The Destiny 2 Solstice of Heroes event has now gone live, and with it, the final batch of Moments of Triumph challenges have been revealed. An in-game achievement system commemorating landmark Guardian activities over the course of the game's first year, each of the tasks in the Moments of Triumph list has an assigned points score, with new loot available at certain thresholds, from Sparrows, to emblems, to a rather pretty new gilded Ghost shell. And for once, it's a proper Ghost shell, not one of the blobby, ‘90s iMac looking things we've had to deal with lately.
Most Triumphs work retroactively, meaning that you'll likely have completed a few already if you've been playing Destiny 2 for a while. But while some, like completing the campaign, are certainly straightforward, others require a bit of finesse - or at least a dash of canny optimisation of approach – if you want to complete them as efficiently as possible. Below, I've picked out these more nuanced or time-consuming challenges, and laid out exactly the quickest and cleanest ways to get them done. I've also explained how - if at all - they play into upgrading the new Solstice armour set that forms the backbone to some of the Solstice of Heroes event.
You have plenty of time to complete your Moments of Triumph - points can be earned from now until the end of the Solstice of Heroes event on August 28 - but no-one wants to be rushing in the lead-up to the massive Destiny 2: Forsaken expansion, right? So load in, head to the Tower, and interact with the Solstice statue in the Tower to claim that starting armour and get things rolling. As for the tasks you might need help with, they start with...
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Task: Obtain 25 Exotic Weapons or Armor
Special requirements: None
No two ways about this one. At least to a degree, you're beholden to Destiny 2's random loot drop algorithms here. Fortunately, even with the recent reduction in Exotic drop frequency, those golden treasures remain a more common occurrence in D2 than they were in the first game. And there are certainly a few ways of stacking your odds along the way.
Visiting trader Xur is the most obvious route, if you don't mind spending Legendary Shards. And really, given the number of Shards you'll accrue through junking unwanted Legendary drops while grinding out the rest of these Moments of Triumph, you'll end up with plenty of those to spare. Xur will sell three Exotic armour pieces and one weapon each weekend, alongside a Fated Engram, which will guarantee you an Exotic that you don’t already own.
Armour Exotics are tied to specific Guardian classes, so having multiple characters on your account will obviously increase the speed at which you can collect unique pieces. Otherwise, landing Exotics is just a case of repeatedly hitting all the activities where Exotic Engrams may drop. Hammer out Strikes, Crucible matches, and Public Events, and don't forget to pop a Three of Coins (also available from Xur) to increase your chances. Cayde's weekly treasure chests have a surprising likelihood of throwing out Exotics too, which is worth keeping in mind, given the small time investment required to complete them. Have a look at our Destiny 2 Cayde-6 treasure maps guide if you need help with that.
The Very Best
Task: Reach Vanguard Rank 50 in Season 3
Special requirements: None
This one is a basic Strike grind, but there are ways to make it go faster. To hit rank 50, you're going to need to cash in a lot of Vanguard tokens with Zavalla. 1000 in total, to be precise, given the ranking-up rate of 20 tokens per level. Though obviously, if you've ever completed a Strike at any point at all, you'll be looking at less than that.
Wherever you're starting though, your optimum strategy will be the same. Grind the Heroic Strike playlist (which will give you around seven tokens per Strike completion), while also completing the Vanguard challenges for the day in order to get a bonus dump of tokens. To make things easier, for the Traveler's sake, pay attention to the daily Strike modifiers and adapt your load-out and playstyle to take advantage of the Singe elemental damage modifiers. You'd be amazed how many players seem clueless to this, but it absolutely makes a different to incoming and outgoing damage. And if you've got one, equip a Ghost shell that boosts drops during Strikes.
If you can stand the monotony, the weekly Nightfall will often - ironically - be easier than the Heroic Strike playlist, as long as your Power level is high enough. There are disadvantages, mind. You'll be trading variety for ease-of-play, and you’ll need a pre-made Fireteam, due to the Nightfall’s lack of matchmaking. But if you’re okay with all of that, you’ll rake those tokens in.
