Enter the Arena Immediately
Unlike the Court of Oryx, the new Archon’s Forge arena in Destiny: Rise of Iron requires you to enter the area immediately after you make an offering. Once you’ve entered a SIVA Offering in the Fallen terminal next to the arena, make sure to get into the pit once it’s processed. If you dawdle, you will be locked out of the challenge, and you’ll have to use a Splicer Key to get back in, which is a waste of items.
So here’s the first pro tip to keep in mind: get into the pit immediately after making your Offering just to be safe.
Prioritize Reviving Your Teammates
The Archon’s Forge challenges are pretty similar to the Nightfall missions in that you have to be revived by a teammate if you happen to die. Of course, you can also self-respawn. However, the important thing to note here is that if you choose to self-respawn, or if your teammates fail to revive you for any reason, you will be kicked out of the challenge, and you’ll end up at the observation deck outside the arena.
This means that you’ll have to use a Splicer key to get back into the challenge. While the Splicer Keys aren’t exactly super rare in Rise of Iron, it can be a hassle if you don’t have any of those on you. If you don’t have a Key, you’ll be forced to sit out of the challenge and you won’t receive any rewards. Your teammates will also be one player down for the rest of the challenge.
You Can Jump Into an Event in Progress
The Archon’s Forge rules are a little bit different for players just entering the fray. If you arrive at the arena while an event is in progress, you will be allowed to jump straight in and join the fun. However, once you join the event, the usual rules will apply to you as well. Self-respawning or failing to get revived by your teammates will kick you back to the observation deck, and you’ll have to use a Splicer Key if you want to get back inside.
If this happens, you can either use a Key to rejoin the challenge, or simply wait for the challenge to end, and then initiate the next round, or wait for someone else to use a SIVA Offering to start one up.
Stock Up on Splicer Keys
By now, you probably already understand the importance of having Splicer Keys on you. These are a crucial resource, and you’ll need to have them in your inventory should you happen to get kicked out of a challenge. Thankfully, the Keys aren’t too hard to find in Destiny: Rise of Iron.
I’ve found that farming them from the Brood Mothers (basically Hive wizards) while on patrol in the Plaguelands is the easiest way to get a bunch of keys. While the SIVA Offerings themselves cannot be stacked in your inventory, the Splicer Keys can, so be sure to keep them on your person at all times and don’t leave them in the vault. It’s also important to note that the Keys will not be sent to the Postmaster if you don’t pick them up in the game world.
Start With Fused SIVA Offerings
The Archon’s Forge is a really good place to start if you’re looking to increase your light levels quickly. Of course, I recommend coming here only after you’ve completed the story missions, as even the starter challenges in the Forge can get pretty tough for unprepared Guardians. That said, once you’ve hit 310 (which you already might have, from The Taken King), you can start using the Fused SIVA Offerings you’ve picked up and input them at the terminal.
The Fused Offerings will spawn enemies with up to 320 light, and you’ll get pretty decent engrams at the end of each round. Make sure to equip your highest leveled gear to increase the quality of your loot drops, and of course, the gear that you get from decrypting your engrams.
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