Next week marks the return of Solstice, a major seasonal event in Destiny 2 where players can celebrate their accomplishments. This annual event takes place during the summer and offers some of the best armor in the game, allowing players to customize their gear to achieve desired stats. The Solstice event will begin after the weekly reset on July 18 and will once again take place in the European Aerial Zone (EAZ), featuring teams of Guardians battling waves of enemies to earn rewards such as new armor and the first Strand rocket launcher.
Quick Facts
- Solstice event starts on July 18 in the European Aerial Zone
- Two new buffs, Firebound and Flare, will be introduced
- First Strand-energy rocket launcher will be available during Solstice
Solstice Start Date
Solstice will kick off after the weekly reset on July 18 in the European Aerial Zone, where teams of Guardians will face off against waves of enemies to earn rewards, including new armor and the first Strand rocket launcher.
Solstice Changes
Last year’s Solstice streamlined the armor upgrading process and allowed Guardians to craft pieces of gear with customized stat rolls, such as high resilience, intellect, or recovery. This year, Bungie has announced that Solstice will feature an overhaul of enemy density and the overall difficulty of the Bonfire Bash mode, making it more challenging. Additionally, two new buffs will be introduced. The more difficult content was introduced this year with the release of the Lightfall expansion, which made the game more challenging with tougher patrol zones and missions.
Solstice Buffs
The first new buff for Solstice is Firebound, which increases recovery and Super regeneration when near a fireteam member. This encourages Guardians to stay close together in the EAZ, a large open area filled with enemies. The second buff, Flare, causes players to unleash damaging waves of paracausal energy when they rapidly defeat enemies. Both of these abilities are only available in Bonfire Bash, but Flare will also be added to the Vanguard Ops playlist for the duration of Solstice.
Solstice Armor and Upgrades
To upgrade the armor, players will need to find and spend Silver Leaves, Silver Ash, and Kindling. Silver Leaves can be earned by completing activities throughout the game, and completing Bonfire Bash activities will transform Silver Leaves into Silver Ash. Players can reroll Solstice armor stats by spending Silver Ash to achieve the perfect stat roll.
Kindling can be acquired by completing Solstice challenges and can be used to upgrade armor stat roll potential. Each piece of armor can be upgraded three times, with each upgrade being permanent and shared across all Solstice pieces for that armor slot. However, this is only per class, so players who want perfect Hunter, Warlock, and Titan helmets will have to put in some work.
Solstice Introduces the First Strand-Energy Rocket Launcher in Destiny 2
This year’s Solstice armor features both free and paid glows like in previous years, and fully upgrading a piece of armor with Kindling will cause it to glow. The armor sets for this year have a regal theme.
Solstice Strand Rocket Launcher
Destiny 2’s first Strand rocket launcher can be earned during Solstice and has a similar design theme. Since the start of Lightfall this year, Bungie has been gradually adding more Strand-energy weapons to the game. With rocket launchers still being the best DPS weapon archetype in the game, it will be interesting to see how effective this is and if it will become a must-have item.
In other Destiny 2 news, the game’s new Exotic Wicked Implement will see its catalyst buffed, and a mid-season Crucible update will add some requested respawning changes to the game’s PvP.