Fleeting Memories
Task: Collect all 45 Latent Memories
Special requirements: The Warmind DLC
This one requires you to track down all of those little coloured memory discs hidden around Mars, and shoot them with a weapon whose elemental calibration matches its colour. Sorry, did I say 'track down'? No, you don't need to do that. We've got all of their locations in our Destiny 2: Warmind Lost Memory Fragments guide right here.
Show Me the Way
Task: Obtain Sagira's Ghost Shell
Special requirements: The Curse of Osiris DLC
This one will take a while, due to being part of a time-gated process. To get Sagira's shell, you'll need to collect every Forge weapon from Brother Vance's ongoing Lost Prophecy questline on Mercury. This means completing the requirements for all 11 Verse mini-quests, which amount to grinding out special material drops during various activities.
You'll trigger the process by completing your first Heroic Adventure on Mercury after finishing the Curse of Osiris story campaign, but be aware that Vance will only offer a maximum of three Verses per week. Instructions for their particular requirements are listed on each Verse though, so the actual process of clocking each one is pretty straightforward once you get going, if repetitive. Though if you want a more detailed rundown, do check out our Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris Lost Prophecies guide.
I Will Smash You
Task: Defeat 100 Opponents in the Crucible
Special requirements: None
100 opponents sounds like a lot. It isn't. Depending on your skill level and the availability of a pre-made Fireteam to make things easier, you're probably only looking at a play-time of between an hour and an afternoon. With assists counting toward the total, a decent Crucible player should have this cleaned up in around five matches, and even a weak or inexperienced PvPer will probably only need 10 to 15 matches at the very most. In terms of optimisation, just remember the golden rules of the current Destiny 2 Crucible meta. Stick with at least one buddy, because combined team-fire is still the strongest tactic, back away if you're outnumbered, and don't over-commit to a fight you're not sure you can win.
In terms of game modes, Quickplay is still technically the lowest intensity playlist, though it has been getting notably sweatier recently, thanks to the ubiquity of the overpowered Graviton Lance and Vigilance Wing pulse rifles. An ironically more relaxed alternative might actually be the Mayhem playlist, which, with its rapidly regenerating abilities, Power ammo, and Supers, effectively guarantees short matches with a whole lot of deaths on both sides. Just accept that you'll die a lot, keep up your offensive momentum, and always have your Super ready to spam out. And then spam it. Never don’t spam it.
Hive Extermination
Task: Complete Tier 7 in Escalation Protocol
Special requirements: The Warmind DLC
Even at a higher Power level, this one can be tricky to organise, due to the impossibility of formally assembling a full, nine-Guardian team in-game. Escalation Protocol's nature as a Patrol space event largely means that the support is either there or it isn't. And whatever Bungie's official line on how Escalation Protocol is meant to be played, even a decent, high-level, pre-made Fireteam of three is going to struggle without back-up. But there are ways around these challenges.
At the most basic level, you can just keep refreshing your instance of Mars by fast-travelling between landing points until you find a busier server. And outside the game, there are a few different places online that you can try to organise a team, though it'll take a bit of Fireteam-juggling dexterity to get everyone in the same place. DestinyLFG.net might help you out there, as might the Destiny Fireteams Reddit.
Once you get into an Escalation Protocol, just remember the basics. Void weapons and abilities are king, thanks to the Void damage buff that comes from hitting an enemy with the Tractor Cannon shotgun. If no-one in the group is using the Tractor Cannon on bosses, you should do it yourself. Save your supers for the bosses, unless you’re a Hunter. If you’re a Hunter, use the Way of the Pathfinder Nightstalker subclass (and the Orpheus Rig boots if you have them) to snare large mobs and keep everyone’s supers and abilities topped up with orbs and energy. And do not fire your Shadowshot tether at a boss if a Titan has already used the Melting Point debuff, as the (weaker) tether debuff will cancel it out. Feel free to combo it with Warlock Nova bombs all day though. Those stacking damage buffs are the key to burning bosses down fast.
