How to complete Destiny 2’s Public Events, trigger Heroic objectives, and get the best loot

By Staff

Destiny 2 doubles down on Public Events, and you stand to profit.

Now that Destiny 2 makes Public Events so accessible and frequent, you’ll be pleased to know it also offers a chance to make out like a bandit in this profitable activity.

Everyone who participates in a Public Event in Destiny 2 will get some treasure from the loot chest when it’s all over, even if you don’t contribute much – but the quality of that loot depends on what completion rating you collectively earn.

Bronze, Silver and Gold tiers are pretty straightforward: the closer you get to finishing the event before the timer runs out, the better the ranking, with Gold rank awarded on full completion. But Destiny 2 also throws in a slice of mystery in the form of Heroic objectives, which must be unlocked by players during the Public Event and are the only way to get at the very best possible Public Event loot – which includes a good chance for Exotic engrams.

On this page, part of our ever-growing Destiny 2 guide, we’ll list every Public Event, and explain how to beat them both the normal and Heroic way so you can get the best loot. That’s an important part of levelling up fast in Destiny 2, because it’s the best way to farm Exotic engrams – which if nothing else make great fodder for Infusing weapons and armour to raise their Power.

Glimmer Extraction

In this Public Event players must defeat four marked targets in a horde of attacking Fallen, driving the extraction crew away. This must be completed three times, and the extraction site moves after each set of targets is defeated successfully, forcing the player to move to a new location each time. Watch the skies for ships or use Nav Mode to locate your target if you lose track of them.

• Heroic trigger: destroy the single generator found at each Extraction site before defeating the fourth marked target. The generator usually appears after the first three targets have fallen, since they go down fast.
• Heroic phase: when told to “defend Glimmer”, stand in the white defensive zone and battle enemies, including a boss Captain.
• Encountered in: European Dead Zone, Nessus

Servitor Resupply

This event spawns a large Servitor Prime boss. It will occasionally teleport players in the air and around the arena; watch for a white glow on screen and be ready to use your mobility ability (double jump) to get out of trouble.

• Heroic trigger: destroy the Transport Servitors that appear to shield the boss when its health has been lowered. They only hang around for about 30 seconds on each rotation, so be quick. Watch for the shield and trace the tethers to find them.
• Heroic phase: the boss will become deadlier and tougher, as will the adds. The boss will also teleport more players higher in the air, so always have your mobility ability in mind to survive the fall.
• Encountered in: European Dead Zone, Nessus

Destroy the Arsenal Walker

A Fallen Walker must be defeated. The fastest way to take these down is to choose one leg and shoot it until it breaks. This will cause the Walker to collapse temporarily, cracking its shell and exposing its core. Shoot the core with your kinetic weapon to rack up the damage. Repeat for the other five legs.

• Heroic trigger: when the Walker exposes its core it will drop Arc Charges. Grab these and slot them into two the generators on either side of the three force fields around the arena. Once all three are unlocked, the Heroic phase begins.
• Heroic phase: a second Fallen Walker joins the fun and you must beat them both. The cannons are a great help!
• Encountered in: European Dead Zone, Titan

Witches Ritual Event

In this event, the player is tasked with destroying two Wizards. In order to lower their shields, players will need to stand in the plates on each side of the map, which lowers the Wizards’ shields. A boss wizard then spawns, and must be defeated to complete the event.

• Heroic trigger: after defeating the initial two wizards, stay on your plates, then open fire on the two crystals on the columns by the portal. Breaking one gives you more time to go for the other, and both must be destroyed before the boss Wizard spawns in.
• Heroic phase: defeat the boss level Knight who spawns instead of the Wizard.
• Encountered in: Titan

Disrupt Vex Construction

Prevent Vex from approaching the Conflux and sacrificing themselves to it. Gold rank is achieved if no sacrifices are made, and the event ends when the timer expires or the Vex achieve their required number of sacrifices.

