Destiny: Rise of Iron kicks off another new week of content for players with the weekly playlist reset, and here is everything that one needs to know for January 17, 2017.

After a few weeks of relative silence, Bungie returned to the spotlight by giving players a short glimpse into the future of Destiny through its weekly update. Though no big details were revealed such as information on the upcoming sequel, which is still scheduled for release later this year, the studio did reveal a few juicy details.

The biggest hint is that even with a new title coming later this year, the live team is working on a new content update. Bungie didn't confirm if the update will resemble Rise of Iron, or perhaps something a bit smaller like the 2016 April Update which added a number of enhancements, tweaks, and a few added content missions.

Prior to the content drop, Bungie plans to release a number of hot fixes to address some of the hot button issues the community has been regularly discussing. One such topic is in regards to shotguns, which many feel have reigned supreme in the Crucible for much longer than expected. While nothing concrete has been discussed in how to fix the perceived problem, Bungie has mentioned that it seeks to bring the weapon back in line with other weapon types rather than nerf them outright.

In the meantime however, the weekly reset has once again returned with fresh content along side the first official appearance of the Iron Banner in 2017. More on that in just a minute. For now, here's a closer look at all the new playlists, bounties, and everything in between for the week of January 17, 2017.

Weekly Nightfall

The Dreadnaught is the destination this week in the Nightfall as players are descending into the Sunless Cell to take on the Taken, Hive, and Alak-Hul, The Darkblade. While not one of the newly remastered strikes, The Sunless Cell isn't that old as it was originally introduced with The Taken King expansion.

Players start off in the Mausoleum area of the Dreadnaught before heading to the prisons in the Founts. Things are fairly straightforward here as the fireteam should continue to clear out roaming Hive enemies. The first test comes in the Asylum where two runs need to be hacked before moving on. Players will need to stay alive as waves of enemies flood the area including Wizards and Knights. Once the Wizards are down, the runes unlock and players move into the next where where the Taken now join in on the fight.

Once the Shriekers in the Hanging Crypts are dealt with, players can drop down into a dark pit known as The Circle where The Darkblade waits. With limited visibility and room to move, players will need to stay mobile as Aluk-Hul deals a heavy sweeping attack between waves of Thrall, Acolytes, and Cursed Thralls. Players should continue to keep an eye out for The Darkblade's nametag and health bar, which give an early hint at where the boss plans to appear.

For more tips and tricks for beating this strike, make sure to check out our guide.

To make things a bit more challenging, this Nightfall strike also sports the following active modifiers: Epic, Arc Burn, Specialist, Juggler, and Airborne.

  • Epic adds heavily shielded enemies that are more aggressive and appear in greater numbers.
  • Arc Burn increases all arc based damage. This is a good week to start using a Zhalo Supercell and Trespasser along with an arc based subclass.
  • Specialist increases damage for secondary weapons. As previously mentioned, the Trespasser is looking mighty fine this week.
  • Juggler removes ammo drops for the currently equipped weapon. As always, players should switch weapons often in order to earn ammo drops.
  • Finally, Airborne greatly increases damage done while in the air.

SIVA Crisis Heroic Strike Playlist

Just like the Nightfall, Arc Burn is also active in the playlist this week. As such, players should swap to their arc based subclass along with arc damage weapons such as Zhalo Supercell and the Trespasser to make life easier. Alongside the burn modifier, the other active mods this week are: Heroic, Specialist, and Exposure.

  • Like every week, Heroic buffs enemies, making them more aggressive and in greater numbers than normal.
  • Arc Burn amplifies all damage from arc sources.
  • Specialist increases damage for secondary weapons.
  • Lastly, Exposure greatly increases Guardian shields, but they no longer recharge after taking damage.

As always, the SIVA Crisis playlist is a great way to earn valuable high level light loot and score an easy 30 Legendary Marks. Not only that, Radiant Treasure boxes remain the easiest way to acquire Silver Dust and new weapon ornaments.

Players looking for those rare Skeleton Keys should jump into this playlist as the SIVA Heroic Crisis playlist is still the best way to obtain a key outside of finishing the Nightfall, which grants one automatically each week.

Crucible Playlist

While Iron Banner now takes up the weekly spot on the Director main page, players can find the new weekly playlist offerings under the Crucible section.

First up this week is Mayhem Rumble, a free for all deathmatch that adds in Mayhem rules where cool downs on abilities are greatly reduced, heavy/special ammo spawns much faster, and supers can be used often. Scoring values are also multiplied by 10.

