The Iron Banner Megathread - Guide in OP

Generic Dreadhead

FAQ:

• Recommended minimum Light for Iron Banner: 230
• Only Level 40 Guardians can lead a Fireteam
• Gear purchased from Lord Saladin now requires Legendary Marks instead of Glimmer
• You begin at Rank 0, not Rank 1
• You can complete standard Crucible bounties (Get 2 Heavy Kills, Complete 3 Games of PvP in a Fireteam) while doing Iron Banner
• You can use Emblems, Shaders and Class Items from previous Iron Banner seasons (including Year 1) and feel their benefits immediately
• Both Shader types (Rank 2 and 5) and Emblem types (Rank 1 and 3) will give you you the same REP bonuses.
• Wearing Iron Banner Armour does not give any additional REP boosts.
• If you have no Iron Banner Emblem, Shader or Class Item, please add 20% to the amount of time/games required to level up.
• You get Reward Packages for hitting Rank 3 and Rank 5 on each of your characters

TL:DR (or What Does Cormac/GenericDreadHead do? How does he rank up so fast? What's his secret?)
Here's kind of how my Iron Banner week plays out since 2.0.
I hit Rank 5 on all 3 Characters in about 8-10 hours over the week (and have done pretty much since launch, I ****ing love Iron Banner!)
I'd win 3 out of 5 matches and would stay in a Fireteam of 6 to avoid crippling late-game match-making.

Character Tue/Wed/Thur Friday Sat/Sun Mon
Main Character Play for 1 Hour turn in all 3 Bounties Play for 1 Hour turn in all 3 Bounties Play for 1 Hour turn in all 3 Bounties and Some Weekly Bounties Farm Drops and Chill
Alt Character 1 Grab IB Bounties Play for 1.5 Hours turn in all 6-9 Bounties Play for 1 Hour turn in all 3 Bounties and some Weekly Bounties Farm Drops and Chill
Alt Character 2 Grab IB Bounties Play for 1.5 Hours turn in all 6-9 Bounties Play for 1 Hour turn in all 3 Bounties and Some Weekly Bounties Farm Drops and Chill

FOR SALE AND IN THE LOOT/DROP TABLE:

• Placeholder text - Rank 3 - Light Level 280 - 40 Legendary Marks
• Placeholder text - Rank 4 - Light Level 280 - 40 Legendary Marks
• Placeholder text - Rank 4 - Light Level 280 - 90 Legendary Marks
• Placeholder text - Rank 5 - Light Level 280 - 90 Legendary Marks

Items that drop can be higher than 280 Light

HOW IS DAMAGE CALCULATED:

• New Damage Curve & Source, Each Number = 10 Light Levels
• Source of that Damage Curve
• Thinking of having a few beers? Don't forget the GenericDreadHead formula!

FOREWORD AND REP BUFFS EXPLAINED - MUST READ!!!

• Each Iron Banner Emblem, Shader and Class Item account for a 10% REP Increase.
• The Emblem becomes available at Rank 1, The Shader becomes available at Rank 2 and the Class item becomes available at Rank 3.
• Buy them and equip them as soon as they become available.
• All of the below tables are built on the assumption you have the Iron Banner Shader, Emblem & Bond/Cloak/Towel.
• Emblem + Shader + Class Item = 33% Buff NOT 30% Buff (this is because the multipliers are sequential, so (REP x1.1 x1.1 x1.1).
• So by Rank 2, you should already have 21% Buff from the Emblem and Shader.

