The Solstice of Heroes has once again returned to Destiny 2, and we got you covered for everything you need to do.
It’s time once again to honor the fallen, to look back on past mistakes, and to meditate on just how far you’ve come as a Guardian. And also to get some sweet glowy armor. Like, super sweet.
If you’ve already experienced the Solstice of Heroes last year, it’s more of the same but with a few key differences. And if this is your first Solstice of Heroes, then we’ve got the whole thing laid out for you right here. We got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get started by talking to Eva in the Tower.
Go Get Your Armor
To start your journey, head on over to the Tower and talk to Eva, Destiny 2's resident Spanish grandma. At least I think she's Spanish--she's never really explained her background. Anyway, she'll give you a hat--your first piece of the Renewed Solstice armor that will eventually turn into a much more impressive set once you're all done.
She'll also hand you a quest, but most of the details on what you need to do is actually written on the armor you'll be wearing.
Eva won't give you the full set to start--just the hat. To get the rest of the Renewed armor, you'll have to go into the European Aerial Zone for the first time. For an explanation of how that will work, skip ahead to the European Aerial Zone section.
After completing your first run, Eva will hand you the rest of the Renewed Solstice armor. You might have noticed that it's all rare armor--that's because the point of the event is to make you feel like a kinderguardian again so you can experience the magical feeling of getting into a full set of Legendary armor once more.
You might also notice there's a lot of different tasks listed on each piece of armor. You'll have to do all of it to upgrade the Renewed Armor to Majestic Legendary armor.
Upgrade Your Armor
Welcome to the meat of Solstice of Heroes. Upgrading your armor from Renewed to Majestic and finally Magnificent is going to take a while, but you should be able to bang out all these objectives in the four weeks that Solstice of Heroes will last. And even if you don’t, the Magnificent step can be completed after the Solstice of Heroes ends.
But let's get upgrading your Renewed armor. The steps are different for each class, so we'll list each of them below.
Hunter
Hat: Get 50 precision final blows, complete EAZ, kill 100 Fallen
Gloves: Do 5 playlist Strikes, collect 100 Solar Orbs in Crucible or Gambit, unlock 10 Solstice Packages
Chest: Get 50 kills in the EAZ, collect 400 Elemental Orbs, get 50 kills in the EAZ while using a Solar subclass
Boots: Do 5 public events, get 50 Super kills, kill 25 opposing guardians (in either Crucible or Gambit)
Cloak: Do 5 Adventures, collect 100 Arc Orbs in Strikes, do 5 Crucible or Gambit matches
Titan
Hat: Get 50 precision final blows, complete EAZ, kill 100 Hive
Gloves: Get 50 kills in EAZ while using Arc subclass, get 50 Super kills, get 50 EAZ kills
Chest: Kill 25 opposing Guardians, get 100 Solar Orbs in Strikes, do 5 Adventures
Boots: Do 5 public events, collect 100 Void in Crucible or Gambit, unlock 10 Solstice Packages
Mark: Do 5 playlist Strikes, collect 400 Elemental Orbs, do 5 Crucible or Gambit matches
Warlock
Hat: Get 50 precision final blows, complete EAZ, kill 100 Cabal
Gloves: Do 5 playlist Strikes, collect 400 Elemental Orbs, kill 25 opposing Guardians
Chest: Do 5 Adventures, collect 100 Arc Orbs in Crucible or Gambit, unlock 10 Solstice Packages
Boots: Get 50 kills in EAZ, collect 100 Solar Orbs from Strikes, get 50 kills in EAZ while using Void subclass
Bond: Do 5 public events, get 50 Super kills, do 5 Crucible or Gambit matches
For more on unlocking Solstice Packages and collecting Elemental Orbs, read on to their appropriate sections.
After you complete all these tasks, head back to the Solstice of Heroes statue to meditate and unlock the Majestic Solstice armor, which will replace your Renewed Solstice armor. Now you've got a bunch of other things to do, which again are all listed on the armor itself and are different for each class.
These tasks are going to take the bulk of your time during the Solstice of Heroes, so don’t expect to get them all done in a day. But once you’re done, you’ll have Masterworked versions of the Majestic armor, which will then have tasks listed to make them Magnificent armor.
