‘Destiny’ Guide: Archon’s Forge Explained

Destiny: Rise of Iron launched Tuesday and brought the all new Archon’s Forge PvE co-op arena for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One owners to battle in. This new event falls somewhere between Prison of Elders and Court of Oryx in terms of style, but with a few key differences. This guide will help get players started and hopefully not accidentally lose any SIVA Offerings.

What You’ll Need

Prior to going to the Archon’s Forge, you’ll need to get a SIVA Offering, which are white Engram drops. These can be obtained by completing Quarantine Patrol missions in the Plaguelands when you kill the Archon Priest a second time. They also drop sometimes when completing Public Events and defeating other Major (Yellow Bar) enemies. Destiny Public Events is always a good spot to check for when they will appear. SIVA Offerings can also be earned in Archon’s Forge.

SIVA Offerings come in different tiers. A Fused SIVA Offering has a recommended Light level of 320, Enhanced is 340, and Perfected is 360. Obviously, higher Light levels mean more difficult encounters with better rewards.

It’s important to remember your Guardian can only carry one SIVA Offering at a time, and the higher level one will be kept if picking up a new one. For example, an Enhanced SIVA Offering will replace the Fused SIVA Offering in your inventory, but won’t replace a Perfected SIVA Offering.

The good news is you can move a SIVA Offering to the Vault and/or another character for your Destiny account to store more than one. Note that only one can be placed in the Vault at a time.

Splicer Keys are also a recommended, but not required, pickup for Archon’s Forge. They allow someone who dies during an encounter to get back into the fight. These can be picked up from Brood Mothers and other Major (Yellow Bar) enemies in the Plaguelands.

Getting To Archon’s Forge

Archon’s Forge isn’t exactly close to the Plaguelands spawn point in the Lord’s Watch Area. Players will need to hop on their Sparrow after spawning and either turn right and head through Giant’s Husk to the Doomed and then reach Archon’s Keep or turn left to go through Bunker Triglav and Forgotten Pass to get to Archon’s Keep. Both take approximately the same amount of time, though right does seem faster.

Once at the Archon’s Keep area, keep on your Sparrow all the way to the domed building in the back that you followed to get to Site 6 in the last Rise of Iron story mission. The Archon’s Forge is located just through the hallways of the building until you reach the Archon’s Forge area and the Terminal.

Starting An Archon’s Forge Event

First, it’s important that you and other players in your Fireteam are prepared before starting an Archon’s Forge event. Equip the weapons and gear you need along with using any ammo synths or reputation boosters and then use the terminal.

The reason to do this is because players have only a few seconds from activating an Archon’s Forge event at the terminal to get into the arena. The opening to the arena will close, locking out anyone standing in the terminal room. If nobody is in the arena when the event starts, that is an automatic failure and loss of a SIVA Offering.

When ready, simply approach the terminal in the waiting room and activate it. Jump into the arena quickly and get into the fight.

The Fight

The actual combat in Archon’s Forge is fairly straight-forward. Players have five minutes to defeat the enemies that spawn. Killing all the minions within that time will cause the boss to spawn. These are simple bosses with no special mechanics to get around, but large health pools and powerful attacks.

If you die in an Archon’s Forge encounter, you will respawn in the terminal room unless revived by another player. The only way to get back into the fight is to use a Splicer Key at the terminal to open the door back to the arena.

This is also why you’ll want to play with at least one other person. Death while soloing Archon’s Forge means automatic failure. There is no chance to use a Splicer Key to get back in the fight.

Rewards

Loot drops as Engram during the event and is based on the player’s current Light level. Playing at the Enhanced or Perfected levels will result in a better chance to see Legendary Engrams. Fused SIVA Offerings primarily result in lots of Blue and Green Engrams.

Note that unlike Court of Oryx, it does not appear to matter who initiated the Archon’s Forge event regarding the loot dropped.

Tips

Rocket Launchers or Swords and Special Weapons other than Sniper Rifles are the order of the day. Unsurprisingly, the Gjallarhorn performs extremely well here with the large clusters of enemies.

Staying up high on the platforms or the ledge by the terminal room will help with surviving the waves of enemies that come in.

[Image via Destiny]