The upcoming Destiny 2 mid-season update, Ash and Iron, launches on September 9 and brings power level changes, new activities, rewards, and story content, along with portal, raid, and sandbox updates.

Ash and Iron Release Details

• Ash and Iron update arrives September 9 as a continuation of Season of Reclamation.

• The update is primarily free, not a full new season or expansion.

• Bungie will do an in-depth reveal for the Renegades expansion, set for December.

Power Level & Progression Changes

• Power cap increases to 550; regular portal activities drop up to 500 power, Prime Engrams up to 550.

• Reaching 500 power unlocks more reliable tier 5 weapon and armor drops.

• Power progression will be sped up to address concerns over slow advancement.

• Portal activity drops, raid, and Crucible ops rewards at lower ranks are being improved.

New Activities & Content

• Guardians return to the Plaguelands for a new event, “New Territory,” and the “Reclaim” three-player activity.

• Plaguelands is not fully explorable but hosts the new activity.

• Portal expands with new activities, customization, weapons, armor, and ultimate difficulty across all ops.

• Multiple dungeons’ encounters to be added to the portal in September.

Exotic Weapons & Gear

• At least two new exotic weapons are coming: one via exotic mission, another from the Ash and Iron rewards pass.

• One exotic is expected to be craftable and upgradable.

• New gear and SIVA-themed loot are requested by the community.

Story Content & Narrative

• Additional bespoke missions and minor story updates will bridge to Renegades.

• Narrative team is focusing mainly on Renegades but includes story content in Ash and Iron.

PvP, Raid, and Event Updates

• Iron Banner PvP returns with event elements similar to Solstice or Arms Week.

• Raid Challenge Update will introduce new rewards, mechanics, and a raid race, plus a catalyst for the Whirling Ovations exotic.

• Grandmaster conquests expand, and the highest raid reward tiers will be accessible.

Sandbox and Systems Adjustments

• Sandbox tuning begins with Ash and Iron, focusing initially on Warlocks and continuing through Renegades.

• Ongoing efforts to balance and adjust power, rewards, and overall game systems.

• Bug fixes and deferred improvements are expected around the update.

Decisions

• Increase power cap to 550 for the Ash and Iron update.

• Speed up general power progression for players.

• Expand and improve portal, raid, and dungeon content and rewards.

• Reintroduce Iron Banner PvP with enhanced event systems.

Action Items

• September 9 – Bungie: Release Ash and Iron update and reward pass.

• September 9 – Bungie: Add new portal and dungeon content.

• TBD – Bungie: Provide detailed info on reward pass inclusions and Iron Banner event date.

• TBD – Bungie: Share specifics for sandbox, Warlock tuning, and additional story missions.

Questions / Follow-Ups

• Will Plaguelands become a fully explorable area, or remain activity-based only?

• What are the exact details and timeline for Warlock and sandbox balance changes?

• Which dungeons and older rewards will be ported into the portal content?

• Full details and timing of Iron Banner and raid update launch.

Destiny 2 Ash and Iron Update

What's up guys, Houndish here, and today we're jumping in to talk about Ash and Iron. That almost sounds like a biker festival or something, especially if you replace the ash with a word that sounds very similar. Safe to say, that's the part I would be on board for. But what?

Let's get into it. We're talking about the next update coming in September. In this one we're going to speak about adjustments to power level, new rewards that Bungie will be introducing for this mid-season update. This won't be a brand new season, but it's essentially the second half or the continuation of the season of Reclamation. That will bring in new activity as well as a return to the Plaguelands.

A couple of exotic weapons, one of them will indeed be an exotic mission. But Bungie have also indicated that with the power increase that we're getting, it will actually make earning high-tier rewards in the game easier than it is right now. We'll explain what that means, plus there are indications that there might be just a little bit of story content included in the form of some new missions, but we'll also get the raid update, dungeon content being added to the portal, sandbox adjustments and a handful of other things. So if you guys enjoy the video, a rating really does help me on the channel.

