The Season of the Risen is coming to a close in Destiny 2, and Bungie has taken the lid off some of the big changes on the way in the coming season. The multiplayer game will finally see the Iron Banner rework players have been asking for, as well as the return of the popular Rift PvP mode from the original Destiny.
In the latest This Week at Bungie, Destiny 2 community manager Liana Ruppert runs down the changes coming to Iron Banner, Destiny 2’s limited-time Crucible event. When Season 17 begins, Iron Banner will disable power levels (although these will still be active in Trials of Osiris). Rather than being limited to Control, Iron Banner’s game modes will change with each season.
In Season 17, one of those modes will be Rift, which is returning from the first Destiny. It’s a capture the flag-style mode in which teams of Guardians have to pick up a Spark that spawns in the centre of the map and carry it into the enemy team’s base, where it can be ‘dunked’ for a point. The Spark grants a weapon and ability buff to the Guardian carrying it – a change from the original version, in which you couldn’t shoot if you were holding the Spark. Rift will initially only be available in Iron Banner, but once Season 18 begins, it’ll go into regular Crucible rotation.
Naturally, Rift requires a purpose-built map. It’s called Disjunction, and it’s set in Savathun’s Throne World, in the swampy pyramid area. Bungie says to “expect lots of many-butted horses, transparent brown glass, and art deco designs”.
It’s also one of the biggest maps to date, designed with short, medium, and long range engagements in mind. While it’s built for Rift, it’ll also be available in all 6v6, 3v3, and free-for-all game modes, both in Crucible and Iron Banner.
Other changes are on the way to Iron Banner, too: Lord Saladin won’t be bothering with Iron Banner tokens anymore, and will instead use a reputation system like the other vendors. He’s also getting his own engram-focusing system, which will work just like Saint-XIV’s does – you can open engrams for a random dupe of any weapon or armour you’ve previously earned, or pay a materials cost to ‘focus’ them on a specific dupe to get a new roll on it.
Bungie is also bringing back the reputation bonus you get for wearing Iron Banner armour and emblems, and Iron Banner is getting its very own seal and title. However, we’ll see fewer Iron Banners each season – it’s dropping to two events, down from the usual three.