For those who don't enjoy going up against premade fireteams, Freelance 6v6 is available which basically pulls in 12 solo queue players. Matches switch between Control, Rift, and Clash type games.

Tower and Iron Temple Bounties

New quests and bounties can be found waiting to be picked up at The Iron Temple on Felwinter Peak. Per usual, the local Cryptarch, Tyra Karn, is offering the weekly Artifacts of the Iron Lords quest available which tasks players with doing good deeds around The Plaguelands such as finishing patrols, killing Fallen Splicers, and other actions to earn a token. These tokens can then be redeemed for one of three artifacts which include: Memory of Gheleon, Memory of Skorri, and Memory of Radegast.

  • Memory of Gheleon gives the players an enhanced radar, even when aiming down the sights.
  • Memory of Skorri charges nearby allies super meters when your super meter is full.
  • Memory of Radegast enables players to reflect energy-based projectiles when guarding with a sword in addition to increased ammo capacity. With this artifact, players are able to reflect a lot of projectiles including a Warlock nova bomb, rockets, grenades, and much more.

In addition to Tyra, Shiro-4 has his weekly Plaguelander quest, requiring that players finish various patrol activities around The Plaguelands. In addition, Shiro carries his typical four bounties, which once more brings a balance between Archon's Forge and regular activities back to the proceedings. This week, Shiro has: Shock It To Me, Together We Rise, Archon's Forge: Captains, and Archon's Forge: Vandals.

As usual, these bounties are the only way to have a chance at earning the Thorn exotic quest line, one of four that is needed to finish off the four exotic quests in the Rise of Iron record book.

  • Shock It To Me requires that players kill Fallen splicers using arc damage. Using the Zhalo Supercell or an Arc based subclass will help finish this bounty off incredibly quickly.
  • Together We Rise tasks players with finishing public events within the Plaguelands. Archon's Forge counts towards this as well.
  • Archon's Forge: Captains requires players to complete four Captain encounters inside of Archon's Forge.
  • Archon's Forge: Vandals requires players to complete four Vandal encounters inside of Archon's Forge.

Before taking off to the various battlefields across the solar system, make sure to stop by The Tower, which also has a number of things to pick up. Lord Shaxx is placing the focus on the Clash match type with the Back to Basics bounty. Here's what is required in order to complete it:

  • Back to Basics asks that players finish seven clash matches, earn 50 kills with primary weapons, 25 assists, and 25 ability kills.

Keep in mind that finishing these weekly Crucible bounty is a very easy way to earn Nightfall tier rewards and loot that will help players get closer to that maximum light level of 400.

New Strike Scoring bounties are also available this week with Commander Zavala in the Vanguard area of the Tower. As expected, both Sunrise and Strike Elite are available once more along Clean Up.

  • Sunrise - Earn a Gold Tier Medal before time expires in the Nightfall Strike.
  • Clean Up - Earna  Brutal Efficiency medal by killing 150 total enemies during a SIVA Crisis Strike.
  • Strike Elite - Earn 9 Gold Tier, Silver Tier, or Bronze Tier Medals.

As a reminder, the Icebreaker exotic quest has a chance to be started by turning in the Sunrise bounty each week.

 Challenge of the Elders

Players in search of Sterling Treasure should head to the Reef to speak with Variks and enter his Prison of Elders. For Guardians working on the Elder's Sigil in the Challenge of the Elders, the modifiers for this week are pretty favorable featuring the modifiers: Grounded, Brawler, and a bonus for getting precision kills.

  • Grounded increases damage done to players who are airborne.
  • Brawler increases all guardian melee damage.
  • Lastly, all Precision Kills award bonus points.

Events

After spending the holidays at home, Lady Efrideet has finally returned to the Iron Temple to kick off a new Iron Banner event. This time around, the former Iron Lord has set up Clash matches for participants. In addition to the usual Iron Saga gear, players can also earn or purchase The Titanium Orchid rocket launcher and The Binding Blaze sidearm.

Though it was added a couple weeks ago, don't forget to grab that Traveler's Walk ghost inside of the Tower.

As expected, the raid challenge has once again shifted back to Aksis and using the supercharge mechanic to beat him. For tips and tricks, make sure to check our guide.

As always, good luck and stay safe out there, Guardians!

Destiny: Rise of Iron is available now for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.