Destiny: Rise of Iron guide – Exotic quests, Dormant SIVA Clusters, Splicer Keys and more

Destiny: Rise of Iron is Bungie's annual reminder that its shared-worlds shooter is a phenomenon. Become Legend. Become an Iron Lord.

Destiny: Rise of Iron guide contents
Exotic Weapon quests and bounties
– Year 3 Gjallarhorn/Iron Gjallarhorn
– Khvostov 7G-0X
– Year 3 Thorn
– Young Wolf's Howl
– Nemesis Star

Collectibles – Iron Medallions, Dormant SIVA Clusters, Dead Ghosts
– Iron Medallions
– Clovis Bray SIVA
– Iron Lord SIVA
– Fallen SIVA (coming soon)
– Crucible Dead Ghosts
– PvE Dead Ghosts (coming soon)

Secrets, puzzles and farming
– Where is Site 6?
– Bells: Sing the Iron Song
– Felwinter Peak jumping puzzle
– Splicer Keys
– Iron Gjallarwing Easter Egg

How to get more Light

New raid: Wrath of the Machine

What's new in Destiny: Rise of Iron

Destiny: Rise of Iron is finally here, and Guardians are absolutely smashing it in their quest to become the greatest of the Iron Lords.

Whether you're hardcore Destiny player who has been counting down the seconds, wandering back after lapsing, or jumping in for the first time, Rise of Iron has something offer you: new story and general PvE content, big changes to the PvE Crucible, a new raid, and most importantly loads of lovely new gear to collect.

With this Destiny: Rise of Iron guide, were hoping to bring you everything you need – tips on how to finish tough missions, clues to the latest and greatest Exotic quests, detailed directions to all those collectibles, farming tips, secrets and mysteries – and much more. It's going to be a very busy few months for the hardcore, as the Plaguelands slowly yield their secrets.

Whether you're looking for tips on how to get harder, better, faster, stronger and prettier, searching for that blasted Site 6, or just wondering what's new out there for you to explore with your fellow guardians, we've got you covered.

On desktop, use the contents boxout to the right to navigate right to the stuff you need right now.On desktop, use the contents boxout to the right to navigate right to the stuff you need right now.

Keep it locked on this page for everything as it happens. If we don't yet have what it is you're after, let us know exactly what you're looking for and we'll do our damndest to make it happen.

See you on the mountain, Guardian.

Destiny: Rise of Iron Exotic Weapon quests and bounties
Ahh, Exotics: the ultimate endgame collect-a-thon for hardcore Destiny players. So far, Destiny: Rise of Iron has turned up several fun little Exotic goos chases ranging from easy to drawn out and complicated. In this section we'll compile known Rise of Iron Exotic quests and bounties.

How to get the Year 3 Gjallarhorn and Iron Gjallarhorn Exotic Rocket Launchers (Echoes of the Past)
Oh boy, look out – this is what you came for. The gun that caused more prayers and curses to be flung at Destiny's RNG than any other is back, but this time everyone can have one. Follow the link above to learn how to complete the Echoes of the Past quest and claim your boom-boom-boomstick.

How to get the Khvostov 7G-0X Exotic Auto Rifle
The very first Destiny gun is back, and wow, has it improved. This is a fun questline with a great reward, and a cute nod to the weird fetishes of the people who love this game. If you have the original Khvostov in your inventory or vault somewhere, you can use it to shortcut sections of the Khvostov Exotic quest.

How to get Year 3 Thorn
This guy. he's back. He's going to ruin your day in the Crucible. Get one of your own before Bungie nerfs it again.

How to get the Young Wolf's Howl Exotic Sword
Everyone should have this one, no problem at all. It's obtained through the main Rise of Iron story questline. Hit the link above for details, gameplay footage and discussion of what makes this homely little sword so special.

Nemesis Star Exotic Machine Gun
We haven't yet found an Exotic quest or bounty for Nemesis Star, but on preview trips press managed to decrypt it from engrams so we know all about it anyway. It's a pretty sweet looking beast; hit the link to see it in action and learn all about its perks.

Rise of Iron collectibles locations – Iron Medallions, Dormant SIVA Clusters, Dead Ghosts
There are loads of new collectibles to find in Destiny: Rise of Iron. Some you'll need for quests, some you'll need for your Rise of Iron Record Book, and others you'll want just to make that Grimoire score go up. Oh yes, we know why you do this.

Iron Medallion locations for the Beauty of Destruction quest
Find the Iron Medallions. Complete Beauty of Destruction. Complete Echoes of the Past. Get the Year 3 Gjallarhorn. What's not to like? There're only seven of these but some of them a bit tricky. Includes directions to Site 6!

Dormant SIVA Clusters – all Clovis Bray locations
Ten Dormant SIVA Clusters from the Clovis Bray family are pinpointed for your pleasure. Video guide shows you exactly where to find all of them at once, while text descriptions provide for those who can't handle scrubbing through for that one missing fragment.

Dormant SIVA Clusters – all Iron Lord locations
You only need five Dormant SIVA Clusters to complete Echoes of the Past, but you;ll want 15 for your Rise of Iron Record book. To that end, here's ten more Dormant SIVA Clusters, this time from the Iron Lord family. Again, video and text on offer.