TEMPERED BUFF

• The Daily Tempered Buff is applied after the sequential x1.1 buffs (Emblems, Shader, Class Items)
• There is No Tempered Buff on Tuesday
• The Tempered Buff is now automatically applied and continues to grow in effectiveness each day of the event (unlike previous Iron Banner seasons where you had to buy it)

ALTERNATIVE CHARACTER BUFF

• The Alt Character Buff is applied after the Daily Tempered Buff
• This is used to help your 2nd and 3rd characters 'catch up' with the character you ranked up in IB 1st.
• The Catch Up buff works passively and automatically
• It accounts for a 100% Increase in Bonus to REP earned
• For it to work, your 1st character must be AT LEAST Rank 2 and your 2nd (and/or 3rd) Character must be AT LEAST Rank 1
• So it goes: (Base Rep Amount) x (Shader?) x (Emblem?) X (Class Item?) x (Daily Tempered Buff) x (Alt Character Buff?)
• Most of the below tables are based on levelling your 1st guardian up

WINS AND MEDALLIONS

• Wins are worth 50 REP with no shader, emblem or class item equipped
• Wins are worth 66 REP with shader, emblem and class item equipped
• You get a Medallion when you lose, you can get a maximum of 5.
• Medallions are worth the same REP as a Win, you cash them in automatically when your team wins.

BOUNTIES

• There are 9 possible Daily bounties (3 per day) and 3 new Weekly bounties (these reward 25 Legendary Marks each)
• It might be best to keep the Weekly Bounties till the end of the week

DAILY BOUNTIES - 125 REP Each - 3 out of 9 will be available each day

• Iron Domination - Win an Iron Banner match with a score of at least 2500
• Iron Hued - Win an Iron Banner match with any Iron Banner emblem or shader equipped
• Iron Journeyman - Complete an Iron Banner match while finishing in the top 3 on your team
• Iron Workhouse - Defeat 20 opposing Guardians in the Iron Banner
• Iron Precision - Defeat 10 Guardians with precision headshots
• Iron Light - Defeat 15 opposing Guardians using any ability (melee, grenade, super)
• Heavy Iron - Defeat 3 opposing Guardians with a Heavy Weapon
• Familiar Iron - Get 13 Primary Kills
• Polishing Iron - Reach Iron Banner Rank 2

WEEKLY BOUNTIES - 525 Rep Each AND 25 Legendary Marks each:

• Iron Versatility: 50 Primary Kills, 25 Special Kills, 13 Heavy Kills
• Iron Marathon: Complete 13 matches, Win 7 matches
• Iron Gauntlet: 10 Kill Streak (not sure if 2x5 streaks count), 5 Double Kills, Get the Top Score in a match, reach Rank 4

TABLES EXPLAINED

• All tables are based off a playtime of 1 hour per day.
• 1 hour of play is 5 matches (12 mins per match incl Orbit Matchmaking, post match breakdown etc)
• I’ve built the below tables on the assumption you Lose 3 Games and Win 2 Games (with the 5th game being a win, meaning you cash in your medallions)
• 40% Win Ratio is very achievable for most players.
• I have factored in completing each of the 3 daily bounties each day, most of these bounties are very achievable to complete in 5 matches
• None of the tables account for the large REP to be gained by completing Weekly Bounties (since feedback shows these can be tricky for some players)
• The 1st 3 Tables show how the 4 main REP gaining values (Medallion, Win, Daily Bounty, Weekly Bounty) are affected each day
• The following 3 Tables show the optimum ways of levelling up between 1 and 3 characters

WIN & MEDALLION REP VALUES PER DAY

Win Value Daily Rep Buff Value incl 3 Item Buffs Value incl Items & Daily Buff Alt Character?
Tuesday 50 0% 66 66 132
Wednesday 50 15% 66 76 152
Thursday 50 25% 66 83 165
Friday 50 40% 66 92 185
Saturday 50 60% 66 106 211
Sunday 50 100% 66 132 264
Monday 50 150% 66 165 330

DAILY BOUNTY VALUES

Bounty Value Daily Rep Buff Value incl 3 Item Buffs Value incl Items & Daily Buff Alt Character?
Tuesday 125 0% 166 166 332
Wednesday 125 15% 166 191 382
Thursday 125 25% 166 208 415
Friday 125 40% 166 232 465
Saturday 125 60% 166 266 531
Sunday 125 100% 166 332 664
Monday 125 150% 166 415 830

