Destiny 2 Solstice 2023 Event Guide Challenges Armor Upgrade God Rolls

Solstice 2023 returns to Destiny 2 with fresh challenges and armor upgrades that transform your Guardian’s gear. Master them to claim glowing triumphs.

In this Destiny 2 guide, we’ll walk you through how to earn Silver Leaves, Silver Ash, Kindling, and some of the best armor in the game.

Solstice 2023 runs from July 18 to Aug. 8.

How to earn Kindling

Kindling is earned by completing Solstice event challenges tied to the event card. Each challenge awards a set amount of Kindling, which can then be applied to any piece of Solstice armor to permanently upgrade its stats. Once a piece has been upgraded, that tier upgrade applies to all other pieces of the same armor slot. Completing activities like playlist strikes, Crucible matches, and seasonal objectives helps finish these challenges faster, giving steady progress toward fully enhanced Solstice gear.

Solstice 2023 is all about upgrading your Sunlit armor with Kindling and Silver Ash. Silver Ash is easy enough to come by, and we’ll go over it and Silver Laves in more detail later on in this guide. Kindling, on the other hand, is a much more finite resource, and the most important one for fully upgrading your armor so it can A) have better stats and B) glow!

Kindling comes exclusively from Event Challenges, which, like all holiday events, ask you to do specific tasks in exchange for rewards. There are 19 Event Challenges in Solstice 2023, 18 of which reward either 1 or 2 Kindling. Many of the events are the same as they were in 2022, although the amount of stuff you need to accomplish per challenge has been reduced across the board.

You’ll need six Kindling to fully upgrade an individual piece of armor (with the exception of the class items, which have no upgrades). You’ll need 24 Kindling to fully upgrade all four pieces of armor, which is the exact number you’ll have once you complete every Event Challenge listed below. However, unlike when this event was Solstice of Heroes, these upgrades persist between all classes and other pieces of Sunlit armor in the same slot. So fully upgrading your gear is account-wide, not per character.

All Solstice 2023 Event Challenges

All Solstice 2023 Event Challenges test players across various activities tied to the summer celebration in Destiny 2. Guardians earn Silver Leaves, Silver Ash, and Kindling by completing event tasks such as playlist activities, Bonfire Bash runs, and specific objectives tied to armor upgrades. Each challenge contributes to seasonal progress and rewards players with event tickets used to claim limited-time cosmetics and gear.

You can find all the Event Challenges in-game via your quest menu, but we’ve also listed them here for your convenience:

Bashing Success ( 1 Kindling) – Complete the Bonfire Bash activity
Good Ignite ( 1 Kindling) – Defeat (15) Ignition Carries in Bonfire Bash
Torch the Taken ( 1 Kindling) – Defeat (15) Taken in Bonfire Bash
Fuel for the Fire ( 1 Kindling) – Stoke the flames in the Bonfire Bash (35)
Ash Tray ( 1 Kindling) – Collect (350) Silver Ash
Fuel for the Fire 2 ( 2 Kindling) – Stoke more flames in the Bonfire Bash (70)
Fuel for the Fire 3 ( 2 Kindling) – Stoke even more flames in the Bonfire Bash (100)
Like Wildfire ( 1 Kindling) – Defeat targets anywhere in the system. Defeating Guardians awards bonus progress
Superlative ( 1 Kindling) – Defeat targets with Super abilities
Forged in Flame ( 1 Kindling) – Defeat (100) opposing Guardians in any activity
Hand Lighter ( 2 Kindling) – Defeat targets with hand cannons, shotguns, and rocket launchers
Burn them Down( 2 Kindling) – Defeat (40) bosses anywhere in the system
Raking the Coals ( 1 Kindling) – Complete playlist activities to earn Silver Leaves
Dare to Dream( 1 Kindling) – Complete runs of the Blind Well or Dares of Eternity to earn Silver Leaves
Brightfall( 1 Kindling) – Complete Vanguard Ops or Nightfalls to earn Silver Leaves
Fire of Competition( 1 Kindling) – Complete (10) matches in Crucible or Gambit playlists to earn Silver Leaves
A Spark in the Dark( 2 Kindling) – Complete rounds in Altars of Sorrow or Salvage to earn Silver Leaves
In the Hot Seat( 2 Kindling) – Complete activities on Neptune to earn Silver Leaves
Flamekeeper (no Kindling) – Title (Flamekeeper) claimed

If you earned the Flamekeeper title last year, all you’ll need to do is gild the title this year. Unfortunately that does involve doing all of the Event Challenges again, as you’ll need a set of fully upgraded armor. Note that you can earn Flamekeeper for the first time this year and gild it in the same year.

