How to upgrade your Solstice Armor in Destiny 2

Get your fires burning.

Three Destiny 2 Guardians wearing the 2023 Solstice armor running through the Tower.
Image via Bungie

Destiny 2‘s Solstice event in 2023 brought some familiar sights with the return of the Bonfire Bash activity, but the EAZ’s revival also includes a brand new armor set to chase. Though Eva Levante will give you a full set of Solstice armor (called Sunlit Armor for this year’s festivities), upgrading it is part of the main objectives in Solstice.

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This year’s edition also gave players another way to high-stat armor, which centers around the core Solstice gameplay loop. At its heart is the Bonfire Bash activity, which is paramount to converting your resources and netting you the materials you need to improve your gear.

Upgrading your armor is a key part of Solstice, and leveling your gear to achieve that is going to take a few specific resources.

How to upgrade your Solstice Armor in Destiny 2

To upgrade your Solstice armor pieces, you will require three different resources: Kindling, Silver Leaves, and Silver Ash. Kindling is available from finishing and claiming event challenges, while Silver Leaves will drop from activity completions while wearing pieces of Sunlit Armor. Completing Bonfire Bash will convert your Silver Leaves into Silver Ash, with the amount converted based on how much the bonfire was stoked during the activity.

After you’ve obtained your first Kindling and obtained some Silver Ash, the event’s introductory quest will ask you to upgrade your Solstice armor. This process can be counter-intuitive the first time around, since the prompt to improve your gear is hidden alongside the mod slots.

To upgrade your Solstice armor, inspect it as if you were going to add a mod to it, then hover over the second-to-last slot. This is your Kindling slot, which dictates the armor piece’s upgrade level. This will consume one Kindling for level one, two for the second level, and three to upgrade it to max.

Related: How to get Silver Leaves and Silver Ash in Destiny 2’s Solstice

After kindling your armor piece, you can add Embers to it in the last mod slot. Embers will reroll that armor piece’s stats, and Armorer Ghost mods will influence the reroll. Adding Embers to it consumes Silver Ash, with the cost increasing as you further upgrade the armor due to the stat rolls being far more lucrative.

Each Kindling applied will count for all armor pieces in that slot, and fully kindling an armor piece allows you to reroll its stats once with a huge bonus. It will also unlock a glow for all Solstice armor pieces on that slot across your characters.

Solstice hasn’t changed much from its refreshed incarnation introduced last year, and upgrading your armor is still a core part. Due to how Kindling is acquired, the process will require a focus on tackling the event challenges—though if you’re going for the Flamekeeper title, odds are you’ll be getting them done regardless.

Author
Image of Pedro Peres
Pedro Peres
Pedro is Dot Esports' Lead Destiny Writer. He's been a freelance writer since 2019, and legend has it you can summon him by pinging an R-301, uttering the word "Persona," or inviting him to run a raid in Destiny 2 (though he probably has worse RNG luck than the D2 team combined). Find his ramblings on his Twitter @ggpedroperes (whenever that becomes available again).
Author
Image of Alexis Walker
Alexis Walker
Alexis is a freelance journalist hailing from the UK. After a number of years competing on international esports stages, she transitioned into writing about the industry in 2021 and quickly found a home to call her own within the vibrant communities of the looter shooter genre. Now she provides coverage for games such as Destiny 2, Halo Infinite and Apex Legends.