WEEKLY BOUNTY VALUES

Bounty Value Daily Rep Buff Value incl 3 Item Buffs Value incl Items & Daily Buff Alt Character?
Tuesday 525 0% 699 699 1398
Wednesday 525 15% 699 804 1608
Thursday 525 25% 699 874 1748
Friday 525 40% 699 979 1957
Saturday 525 60% 699 1118 2237
Sunday 525 100% 699 1398 2796
Monday 525 150% 699 1748 3495

PLAYING FOR 1 HOUR A DAY ALL WEEK - MAIN CHARACTER

3L + 2W Turning in 3 Bounties Total Rep Earned (Matches and Bounties) Remaining REP to Rank 3 Remaining REP to Rank 4 Remaining REP to Rank 5
Tuesday 332 498 830 2870 5270 7670
Wednesday 381 573 954 1916 4316 6716
Thursday 415 623 1037 879 3279 5679
Friday 464 697 1162 Achieved 2118 4518
Saturday 531 797 1327 - 790 3190
Sunday 663 996 1659 - Achieved 1531
Monday 829 1245 2074 - - Achieved

PLAYING FOR 1 HOUR A DAY ON THE WEEKEND ONLY - MAIN CHARACTER

NOTE: Pick up 3 Bounties on Tue, Wed and Thur so that Friday you can Turn in 6 to 9 bounties, simply fly to the tower and grab the bounties, no need to play Iron Banner for the 1st 3 days.

3L + 2W Turning in 6 (or 3) Bounties Total Rep Earned (Matches and Bounties) Remaining REP to Rank 3 Remaining REP to Rank 4 Remaining REP to Rank 5
Friday 446 1394 1841 1859 4259 6659
Saturday 510 797 1307 553 2953 5353
Sunday 637 996 1633 Achieved 1319 3719
Monday 797 1245 2042 - Achieved 1677

PLAYING FOR 1 HOUR A DAY ON THE WEEKEND ONLY - ALT CHARACTERS

NOTE: Pick up 3 Bounties on Tue, Wed and Thur so that Friday you can Turn in 6 to 9 bounties, simply fly to the tower and grab the bounties, no need to play Iron Banner for the 1st 3 days.

3L + 2W Turning in 6 (or 3) Bounties Total Rep Earned (Matches and Bounties) Remaining REP to Rank 3 Remaining REP to Rank 4 Remaining REP to Rank 5
Saturday 1061 3187 4248 Achieved 1852 4252
Sunday 1327 1992 3319 - Achieved 933
Monday 1658 2490 4148 - - Achieved

Previous Iron Banner Launch Dates for the Record:
28th December (4 Weeks)
17th November (6 Weeks)
13th October (5 Weeks)
25th August (7 Weeks)
28th July (4 Weeks)
30th June (4 Weeks)
2nd June (4 Weeks)
28th April (5 Weeks)
17th March (6 Weeks)
17th February (4 Weeks)
13th January (5 Weeks)
16th December (4 weeks)
18th November (4 weeks)
7th October (6 weeks)

Mitch Connor

Cormac... wrote: »

I'll repost my reddit guide here shortly, just need to reformat the bloody thing, damn you formatting....

erm.... thanks for the headsup!:D

gimli2112

meant to say was on a website last IB and they actually referred to Generic's IB guide. Never knew anyone famous before.

My IB tactics consist of
get a kill take a drink
get killed take a drink

SolvableKnave

gimli2112 wrote: »

meant to say was on a website last IB and they actually referred to Generic's IB guide. Never knew anyone famous before.

My IB tactics consist of
get a kill take a drink
get killed take a drink
fire a gun take a drink

syboit

The 2 important things I learned about IB. Keep those big 525rep bounties till day3 or day4 , then will cash in then as 850/950+ rep.

Get yourself a 2nd if not 3rd character (the extra character buff is insane and they level up in IB in no time). Getting them to level 5 gives that extra chance at more loot. I recently took a warlock from level 2 to level 40 in about a week (casual playing) just mainly doing crucible and running the bounties, and using all those focus'd lights I'd gotten from the redbull quest.

https://jsfiddle.net/ff5p0yhv/3/embedded/result/

ItsHoggie

Seen this on Twitter, if it was an Official Sony Controller I'd buy it.

