolver. However, “Timur’s Lash” probably isn’t as effective in the strong competition in the primary slot.
We know that the question plagues you: When does the Iron Banner end in April? There is no official answer from Bungie. To be on the safe side, you should assume it ends on Tuesday at 11:00 AM. Relying on it running for the full 7 days and thus until Tuesday at 7:00 PM could backfire. Trouble would be guaranteed.
