'Destiny 2' Solstice of Heroes Armor 2019: How to Upgrade Each Piece

Destiny 2’s Solstice of Heroes summer event kicked off on July 30 for the second year in a row, offering players the chance to acquire exclusive commemorative gear that’ll involve the first full set of Armor 2.0 once Destiny 2: Shadowkeep launches this fall. How can players upgrade their Solstice armor to acquire the best current armor set in the game?

They’ll have to embark on the only grind that matters right now in all of Destiny 2, but the rewards should be worth the time.

Necessary background info: Each day while Solstice runs from July 30 to August 27 focuses on one of the core three elements in the game, namely Solar (red fire), Arc (blue electricity), and Void (purple … space?). By getting kills with specific element types in your abilities and weapons, you cause enemies to generate elemental orbs upon their death. Collecting these orbs plays a huge part in the following necessary quest steps, but doing so also triggers a buff that helps players across all game modes. (The official Bungie blog post about Solstice of Heroes has more information about this mechanic.)

But what about that armor?

Drained

• Speak to Eva Levante in the Tower.

The first step to acquiring Solstice armor is to speak to Eva Levante, the celebratory NPC who shows up for holiday events. She’s located directly in front of the player when they spawn in at the Tower, and she’ll give the player the first piece of Drained Solstice armor after a short conversation.

• Complete a run through the European Aerial Zone.

The European Aerial Zone (EAZ) is a new limited-time game mode where players hunt down mini-bosses, take out a boss, and then look for treasure chests. The EAZ can be initiated on the other side of the Solstice statue from Eva Levante.

Once players complete the first match, they can meditate at the statue to acquire the other pieces of Solstice armor. Then you’ll have a full set of “Drained” armor with three quest steps per piece.

Renewed

Once you have all of the Drained pieces, you can complete each of the following steps, which is different for each individual piece of armor and different across all three classes. Note: For each step, every piece in the set has to be completed before it upgrades to the next stage, meaning that you have to fully every step for all pieces of armor before it upgrades to Renewed.

Players can easily check progress on each individual piece of armor. Tasks vary widely and involve every aspect of the game. You’ll need specific kills against enemy types, time spent in the EAZ slaying enemies or opening chests, a number of specific elemental orbs collected, along with matches in Strikes, the Crucible, and Gambit. There are also special Solstice bounties from Eva Levante, Solstice Key Fragments to collect, and Solstice chests to open.

For a quick reference, here’s every step from Ruined to Renewed for each piece of armor, which are fairly straightforward:

HUNTER

• Helmet: Complete runs in the European Aerial Zone, get precision kills, slay Fallen
• Gauntlets: Complete playlist Strikes, collect Solar orbs in Gambit/Crucible, unlock Solstice packages
• Chest: Loot European Aerial Zone chests, collect Elemental Orbs, defeat enemies in the European Aerial Zone while using a Solar subclass
• Boots: Complete public events on Nessus, complete Solstice of Heroes bounties, defeat enemy Guardians in Crucible/Gambit
• Cloak: Complete Adventures, collect Arc orbs from Strikes, complete Crucible/Gambit matches

TITAN

• Helmet: Complete runs in the European Aerial Zone, get precision kills, defeat Hive
• Gauntlets: Loot European Aerial Zone chests, complete Solstice of Heroes bounties, defeat enemies in the European Aerial Zone while using an Arc subclass
• Chest: Complete Adventures, collect Solar orbs during Strikes, complete Crucible/Gambit matches
• Boots: Complete public events on Nessus, collect Void orbs in Crucible/Gambit, unlock Solstice packages
• Mark: Complete playlist Strikes, collect any Elemental Orbs, complete Crucible/Gambit matches

WARLOCK

• Helmet: Complete runs in the European Aerial Zone, get precision kills, defeat Cabal
• Gauntlets: Complete playlist Strikes, collect Elemental Orbs, kill Guardians in Gambit/Crucible
• Chest: Complete Adventures, collect Arc orbs in Crucible/Gambit, unlock Solstice packages
• Boots: Loot European Aerial Zone chests, collect Solar orbs in Strikes, defeat enemies in the European Aerial Zone with a Void subclass
• Bond: Complete public events on Nessus, complete Solstice of Heroes bounties, complete Crucible/Gambit matches

Use your best sense for anything that says “Crucible/Gambit.” You’ll get more kills against Guardians if you do Crucible, and Crucible matches tend to be shorter than Gambit matches. But it’ll be easier collecting Elemental orbs while in Gambit.

