Destiny 2: How to upgrade Solstice Armor in 2023

The annual event that commemorates the achievement of Guardians, Solstice, is back in Destiny 2. Grandma Eva is also back with all-new shiny armor for all classes so here’s how you can upgrade all the armor from Solstice 2023 in Destiny 2.

The yearly Solstice is back this year in Destiny 2. Like last year, it is simply called “Solstice” instead of “Solstice of Heroes.” If you haven’t played Destiny 2 for a few years, you’ll quickly find you can’t pick up the event from where you left off.  A lot of content has been added with the arrival of Lightfall.

While a few things have changed in terms of how the Solstice event goes, you’ll still find yourself doing what you always did—grinding.

Here is everything you need to know about how to upgrade Solstice armors in Destiny 2. 

• How to start the Solstice event quest in Destiny 2
• How to upgrade the Solstice armor in Destiny 2
• Best methods to quickly upgrade materials in Destiny 2 Solstice event

How to start Solstice event quest in Destiny 2

First, to obtain the armor in Destiny 2, you have to start the Solstice event quest. Luckily, it is fairly straightforward.

Follow these steps:

1. Talk to Eva in the tower (the Old Lady is right in front of you as you spawn, you can’t miss her). 
2. Eva will give you the event armor. 
3. Wear it and talk to her again. 

The quest will then begin. Next up is the complex part, where you have to upgrade your armor.

How to upgrade your armor in Solstice Destiny 2

To put things simply on how to upgrade the Solstice armor in Destiny 2, if you inspect your event armor, there are two new sockets beside the usual mod sockets. This is where you’ll dump the event material to completely upgrade the armor.

As for materials, there are three of them: Kindling, Sliver Leaves, and Silver Ash. Here is a breakdown of each of them, what they do, and how to earn them. 

Kindling

These are limited resources, with only 24 kindlings obtainable. Knowing how to earn them is simple enough—complete event challenges from the event card. 

Once you’ve made it through the quest Eva gave you, you’ll eventually be given an event card. You can always check it in your quest tab, beside the seasonal challenges block. 

Challenges here are simple, including quests such as, “Complete the Bonfire Bash activity,” or “Defeat 15 Taken Bosses in Bonfire Base.” Once you complete them, you’ll get either 1 or 2 kindlings per challenge. Use them in the Kindling section of your armor, besides the mod sockets. 

Silver Leaves 

Silver Leaves are obtained by doing any activity, such as public events, raids, crucibles, etc. But only if you have Solstice armor equipped. The armor should stay on all the time, no matter what. 

Alone, Sliver Leaves can’t upgrade your armor. They’re used to obtain another material that is used to upgrade called Silver Ash. 

Silver Ash

Silver Ash goes into the last socket of your event armor. To get it, simply stock up a pile of Silver Leaves in your inventory and play the event activity—Bonfire Bash. Your Leaves will convert into Ash. 

The activity is also straightforward. Find glowing Elite enemies, kill them, pick the orb they generate, and toss it to the pyre in the middle of the map. 

Once you’ve dumped enough Kindling and Ash, the game will ask you to pick a stat and reroll the armor to focus on the preferred stat. Your armor will then glow, and you’ll also have improved stats. 

Since Kindling is a limited resource, once you have deposited enough Kindling in one piece, say for arms, you won’t have to do it for other arms. You’ll have to do it once for each piece, and completing the event challenge will give you just about enough Kindling to do that.

Remember, this is account-wide too. So if you did it for your Hunter, you don’t have to do it for your Titan and Warlock again. You can reroll stats on all new event armors with Silver Ash. This is essentially the season grind to hit the 100s in your armor stats.

Best method for upgrading Solstice armor in Destiny 2

To follow the best method and have the armor upgrades as fast as possible in Destiny 2 Solstice, get the event challenges done first.

You can have 100 stacks of Silver Leaves, so play Bonefire Ash only after you have that much. For Silver Leaves, Altars of Sorrow is arguably the best place to farm.

For more Destiny 2, check out:

Destiny 2 Lightfall Power cap | Destiny 2 Lightfall ending explained | Best Destiny 2 PVP weapons | Destiny 2 stat tracker: How to check your Destiny 2 stats | Destiny 2 Glory Ranks: What are they, how to rank up & rewards