Destiny 2 Heroic Public Events is one of the many activities you can get up to as you explore each of the game's many planetary spaces.
As well as chests, Patrol Missions and Lost Sectors, planets have revolving scenarios known as Public Events. These appear in set points on the maps of each planet (Earth, Io, Titan and Nessus) and appear and regular intervals.
Destiny 2 Heroic Public Events explained
Designed to be played with random players as well as your Fireteam, Public Events are timed combat scenarios in the open-world. They are akin to Public Events from the first game - with the likes of the Arsenal Walker making a comeback, for example - but have a hint of Court of Oryx about them, with disguised challenges to figure out and complete.
As well as simply beating them, each one hasa hidden Heroic version to trigger. This then changes their finale with an extra challenge, and completing it will give you additional rewards on top.
To find a Public Event, pop open your map for that planet, and search for the diamond-shaped activities with a timer ticking down. Fast travel close by and head over, and hopefully other players will join you.
If it's already under way, getting in the radius or shooting an enemy inside will see you join in - no need to be there from the off.
Public Events are an excellent way for you to level up in the end-game, as with a team of players with you, can be completed in five minutes for guaranteed rare (blue) loot drop up to the soft cap of 265 - far faster than other activities in the game.
Combine this with the Faction Token you also receive for each one, the chance of loot dropping from enemies naturally and the Flashpoint milestone, it's an excellent source of levelling. If you want to know more, our Destiny 2 power levels explains this and other best practices for levelling.
Final point - even if you don't manage to quite finish a Public Event, you'll still get a minor reward, from Glimmer to a Faction Token for that planet. Completing the base version and the Heroic version will give you more loot as a result, but even if the countdown runs out, you'll get something for your time.
What is the best planet for Public Events in Destiny 2?
If you're looking to grind your way through a bunch of Public Events, then some planets will be easier and more populated than others.
Between it being the starter planet (having the highest volume of new players and 'lower level' Public Events) and its size and range of activities to attract players, the EDZ is likely to be the most popular place to find random others to join you.
That said, it's worth paying most attention to the current week's Flashpoint.
Once you have unlocked the Milestone, it'll give you an additional high level reward for completing a number of Public Events on a specific planet for that week.
Since others will also be unlocking the same Milestone, there will be more players there to help you unlock it.
Otherwise if you are keen to play Public Events on a particular planet (some types can only be found on some planets) then you can always team up with a Fireteam to help you beat them.
Some are very difficult to take on solo, so having a team with you is always advised, and with two others you could probably complete any Public Event on any planet, without a random population of players being there.
Heroic Public Event triggers for Injection Rig, Taken Blight, Cabal Excavation and more
Here is a list of every Public Event in the game, their locations, strategies and advice on how to tackle them, and how to begin their Heroic versions.
Glimmer Extraction
You'll need to defeat three sets of three Excavators at three different locations. Each trio is tougher to defeat than the last and you'll have to deal with plenty of regular Fallen while you're at. The best strategy is to try and take out the generators (see below) before engaging the Fallen around each one.
The best tactic is to have most of your squad focus fire on the generator in each location, while one other focuses on the Fallen enemies. That way, you can be sure the Heroic will eventually be activated.
Heroic Trigger: To turn the event Heroic, you'll need to take out the three generators at each location BEFORE you take down the Excavators (remember, there's one generator at each site, making a total of three you need to destroy in order to create the trigger).
Use your power weapon to take them out quickly. The Heroic phase, when triggered, will require you to defend a pile of glimmer from a wave of Fallen, and a boss.
Make sure everyone is stood within the white ring as this will speed up the process of collecting the glimmer (much like taking a base or flag in other shooters).
Try and ensure everyone on your team is covering a different direction to ensure everyone is safe. Beware of the powerful captain that spawns, when he does concentrate your fire on him to bring the event to a close.
Locations: EDZ, Nessus
Destroy the Arsenal Walker
In terms of strategy, this Public Event is relatively straightforward, especially if you're playing in a group. Focus fire on the core of the Walker when it becomes exposed periodically through the Public Event.