• Heroic trigger: capture the three Vex plates surrounding the conflux by standing in them until the meter is fully charged. You can locate them by following the white lines radiating out form the central plate.
• Heroic phase: defeat the boss Hydra while preventing Vex sacrifices.
• Encountered in: Nessus, Io

Cabal Excavations

Players must stay close to the Cabal drill in order to capture it; look for the glowing white ring indicating the capture perimeter, and take note of the on-screen display of how many Guardians are actively capturing the drill. Watch out for the red targeting beams, which rain down death from above; perhaps move out of the way.

• Heroic trigger: shoot down the Cabal Thresher (ship) that spawns at about 50% capture completion. It will return for a second look as the event wears on, so don’t worry if you can’t kill it the first time.
• Heroic phase: quickly kill the Excavation Valus boss who spawns.
• Encountered in: European Dead Zone, Io

Cabal Injection Rig

In this event, players must kill three marked Psion targets. They spawn one at a time, and between each one the orange dome around the injection rig fills with deadly fire (the purge phase); follow the on-screen prompt to evacuate, and await the next Psion. When all three are defeated, an Excavation Valus boss spawns. Please note that you cannot shoot through the orange dome from either direction, but must get in close to your targets.

• Heroic trigger: after killing each Psion, quickly approach the injection rig and fire into the newly-opened vents which open one by one in sequence from top to bottom as you destroy them. There are three vents on the top and middle tiers, but only one at the bottom. You have until the end of the third purge phase to destroy all the vents, which do not respawn. This is the hardest Heroic trigger as the vents are pretty durable, but Wardcliff Coil (for example) can one shot them.
• Heroic phase: beat the Excavation Valus as normal after destroying all seven vents in time. Some Interceptors will join the fun, but they don’t need to be killed.
• Encountered in: European Dead Zone, Nessus

Taken Blight

[Updated for clarity and with post-release details.] Players will need to destroy a Taken Blight (big orb of black goop). You can either destroy the small Taken portals nearby by running inside the surrounding domes (which block damage in both directions) to shoot at the portals, or kill Taken units close enough to be carrying the Blight’s aura; either action will damage the large central Blight. Three Blights must be destroyed to complete the event, and each will spawn in a new location.

• Heroic trigger: instead of killing Taken units and destroying the smaller Blights, step into the domes around the portals and then back out to gain a buff. With this buff, you’re able to damage the Blight directly by shooting it for a precious few seconds. Destroy the Blight using this method each of the three times it appears.
• Heroic phase: a nasty Taken boss will spawn and must be defeated.
• Encountered in: European Dead Zone, Io

Informal Public Events

In addition to the proper Public Events described above, Destiny 2 is full of random encounters. Here are some you might discover as you wander around:

• High Value Target
  A tougher enemy is wandering around. Kill it before it leaves for some region loot. A more advanced version comes with a mob of adds who constantly respawn; ignore them as much as possible and just take down the major. Defeating the enemy spawns a reward chest.
• Interceptor
  Sometimes a Cabal Interceptor will spawn. Murder the pilot to claim his ride.
• Roving Band of Pikes
  A group of three Fallen Pikes appears. Kill them to take their bikes. Especially nice before you get a sparrow.
• “The enemy is moving against each other”
  Two factions of enemies start to beat each other up. If you get involved and thin the ranks things get pretty tense, but there are no rewards.
• Fallen Glimmer mining
  Stumble across a group of Fallen mining on the sly outside the bounds of a Public Event. Keep beating them up until a major appears, and optionally destroy the Glimmer extractors as you go. Killing the end boss rewards a loot chest.
• Incursion
  Similar to the enemy moving against each other, but if you defeat the major you get a loot chest.

Rally the Flag

If you arrive at a Public Event area before it is active, you’ll notice a flag you can interact with. It’s not toally clear what it does just from in-game information. Happily, we know the answer.

If you “Rally the Flag”, you’ll get an onscreen timer indicating how long you’ll need to wait for an event, which is nice, but you’ll also find your Super bar charges and all your ammo is refilled. This gives you a nice start on the event and rewards you for hanging about, potentially providing more chances for other Guardians to co-operate with you.

While you’re in the area, try jumping and balancing on top of the flag. Do a dance or a good emote to delight (or frustrate) less accurate jumpers in the vicinity.

Found any Destiny 2 events we’ve missed? Let us know.