‘Destiny 2’ Brings A Changed Iron Banner Next Week, Along With The Prestige Raid

The first Iron Banner will finally arrive in Destiny 2 next week. Bungie revealed some of the big changes coming with the multiplayer event, along with some cool samurai style armor for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players to collect. It will be joined by a Prestige mode for the Leviathan raid.

Destiny 2 players will be able to fire up Iron Banner as soon as the weekly reset rolls around on Tuesday, October 10 at 5 a.m. ET/2 a.m. PT. An earlier start time is but the first of a couple of significant changes Bungie has slated for the event.

As expected, teams of four will compete in matches of Control. This was the most commonly used game mode in Iron Banner for the original Destiny, so it is no surprise to see it return for the inaugural edition of the sequel.

The most impactful change comes with the removal of Power/Light level differences. This was a bit expected after the Trials of the Nine also brought the same alteration to the formula. This means all players will be on a relatively even playing field with only the quality of their armor and weapon builds, plus their skill and teamwork, making the difference.

The Token-based system seen in much of Destiny 2 will be utilized for this Iron Banner. Players will be able to earn an Iron Banner Token at the end of every match. The Bounties and Ranks from the original Destiny have been removed completely.

The Iron Banner tokens can be turned in to Lord Saladin in the Tower to receive an Iron Banner Engram containing new armor. The Titan, Hunter, and Warlock all received a fresh new set of samurai-style armor emblazoned with the familiar wolves and tree of the multiplayer event. At this point, no Iron Banner weapons have been revealed.

There will also be Daily and Season milestones to complete for players to track their progress with. Bungie has not yet defined what a “Season” is in Destiny 2 and fans should not expect an answer next week. Instead, the developer will answer that question during a panel at TwitchCon 2017 on Friday, October 20.

Next week at Bungie… pic.twitter.com/U7i6KReQWA

— Bungie (@Bungie) October 5, 2017

Those waiting for an even more challenging version of the Leviathan raid will have just a bit longer to wait. Bungie will not flip the switch on the Prestige version of the raid until after the weekly reset and Iron Banner goes live. Raid teams will want to form up and be ready to go Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT.

Bungie says the Prestige raid is more challenging with a minimal amount of mechanical changes made to encounters. Expect the difficulty of the enemies to primarily be the difference, which is why it will have a recommended Power level of 300, versus the 270 Power level for the normal raid.

Those hoping for the Prestige raid to vault their character’s Power level forward may be in for a bit of a disappointment. Bungie says, “Our goal is not to provide a boon to your character progression, but there are unique rewards to help you shine.”

[Featured Image by Bungie]