Those Majestic tasks are:
Hunter
Hat: Kill 2,000 enemies with Elemental damage, kill 300 enemies with Arc weapons, kill 200 enemies in EAZ
Gloves: Complete 10 Heroic public events, collect 300 Arc Orbs in Strikes, kill 300 Cabal using a subclass that matches the daily element
Chest: Do 10 Gambit matches, collect 1,000 Orbs using a matching Elemental subclass, kill 100 enemies with Void grenades
Boots: Kill 600 enemies in Strike playlists using a subclass that matches the daily element, kill 100 opposing Guardians using Void weapons as a team, kill 100 enemies with abilities
Cloak: Complete five patrols on EDZ, collect 200 Elemental Orbs in EAZ, defeat 20 bosses
Titan
Hat: Do 10 Gambit matches, collect 1,000 Orbs using a matching Elemental subclass, kill 100 opposing Guardians using Arc weapons as a team
Gloves: Do 10 Heroic public events, get 100 ability kills, defeat 20 bosses
Chest: Get 600 kills in strike playlists using sublcass that matches the daily element, kill 200 enemies in EAZ, kill 300 Fallen using a subclass that matches the daily element
Boots: kill 2,000 enemies with Elemental damage, collect 300 Void Orbs in Strikes, kill 100 enemies with Solar melee abilities
Mark: Do five patrols on Io, collect 200 Elemental Orbs in EAZ, Kill 300 enemies with Solar weapons
Warlock
Hat: Defeat 20 bosses, defeat 600 enemies in Strike playlists using a subclass that matches the daily element, collect 200 Elemental Orbs in EAZ
Gloves: Kill 2,000 enemies with Elemental damage, kill 100 opposing Guardians using Solar weapons as a team, collect 1,000 Orbs using a matching Elemental subclass
Chest: Kill 300 enemies with Void weapons, kill 100 enemies with abilities, do 10 Gambit matches
Boots: collect 300 Solar Orbs in Strikes, kil 300 Hive using a subclass that matches the daily element, complete 10 Heroic public events
Bond: Complete 10 patrols on Titan, kill 150 enemies with Arc Super, kill 200 enemies in EAZ
The final tasks to upgrade your armor to Magnificent can be completed at any time during the rest of the season and will give you a special white glow. They’re the same for every class, but they’re also some of the hardest content in the game. The tasks are:
Hat: Complete a Nightfall Ordeal on Master difficulty
Gloves: Complete a Nightmare Hunt on Master difficulty
Chest: Complete the Pit of Heresy dungeon
Boots: Win seven Trials of Osiris matches (not in a single passage)
Class Item: Complete the Altar of Sorrows public event three times
Note that the objectives on your second or third character will benefit from a 2x and 3x progress modifier if you decide you want the finished Solstice armor on all three characters. Also, you can purchase some Solstice armor ornaments in the Eververse as soon as you unlock the Majestic armor.
Head On Up To The EAZ
A lot of armor objectives must be performed in the EAZ (or European Aerial Zone), which can be accessed via the Tower. Once there, you’ll start the EAZ event with two other Guardians, killing enemies and eventually a final boss.
But the real objective of the EAZ is to get Solstice Packages. To do that, you’ll have to kill as many minibosses in the first section of the event as possible. Finding those minibosses can be a pain, but pay attention to your radar--it will guide you to the nearest miniboss.
After you kill as many minibosses in five minutes as possible, the final boss will appear. Defeat the final boss and you’ll reach the final stage: a mad dash to open as many chests as possible in order to collect Solstice Packages and Solstice Key Fragments.
Ever miniboss you kill will spawn an extra chest at the end of the event. You’ll have 2 minutes to collect as many chests as possible. It’s HIGHLY recommended that you use a Treasure Hunter Ghost Shell and a sniper rifle in order to find those chests quickly.
This Reddit post from Red_Hed_Hippo goes into great detail on how to get the most from each EAZ run. The final chests also spawn in a limited number of locations, which Reddit user ScoobyDeezy has compiled into a handy map.
Unlocking Solstice Packages
So you’ve done your first EAZ run and received a bunch of Solstice Packages in your inventory. Great! Now you have to unlock them using Key Fragments. You get Key Fragments from completing basically any event: Crucible, Gambit, Strikes, public events, patrols, adventures--you name it. EAZ runs will also award Key Fragments, so if you’re running low, head to the EAZ.
It takes 15 Key Fragments to open a Solstice Package, which will reward the player with random stuff. Usually some glimmer, resources, and a rare item, but sometimes Umbral Engrams or Legendary items.
Honestly, you’re mostly opening Solstice Packages to complete your armor tasks. Don’t get too excited about these packages.
And What About Those Elemental Orbs?
Right! Almost forgot. You might have noticed that there are all these weird glowing orbs dropping all over the place. Those are Elemental Orbs. You’ll need to collect them to upgrade your armor, but they’ll also provide you with a buff if you collect 30 Orbs that match the element of the day.
Each day you’ll see a buff in your inventory beside your character. That buff tells you which elemental subclass is the daily element. Collect 30 Elemental Orbs matching the daily element and you’ll get a 30-second buff in-game.
Collect 30 Solar Orbs and you'll start regenerating health and dealing Solar damage to nearby enemies.
Collect 30 Void orbs and you'll get faster ability regen speed and be able to turn invisible whenever you crouch. You'll also get "true sight," which will let you see through walls.
Collect 30 Arc orbs for faster movement speed and increased melee and sword damage.
Remember that your subclass must match the daily element for these buffs to take effect.