In Destiny 2 you can get a new Iron Banner weapon. MeinMMO author Philipp Hansen has spent all his 5,000 tokens. Did he receive the God Roll of Riiswandler and how long does it take?
This is the rare weapon: In the Iron Banner of Season 14 you can get a strong but rare weapon. The new shotgun is touted by many as the new must-have for pesky pump-slide users.
- Riiswandler is a legendary 80s shotgun in the kinetic slot.
- It automatically has “Lightweight” installed, which allows you to run faster, and always comes with excellent handling.
- Since the two heavyweights Felwinter’s Lie and Astral Horizon have been slightly nerfed, many Guardians are currently raving about the quicker alternative.
The problem: Riiswandler is a new Iron Banner weapon and can only be obtained in this PvP event. During the first Iron Banner of Season 14, you could only find one copy per character – the God Roll was far away. Bungie has since fixed this, and you can randomly receive the weapon through tokens or rarely after Iron Banner matches.
You can read here which God Rolls you need for the weapon. But also, how our author Philipp Hansen clicked through several menus, prayed to RNG-Jesus, and what the yield looked like after 5,000 tokens.
With 5,000 tokens in hand to the God Roll
I play the Iron Banner regularly, but I never spend the tokens I’ve received through bounties and participation. Somehow Lord Saladin hasn’t had anything interesting in many seasons. So I have over 5,000 tokens in my inventory just waiting to be turned into Iron Banner loot.
So I thought: “Spend all your tokens and treat yourself to some strong rolls of Riiswandler!”.
Since 2019, he has been intensively managing the franchise as an expert author for you on MeinMMO. He also collects Exotics in his spare time or tests weapons in the Crucible.
This is the God Roll I am looking for: Shotguns should take out an enemy Guardian with one shot at as great a distance as possible – so range and tight spread are essential. Additionally, you want the usually heavy weapons to compensate for this disadvantage and have good handling (usually through perks).
- Barrel: Full Choke (tight spread), Smallbore (+7 range and stability) or Corkscrew Rifling (+5 range, stability, handling)
- Magazine: Extended Mag (+10 range) or Assault Mag (increases fire rate, +15 stability)
- Slot 1: Woosh (while sliding, the weapon reloads and temporarily improves stability and handling) or Quickdraw (the weapon can be drawn very quickly – valid only for 1 second)
- Slot 2: Iron Grip (+20 range but -30 stability) or Murderous Wind (kills grant better range, handling, and velocity)
- Masterwork: Range
What about PvE? Riiswandler is primarily a weapon for the Crucible. With the right roll, you can also clean up in PvE. Just don’t expect to keep up with the dominant slug shotguns (a slug projectile instead of a spread shot), which are currently the meta against bosses.
- Barrel: Smallbore (+7 range and stability) or Corkscrew Rifling (+5 range, stability, handling)
- Magazine: Assault Mag (increases fire rate, +15 stability)
- Slot 1:
Stability is practically unnecessary; we want range and some handling. Since the base handling of Riiswandler is already a strong 74, it’s not as crucial to invest here as it is with other shotguns.
75 Minutes of Button Pressing for Boredom and the God Roll
This is how it went with the tokens: I had zero desire for the dull “Token-Submission Marathon”. But the 5,000 tokens don’t magically turn into Iron Banner engrams. Since Lord Saladin, the Iron Banner NPC, is only in the Tower once a month, an intense but hopefully productive session was planned.
I was well prepared: The Postmaster was completely empty, my inventory entirely cleared out, and even the Umbral and Prime engrams didn’t block the menu. Plenty of space for potential Riiswandler.
I got ready to diligently hammer the X-button on the DualSense and check the yield every 10 minutes, empty the Postmaster, and sort through the junk loot. As background entertainment, I chose the movie “The Big Short.” I could already envision enlightening my colleagues with my relevant expertise on the 2007 financial crisis.
But Destiny doesn’t like it easy; Destiny likes Plan C. This means in this case, you can’t just continuously hammer a button to submit tokens and collect rewards. No, you first have to press 2 times to submit tokens (in batches of 10), then sweep the cursor to the right and press “Confirm” again up here on the right – then it starts all over again.
How long did it take? So relaxing movie watching was out of the question; I had to diligently handle the controller every few seconds, navigate through Saladin’s inventory, and visit the Post Office every 15 minutes. I didn’t want to miss out on the background noise. So I watched a video on “why 120 RPM hand cannons are still way too hot in the Crucible” (via YouTube).
By the time the 5,000 tokens were finally gone, it took a good hour and 15 minutes. But was the token and time investment worth it?
This is my Iron Banner loot: 19 Riiswandler, but no God Roll
From the just over 5,000 tokens (20 per engram), I pulled 19 Riiswandler.
With this yield, I’m actually satisfied. As a byproduct, I also received some decent Archon Thunder – the new MG – and good rolls from other Iron Banner weapons. On top of that, I got some armor with 64 and 65 stats.
I unfortunately did not receive the God Roll of Riiswandler. But there were many semi-God Rolls included. This means there’s a perk wrong here. For the masterwork, I made this baby:
The magazine isn’t a standout. Personally, I would have preferred Woosh instead of Quickdraw. With shotgun-targeting and shotgun-skilled gear on my armor, in combination with the high handling value, I would have preferred to reload while sliding – but I don’t want to complain.
What can the new Iron Banner shotgun do?
This is how Riiswandler plays: Of course, I wanted to try out my new toy right away. I’m almost always out with the Warlock, so I don’t need an Icarus Grip on the shotgun – I’m not a jumping Hunter.
The map drawn was “Widow’s Court.” Great, one of the largest PvP maps around. Here snipers feel right at home. Nevertheless, I fully embraced the shotgun lifestyle – with mediocre success. However, what I immediately noticed positively was the increased movement speed. It’s a lot of fun to zip around and get up close to enemies at one-shot distance.
The next map was “The Cauldron.” On the branched dwarf map, there was no stopping me. Thanks to shotgun scavenger, I didn’t really need my primary weapon and could pump full shots into anyone foolish enough to get in my way.
My conclusion: Shotguns need to be nerfed; it’s just too easy… but it’s also a lot of fun. Whether Riiswandler is the new meta weapon, I’m not so sure. It feels like Felwinter still takes out the enemy at greater distances, and with armor mods, you can still get decent handling after the nerf.
But you can’t go wrong with Riiswandler. Especially the movement feels significantly better than with the heavy counterparts.
My copy has 87/100 range and is already close to the max, and has surprised me several times (and surely the enemy too). As a strong alternative for the kinetic slot, the shotgun is appealing to combine, for example, with the still way too hot 120 Igneous Hammer.
I don’t want to put away the new shotgun anymore and can only recommend it. After all, what else would you do with the tokens? Finally, there are new and also great Iron Banner weapons, so feel free to spend a small fortune like I did.
Did you manage to secure a few rolls of Riiswandler and find the shotgun is the new meta? Please let us know if you practice pump-sliding/jumping in the Crucible or rather hate it, as it’s often just easy but effective. Feel free to exchange ideas with other readers in the comments.
