Destiny 2’s Solstice of Heroes summer event is finally getting a rework next week

It’s summer time, which means Destiny 2’s usual summer event — Solstice of Heroes — is about to make its triumphant return. Starting July 19, the Tower will become host to flowers, topiaries, and everyone’s favorite space-grandma/holiday vendor, Eva Levante. Solstice will run until Aug. 9, just two weeks before the release of Destiny 2’s 18th season.

As usual, the goal of Solstice of Heroes will be to upgrade a new set of armor, taking it from drab to spiffy over the course of the event. At the final level, the armor will glow white, and players can use real money to buy colored glows that represent their subclass element.

However, Solstice of Heroes will have two new features this year, in addition to a revamped activity: the event card and high-stat armor rolls.

Bungie announced the new Event Card system earlier this year, but Solstice 2022 will be the first holiday to implement it. The Event Card is free for all players, lives in the quest menu (or at Eva Levante), and it houses all the challenges and triumphs for the event — it also houses the new Solstice of Heroes 2022 seal, which will eventually lead to a yearly holiday seal in 2023. These challenges will offer special event cosmetic rewards and Event Tickets, which Guardians can use to purchase other rewards.

The catch is that the Event Card also has a paid track. By purchasing the Event Card for 1,000 Silver, players will get a special bundle of summer-themed items (like the alarming “Hot Dog Eating Champ” emote seen above) and the ability to spend their Event Tickets on exclusive rewards.

The other big change is to armor upgrading. Players will still spend their time evolving their armor as usual, but once they’ve fully leveled up their Solstice gear, they’ll be able to re-roll their armor for more desirable stats. This involves a few steps:

1. Guardians can earn a new currency called Kindling by complete Event Card challenges
2. Players can then use this Kindling to upgrade their Solstice armor, increasing its potential stat threshold up to three times
3. To re-roll their upgraded armor, players will need to earn Silver Leaves from Destiny’s usual activities and then transform the leaves into Silver Ash via the Bonfire Bash activity
4. Guardians can use their Silver Ash to re-roll individual armor pieces until they’re perfect
5. Repeat all steps ad infinitum with pieces in different slots or just steps three and four for pieces in the same slot

This new system is a significant departure from Solstice of Heroes in previous years. But it should also make the event more rewarding and interesting for veteran players. It’s impossible to know just how easy it’ll be to get perfectly rolled armor until the event launches next week, but this sounds like Guardians’ best bet at stocking up on stats before Destiny 2: Lightfall’s launch sometime next year.