Destiny 2 Solstice 2023 end date, bonfire bash, armor, weapons, and more

The Destiny 2 Solstice 2023 end date is nearly here. Among the largest annual events, and with some of the best loot, it’s a time in Destiny 2 that you won’t want to miss.

We’ll cover the Destiny 2 Solstice 2023 end date here, as well as everything the event has on offer if you’re still catching up with it. We’ll go over what it is the start and end times, how the bonfire bash works, and cover all the loot you can pick up. With the Destiny 2 mid-season update out and gone, and the usual weekly Nightfall and this week’s eververse store both on rotation, it’s a bustling period of opportunity in the game right now. Fortunately, we’ve got you covered with guides on all those fronts.

When does Solstice 2023 end?

The Destiny 2 Solstice of Heroes event for 2023 will end on Tuesday August 8 at the weekly reset, 6PM BST/10AM PT. The event first began on Tuesday July 18, at the weekly reset 6PM BST/10AM PT. Being one of the largest yearly events, Solstice always last significantly longer than most other in-game events, giving players ample chance to pick up the new armor, weapons and title. In this case, it’s a three week long affair.

What is the Destiny 2 Solstice event?

For those who may have missed it in previous years, the Solstice event is one of the largest and longest in-game events in Destiny 2, held in celebration of the collective achievements of players and the community. Narratively speaking, it’s about achievement, celebrating progress and unity, and of course, coincides with the summer solstice.

The event will see a new special area open up for limited time in-game activities. This is the European Aerial Zone, or EAZ. You’ll fight against waves of enemies in a mode called Bonfire Bash, earning special rewards and materials to help you craft and upgrade the highlight of the in-game event – Solsitce armor. You’ll also be able to pick up bounties from Eva Levante to build up your vendor reputation faster. This year though, we also know to expect a few gameplay changes that will slightly alter the formula.

How the Destiny 2 Solstice event works

For those new to the event, it can be helpful to have an outline of how the event and the Bonfire Bash work, to help you progress as swiftly as possible. The event revolves around your solstice armour, and utilising a series of materials to upgrade and improve it. Let’s explain each of them in turn.

How to get Silver Leaves and Silver Ash in Destiny 2 solstice

Silver Leaves are the cornerstone of the event. To earn them, you just need to complete any in-game playlist activities, such as Crucible, Gambit, Strikes, or the weekly Nightfall. The more pieces of Solstice armour you are wearing while you do these activities, the more Silver Leaves you’ll get at the end.

To get Silver Ash, you just need to play Bonfire Bash with Silver Leaves in your inventory. At the end of the activity, your Leaves will automatically be converted into Silver Ash. It’s this Silver Ash that you need in order to upgrade the stats on your armour.

How to get Kindling in Destiny 2 Solstice

Kindling is the third and final material you’ll need in order to upgrade your armour. Each piece (barring the class item, which of course doesn’t naturally have stats) of armour can take up to six pieces of Kindling, at three different tiers you have to progress through. These are Small Kindling, Large Kindling, and Fully Rekindled. You can obtain Kindling through completing the event card challenges for Solstice. Some will grant one piece, and some will grant two. There are 19 event card challenges in total.

How to upgrade Solstice armor

Now that we’ve covered how to gather the materials, it’s time to learn how to use them. Silver Leaves as we’ve already explained are purely used for conversion into Silver Ash. Right click on a piece of Solstice armour and you’ll find two special mod slots on the far end of the row.

The first of these is for your Kindling. Each time you upgrade the tier of Kindling in your armour piece, you improve the ability of that armour to get higher stat rolls when you use Silver Ash on it. Upgrading the tier of a piece of armour will also apply that tier to every piece of solstice armour for that slot. So getting a helmet to Fully Rekindled will mean that all previous and future Solstice helmets are now Fully Rekindled as well, for example.

The second mod slot is for your Silver Ash. Each time you use Silver Ash on your helmet, you will boost its stats. The better your Kindling tier is, the better the stats have a chance to be. You can do this three times. On the third time, as long as your armour is Fully Rekindled, you’ll have access to a fourth version of Silver Ash infusion. This fourth version allows you to reroll your armour. It won’t necessarily mean another big increase in overall stats. Instead, you can choose a specific stat you want to reroll your armour for, and get a new roll with guaranteed minimum of 20 points in your chosen stat.