The Emperor
Task: Defeat Calus in the Leviathan Raid
Special requirements: None
This one is a basic Raid completion challenge, and in this current phase of Destiny 2 that’s not as imposing as you might think. There’s no demand that you finish the harder Prestige Raid, and the difficulty of any version of Leviathan is way below the Power cap these days. Really, co-ordination and team building will be your biggest challenges here. Again, if you're having trouble getting six people together, the online resources posted above should help. And if you want to breeze through the Raid without spending any time working out how to do it all, you can check out our full Destiny 2 Leviathan Raid guide. Though if you can spare the time and find the people, I'd totally recommend organising a blind run for your first go at any Raid.
Prove Your Worth
Task: Complete Eater of Worlds and Spire of Stars Raid Lairs
Special requirements: Both pieces of DLC
Same again, but with the two Raid lairs. Your approach should be the same, but do know that Eater of Worlds and Spire of the Stars are both significantly shorter than Leviathan, so this will be much less of a commitment. That said, Spire of the Stars, being the latest Raid Lair released with the Warmind expansion, has a significantly higher Power level requirement, at 370.
Treasure Hunter
Task: Collect All Region Chests
Special requirements: Both pieces of DLC
Exactly what it says on the tin. This one is as straightforward as it gets. The Region Chests are marked on the in-game map, and your Moments of Triumph completion records - currently accessible by logging in to Bungie.net - will even tell you which ones you're missing. If you need any more help, our Destiny 2 Lost Sector and treasure chest locations guide has you covered for the vanilla game.
Valor Fabled
Task: Reach Legend in Valor ranking in Season 3
Special requirements: None
This one goes hand-in-hand with Crucible kills. It'll just take longer. Though there is a big of ambiguity in the task requirement. The Triumph description references hitting Legend level, which means reaching the fifth and top level of PvP XP ranking in the Quickplay playlist. The Triumph title, however, references Fabled, the third level. Reddit is currently reporting that this easier goal is indeed the target (though I haven't been able to test it myself, having hit Legend before Moments of Triumph went live). Either way, the process is largely a case of simply continuing to play until you get there. You'll get XP whether you win or lose - though more for a win, obviously - and streaks of multiple wins in a row will increase the points you score for their duration.
This latter factor, alas, is a crap-shoot if you're playing solo, as the random players you're matched with will vary in quality to a huge degree (as will your opponents and the quality of their connections, given the current state of Destiny 2 matchmaking). Crucible ranking doesn’t actually currently involve any real ranking at all, and won’t affect who you play with or against, so as ever in Destiny 2 PvP, playing with a pre-made, communicative team will massively increase your chance of a win. And it goes without saying, if Bungie runs another triple-Valor weekend like the one that's just gone, you should hit that the instant it goes live.
Fashion Hero
Task: Upgrade the full Solstice of Heroes Armor Set to Legendary Quality
Special requirements: Acquiring the Solstice of Heroes armour set by completing the initial Homecoming mission
This one requires two stages of upgrade from the initial, green-tier starting Solstice armour. First up, you’ll need to complete the first level of upgrade requirements to get the armour to Rekindled status (which has 340 Power), and then hit the second level of objectives to take it up to the Legendary-tier, Resplendent version with 400 Power. All of the requirements at each stage will appear on each individual armour piece’s description tab in your inventory, but while there are a lot of them, none of them are particularly hard.
Making time and occasionally getting a pre-made Fireteam together will be your biggest challenges (particularly for the Raid-based tasks), but the LFG resources mentioned above will, again, help you with that. It’s worth noting though, that individual armour tasks only require you to be wearing the specific armour you’re levelling up, rather than the full set. This is particularly handy early on, when you’re using the crappy, green ‘Scorched’ set with its minimal stats. Putting on a few decent pieces will really help, particularly when you’re chasing kills in the Crucible.
