Destiny 2: Solstice 2022 armor upgrades and Event Challenges guide

2022 sees the first major upgrade to Destiny 2’s Solstice of Heroes event in years. It’s still all about upgrading ornate armor sets, but the method is completely different. The event has also dropped “of Heroes” from its name, so it’s just Solstice now — like Cher, or Prince.

In this Destiny 2 guide, we’ll walk you through all of the major changes to the event, how to upgrade all your armor pieces, and how to collect a great roll of the Something New Stasis hand cannon.

Solstice 2022 runs from July 19 to Aug. 9.

How to upgrade your armor

Image: Bungie via Polygon

When you first log into Solstice 2022, you’ll need to head down to the Tower and meet with space grandma (Eva Levante, the seasonal vendor). She’ll give you your first set of armor and send you on the tutorial quest. Complete it to unlock the Event Challenges and get into the heart of the event.

Pop into the quest menu (or look below) and pick out an Event Challenge you want to complete. To be more efficient, read all the Challenges first so you can work toward completing multiple at once. Once you complete a Challenge, collect it and the Kindling that comes with it. Inspect one of your pieces of Solstice armor and mouse over the fifth node from the left. You’ll have the option to spend your Kindling to activate a Small Kindling in the node. Do it.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Now complete non-Bonfire Bash activities (while wearing your Solstice armor) until you earn at least four Silver Leaves (special Solstice currency you can pick up from doing most in-game activities). Once you have them, go run a Bonfire Bash and stoke the flames as many times as you can by throwing the balls at the pyre in the middle of the map. When you kill the final boss, you’ll trade in each Silver Leaf for five Silver Ash.

Head back into the menu of the armor piece that you placed the Small Kindling on. Mouse over the node to the right of the Small Kindling and spend your Silver Ash to activate the Glowing Embers. This will re-roll your armor’s stats and increase its stat threshold.

Image: Bungie

You’ll repeat this entire process two more times, with each tier getting more expensive — you’ll need a total of six Kindling and 120 Silver Ash to upgrade a single armor slot. The good news is that, for the rest of the event, every matching piece of armor you pick up for the same slot will already have the upgrades installed. For example, once you’ve fully upgraded your Candescent Gauntlets, every pair of Candescent Gauntlets you find between now and Aug. 9 will already be fully upgraded.

After you’ve fully upgraded your helmet, arm, chest, and leg armor (you can’t upgrade your class item), you’ll have completed the set and earned your white glow. If you want your armor to glow the color of your subclass, you’ll need to buy the bundle from the Eververse store for 1,500 Silver ($15).

Solstice 2022 Event Challenges

Image: Bungie via Polygon

As we mentioned above, you’ll need to complete Challenges to pick up Kindling and, in turn, upgrade your armor pieces. There are 24 Challenges per character, which means you can get 24 total Kindling — just enough to fully level up your Solstice 2022 armor.

You can find the Event Challenges in the special Solstice section in the quest menu, but we’ve also listed them here for your convenience:

• Bashing Success - Complete the Bonfire Bash activity
• Good Ignite - Defeat (20) Ignition Carries in Bonfire Bash
• Torch the Taken - Defeat (20) Taken in Bonfire Bash
• Fuel for the Fire - Stoke the flames in the Bonfire Bash (50)
• Ash Tray - Collect (500) Silver Ash
• All Around the Bonfire - Complete the Bonfire Bash activity against all combat races (two completions each)
• Fuel for the Fire 2 - Stoke more flames in the Bonfire Bash (100)
• Fuel for the Fire 3 - Stoke even more flames in the Bonfire Bash (150)
• Like Wildfire - Defeat targets anywhere in the system. Defeating Guardians awards bonus progress
• Pyromania - Defeat combatants with Solar abilities
• Superlative - Defeat targets with Super abilities
• Fire Power - Defeat combatants or opposing Guardians with Power weapons
• Forged in Flame - Defeat (100) opposing Guardians in any activity
• Hand Lighter - Defeat targets with hand cannons
• Shotgun Solstice - Defeat targets with shotguns
• Burn them Down - Defeat (60) bosses anywhere in the system
• Raking the Coals - Complete the playlist activities to earn Silver Leaves
• Solstice Jubilee - Complete public events on any destination to earn Silver Leaves
• Lamplighter - Complete (10) Patrols on any destination to earn Silver Leaves
• Dare to Dream - Complete runs of the Blind Well or Dares of Eternity to earn Silver Leaves
• Brightfall - Complete Vanguard Ops or Nightfalls to earn Silver Leaves
• Fire of Competition - Complete (25) matches in Crucible or Gambit playlists to earn Silver Leaves
• A Spark in the Dark - Complete Sever missions or rounds in Altars of Sorrow to earn Silver Leaves
• In the Hot Seat - Complete activities within the Throne World to earn Silver Leaves

How to get the perfect armor and Solstice weapons

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Now that you know how to upgrade your armor, you can focus on the real grind: grabbing perfectly rolled armor pieces and Solstice weapons.

Once you’ve maxed an armor piece, you’ll be able to spend 60 Silver Ash to re-roll it by selecting a specific stat you want to boost. This boosted stat will be guaranteed to have at least 20 points. However, you won’t be able to re-roll that exact armor piece again — you’ll need to loot another copy if you’re unhappy with your roll.

If you want more armor pieces to re-roll, as well as copies of the Compass Rose Solar shotgun and Something New Stasis hand cannon, you’ll need to run Bonfire Bash. The event is pretty generous with its loot, so you should have a healthy collection to choose from after a few runs.

Alternate character catchup

Image: Bungie via Polygon

So you’ve finished your main character — you’ve fully upgraded your 2022 Candescent set, and it all has perfectly rolled stats — and now you’d like to do it again on another class. The good news is that you can log into one of your other characters and immediately get started on Solstice 2022. The bad news is that it doesn’t seem like any of your progress carries over.

Unlike previous Solstice years, players haven’t discovered a catchup mechanic, meaning you’ll likely need to do the grind over again from scratch if you want that perfectly rolled armor on more than one class.

If we discover a better method for catching alternate characters up, we’ll update this guide.