But now let's get into it. First thing is that on September 9th, that is when Ash and Iron actually drops. Ahead of the new content for September, Bungie will do an in-depth reveal for the Renegades expansion which drops in December.

So it should make for a pretty busy day in that regard. I'm assuming as well that because we're going to get some story beats between now and when Renegades drops, that Ash and Iron will actually feed into Renegades in some capacity, which is why Bungie are also going to speak about the expansion. So that's going to be pretty exciting. But with the major update, Bungie have said we'll be able to earn total power all the way to 550. Regular rewards from portal activities will be able to drop up to 500 total power, and Prime Engrams will again award gear up to the hard cap of 550. But those who reach 500 power will be rewarded with regular drops of the highest weapons and armor, which of course is tier 5, and Bungie say that's when we'll essentially be able to start consistently farming them. As we've seen though, some events, things like Solstice, can significantly boost both the power grind and the potential to earn higher tier rewards.

So by around about the time this drops in September, I think a lot more players will be approaching those kind of power levels. In relation to the power climb and the increase in power though, it's worth mentioning that Bungie have said they currently believe that power progression is slower than what they want it to be. So in addition to increasing power, they do want to generally increase the speed of progression for most players, as well as other updates to the portal, for instance, trying to improve the power balance in terms of drops that we get in different activities. So essentially... to make Fireteam or Pinnacle Ops more appealing than it is right now so that players don't feel they have to necessarily just farm solo ops.

They're also looking at adjustments for tiered drops in the raid and crucible ops to raise rewards at lower ranks. So in terms of progression in general, there are a bunch of additional changes that Bungie will be outlining in the coming weeks before we get to Ash and Iron that hopefully will make the experience a bit better. So while 550 sounds like a lot, and of course it is a lot, but... There'll also be changes coming alongside that update, so I'll keep you posted on those as Bungie give us more details.

And one of the core pieces of content for the update will be that Guardians will return to the Plaguelands and participate in a new activity highlighter event, which is called New Territory. This event sets up a brand new activity called Reclaim, a three player mission where resources are limited and playing as a team is a requirement for success. On top of that, they've said that the portal will expand with additional activities, customization, new weapons and armor, as well as the ultimate difficulty level, accessible across all of Solo, Fireteam and Pinnacle Ops. Specifically for the Plaguelands, we're not anticipating that this will be an explorable space as such, but it's more a location that actually houses this new activity.

You never know though, Bungie might do something similar to what we had with the Nether back in Heresy, as that had kind of an exploration element to it. I'd love to see that if they give us a somewhat expanded Plagueland Zone. Also, please give us some SIVA themed loot.

But in terms of new stuff to do, that should be interesting. For updates to the portal though, Bungie have said they're targeting a September timeframe to add some dungeon content to the portal, which looks like it will consist of encounters from multiple dungeons. So again, not certain how it will work yet, but new pinnacle portal content will certainly be nice. And hopefully that will include some of the older dungeon rewards. But kind of wound into the Reclaim activity, the Plaguelands, and whatever these sort of small story developments are there, there will be a new exotic mission, as well as new gear and more.

We're also anticipating an additional exotic weapon, which will be from the rewards pass for Ash and Iron. So at least a couple of new exotics, and probably one of them craftable with various upgrades like we see with the exotic mission content. And in terms of the story, the narrative director, Allison, said that there's still going to be some bespoke missions that we'll get to play through between now and when Renegades drops.

And there'll be some story content coming out between now and then, but the team are primarily focusing their attention on making Renegades the best it can possibly be. But this is where the suggestion of there being a story component actually comes into play, because otherwise it wasn't something we were anticipating. So when you consider that this is primarily going to be a free update, there will be quite a lot of stuff in there. Something else we'll see though is the return of Iron Banner, so Saladin will return from the hiatus and bring the PvP game mode back, presumably with an event home style system similar to Solstice or Arms Week. And as we've seen with Solstice in particular, this could be a good opportunity for Bungie to get more players into PvP by doing similar things with the rewards, increasing the tiers that will drop and power progression while the event is active.

