I've been looking and talking to some of the newer players to Destiny and Hyperion Codex and it has come to my attention that they may need a little bit of insight on the next Iron Banner. Which will be taking place on March 17th, 2015 3:00am CST. [b]What is Iron Banner?[/b] The Iron Banner seeks great champions to lead the fight against the Darkness. It was born to honor the Iron Lords and their efforts in the earliest days of the City. Iron Banner will last until March 24th, 2015 3:00am CST. In normal Crucible matches, your character level and equipment’s Attack/Defense stats do not matter, as all weapons deal the same base damage relative to their archetype. However, in matches where Level Advantages are enabled (Iron Banner), those stats do matter and will function similarly – though not as extreme – to how they do in PvE. [b]Iron Banner Gear and Rewards[/b] Normal Crucible matches rarely award you high-quality gear, but in the Iron Banner you’ll have better odds of Legendary rewards. The Iron Banner vendor (Lord Saladin) brings exclusive Iron Banner gear with him that vary each time he arrives at the Tower. The weapons that he brings along with him could almost be considered exotic just due to the fact that you can reforge them. What does that do? Reforging is something exclusive to Iron Banner weapons only (as of this post). It allows you to reroll the perks on your weapon with Lord Saladin for 2 Motes of Light. This let's you customize weapons to fit your playstyle and even make them overpowered if you get lucky enough with the new perks (see what I mean when I call them practically exotics?). [b]Maximizing Iron Banner Rep Gains[/b] Lord Saladin will offer a 12-hour buff called Tempered for one Mote of Light which will boost Iron Banner reputation gains. You can use this buff multiple times throughout the week. As the week goes forward, this buff will boost gains even more, so people who start later in the week will be able to catch up easier. Each win will earn you 50 experience. With an Iron Banner class item, shader, AND emblem equipped – which give a stacking bonus to reputation gains – this will increase to 66 experience. Without the 10-30% buffs, or Tempering, it’ll take about 140 games to reach Rank 5, starting from Rank 0. If you didn’t win, you still won Iron Medallions (more on those in the next section). With these, you’re able to convert up to 5 losses into wins. The Tempering buff also works for these Medallions! You gain 40 experience for the Medallion, so when you’ve won your next game, you’ll get not only the experience for the Medallion but also the experience for winning. [b]Iron Medallions[/b] Reputation gains are only awarded to the winners, but when you lose, you’ll be rewarded with an Iron Medallion token. You can carry up to 5 of these tokens, and they can be redeemed after your next win. Once redeemed, each Medallion you carry will convert into Iron Banner reputation. Sorry for the long read but I hope this helped anyone who is newer to Destiny or Iron Banner! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! :) Good luck next week, guardians!