[IMG][/img]http://twitter.com/ProModz/status/687040611120054272/photo/1.jpg

Mitch Connor

next iron banner is going to be Rift.

F**K. OFF.

Mitch Connor

next iron banner is going to be Rift.

F**K. OFF.

That will be fun.

Generic Dreadhead

YAY RIFT!!!! WHOOP WHOOP!!!!!

I for one welcome our tactical team play overlords

Mitch Connor

Cormac... wrote: »

YAY RIFT!!!! WHOOP WHOOP!!!!!

I for one welcome our tactical team play overlords

unless i can get in a boards group (have struggled the last two times) I won't be bothering with the mode.

Generic Dreadhead

Oh god yeah, easily one of the most punishing modes to solo against a team.

Then again I rarely solo unless watching Masterchef or warming up.

SolvableKnave

Cormac... wrote: »

YAY RIFT!!!! WHOOP WHOOP!!!!!

I for one welcome our tactical team play overlords

Cormac's MEATSHIELD is coming for ya

Mitch Connor

i'm hoping that there will be some spark sharing when we have full teams of six on the go. Would make that weekly bounty for highest overall score a bit easier to get. If you are the spark runner for your team, and your team wins - you'll probably ping that bounty. I've not been able to get that one done in the last two rounds of IB. Once I get that bounty, I won't care whether I get the spark or not (as long as someone on the team does.

PetKing

Mitch Connor wrote:

i'm hoping that there will be some spark sharing when we have full teams of six on the go. Would make that weekly bounty for highest overall score a bit easier to get. If you are the spark runner for your team, and your team wins - you'll probably ping that bounty. I've not been able to get that one done in the last two rounds of IB. Once I get that bounty, I won't care whether I get the spark or not (as long as someone on the team does.

I doubt many would object to someone calling for the spark if they wanted it. I'm looking forward to rift for IB.

SolvableKnave

Mitch Connor wrote: »

i'm hoping that there will be some spark sharing when we have full teams of six on the go. Would make that weekly bounty for highest overall score a bit easier to get. If you are the spark runner for your team, and your team wins - you'll probably ping that bounty. I've not been able to get that one done in the last two rounds of IB. Once I get that bounty, I won't care whether I get the spark or not (as long as someone on the team does.

Yeah that bounty can be a real pain. Half the time your relying on just going on a monster of a run where everything just clicks.

PetKing wrote: »

I doubt many would object to someone calling for the spark if they wanted it. I'm looking forward to rift for IB.

It's a good thing that they a trying out the different modes, though I wasn't too sure about the success or failure of IB Clash. IB Rift could lead to a lot of one sided matches, especially for solo or small group (FT of 2 or 3) players

AdamD

Rift is dreadful. Said it on day 1 of TTK and got abuse on here for it, its horribly designed.

SolvableKnave

AdamD wrote: »

Rift is dreadful. Said it on day 1 of TTK and got abuse on here for it, its horribly designed.

Prepare for more so.... :D

nevelator

Mitch Connor wrote: »

i'm hoping that there will be some spark sharing when we have full teams of six on the go. Would make that weekly bounty for highest overall score a bit easier to get. If you are the spark runner for your team, and your team wins - you'll probably ping that bounty. I've not been able to get that one done in the last two rounds of IB. Once I get that bounty, I won't care whether I get the spark or not (as long as someone on the team does.

Jaysus, the way you were playing last night you'll get that bounty in the first game!

Generic Dreadhead

SolvableKnave wrote: »

Cormac's MEATSHIELD is coming for ya

Ye laugh, but TBH, anytime we have gone full Meat-shield we've CRUSHED the opposition :pac:

Mitch Connor wrote: »

i'm hoping that there will be some spark sharing when we have full teams of six on the go. Would make that weekly bounty for highest overall score a bit easier to get. If you are the spark runner for your team, and your team wins - you'll probably ping that bounty. I've not been able to get that one done in the last two rounds of IB. Once I get that bounty, I won't care whether I get the spark or not (as long as someone on the team does.