So we don't know the exact date for Iron Banner yet, but it will come alongside or shortly after Ash and Iron actually drops. There will also be the Raid Challenge Update. Now, since Desert Perpetual actually dropped, Bungie haven't spoken in depth about this, but they've said the raid will receive a challenge update, adding new rewards, mechanics, feats, and potentially even encounters. Plus, this update will kick off with a raid race, and be a venue for experienced raiders to further challenge their skills, and for fireteams full of cheaters to dominate the leaderboards.

Okay, they didn't say that part, but let's be real, it's probably gonna happen. It should be cool though, because it will also introduce the highest tiers of raid rewards, including new weapons and a catalyst for the raid's exotic weapon, the Whirling Ovations. So if anything, I think this is when the raid will really start to feel juicy in terms of reward potential. And I'm sure as well, these new challenges will be fairly difficult. In terms of the timing though, Bungie have simply said that will add new content and rewards after Ash and Iron when the time is right, so it might be that they give us a period of time to sort of work towards the power climb and the new power cap, as presumably the raid will require very high power levels.

Bungie had also indicated that Ash and Iron will add more Grandmaster conquests as well as ultimate difficulty, so that pool will expand. And in terms of the reward pass that we mentioned, which will probably feature in Exotic early on, they will cost 1000 silver when purchased as a standalone. I think we get, I'm not sure if it's an entire year's worth of reward passes if you've got the Year of Prophecy edition, worth checking what version you have, but if you need to purchase it separately, 1000 silver will be the cost when we get to the 9th of September. It will not be required though to actually play the Ash and Iron content, so keep that in mind.

Finally though, Bungie indicated there will be sandbox tuning here as well, and with the conversation about power for Warlocks right now, Bungie have said they're investigating a tuning pass for Warlocks that will start with Ash and Iron and continue through to Renegade. So getting Warlocks up to scratch sounds like it'll be a process that sort of occurs over that three or four month period up until when Renegades drops, but we are now essentially one month away from Ash and Dian actually dropping. So I would imagine in the weeks between now and then, we'll get plenty of updates from Bungie regarding additional changes, sandbox tuning, maybe even adjustments to the power systems and tier rewards in the game. Who knows? Given the amount of stuff that they've been doing behind the scenes, bug fixes and patches early on in Edge of Fate, they probably have deferred a lot of changes or things that they have in mind.

that they'd like to do in the somewhat near future, to be at around the time when we get the September update. So I'm personally looking forward to it. And while high power isn't absolutely necessary, I think ideally, if you want to continue to earn higher tier rewards, even if you're not going to get to 450 power, the ideal situation would be that you get to at least about 400 power before Ash and Iron drops. as there'll be at least another 150 power levels to climb above that.

But again, the indication was that if you're around about the max power level when Ashen Iron does drop, it'll make earning higher tier rewards from Edge of Fate and Ashen Iron in general a bit easier than what they are right now, or will start to get them more commonly. So, There we go, guys. Give us your thoughts down below.

I actually think it seems all right for a free update, right? It's not going to be the size of a season or expansion, but there's certainly potential there based on what Benji is saying. So I'll be curious to check it out. Just please give us some SIVA loot. I'm so excited to go back to the Plague Lands in some capacity.

Maybe I'm asking too much though. I'm sure very soon we will find out. If you guys have enjoyed the video, a rating below very much helps me. If you're new around here, get subscribed and I'll keep you posted with more Destiny content. But otherwise, cheers for watching and I hope you guys have an awesome day.

Destiny 2 News: Ash & Iron & September UPDATE, New Content, Exotic Mission, New Weapons, Power Grind Nerf, Plaguelands Survival, Story Content, Portal Updates, Sandbox Tuning, Warlock BUFFS & More (Edge of Fate & Season of Reclamation) EDGE OF FATE NEWS UPDATES!