For the first time in Destiny 2‘s Season of Dawn, Iron Banner makes its return. The PvP event will last from December 24 to 31 once the weekly reset happens, though it’ll be back a couple more times before the Season of Dawn ends. Destiny 2‘s Iron Banner has a quest chain/pursuit has to be completed before you can turn in tokens and obtain armor pieces. Likewise, four Iron Banner bounties are available which provide you with pinnacle rewards.

Note: For more information, check out our Destiny 2: Season of Dawn guides and features hub.

Iron Banner quest steps

Much like in Destiny 2‘s Season of the Undying, the Iron Banner’s quest/pursuit a requirement in order for you to turn in your tokens. Completion also unlocks the Iron Truage armor, making them available in the loot pool.

This has caused a bit of consternation, as evidenced by the reactions in Destiny 2‘s Reddit forum. Whether we wanted it or not, we’ve stepped into another repetitious grind, with objectives that need to be taken out one by one to obtain yet more reskinned armor pieces. In any case, here are the Iron Banner’s quest steps for the Season of Dawn via Light.gg:

Light the Fires

  • 30x opponents defeated
  • 10x zones captured
  • 3x super kills

Iron Sights

  • 6x matches completed
  • 20x zones captured
  • 25x Scout Rifle final blows (ie. Randy’s Throwing Knife, Jade Rabbit, Symmetry)

Pump Iron

  • 100x opponents defeated
  • 30x zones captured
  • 20x Shotgun final blows (ie. Dust Rock Blues, Mindbender’s Ambition, Gunnora’s Axe, Lord of Wolves)

Death Metal

  • 40x zones captured
  • 15x super kills
  • 15x Hand Cannon final blows (ie. Not Forgotten, Luna’s Howl, Ace of Spades)

Iron Rain

  • 15x matches completed
  • 50x zones captured
  • 10x Rocket Launcher final blows (ie. Truth, Wardcliff Coil)

Like the previous season, some of these tallies (ie. matches completed and zones captured) will carry over for successive steps. Anyway, when you’re done with all the requirements, return to Lord Saladin to complete the Iron Banner’s main pursuit. Progress for this pursuit lasts for the entirety of the Season of Dawn, though it’s still character-based which means you’d want to repeat everything on all three characters if you wish to unlock armor pieces or turn in tokens.

Just as well, you won’t obtain anything new. As mentioned, we already saw the Iron Truage armor set during the Season of Opulence. Bungie planned to introduce a new bow weapon, but that’s since been scrapped and it won’t be out until next season.

Iron Banner pinnacle reward bounties

There are four Iron Banner bounties that are available, each one providing pinnacle rewards. As mentioned in our Destiny 2: Season of Dawn review, the current DLC is lacking in terms of pinnacle activities. You’re bound to re-run Garden of Salvation, Pit of Heresy, the 100K Nightfall, and Master Nightmare Hunts if you wish to obtain pinnacle items to hit the 970 base power level cap. As such, completing the event’s bounties becomes a necessity if you wish to stay ahead when it comes to seasonal progression. It’s best to hit the base power level cap early so as to ensure that you can obtain items at max power to be used as infusion for the rest of your gear.

Here are the Iron Banner bounties for this event:

  • Maneuver Warfare – Defeat opponents while having zone advantage; bonus progress for kills during the Hunt (all zones captured).
  • An Arsenal of Tricks – Defeat opponents with abilities; bonus progress for super kills and kills against those with higher power level. The requirements for this bounty have been reduced by half.
  • Iron Confidence – Defeat opponents with weapon kills; bonus progress for energy and power weapons, and kills against those with higher power level.
  • The Rout – Defeat opponents in the Iron Banner; bonus progress for kills against those with higher power level.

That does it for our Iron Banner mini-guide this Season of Dawn. Destiny 2 is available on Steam. For more information about the current season, check out our guides and features hub.