If you're in a good group that's all well and good. But tbh, i'd be inclined to play rift as a group strategically and not necessarily "pass the highest-score bounty around"

If you had 2 dedicated "Runners" you'd be better MUCH off. Blink player with Mida, high agility and armour is crazy useful.

Then if you had 2 players camp the spark (and to an extend prevent spawn trapping pushes) you'd be MUCH better off also. Maybe 2 Strikers with Lighting Grenades and Armamentarium etc.

Finally have 2 "Roaming" players that are handy to deny enemy rift grabs of they are making a concentrated push Like say Golden Gun and Stormcallers.

If everyone stuck to their jobs and made co-ordinated pushes you'd start crushing groups of randoms.

Then it's essentially a trade off of if you can change the around and let (say a Titan cause they can't blink) try and get top score

My point being that, consistently winning > getting 1 bounty worth 125xp for one player causing loses due to throwing caution to the wind strategy wise.

You're risking the team getting 6x60xp for the win to try and give 1 player 125xp.

I know that sounds scanty and elitist but rift can very quickly (much like Salvage) become excruciating if you're not playing Smart (as opposed to good).

3 of us dead? Let them push the spark and pick them off.
3 of them dead? 2 titans push up, have a roamer pop a super and rush their spawn and have the nearest runner grab the spark.

It's all about thinking on the fly and having good map and team positioning awareness

PetKing wrote: »

I doubt many would object to someone calling for the spark if they wanted it. I'm looking forward to rift for IB.

Grabbing one spark? go for it?
Trying to play a match in such a way that Joe-6th-Player can be boosted to get top score for his bounty in a game where you're not clearly winning? Screw that noise :pac:

Generic Dreadhead

AdamD wrote: »

Rift is dreadful. Said it on day 1 of TTK and got abuse on here for it, its horribly designed.

To be fair you did also say since Day 1 how great it was that they were introducing Zone Control like it was gods gift to Destinys Strategic PvP

Mitch Connor

Cormac... wrote: »

Ye laugh, but TBH, anytime we have gone full Meat-shield we've CRUSHED the opposition :pac:



If you're in a good group that's all well and good. But tbh, i'd be inclined to play rift as a group strategically and not necessarily "pass the highest-score bounty around"

If you had 2 dedicated "Runners" you'd be better MUCH off. Blink player with Mida, high agility and armour is crazy useful.

Then if you had 2 players camp the spark (and to an extend prevent spawn trapping pushes) you'd be MUCH better off also. Maybe 2 Strikers with Lighting Grenades and Armamentarium etc.

Finally have 2 "Roaming" players that are handy to deny enemy rift grabs of they are making a concentrated push Like say Golden Gun and Stormcallers.

If everyone stuck to their jobs and made co-ordinated pushes you'd start crushing groups of randoms.

Then it's essentially a trade off of if you can change the around and let (say a Titan cause they can't blink) try and get top score

My point being that, consistently winning > getting 1 bounty worth 125xp for one player causing loses due to throwing caution to the wind strategy wise.

You're risking the team getting 6x60xp for the win to try and give 1 player 125xp.

I know that sounds scanty and elitist but rift can very quickly (much like Salvage) become excruciating if you're not playing Smart (as opposed to good).

3 of us dead? Let them push the spark and pick them off.
3 of them dead? 2 titans push up, have a roamer pop a super and rush their spawn and have the nearest runner grab the spark.

It's all about thinking on the fly and having good map and team positioning awareness



Grabbing one spark? go for it?
Trying to play a match in such a way that Joe-6th-Player can be boosted to get top score for his bounty in a game where you're not clearly winning? Screw that noise :pac:

its not just one bounty though, it is part of the weekly bounty - which is a fecking high chunk of points. If it was one daily bounty then yeah, fcuk it,, go for the wins rather than the bounty. But it is a weekly that can get you a full rank if cashed in late in the week.

