This Friday, Bungie will open up the hard mode version of Destiny: The Taken King's end game raid, King's Fall. With the increased difficulty comes a brand new "Harrowed" raid set and gear that drops between 310-320 Light Level. There's also some questions surrounding how exactly loot rules will work for completing the raid on either difficulty, which Bungie answered today.
"Players cannot earn new raid-specific loot from a raid more than once a week per mode. The normal and hard mode Raids have their own separate loot tables, so the two modes can be completed separately or can be combined. Completing normal mode does not lock out earning loot on the incomplete hard mode. However, if a player starts the Raid on hard mode and completes it, they will receive the loot rewards from both the normal and hard difficulty mode."
Basically, you'll be able to run the raid on both normal and hard mode and earn rewards from each difficulty's loot tables. If you complete it on hard mode first, you'll actually get loot from both modes right off the bat, so it doesn't seem you'll need to actually run it on normal since you can only earn loot from a raid mode once a week. Youc an also combine the two raid difficulties with the checkpoint system, which Bungie also explained.
"There is a checkpoint for every boss killed that grants activity-specific loot. This checkpoint allows players to return to that checkpoint of the Raid if played before the week resets. Separate characters on the same account can each play the Raid and still get raid-specific loot as they finish each section of the Raid; this means an individual player can earn loot from a Raid for a maximum of six times (for three characters) per weekly lockout. There is a Raid checkpoint tracker for characters that players can access on Bungie.net to keep track of their progress, and to see what bosses have been looted for the week. "
Hard mode for King's Fall is set to unlock at 1:00pm Eastern on Friday, October 23rd. The Recommended Light is 300-320. While we can't possibly prepare you for the challenges that await in King's Fall Hard Mode, you can at least read up on the normal version of the raid with our in-depth guide.