Here are the Triumphs you’ll need to complete to gild Flamekeeper:

Flamekeeper – Earn the Flamekeeper title by completing all Event Challenges
Bonfire Dash – Fully stoke the bonfire in the Bonfire Bash activity (30)
Inextinguishable – Complete the Bonfire Bash activity without dying
From the Ashes – Fully upgrade multiple pieces (4) of Sunlit armor
Sunlight ‘Em Up – Complete dungeons, raids, Master or Grandmaster Nightfalls, or Trials wins while wearing a fully upgraded Sunlit armor set

How to earn Silver Ash and Silver Leaves

Silver Leaves are gained by completing activities across the game while wearing any piece of Solstice armor. Activities like Strikes, Crucible matches, Gambit, or public events all reward Leaves. To turn them into Silver Ash, players must ignite a Bonfire in the European Aerial Zone. Each successful Bonfire run converts the collected Leaves into Ash, which is then used to reroll armor stats and upgrade Solstice gear.

Silver Leaves are the primary currency for Solstice. Every activity in the game – seasonal, playlist, dungeons, raid, etc. – all drop Silver Leaves for you to collect in your inventory. But these Silver Leaves are unusable on their own, and you’ll instead need to transform them into Silver Ash via the Bonfire Bash activity.

The activity is straightforward enough, and is relatively unchanged from years past. Just kill the big Elite enemies that spawn, pick up their orbs, and throw it at the pyre in the middle of the EAZ. The more you stoke the flames, the more Silver Leaves you’ll burn and the more Silver Ash you’ll walk away with.

The most efficient way to play here is to stack up as many Silver Leaves as you can (you cap out at 100) and then only play Bonfire Bash when you’re ready to burn a ton of Leaves at once. That way you can focus your time on collecting as many Silver Leaves as possible.

The fastest way to do this – at least initially – is to just complete the rest of the Event Challenges in the Solstice event. All of the activities the game asks you to complete will give you Silver Leaves, so do them and you’ll walk away with multiple inventories full.

Basically, if you’re playing Destiny, you’re earning Silver Leaves. And if you have Silver Leaves while playing Bonfire Bash, you’re earning Silver Ash.

As for what to do with your heaps of Silver Ash, you’ll need it to upgrade the stats on your armor as you upgrade the pieces with Kindling. Then, once your armor pieces are complete, you can use Silver Ash to reroll the stats on your fully upgraded gear.

How to earn new Solstice armor and weapons

Earn Solstice armor and weapons by completing the event challenges across activities, collecting upgrade materials, and assembling upgrade cores from powerful mobs and chests. Focus on earning Medallions, finish Triumphs, and complete the Solstice bounties to upgrade gear at the festive event forge.

If you’re looking for better armor with different stats, or one of the three Solstice-exclusive weapons – including the first ever Strand rocket launcher, Crowning Duologue – all you need to do is complete Bonfire Bash. When you finish the activity, you’ll get a bunch of different loot pieces, with chances for Sunlit armor and each of the three weapons.

You can also buy back some Sunlit armor pieces from Eva Levante in the Tower if you accidentally delete them.

Tips and tricks for Solstice 2023

Focus on maximizing your event progress by completing activities that grant Silver Leaves and transforming them into Silver Ash through the Bonfire Bash. Prioritize upgrading your Solstice armor early so you can benefit from higher stats during the event. Equip armor with specific elemental affinities to match daily bonuses, and use mods that speed up ability regeneration for faster objectives. Team up with other Guardians for faster runs and take advantage of event challenges that overlap with other seasonal activities to save time and effort.

Destiny 2‘s holiday events can be a bit of a drag – especially in years where they’re largely the same as the year prior. And with so many other amazing games out in 2023, we could forgive you for wanting to get Solstice 2023 out of the way as quickly as possible.