Destiny 2 Solstice buffs and gameplay changes

The basics of Solstice are remaining the same as they always have, with the armour system working just as we mentioned above. In Bonfire Bash itself, you’ll fight off Taken, followed by a race of enemies who spawn in clusters around the map. Killing their Ignition Bearers – powerful enemies in these clusters – will drop Ignition cores that you can throw into the bonfire to increase its size and potency. You’ll be interrupted by Taken now and again, and need to defeat powerful Prismatic Taken to continue. At the end of the countdown, you’ll fight off a Taken boss.

That’s all just as it has been, but there are a few changes to Bonfire Bash and Solstice. These changes are:

• More challenging Bonfire Bashes. The event will be more difficult to complete, with stronger enemies and tougher requirements. Make sure you’ve picked up some of this season’s best weapons like Destiny 2 Centrifuse, Destiny 2 Wicked Implement, or Destiny 2 Epochal Integration if you want the best chance of succeeding.
• No Secret chests at the end of a Bonfire Bash completion. It’s currently unclear if they’ll be coming back later in the event or if they’re gone for good.
• Firebound buff. This is a buff unique to Bonfire Bash. When you’re close to a fireteam member with this buff, you’ll gain increased Recovery and super regeneration.
• Flare buff. This buff will be available in Bonfire Bash and all Vanguard Ops playlists. While you have it, rapidly defeating combatants will unleash a wave of fire around you, damaging nearby enemies.

Destiny 2 Solstice rewards

There are a few rewards you can still obtain before the Destiny 2 Solstice 2023 end date. These rewards are armour, weapons, and the Flamekeeper title.

Solstice 2023 armor

Like every yearly solstice event, you can pick up three new sets of armor, one for each class. You can get your first full set from Eva Levante, the NPC who acts as your contact point during the event. After that, you can either buy additional pieces from her, or earn random drops and rolls through completing the Bonfire Bash activity.

We were fortunate get a look at the armor sets for the event as early back as the This Week In Destiny (TWID) blog post the week prior to Solstice starting. Here’s a look at the sets for each class.

This year, it the designs lean even more heavily into the regal opulence theme than last year’s set provided. You can to upgrade each piece three times in total, to get it to tier three, and then reroll to your heart’s content. If you’re struggling to match your stats to optimise for the best Destiny 2 warlock build, best Destiny 2 hunter build, or best Destiny 2 titan build, then the Solstice event provides a rare and special opportunity for you.

Even better, your progress will carry over, too. You only need to upgrade one piece of armor per slot to unlock tiers for previous, current, and future solstice armor.

Solstice weapons

There are three weapons in the Solstice event this year. These are:

• Compass Rose – a solar shotgun.
• Crowning Duologue – a strand rocket launcher.
• Something New – a stasis hand cannon.

All three of these weapons come with a new origin trait called Dream Work. Once per reload, assists or final blows will partially refill the weapon’s magazine from reserves, potentially overflowing it. It’s a trait fairly similar to Subsistence, though arguably a bit more flexible.

How to get the Solstice Flamekeeper seal and title

Picking up the Flamekeeper title requires you to complete the associated seal. This isn’t too difficult though, being even easier to pick up than the season’s Aquanaut title. Since the event is only for a few weeks, you just need to complete the following five triumphs to unlock the seal and the title.

• Flamekeeper – Complete Event Card challenges during Solstice, presumably not including the challenge to unlock the title itself.
• From The Ashes – Fully upgrade 4 pieces of Sunlit armour.
• Bonfire Dash – Fully stoke the bonfire in the Bonfire Dash activity.
• Sunlight ‘Em Up – Complete dungeons, raids, Master or Grandmaster Strikes, or Trials of Osiris wins while wearing a full set of Solstice armour.
• Inextinguishable – Complete a Bonfire Bash without dying.

That covers everything you need to know about this year’s Solstice event, including the Destiny 2 Solstice 2023 end date. Now that you’ve got the details on the Destiny 2 Solstice start time, end time, armor, weapons, and gameplay, you should be well set to enter the mid-season. Following this, the next major event will be the Destiny 2 Season 22 release date, so check out our breakdown on that if you want to know more.

When did the Destiny 2 Solstice 2023 event start?

The Destiny 2 Solstice of Heroes event for 2023 began on Tuesday 18 July, at the weekly reset 6PM BST/10AM PT.

What is the Destiny 2 Solstice event?

The solstice event is a major in-game event in Destiny 2, celebrating guardians, the Last city, and their achievements. It coincides with the summer solstice.

How do I get Destiny 2 Solstice armor to glow?

To get the glow on your Solstice armor, you need to fully upgrade the piece of gear with Silver Ash and Kindling. You can also buy an additional, more intense glow through the Eververse store for the duration of the event.