Master Destiny 2’s Solstice event with advanced strategies, optimization tips, and common mistake avoidance
Destiny 2 Solstice of Heroes 2021: Your Complete Guide
Destiny 2’s annual summer celebration, the Solstice of Heroes, is back and in full force. This guide delivers everything required to conquer the European Aerial Zone (EAZ), fully upgrade your Solstice armor sets with dazzling elemental glows, and secure all the event’s exclusive rewards.
The Solstice of Heroes represents Destiny 2’s premier summer event, offering a unique vertical combat arena, a multi-tiered armor upgrade quest, and highly sought-after cosmetic and weapon rewards. Understanding its core mechanics is essential for maximizing your time investment.
Following the Guardian Games, Bungie has launched the Beyond Light era’s version of Solstice of Heroes. This iteration builds upon past events while introducing new loot and refined progression systems.
Veteran players will recognize the core loop, but new gear, cosmetics, and a brand-new Legendary shotgun—the Compass Rose—provide fresh incentives. The event window is limited, making an efficient strategy crucial.
With the event active, Guardians have a finite period to master the EAZ’s verticality, progress their armor through multiple upgrade tiers, and hunt for a perfectly rolled Compass Rose. This guide breaks down every component.
Event Foundation & Starting Point
The Solstice of Heroes under Beyond Light maintains its familiar structure: complete runs in the European Aerial Zone, upgrade Solstice armor sets, and collect Solstice Key Fragments to exchange with Eva Levante for Solstice Packages, which contain your rewards.
Initiate the event by visiting Eva Levante in the Tower Courtyard and acquiring the “The Solstice Begins” quest. She will furnish you with a Renewed Solstice helmet for your current class and task you with completing one EAZ run while wearing it.
After this introductory run, return to Eva to claim the remainder of your Renewed armor set. This marks the true beginning of the Solstice grind. A strategic approach from this point will save you countless hours.
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Conquering the European Aerial Zone (EAZ)
The EAZ is a breathtaking, multi-level combat zone available exclusively during Solstice. Its signature verticality, featuring rooftops, scaffolding, and open courtyards, demands mastery of movement abilities unlike any other Destiny 2 activity.
You’ll combat rotating factions—Fallen, Hive, Cabal, and Taken—but the primary objectives remain constant across all runs:
The number of mini-bosses defeated directly dictates how many chests spawn in the final phase. A key quality-of-life improvement this year is that all chests are clearly marked on your HUD, eliminating frustrating searches.
Pro Farming Tip: For maximum efficiency, coordinate with your fireteam to split up and cover different zones during both the mini-boss and chest phases. Clear communication drastically increases your loot-per-hour rate.
A core mechanic is the generation of Elemental Orbs. Each day, a specific element (Solar, Arc, Void, or Stasis) is designated the “element of the day.”
Defeating enemies with a matching elemental weapon or ability causes them to drop an orb. Collecting 30 matching orbs grants a powerful, temporary Empowerment buff with unique effects:
Additionally, “Prism” days occur, where any elemental orb can spawn, but you must still collect 30 of a single type to gain its corresponding buff. This allows flexibility in your loadout.
Common Mistake: Ignoring the daily element. While not mandatory, forgoing the Empowerment buffs significantly reduces your combat effectiveness and speed. Always equip at least one weapon matching the daily element.
Event Economy: Packages, Keys, and Bounties
Solstice utilizes its own temporary economy. The primary rewards come from Solstice Packages, unlocked using Solstice Key Fragments.
Completing EAZ runs rewards you with Solstice Packages and Key Fragments. Each Package requires 15 Fragments to open, yielding gear, materials, and potential rolls of the Compass Rose shotgun.
Optimization Tip: Don’t rely solely on EAZ runs for Fragments. You can efficiently supplement your income by completing Eva Levante’s repeatable bounties and participating in standard playlist activities (Crucible, Gambit, Strikes), patrols, and public events. Weave these into your routine.
The Armor Upgrade Grind: Renewed to Magnificent
The event’s central progression path involves upgrading your Solstice armor through three tiers: Renewed (starter), Majestic (mid-tier), and finally Magnificent (final form), culminating in unlocking elemental glow cosmetics.
Bungie has addressed past criticism by streamlining the objective requirements, though the journey remains substantial. The key is understanding the class-specific objectives.
After obtaining your full Renewed set from Eva, you must complete five objectives per armor piece to reach Majestic status. Requirements vary by class:
- Helmet: Finish one EAZ run, collect elemental orbs, perform 20 Finishers.
- Gauntlets: Complete a playlist activity, open 10 Solstice packages, defeat 200 Hive.
- Chest: Complete two public events, collect Arc and Stasis orbs in playlists, defeat 30 enemy Guardians.
- Boots: Finish a Patrol, gather 50 Orbs of Power, secure 50 Super kills.
- Mark: Clear three Lost Sectors, collect 100 Solar Orbs, achieve 100 precision kills.