Dormant SIVA Clusters – all Fallen locations (coming soon)
What's that? you want to find all the Dormant SIVA Clusters to fill out your grimoire? Good news for you: we'll have the Fallen Dormant Siva Clusters for you soon. Very, very soon.

Rise of Iron Crucible map Dead Ghost locations
Load up the private match interface and go Ghost-bustin'. Comes in two flavours: a video guide to Crucible Dead Ghosts, or for those who prefer guides where you don't have press “rewind” all the time, screenshots and text descriptions for all Crucible Dead Ghosts. Note: these two linked pages don't yet include the four new maps added this week. We'll add them shortly.

Rise of Iron PvE Dead Ghost locations (coming soon)
There is no end to the Dead Ghosts. Dead Ghosts for days. Nothing but Dead Ghosts. It's actually really morbid. We'll have these for you after we've gathered up the requisite screenshots and drawn orange circles on them.

Destiny: Rise of Iron secrets, puzzles and farming
Did you think you were done with secrets after all that collecting business? Hell naw. It's a good thing the Destiny community is so good at solving mysteries, because this expansion is full of 'em. Here's what's been winkled out of Destiny: Rise of Iron so far.

Where is Site 6? Step-by-step directions
Can't find Site 6? You are not alone. Step-by-step directions with screenshots and a valuable piece of advice: turn up the brightness on your telly.

Unlock the Sing the Iron Song achievement using the bells in the Iron Temple
You've seen the bells. You've wondered about the bells. And now the truth is out: yes, you and a pal can ding-dong merrily on high in order to score a secret trophy. In addition to the text guide linked above, here's a lovely video guide to the Iron Song bell puzzle.

Solve the jumping puzzle and climb Felwinter Peak
The chorus of Guardian screams you hear at the Iron Temple is due to the way the rocks of the mountain treacherously repel those attempting to follow the jumping puzzle trail. Bump your agility to max, equip all your best jumping abilities and Exotics, and set aside 15 minutes to two hours depending on your platforming skills. Try not to cry.

Here's an easy way to get Splicer Keys in Destiny: Rise of Iron
What are Splicer Keys, and how do you get ltos of them? These are rhetorical questions: we already know the answers. Hit that link and so will you.

Destiny: Rise of Iron's Gjallarwing Sparrow has a hidden Easter egg
We all knew Destiny: Rise of Iron pre-orders came with the Iron Gjallarwing Sparrow, but did you know that Sparrow came with the Iron Gjallar-horn? It is glorious and delightful and perfect in every way. Ten out of ten.

How to get more Light and reach Destiny: Rise of Iron's cap
Destiny: Rise of Iron raises the Light cap from 355 to 385, and when the Hard Mode raid launches that will jump again to 400.

If you're not at the level cap before playing Destiny: Rise of Iron, don't even worry about it – the expansion comes with a single-use level booster to bring you up to speed if you need it, and apart from unlocking gear and subclass nodes XP isn't very important.

Light level is much more important, as it gates various activities and is a measure of your overall strength. Luckily, you'll get much better drops as you continue to advance through Destiny: Rise of Iron content than you would playing The Taken King, so don't worry too much about chasing the old Light cap.

As usual, the only way to increase your Light level is to equip better gear. First, you always have a chance to find slightly better gear than your current equipment when you play level-appropriate Destiny: Rise of Iron content such as story missions, Strikes, and PvP matches, both as loot drops (PvE only) and end of activity rewards.

Next, you'll get better rewards through faction packages, the weekly Nightfall Strike and the weekly Crucible bounty. Once the previous source of engrams dries up, these are what you should be chasing mid-game to get you ready for endgame activities. Remember to always equip your best gear when you decrypt engrams, so that you get better gear from them.

Update: With the release of the Rise of Iron patch notes, Bungie confirmed alterations to how engram decryptions work. Engrams know how about a 50% chance of decrypting into better gear than your current average – until you reach 350 Light. After that, expect your progress to slow considerably. This is to prevent you relying on engram decryption as your primary means of levelling up and encourage you to spend time pursuing level-appropriate activities, such as the strike playlist, in the hopes of getting good drops.

When you're aiming for the Light cap, how you chase down that better gear is up to you; there are multiple paths to Destiny: Rise of Iron's endgame. Bungie has hinted that endgame gear will be available through the following activities in Destiny: Rise of Iron.

Iron Record Book rewards (meta-quest)
Wrath of the Machine (raid)
Trials of Osiris (weekly PvP event)
Iron Banner (monthly PvP event)
Archon's Forge Arena (PvE activity)
Festival of the Lost (Halloween event)
Sparrow Racing League (holiday season event)

However you choose to chase endgame year, remember you can use the Infusion system to bring your favourite armour pieces up to spec by sacrificing more powerful gear. This is a great way to make use of duplicate gear, but be careful not to run out of Legendary Marks and upgrade materials.

Once you've hit the cap or reached a level you're comfortable with, you may want to go hardcore and start thinking about chasing gear sets that provide maximum attribute boosts, rolling for the best quality perks, and building sets for specific weapons and activities. But that's real endgame stuff; most of us will never need to go there.