To help you out, we’ve compiled some tips and tricks for how to finish Solstice as quickly as possible this year, courtesy of Skarrow9, a great Destiny 2 YouTuber who has already finished this year’s grind. You can check out his complete tips video above, but here are some of the highlights:

Prioritize other Event Challenges over Bonfire Bash challenges
Complete your Crucible matches during the week of July 18th is possible, as Team Scorched is the rotator and is extremely fast compared to other modes
Play the Hero Nightfall rather than basic Strikes
Play Blind Well over Dares of Eternity
Play the Altars of Sorrow over Salvage
Complete the Root of Nightmares raid rather than Lost Sectors in Neomuna
You only need to wear one Sunlit armor piece to earn Silver Leaves, but you should wear all Sunlit pieces when playing Bonfire Bash, as it earns you more Silver Ash
The better you play during Bonfire Bash, the fewer you’ll need to do, so play with friends

Best Silver Leaves farming spots and methods

For Solstice-style events in Destiny 2, Silver Leaves come from almost any activity while your Solstice armor is equipped, but some spots are far more efficient than others.

Fastest general farms

Crucible (Trials-style or regular quick matches) – Many players report Crucible as the fastest because matches are short and Silver Leaves drop on win/loss while also progressing other Solstice challenges.
Heroic Public Events (EDZ – Gulch, Winding Cove, etc.) – These give a solid burst of Silver Leaves plus easy enemy waves for kill-based Event Challenges.
Bonfire Bash itself – You can quickly farm Silver Leaves from small playlists or events between Bonfire Bash runs, then “cash in” the Leaves into Silver Ash inside Bonfire Bash by stoking the bonfire many times.

Targeted high-yield activity farms

Altar of Sorrow / Salvage – Completing multiple stages in these activities can pay out 10-20+ Silver Leaves per run, making them top-tier single-activity farms if you enjoy PvE public-queue content.
Treasure-farm matches and checkpoints – There’s a known farm using Lightfall-era missions with checkpoint-style runs; short, reload-friendly runs on these yield roughly 10-11 Silver Leaves per clear, ideal if you just want pure Leaf numbers.
Solstice-specific exploits (YouTube methods) – Some popular guides show a fast “reload” or “double-chest” loop that lets you re-loot chests and pop again for extra Leaves in just a minute-plus loops.

Practical farming loop

A solid optimal loop while you have the event active:

Equip full Sunlit armor and pick a class variant you actually want to upgrade.
Run Altar of Sorrow or Salvage repeatedly to bank a big pile of Silver Leaves and make progress on “A Spark in the Dark”-type kills.
Once you have ~20-30 Leaves, queue Bonfire Bash to turn Leaves into Silver Ash (more bonfire-lighting = more Ash) while pushing the “Fuel for the Fire” challe

How to complete Altar of Sorrow stages quickly for max Silver Leaves

Altar of Sorrow on the Moon is one of the top spots for Silver Leaves in Destiny 2’s Solstice 2023 event, yielding up to 20-25 leaves per full 7-stage run (1 leaf per stage plus a big final payout).

Quick completion strategy

Launch Altar of Sorrow from the Moon map (public event activity node).
Team up with 1-2 friends or LFG for speed; solo is slower due to enemy density.
Use rocket launchers, machine guns, or linear fusion rifles for fast boss clears-prioritize add control with area weapons like grenade launchers.

Stage-by-stage speed tips

Stages 1-3 (basic enemies): Rush forward, skip packs by jumping over gaps; nuke captains/ogres with heavies. Takes ~1 min each.
Stages 4-5 (heavier waves): Focus Wizards first to stop adds; group up for boss stagger. ~1-2 min each.
Stages 6-7 (boss gauntlet): Position at altar for cover; burst Knights/Ogres, then unload on bosses. Full run: 10-15 min with a coordinated fireteam.

Maximizing Silver Leaves

Equip full Sunlit armor before starting for leaf drops on stage completions and final chest (~20+ total).
Cycle bounties by having one player leave/rejoin fireteam mid-run to refresh armor bounties without resetting the instance.
Repeat immediately after final boss-reload keeps it efficient. Progresses “A Spark in the Dark” challenge too.

Pro loop integration

Queue Altar with friends, smash through 7 stages for 20+ leaves.
Convert in Bonfire Bash for Ash + flame progress.
Repeat-beats public events for raw leaf/hour while feeling like real gameplay.

This nets max leaves without menu exploits, and pairs perfectly with your armor upgrade goals.