I still remember the first time I spotted the Doom the Dark Ages banner mid-match a few months back. The player carrying it had a 20% damage resistance buff I’d never seen before, and their entire squad was moving faster than mine even without speed boosts. I spent the next three days grinding quests and secret challenges just to unlock it for myself, and it’s been a permanent part of my loadout ever since. Most players write off banners as just cosmetic fluff, but this specific one comes with hidden utility that can turn even the tightest losing rounds around if you know how to use it right. In this post, I’ll break down everything I’ve learned about unlocking, customizing, and leveraging this item to get more wins, whether you play solo or with a full squad.
How to Unlock the Doom the Dark Ages Banner Without Grinding For Hours
The official unlock path for the banner requires completing 12 consecutive dark age story quests, which can take 10+ hours of playtime even for experienced players. But there’s a far faster shortcut if you’re willing to take on a slightly harder challenge, and I used this method to get my banner in less than 45 minutes. You don’t have to complete any of the prerequisite story quests to access this challenge, either, which is a huge win for players who prefer to skip straight to open-world content.
The hidden fall encampment challenge is the trick here. Head to the northern edge of the map, where the raider-held fall encampment is marked with a tiny, unlabeled red icon. Clear the entire camp on hard difficulty without using any healing items, and the banner will drop directly from the final camp boss as a guaranteed reward. I tried the challenge on my first attempt at level 24 and got one-shot by the camp boss, so don’t make that same mistake. Wait until you hit level 25 and have at least rare tier armor before you try it, and bring a fire enchanted weapon to melt through the raiders’ wooden shields fast.
If you’re still below level 25, the story quest grind is still worth doing. The quests give you extra XP and rare crafting materials along the way, so you won’t be wasting your time even if it takes a bit longer to get the banner.
Core Perks You Get When Equipping the Banner
Unlike most other banners in the game that only give a tiny 2% XP boost, the Doom the Dark Ages banner comes with three stacked passive buffs that apply to you and every ally within a 15-meter radius. The buffs stay active as long as the banner is deployed on your back, so you don’t have to hold it in your hands to get the benefits. That said, you can’t equip a secondary weapon or shield while the banner is active, which is the main tradeoff you’ll need to consider before adding it to your loadout.
The full list of permanent buffs includes:
- 20% passive damage resistance for all squad members, which stacks with armor perks and resistance potions for a maximum of 55% total resistance against all damage types.
- 12% movement speed boost that stays active even when you’re carrying heavy weapons, harvesting resources, or building structures mid-fight, so you never get stuck out of position during a raid.
- 10% extra loot rarity bonus for all chests and enemy drops you pick up while the banner is deployed, which cuts down the time you spend grinding for legendary endgame gear by almost a third.
These buffs are way more impactful in group play than solo, obviously. If you’re running with a full four-person squad, the combined benefit of the resistance and speed buffs alone can turn a close team fight into a wipe for the other team. I’ve run entire raid runs with this banner equipped, and my squad has gotten at least two extra legendary drops per run every single time we use it, which has saved us dozens of hours of grind.
Creative Customization Options for Your Banner
Once you unlock the base banner, you can tweak almost every part of its design to fit your playstyle or show off your clan colors. There are 17 different sigils and 9 color palettes you can unlock from side challenges, event rewards, and in-game shops, and some of the sigils even add extra minor buffs to the base set of perks. You don’t have to spend real money to unlock any of these customization options, either, all of them are available through regular gameplay if you know where to look.
The raven sigil is the most sought-after customization for this banner, because it adds an extra 5% critical hit chance buff to all squad members on top of the existing perks. It’s only available during the annual winter in-game event, though, so if you missed it last cycle you’ll have to wait until it comes back around to get it. If you don’t have the raven sigil, the wolf sigil is the next best option, it adds a 3% stamina regen buff that’s really useful for long exploration runs.
One thing I always tell new players is to not waste rare customization tokens on color palettes. Most of the palettes drop for free from daily login rewards and common side quests, so save your tokens for sigils that add extra buffs instead. The only exception is the charcoal black palette, which makes the banner way harder to spot from a distance in dark forest areas, so it’s worth picking up if you play a lot of stealth-focused PvP matches.
Best Scenarios to Use the Doom the Dark Ages Banner
You don’t want to equip this banner for every single match you play, because the tradeoff of not having a secondary weapon or shield can be a huge disadvantage in certain game modes. I only pull it out for specific scenarios where the benefits far outweigh the downsides, and that’s helped me avoid a lot of frustrating losses that would have happened if I used it all the time.
Full squad PvP matches are the number one best time to use this banner. The buffs apply to all four of your squad members, so you get four times the value out of it compared to playing solo. Assign the banner to your squad’s support player, who stays at the back of the group and doesn’t need a secondary melee weapon as much as frontline brawlers do, to get the most value without leaving anyone exposed.
PvE raid runs are another great use case. The extra loot rarity buff drastically increases your chances of getting legendary gear drops from final raid bosses, so I always bring this banner along when I’m grinding for new armor sets or weapon recipes. Even if you’re only running a raid with one other friend, the loot buff alone makes equipping the banner worth it.
The only time I never use this banner is in small 1v1 or 2v2 PvP matches. The tradeoff of not having a secondary weapon is too big when you don’t have a full squad to cover your back, and I learned that the hard way when I tried to use it in a 1v1 duel last month. I got taken out by a player with a dagger because I couldn’t pull out a melee weapon fast enough to block their attacks, and I haven’t made that mistake again since.
At the end of the day, the Doom the Dark Ages Banner is way more than just a fancy cosmetic to show off in lobbies. If you take the time to unlock it, customize it with useful sigils, and use it in the right scenarios, it can give you a small but consistent edge that adds up to more wins and better loot over time. You don’t have to be a top 1% player to get value out of it either, even casual players can use its buffs to make grind sessions less frustrating and group matches more fun. Next time you log on, give the hidden encampment challenge a try if you haven’t unlocked it already, you might be surprised at how much of a difference it makes to your gameplay.
