Why You Should Play Iron Banner This Week

This week is the final Iron Banner for the Season of the Forge, Season 5 in Destiny 2. As of the 5th of March the Season of the Drifter will begin, and there won’t come another chance to earn this season’s Iron Banner rewards.

Why Should You Play Iron Banner This Week?

Really I can give you two very good reasons to play this week’s Iron Banner, and they’re both of the weapons that are available from Lord Saladin for it. These will drop from Engrams or can be purchased from the good Lord himself. You will be able to get them as drops next season, but this is the last time you can earn Season 5’s Iron Fellowship Armour.

Just to give you a bit more of a nudge here’s an in-depth look at both weapons.

Legendary Pulse Rifle – Claws of the Wolf

Claws of the Wolf is a beast of a Pulse Rifle, and will make short work of your enemies should you earn it this week. The stats on the weapon are; Range 41-68, Stability 36-72, Magazine Size 34-43, Reload Speed 16-57, Handling 20-51, and Impact 23-27. The hidden stats are; Zoom 17, Blast Radius 90-100, Inventory Size 46-76, Aim Assistance 78, and Recoil Direction 53-83.

The perks on Claws of the Wolf do a lot to bolster it, and make it fun to shoot with. Rapid-Fire Frame gives the weapon deeper ammo reserves and a slightly faster Reload Speed when the magazine is empty. Arrowhead Brake greatly controls Recoil and increases Handling Speed. Smallbore increases Range and Stability. Alloy Magazine grants faster reload when the Magazine is empty. Flared Magwell slightly increases Stability and greatly improves Reload Speed. Outlaw greatly decreases Reload time with precision kills. Full Auto Trigger System makes the weapon fire at full auto when holding down the trigger. Of course this Pulse rifle also has the usual tracking options for PVE and PVP kills.

Legendary Grenade Launcher – Swarm of the Raven

Swarm of the Raven isn’t the most used weapon in the Crucible but then again it is a Grenade Launcher. The stats on this weapon are; Blast Radius 5-32, Velocity 45-86, Stability 11-60, Magazine Size 4-7, Reload Speed 11-65, and Handling 22-49. The hidden stats are; Zoom 13, Inventory Size 31-61, Aim Assistance 27, and Recoil Direction 63-93.

The perks on this Grenade Launcher are all geared towards making it deadly for anyone remotely near the shot it blasts out. Aggressive Frame deals high damage with high recoil. Hard Launch greatly increases Projectile Speed, decreases Stability, and slightly decreases Blast Radius, Volatile Launch greatly increases Blast Radius, slightly decreases Handling Speed, and slightly decreases projectile speed. Proximity Grenades decreases the Blast Radius of grenades but gives them greater proximity detection. Augmented Drum greatly increases Magazine Size and greatly decreases Reload Speed. Snapshot Sights makes you aim down sights faster. Rampage grants temporarily increased damage after a kill, stacking three times. Finally there are the usual PVE and PVP kill trackers.

If these weapons and the Iron Banner armour aren’t a good enough reason to play Iron Banner this week then I don’t know what is. The armour will always be stylish and it isn’t available after this week. You’ll only kick yourself for not trying when you see that big gap in your collection during the Season of the Drifter.

Let us know what you’re doing this week in Destiny 2 in the comments.

Image Source: GameRant, Lightgg,

Jamie Moorcroft-Sharp

I'm an avid Destiny 2 fan and player. I fell in love with Destiny 1 during the early alpha and have been hooked by the universe ever since. I really enjoy playing with other Guardians, speculating about the lore, and writing about as much of the Destiny universe as I can.