I would't be thinking to give the spark to whomever in a close game or one you are losing - but if it is clear from early exchanges that your team is likely to stom the oppo, I see no harm in letting someone who hasn't got that part of their weekly ticked off have a go at the spark and a very good chance to get it done. If the rest of the team is co-ordinated then the spark runners job can be quite easy.

Generic Dreadhead

Yeah, ok, sorry, got confused, thought ye were talking about Dailies, not Weeklies hence why I was like "f**k that noise". Carry on as you were :P

Mitch Connor

Cormac... wrote: »

Yeah, ok, sorry, got confused, thought ye were talking about Dailies, not Weeklies hence why I was like "f**k that noise". Carry on as you were :P

To be fair my initial post referenced it as a bounty and not part of a weekly, so i'll claim some of the fault on that one!

SteveDPirate

Iron Banner Rift matches could be over very quickly with an organised team of 6. Should be fun! Or salty hell if you happen to be against an organised team of 6!

Mitch Connor

SteveDPirate wrote: »

Iron Banner Rift matches could be over very quickly with an organised team of 6. Should be fun! Or salty hell if you happen to be against an organised team of 6!

thinking the same. Normally i'd be happy enough to go solo in Iron Banner, but i don't think i'll be touching it this time outside of a fireteam.

SteveDPirate

Mitch Connor wrote: »

thinking the same. Normally i'd be happy enough to go solo in Iron Banner, but i don't think i'll be touching it this time outside of a fireteam.

Yeah, same here. I usually solo a few games if there's no-one else on. Can't see that happening this month.

Looking forward to it though because 6 man fireteam crucible is always fun. I just hope the regular Xbox guys are around for it.

Generic Dreadhead

Solo Rift is hard, but not completely unplayable, that being said, if you're playing Blink or camping the Objective with AOE grenades or supers it's a bit better. That being said I'd back out of a game solo if you come up against a team of 4+ players.

I checked my stats.... apparently I've played:
- 23 hours of Rift
- 1st Most Games of Rift in the Clan
- 5th Most Games of Rift in Ireland on Playstation
- 8th Most Rift Games in Ireland on Combined Xbox/PS

So, I'm probably biased to Rift now, cause I kind of have it "worked out" (similar to Salvage). It genuinely takes like 80+ games to twig the Meta-strategy for these game types

That being said, I'm not winning a lot of matches.
This is usually cause I play Rift f**king demented at 3am with JCD and Totz and the likes to "mix things up" when we get bored :pac:

Mickeroo

80+ games to figure it out? I think it takes 2 or 3 games to have them pegged, they're not unique gametypes to destiny nor do you have to drastically change the way you play from control(in the case of rift at least). Only thing thats different to other shooters is you can win relatively easily without playing the objective though.

Generic Dreadhead

Mickeroo wrote: »

80+ games to figure it out? I think it takes 2 or 3 games to have them pegged, they're not unique gametypes to destiny nor do you have to drastically change the way you play from control(in the case of rift at least).

Ok, maybe 80 is a vast overstatement.

But the rest of your point is conditional on someone having gained experience in that game type in another game (like Halo, CoD, Battlefield etc).

If you've never played PvP much in other similar games, than Rift is a unique game type within Destiny itself.

I played a decent share of Black Ops 2, but never played a Rift like mode. The last mode I can remember playing like Rift was probably in CTF in Conkers Bad Fur Day on N64 :pac:

Only thing thats different to other shooters is you can win relatively easily without playing the objective though.

In Rift?

syboit

+1 for IB rift, sure give it a go. If your getting creamed it tends to finish quickly, stack up your boon and onto the next match. Should be good when running as a team, better than clash I feel, with an objective on the map easier to co-ordinate.

Just remember to try to keep those 525 rep bounties till about the 3rd or 4th day, rep can increase to almost 1000.