Destiny 2 Solstice 2022: How It Works

Summer has come, and with it so has Solstice to Destiny 2. 

Previously known as Solstice of Heroes, Solstice is the yearly event which offers new armour, new gear, a new limited time mode, new cosmetics to both earn and pay for with Silver, and it even includes some new treats this year.

Some of the new things that have been added can be quite confusing – such as what Kindling is, what is the difference between Silver Leaves and Silver Ash, what do you use Event Tickets on – so here is a handy guide for everything Solstice 2022. You can find even more information about Solstice, and Season of the Haunted, on the official Bungie.net website.

Want more Destiny? Check out some of our other content here on KeenGamer:

1. Destiny 2: What To Expect From Arc 3.0? 
2. Where Does Crafting Belong in Destiny 2?

Solstice 2022 Start and End Date, General Information

Solstice 2022 starts on the 19th of July 2022 and will last until August 9th. 

During the duration of Solstice, the Tower will be glammed up in a new grassy aesthetic, which is one of the better looks that the Tower has ever seen. Eververse is predictably stacked with new offerings, including new and old Solstice armour glows, Solstice exclusive weapon ornaments, emotes, and other cosmetics. 

In the Courtyard you will find Eva Levante, the Events vendor for Destiny 2. She is who you will return to each day to receive bounties and to progress the initial quest steps of the event.

Grassy Tower

How to Start Solstice 2022

In order to start the Solstice 2022 Event quest, you simply need to log into Destiny 2 and visit Eva in the Tower.

Upon speaking to her for the first time, she will give you a whole set of the brand new Candescent armour set. This armour will have low stats but will be used for upgrading throughout the event. 

Eva will inform you to continue the event by accepting a package, a set of Silver Leaves, and ask you to go to the brand new activity: Bonfire Bash.

How Solstice Bonfire Bash Works

The mainstay event exclusive mode for the past 3 years has been the EAZ, the European Aerial Zone. In the past, this activity asked players to explore a set of floating islands, killing a randomly selected enemy faction to rack up points: the more bosses you killed, the more chests you could get at the end of the activity. 

The EAZ has returned this year, only with a new name and with a (slightly) tweaked new activity. This new activity is known as Bonfire Bash and will serve as the main area you keep coming back to over the 3 week duration of Destiny 2 Solstice 2022. 

In Bonfire Bash, you must explore the same floating island as before, only this time you have to worry about the Paracasual Bonfire at the heart of the arena. You will need to ‘grow’ this Bonfire over the 10 minute duration of the activity, charging it by throwing orbs dropped by special yellow bar enemies. The higher the Bonfire at the 10 minute mark, the more loot you receive.

Bonfire Bash

The gist of the event is that you and your fireteam spawn in, taking care of the Taken that infest the main square. Once you have cleared them out, you will be tasked with hunting down strong opponents of a random enemy faction. These enemies drop glowing white orbs that need to be thrown at the Bonfire in order to grow it: 1 orb adds 1 point to the Bonfire, and be sure to get close to it as the tracking is pretty weak. 

Every so often, a public-event-esque warning will flash telling you to clear out some Taken Blights in one of the more secluded areas of the map. This will usually happen once or twice per Bonfire Bash run depending on speed and points scored.

At the end of the 10 minute timer, all enemies will disappear and a large boss will spawn in the middle arena by the Bonfire. This is the Flamekeeper, and he is what stands between you and your loot. Kill him, and the activity ends. 

Your loot will be dropped by the Bonfire itself, which will spit it up all over the ground: keep an eye out for the engrams, as they can get lost in the plant life or in-between the Bonfire’s branches. Bonfire Bash can award the following items upon completion:

• The new 120 RPM ‘Something New’ Stasis Hand Cannon
• The ‘Compass Rose’ Solar Shotgun
• New pieces of the Candescent Armour set
• Random world drops

Something New Hand Cannon

The most important item dropped by the Bonfire is Silver Ash, something we will explain in the next segment.

Silver Leaves and Silver Ash 

There are 3 new currencies introduced during Destiny 2 Solstice 2022: Silver Leaves, Silver Ash and Kindling.

Silver Leaves are the most basic option. You can earn these through doing basic activities outside of Solstice and Bonfire Bash, with different tiers of difficultly granting more or less Leaves upon completion: for example, regular Vanguard Strikes awarded 6 Silver Leaves, where as a Legend Tier Nightfall awarded 11 Silver Leaves (both earned with the full Candescent set equipped).

You need to have at least one piece of Candescent armour equipped to get Silver Leaves.