One thing everyone should think about are the new Iron Lord artifacts available through Trya Karn, a questgiver and vendor at Felwinter Peak. These unique items provide gameplay changing boosts and tweaks to your character build and should be used with care.

New raid: Wrath of the Machine
The culmination of Destiny: Rise of Iron's storyline and the big co-op PvE showpiece is the new raid, Wrath of the Machine. This six-player fireteam activity will feature some of the toughest challenges in the game, and players will need to work together to solve puzzles, bypass obstacles, defeat bosses and gather loot.

As usual, the raid will require high-level gear – so it won't go live alongside Destiny: Rise of Iron, in order to give Guardians time to gather more appropriate equipment. Look for it at 10:00am PDT on Friday, September 23. Hit that link to see the time in various regions.

The raid offers one path to endgame gear. Normal mode raiders have a chance to collect pieces of the Cosmoclast (Titan), Nanomania (Hunter) and Miasma (Warlock) armour sets. These mostly red, SIVA-themed sets cap out at Light level 385, about 30 points above what you'll get from non-endgame activities.

The Hard Mode version of Wrath of the Machine has not yet been dated. It will offer new, black-coloured versions of the normal raid mode sets, differentiated by the prefix “Spliced”. These armour sets boast Light of up to 400, which is Destiny: Rise of Iron's hard light cap.

What's new in Destiny: Rise of Iron
Wondering whether Destiny: Rise of Iron is worth your time and money? below we've listed the main additions and changes to Bungie's shared-worlds shooter so you can make up your mind.

Destiny: Rise of Iron Exotics, legendaries and ornaments
Destiny: Rise of Iron will add stacks of new weapons and armour. Let's start with what everyone wants to know, by reeling off a list of known Destiny: Rise of Iron Exotics:

Burning Eye
But Not Forgotten
Each New Day
First Citizen IX
Iron Gjallarhorn
Khostov 7g-0x
Nemesis Star
Occasm Razor
Saladin's Vigil
The Lingering Song
The Titanium Orchid
The Unbent Tree
Trespasser
Winter's End

On the armour side of things, we'll see new sets of Iron Banner and Trials of Osiris, two new raid sets (Normal and Hard Mode) and the new Iron Lord armour set for endgame. Expect many more to be introduced for midgame.

As well as these predictable inclusions, Destiny: Rise of Iron adds a new cosmetic weapon and armour customisation system called Ornaments. These can be found in Radiant Treasures or purchased from Xur for Silver Dust. Unlocked as weapon upgrade nodes, they're something like skins – but in some cases make dramatic changes to geometry as well as colouring.

Rise of Iron quests, story missions, Destination and Strikes
Destiny: Rise of Iron is a new chapter in the shared-worlds shooter's ongoing storyline. The story kicks off when the Fallen in Old Russia uncover SIVA, a technological plague sealed away by the Iron Lords long ago. Embracing the plague, the affected Fallen become a new faction called Splicers, and Lord Saladin, the last of the Iron Lords, calls on the Guardians of the Tower to help put them down.

Whether you're interested in Destiny's plot or not, you'll need to tackle the early story content to access the rest of Destiny: Rise of Iron. Follow the quests to ascend to Felwinter Peak, the new social space where you'll find many of Rise of Iron's questgivers and vendors, and unlock the Plaguelands, a new Destination for Patrol mode.

You'll also need to complete some story missions to tackle The Wretched Eye, a new Strike. In addition to this new challenge, two existing Strikes have been remixed for Destiny: Rise of Iron. Devil's Lair features new challenges and a new boss called Sepiks Perfected, and The Summoning Pits has also been overhauled, although we're waiting on details.

If you enjoy teaming up with randos for some straight shooting action, drop by Archon's Forge in the Plaguelands. This new PvE activity has some similarities to The Taken King's Court of Oryx in that you can initiate it in Patrol mode like a public event. In gameplay, it's closer to Prison of Elders or Horde more, in that you'll face waves of enemies rather than single bosses.

Changes to PvP in Destiny: Rise of Iron's Crucible
Some of the biggest changes coming to PvP with Destiny: Rise of Iron have already arrived. A private, custom match system rolled out with a pre-launch update, and is available even to those who don't own the expansion.

The update didn't unlock the new PvP maps coming with Destiny: Rise of Iron, though. Here's what to expect:

Floating Gardens: a Venus map set in and around a set of circular Vex ruins at the top of a tall spire, lit by a setting sun.
Last Exit: another Venus map, this one is set in the twisted tunnels of a subway station gradually being eaten away by the sea.
Skyline: the only Mars map in this expansion is an old Clovis Bray facility with an emphasis on verticality.
Icarus: the PlayStation exclusive map is set on Mercury, in a mirror-lined power generating facility designed to capture the sun's energy.

In addition to new maps and custom matches, Destiny: Rise of Iron includes an all-new mode called Supremacy. In this mode, players need to collect crests dropped by enemy players at death in order to collect points. No more run and gun; if you can't survive long enough to collect your prize, your kills won't count for anything.