Above and Beyond
Task: Masterwork any Solstice of Heroes armor
Special requirements: Acquiring the Solstice of Heroes armour set by completing the initial Homecoming mission, completing the Fashion Hero task
Masterworking is the third tier of armour upgrading. Again, each piece has its own requirement but, while a little more demanding than the previous level’s stuff, they’re lower in number. Really, as long as you can get a Raid team together and maybe don’t mind temporarily jumping clans to help each other clear the solitary ‘play with a clanmate’ task, there’s nothing here that will task you too much if you’re half-decent at Destiny and/or have some experienced friends. Though if you’re short on assistance with this more co-op focused bout of challenges, those LFG solutions should be able to help you out once again.
The Hero We Deserve
Task: Complete all Public Events on Heroic Difficulty during Solstice of Heroes
Special requirements: None
This one is pretty straightforward. Just find Public Events using the timers on each planet’s map, turn up, turn them Heroic using their hidden triggers, and complete them. If you’ve done any since Destiny 2’s Moments of Triumph went live on Bungie.net a couple of weeks ago, they may already be recorded in-game, but Bungie has confirmed that only Public Events completed since the start of the Solstice of Heroes count. And check out our guide on how to trigger Heroic Public Events in Destiny 2 if you’re new and not sure how to do it. You don’t want to waste any time on the normal versions.
Running Errands
Task: Complete 25 Bounties
Special requirements: None
Nothing overly complex here – mainly due to the fact that Destiny 2’s Bounties are much simpler than those of the original Destiny, and can be pretty much completed in the background of normal play. Just load up from Zavalla and Shaxx every day, and play Strikes and Crucible matches until you’re done. You’re going to have to hit both of those playlists in order to complete some other Triumphs and Solstice armour upgrade tasks, so you might as well stack it all together for efficiency.
In My Element
Task: Collect 250 Elemental Orbs
Special requirements: None
Provided you’re wearing the full Solstice armour set, Destiny 2 will now drop Elemental Orbs when you defeat enemies. These are a lot like Orbs of Light, except coloured to match Destiny’s three weapon and ability elements, Arc, Solar, and Void. They act as currency for levelling up your Solstice armour, and they’re also a requirement for this Triumph challenge.
In truth, this one is another quite passive task. If you just play the game and keep an eye on the ground, you’ll collect a ton of Elemental Orbs as a matter of course. But, if you’re after a certain colour of orb – say, to complete a particular armour upgrade milestone as you go – you’ll want to equip the corresponding subclass in order to increase the number of orbs that will drop of that element. It’s been suggested – but not confirmed – that matching elemental weaponry might play a role too, but Masterworked weapons don’t seem to make a difference. Neither does there seem to be any particular, gameplay-driven way to push more Orb-drops. It all seems pretty random beyond just picking the right subclass and playing. Your own kills won’t always drop them, and you’ll gain plenty from kills made by other players too.
Remember Who You Are
Task: Complete each Redux mission at least once
Special requirements: None
You’ve already played those campaign missions a bunch of times before Solstice of Heroes, right? Surely this is an utterly perfunctory task? Well no. You see, the Redux versions of those missions have been cranked right up, often with a blunt-force trauma approach to difficulty balancing. There is very little subtlety to the way these things have been upgraded. That room that used to hold four Cabal Legionaries? Now there are ten, and a couple of minibosses, all squeezed in shoulder-to-shoulder and chasing you around relentlessly.
Basically, you’re going to need to change up your playstyle a bit. Particularly if you’re wearing the low-level, starting Solstice armour to level it up (Redux completion is part of the upgrade criteria at several stages), you’ll want to play defensively, with evasion always on your mind. Bring your most powerful guns to eke out every Power level increase you can, pay attention to enemy shield elements when picking out your Energy and Power load-out, and always be aware of the cover and escape opportunities in every room and area. Push forward methodically, and don’t over-commit. Thin out the pack strategically, and don’t move on until you’re sure you’re not going to get ganked around the next corner.