- Helmet: Finish one EAZ run, collect elemental orbs, perform 20 Finishers.
- Gauntlets: Complete a playlist activity, open 10 Solstice packages, defeat 200 Cabal.
- Chest: Complete two public events, collect Void and Stasis orbs in playlists, defeat 30 enemy Guardians.
- Boots: Finish a Patrol, gather 50 Orbs of Power, secure 50 Super kills.
- Bond: Clear three Lost Sectors, collect 100 Arc Orbs, achieve 100 precision kills.
- Helmet: Finish one EAZ run, collect elemental orbs, perform 20 Finishers.
- Gauntlets: Complete a playlist activity, open 10 Solstice packages, defeat 200 Fallen.
- Chest: Complete two public events, collect Solar and Stasis orbs in playlists, defeat 30 enemy Guardians.
- Boots: Finish a Patrol, gather 50 Orbs of Power, secure 50 Super kills.
- Cloak: Clear three Lost Sectors, collect 100 Void Orbs, achieve 100 precision kills.
Upon achieving Majestic status, a new set of five objectives per piece awaits to unlock the Magnificent set. These are more demanding and often suggest specific activities:
- Helmet: Defeat 5+ mini-bosses before the final boss spawns (3 times), collect 500 elemental orbs, rapidly defeat 100 enemies.
- Gauntlets: Run Altar of Sorrow or Override, earn 20 Empowerment buffs, kill 200 enemies with Solar weapons.
- Chest: Run Blind Well or Wrathborn Hunts, collect 50 Key Fragments, defeat 100 enemies with Arc grenades.
- Boots: Complete Europa Public Events or Battlegrounds, collect 100 Void/Stasis orbs in playlists, get 50 Void-melee kills.
- Mark: Finish 3 Competitive PvP matches or Nightfalls, collect 50 Arc orbs in the EAZ, defeat 50 Powerful Hive.
- Helmet: Defeat 5+ mini-bosses before the final boss spawns (3 times), collect 500 elemental orbs, rapidly defeat 100 enemies.
- Gauntlets: Run Altar of Sorrow or Override, earn 20 Empowerment buffs, kill 200 enemies with Arc weapons.
- Chest: Run Blind Well or Wrathborn Hunts, collect 50 Key Fragments, defeat 100 enemies with Void grenades.
- Boots: Complete Europa Public Events or Battlegrounds, collect 100 Solar/Stasis orbs in playlists, get 50 Solar-melee kills.
- Bond: Finish 3 Competitive PvP matches or Nightfalls, collect 50 Void orbs in the EAZ, defeat 50 Powerful Fallen.
- Helmet: Defeat 5+ mini-bosses before the final boss spawns (3 times), collect 500 elemental orbs, rapidly defeat 100 enemies.
- Gauntlets: Run Altar of Sorrow or Override, earn 20 Empowerment buffs, kill 200 enemies with Void weapons.
- Chest: Run Blind Well or Wrathborn Hunts, collect 50 Key Fragments, defeat 100 enemies with Solar grenades.
- Boots: Complete Europa Public Events or Battlegrounds, collect 100 Arc/Stasis orbs in playlists, get 50 Arc-melee kills.
- Cloak: Finish 3 Competitive PvP matches or Nightfalls, collect 50 Solar orbs in the EAZ, defeat 50 Powerful Cabal.
Unlocking the Elemental Glows
The final cosmetic reward for your Magnificent armor is activating the elemental glow on each piece. These objectives are challenging and identical for all classes:
- Helmet: Complete a Nightfall strike on Master or Grandmaster difficulty.
- Gauntlets: Complete any raid.
- Chest: Complete any dungeon.
- Boots: Defeat 15 Champions OR 15 Guardians in Competitive Crucible.
- Mark/Bond/Cloak: Complete Legendary or Master Lost Sectors.
The Ultimate Optimization: The most critical efficiency tip. After fully completing the armor set on one character, you earn DOUBLE progress on objectives for your next character. After two sets, you gain TRIPLE progress. Therefore, always focus on grinding one class to completion before moving to another.
Prime Rewards: The Compass Rose Shotgun
Beyond the glowing armor, the Solstice of Heroes 2021 introduces a new, farmable Legendary weapon: the Compass Rose Precision Frame shotgun.
Despite broad shotgun adjustments in Season of the Splicer, the Precision Frame archetype emerged as the top choice for PvP. The Compass Rose sits squarely in this coveted category.
Its perk pool is exceptional for PvP enthusiasts, featuring top-tier options like Smallbore, Accurized Rounds, Quickdraw, and Snapshot Sights. Farming for a god-roll is highly recommended for Crucible players seeking a powerful, consistent shotgun.
The Solstice of Heroes concludes on August 3. Prioritize upgrading at least one armor set to Magnificent, unlock its glows, and secure your ideal Compass Rose roll before time runs out.
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