Silver Leaves are used to earn Silver Ash from the Bonfire Bash activity – it is recommended that you do not enter Bonfire Bash until you have at least 20 Silver Leaves as to get a substantial amount of Silver Ash.

Silver Ash, on the other hand, is the by-product created after completing a run of Bonfire Bash with Silver Leaves in your inventory. This material is used to reroll the stats on your Candescent gear: alongside the usual suite of mod slots, there are 2 brand new slots exclusively on Candescent gear. These are the Kindling Slot and the Imbued Embers slot. Silver Ash goes in the Imbued Embers slot, and when applied will reroll your armour stats. This reroll is affected by Ghost mods that influence and weight armour rolls, and Bungie does warn that you could get a lower amount than before when using Silver Ash.

Once you have used 40 Silver Ash on an armour piece (or when you reach Large Kindling) you will be able to focus one of 6 main stats for your reroll, guaranteeing a +10 stat.

Essentially:

1. Gather Silver Leaves by completing any activity, including Core Playlist activities. The higher tier of difficulty the activity, the more Leavesyou get.
2. Go into Bonfire Bash.
3. Get an equivalent amount of Silver Ash at the end of a Bonfire Bash run: 14 Silver Leaves gave 60 Silver Ash for example.
4. Use the Silver Ashto reroll your Candescent armour pieces.

So how does Kindling fit into this?

Kindling

Kindling is the third new currency added to Destiny 2 in Solstice 2022. 

Kindling is used on the Kindling slot on Incandescent armour, which increases the ‘potential’ of that armour slot. Increasing an armour slots potential means that it has a greater chance of rolling high stat rolls when compared to a lesser potential piece: a helmet slot with tier 2 Kindling (Large Kindling) could roll 60+ stats, whereas a tier 1 Kindling (Small) could only roll 55+. This means that you should try to keep your Silver Ash for when you are near max Kindlingon a piece of armour as to maximise your high stat roll chances. 

Kindling tiers are also shared between armour slots and not pieces, meaning that if you get 1 helmet to tier 3 Kindling, then every Candescent helmet you get will also be tier 3 Kindling.

You will need a total of 6 Kindling to upgrade a slot to tier 3, also known as Fully Kindled.

The only current way to earn Kindling is through the Event challenges, which can be accessed through the Event Card. By completing certain activities or challenges, you will be awarded Event Tickets and Kindling, which can be used on your armour.

You can also earn the famous White Glow on your armour by reaching Fully Kindled status on an armour slot.

So to summarise:

1. Gather Kindling by completing event challenges on the Event Card.
2. Use Kindling on Candescent armour pieces to raise their potential.
3. Use Silver Ash gathered in the Bonfire Bash activity to reroll armour with high potential for the chance at higher stat rolls.

This seems to be the general gameplay loop in Solstice 2022, so if you need a good set of high stat armour: get ready to grind.

The Event Card

Another new element this year is the Event Card, a new way to track Event exclusive challenges as well as rewards. 

Event Card

There are two versions of the Card: one paid and one free. Every player gets instant access to the free track, which includes:

• 24 Event challenges that mainly reward you with Kindling and Event Tickets (useless unless you plan on upgrading to the Paid track).
• An exclusive Emblem
• An Exotic Sparrow

There is also the new introduction of the event exclusive Seals and titles: for Solstice 2022, the title is called Flamebearer. Complete Solstice event challenges to unlock the ability to earn this Seal – future events will also have their own Seals and titles, and there will even be a 5th Seal to commemorate a years worth of successful Event title completions.

Upgraded Event Card

The Upgraded Event Card gives players the opportunity to earn some more hand picked cosmetics for a single time upgrade fee.

For the price of 1000 Silver, players get access to the Upgraded Event Card track, which allows you to begin trading in Event Tickets earned by completing Event Challenges for unique cosmetics. 

When purchasing the Card, you instantly get access to three cosmetics: the Hot Dog Eating Champ Emote, Sunny Exotic Ghost Shell and an exclusive shader. The rewards on offer for Event tickets are:

• A Legendary Skateboarding Emote
• Peach Ship Transmat Effect
• Exotic Ship
• Bitten Cookie Ghost Hologram

Event Tickets are earned even if you do not have the Upgraded Card, so if you decide to pick it up later in the season you won’t miss out. Be careful, though, as all Event Tickets will disappear out of your inventory on August 9th when Solstice ends, so make sure to spend them before that date hits.

That’s how Destiny 2 Solstice 2022 works in a nutshell! A quick reminder that Solstice runs from the 19th of July to the 9th of August, so be sure to have a great Solstice, Guardians!