How to Get Started in ‘Destiny: Rise of Iron’

Destinys latest expansion has finally arrived, bringing an entirely new chapter to the game’s universe, this time focusing on the legendary Iron Lords and their enemy, SIVA. Set after the events of The Taken King, players work closely with Lord Saladin to contain the biomechanical plague and participate in a few new pieces of content along the way.

While Rise of Iron may not be as big as The Taken King, it does have plenty of activities to offer in the form of quests and new equipment to farm. While the grind to the new Light cap may be a little rough, here’s a few tips to help you get started when you log in to Destiny again.

Complete the New Questline

Like in previous Destiny expansions, Rise of Iron features a new social hub known as Felwinter Peak. Throughout the next few months, you’ll be using this area to pick up the new bounties, complete various quests, and access your equipment, but it doesn’t open up immediately. The new hub is locked behind the set of initial campaign quests for Rise of Iron, so you’ll want to complete it as soon as you jump in to gain access to all the utilities it offers. They don’t take too long to complete either; we finished in roughly two hours.

Collect Your Bonuses

With Rise of Iron, players were given a few goodies from pre-orders, purchases, and pre-release events which are delivered immediately when you log in to Destiny with the expansion installed. Make sure to head over to a postmaster to grab your Iron Gjallarhorn, Iron Gjallarwing Sparrow, level 40 character boost, and a new emblem if you participated in the pre-launch event. (Note: you’ll have to compete a questline to actually get your new Gjallarhorn.)

Venture into the Plaguelands

The Plaguelands is Rise of Irons new zone located just outside the of the Cosmodrome, and it’s filled with new patrols, enemies, and secrets to uncover. Just like the Dreadnaught from The Taken King, it’s also where you’ll spend most of your time in Rise of Iron since many of the branching quests and bounties take place within it. Almost all of the quests require a hefty amount of grinding in the new zone, so remember to grab your daily bounties and work to complete them alongside quests when you head in.

Dismantle Your Khvostov

If you’re like me, you’ve been holding on to the very first weapon you picked up in Destiny. The modern-looking auto rifle with a cracked holographic sight has meaning to many, and, thanks to Rise of Iron, the time has come to cash in. If you managed to hang on to your original Khvostov after all of this time, you can actually get started on your first exotic weapon quest right when you log into the game. Just dismantle your original weapon to obtain the new schematic and head to Felwinter Peak to speak with Shiro-4. Like many other quests, it requires you to head into the Plaguelands, so don’t forget it before you spend time grinding out patrols and exploring.

Run Strikes and Heroic Strikes

There’s no question that Destiny is a game focused on grinding out loot from repeating activities. In Rise of Iron, the grind is much, much more difficult when it comes to Light leveling. Now, Light levels work in tiers, meaning that you’ll only see better gear once you’ve got your character decked out in gear at a set level.

For example, if you have 350 armor but have 330 weapons? You probably won’t see 351 or above gear until you get your weapons up to a similar light level as your armor. Currently, it seems that the fastest way to grind out better Light level gear is to participate in strikes followed by heroic strikes with a group of players. Typically, these reward a few blues — rare but not exotic items — at the end of each run that you can use to infuse whatever gear you’d like to increase your Light level. So, if you’re looking to prepare for the new raid on Friday, grab a few friends and take a night to grind the new strike playlists.