Pro tip(s): Lean towards the Crucible when given a choice of matches because one of the later steps requires a Valor reset, so you’ll need to play a lot of Crucible to get there. Also, be sure to do bounties while engaging in any activity, as there’s a later step that requires you to turn in bounties of any kind.

Majestic

The difficulty jump between Ruined-Renewed and Renewed-Majestic is slight, but this batch is a bit more time-consuming thanks to some steps like completing bounties or Gambit matches.

HUNTER

• Helmet: Complete bounties, open chests in the European Aerial Zone, defeat enemies with Arc weapons
• Gauntlets: Complete Heroic Public Events, collect Arc orbs in Strikes, defeat Cabal using a subclass that matches the daily elemental bonus
• Chest: Complete Gambit matches, collect Elemental Orbs using a subclass that matches the daily elemental bonus, defeat enemies with Void grenades
• Boots: Complete Challenges, defeat enemies in Strikes using a subclass that matches the daily elemental bonus as a team, kill enemy Guardians in Gambit and Crucible with Void weapons
• Cloak: Complete Patrols in the EDZ, collect any Elemental Orbs in the European Aerial Zone, defeat minibosses in the European Aerial Zone

TITAN

• Helmet: Complete Gambit matches, collect Elemental Orbs in any matchmade activities using matching subclasses as a team, defeat enemy Guardians in Crucible or Gambit with Arc weapons
• Gauntlets: Complete Heroic Public Events, complete Challenges, defeat minibosses in the European Aerial Zone
• Chest: Defeat enemies in Strike playlists using the daily elemental bonus subclass, open chests in the European Aerial Zone, defeat Fallen using the daily elemental bonus subclass
• Boots: Complete bounties, collect Void orbs in Strikes, defeat enemies with Solar melee kills
• Mark: Complete Patrols on Io, collect any Elemental Orbs in the European Aerial Zone, kill enemies with Solar weapons

WARLOCK

• Helmet: Defeat enemies in Strike playlists using a subclass that matches the daily elemental bonus, collect any Elemental Orbs in the European Aerial Zone, defeat minibosses in the European Aerial Zone
• Gauntlets: Complete bounties, collect Elemental Orbs using matching subclasses with your team, defeat enemy Guardians in Gambit or Crucible
• Chest: Complete Gambit matches, complete Challenges, defeat enemies with Void weapons
• Boots: Complete Heroic Public Events, collect Solar orbs in Strikes, defeat Hive using a subclass that matches the daily elemental bonus
• Bond: Complete Patrols on Titan, open chests in the European Aerial Zone, kill enemy Guardians in Crucible/Gambit with Arc Supers

This batch introduces a mechanic where you have to match the daily Elemental bonus with your subclass. Eva Levante’s bounties will often also match that element, so you can use that as a reference.

There’s also matching subclasses with your team, which will be easier with a team you can communicate director with to coordinate. Considering using your clanmates to help on that one.

Masterwork

Here’s where things really ratchet up in terms of difficulty, but at least the steps are the same for each subclass.

HUNTER

• Helmet: Complete a Prestige Nightfall with a score of over 200,000
• Gauntlets: Complete playlist Strikes with clanmates
• Chest: Complete the Shattered Throne dungeon with two or fewer players
• Boots: Reset your Season 7 Valor
• Cloak: Defeat challenging enemies

TITAN

• Helmet: Complete a Prestige Nightfall with a score of over 200,000
• Gauntlets: Complete playlist Strikes with clanmates
• Chest: Complete the Shattered Throne dungeon with two or fewer players
• Boots: Reset your Season 7 Valor
• Mark: Defeat challenging enemies

WARLOCK

• Helmet: Complete a Prestige Nightfall with a score of over 200,000
• Gauntlets: Complete playlist Strikes with clanmates
• Chest: Complete the Shattered Throne dungeon with two or fewer players
• Boots: Reset your Season 7 Valor
• Bond: Defeat challenging enemies

Completing a Prestige Nightfall with a score that high is doable, but it’s definitely a challenge. Generating Orbs of Light and getting enemy kills is the most straightforward way to earn points, but speed is also of the essence. Players should rush through, killing everything as quickly as possible, spam their Super abilities without hesitation, and exclusively use Masterworked weapons if possible.

If your level is high enough to do that, the Shattered Throne should also be doable with only two players. For challenging enemies, Escalation Protocol on Mars is perhaps the best method for farming them.

Destiny 2’s Solstice of Heroes event will end on August 27. When Destiny 2: Shadowkeep launches October 1, anyone who Masterworks their Solstice armor will be able to claim an Armor 2.0 set from the Gunsmith.