The best place to farm the new IKELOS SMG is generally Operation: Seraph Shield / Warmind-node-focused Seraph content , with the weapon also showing up through Banshee-style rotating/vendor sources depending on the current game state. Recent writeups still point to Seraph-era farming and node/chest loops as the most direct route for IKELOS weapon drops, with some guides also noting vendor or crafting-related paths for newer availability windows.

Fastest farm route

  • Operation: Seraph Shield is the main repeatable activity many guides point to for farming IKELOS drops.
  • Warmind Nodes / Override Frequency caches on Europa, the Moon, and Seraph Station are another source for random IKELOS weapon drops.
  • Heist Battlegrounds help you build the materials needed for those cache opens and chest farming loops.

What to do first

  1. Run Heist Battlegrounds or other playlist activities to build up the currency/materials used for IKELOS farming.
  1. Open Seraph chests and warmind-style caches whenever you can.
  1. If available in the current rotation, check Banshee and other focusing/vendor paths for direct drops or craft progress.

If you want the shortest answer

Farm Operation: Seraph Shield first, then use Warmind Nodes / Seraph chest loops for extra rolls. If your version of the game currently supports it, vendor/focus paths can be the cleanup route when you’re missing one last roll.

Note on “new” IKELOS

Some newer coverage is a little messy because Destiny 2’s loot sources change over time, so “new IKELOS SMG” can mean either the refreshed IKELOS_SMG_V1.0.3 or a newer successor people compare to it. In practice, that usually means the farm is still centered on Seraph-era sources , not random world drops.

TL;DR: Farm Seraph Shield and Warmind/Seraph node caches first; use vendor/focusing sources as backup.