Okay, so let’s talk about getting those Iron Banner armor sets. It’s always a bit of a thing, right? A mix of excitement and knowing it’s gonna be a grind.
Getting Started
First thing I usually do is check when Iron Banner is actually running. You know how it is, it pops up now and then, so gotta mark the calendar. Once it’s live, I jump in. I usually pick my Titan, just feel more comfortable with him in PvP, throwing up shields and whatnot. Sometimes I switch it up if the bounties or challenges favor another class, but mostly, it’s my Titan.
Before diving straight into matches, I always swing by Lord Saladin. Gotta grab those daily bounties. They help a lot with getting the reputation up faster, and sometimes they drop gear directly, which is a nice little bonus. Used to be tokens, now it’s all about that reputation rank, which feels a bit more straightforward, I guess.
The Grind: Playing Matches
Alright, then it’s time for the actual matches. Oh boy. Some days it’s great, you get a good team, communication clicks (even without mics sometimes, you just get the flow), and you rack up wins. Those days feel good. You see your reputation bar climb nicely.
Then there are those other days. You get matched against absolute sweat-lords, teams that move like a single unit, demolishing everyone. Or maybe your own team just isn’t clicking, people running off solo, ignoring objectives. It can get frustrating, not gonna lie. Had a few sessions where I just had to take a break, grab a drink, walk around a bit before diving back in. Losing streaks really test your patience, especially when all you want is that cool-looking helmet or chest piece.
I try to focus on the objectives for the specific Iron Banner mode running that week. Whether it’s controlling zones or whatever twist they put on it, playing the objective usually helps win matches, and winning gives more progress. Plus, completing the daily challenges gives big chunks of reputation, so I make sure to knock those out. Usually it’s stuff like getting kills with a certain weapon type or playing a set number of matches.
Getting the Gear
So, as I play matches and turn in those bounties, my Iron Banner rank goes up. Every rank-up gives you an Iron Engram. This is where the good stuff (hopefully) comes from. I head back to Saladin, and there they are, waiting for me.
Now, you have a choice. You can just decrypt the engrams directly and hope for the best. Sometimes you get lucky and get an armor piece you need. Or, you can spend some resources (usually glimmer and legendary shards) to ‘focus’ the engram. This is what I usually do once I’ve unlocked the armor pieces in my collections.
- I check which pieces I’m missing from the current set.
- I go to Saladin’s focusing menu.
- I pick the specific armor piece I want – say, the gauntlets.
- Spend the engram and materials, cross my fingers, and hope it drops.
It’s not always guaranteed you get the piece you want immediately, even with focusing, especially if you’re hunting for a specific stat roll. I remember spending like five engrams just trying to get the helmet one time. Got three pairs of boots instead! Classic RNG. But focusing definitely improves the odds compared to just random drops.
Completing the Set
Eventually, after enough matches, enough rank-ups, and enough focusing, the pieces start coming together. Getting that final piece you need to complete the look? That feels really good. You can finally equip the whole set, check it out in the character screen, maybe throw on a favorite shader. It’s a nice sense of accomplishment after the grind.
Sometimes I get the whole set pretty quickly, other times it takes almost the entire week of Iron Banner being active. Depends on luck, how much time I have to play, and how brutal the matches are. But yeah, that’s pretty much my process – check the dates, grab bounties, play matches (win some, lose some, try not to rage too much), rank up, focus engrams, and eventually, hopefully, strut around in that new Iron Banner armor. Then it’s usually time to start thinking about getting decent stat rolls on them, but that’s a whole other level of grind!