The legs of the walker are its weakest point, so concentrate fire here to force the walker to collapse.
As as you begin to prepare for the Heroic phase, ensure that someone is always concentrating fire on that core to bring the walker's health down dramatically.
Heroic Trigger: While this is happening, one to three members of your squad will need to trigger the Heroic phase. In order to do this, you'll need to grab one of the Arc Charges dropped by the Walker while its core is exposed.
Slot it into one of the three sets of generators placed around the walker.
There are two generators on either side side of each energy dome, and successfully charging each one will reveal the heavy weapon its concealing.
This will unlock larger weapons, such as Scorch Cannons, which will help during the Heroic phase. Do this three time to kick off the hard part.
Complete this three times and you'll trigger the Heroic. Surprise, there's a second Walker to defeat now.
Use those heavy weapons to overwhelm one at a time (preferably focusing on the original one first as it'll be the most damaged) to complete this Public Event. This will usually spawn a high value target as well, so split your fire between the remaining walker and the higher level foe.
Location: European Dead Zone, Titan
Cabal Excavation
The basic idea of this Public Event is to stay close to a Cabal drill. The longer you stay within the white circle, the higher the number increases. When it reaches 100, you'll win the event.
This event can get really crazy, so watch out for the red circles that appear randomly around the drill - these will drain your health in seconds (they'll also take out the Cabal too) so always keep moving.
Waves of Cabal will drop down as well, including Legionnaires, Incendios and Psions. Some Psions will also hang back and snipe you from a distance, so ensure someone on your team (or you, if you're playing lone wolf) has a sniper or an auto rifle with decent range).
A high value Gladiator will also sometimes appear, as do War Beasts.
Heroic Trigger: To send things all Heroic, keep an eye out for a Thresher (a medium sized, red Cabal ship), it will appear twice, so concentrate most of your fire on it whenever it appears.
It's health won't regenerate, so don't worry if you don't down it the first time. Just make sure someone is still working on the Cabal.
When the Thresher is destroyed, the Heroic phase will begin. This will spawn a high value Colossus.
Focus everyone's fire on the Colossus as he'll be tough, even with a bunch of Level 20 players laying waste to him. When he's toast, the big spoils of war will be yours.
Location: EDZ, Io
Injection Rig
One of the tougher Public Events currently in circulation in Destiny 2, the Cabal Injection Rig needs at least a couple of experienced players to bring the event to Heroic.
To begin, a large red rig will drop down from the sky, which is then covered by a orange dome. This dome stops any outside fire from penetrating within, so forget sniping or working at range. This event wants you to get in amongst the action.
The event will spawn three different Psions that you must kill in order to initiate the final part of this battle.
If you're keeping it normal, take out each Psion and strafe, double jump to avoid the War Beasts, Gladiators, Legionnaires and Phalanx that attack.
It's very easy to get mobbed here. When all three Psions are dead, Excavator Valus (a Centurion) will drop down. Defeat him with a few supers to get your loot.
Heroic Trigger: To trigger the Heroic, things get tricky. After defeating each Psion, you'll have to quickly dash out of the orange dome as the rig ejects insta-killing heat.
Instantly dash back in and look for some yellow vents that have opened. There are three vents at the top, three in the middle and one at the bottom. You'll need to have destroyed all of them before killing the third and final Psion.
You'll still have to face Valus, only now some Interceptors will also join the party.
Keep airborne and keep using grenades and supers to thin out these tightly packed groups. When it's done, reap some very tasty rewards.
Location: EDZ, Nessus
Taken Blight
Another tough Public Event on the current Destiny 2 list (if you're playing solo, less so with a decent fireteam), Taken Blight is all about using your position to deal damage while working as a team to avoid being overrun by Taken.
Once the event triggers, a giant, glowing ball of Taken energy (the Taken Blight) will appear.
You can't just damage it from the off - in fact, shooting it directly won't work at all - so you'll need to look for smaller Blights near the larger one. Step within its aura and lay waste to it.
Most of the Taken (including Psions and Phalanx) will congregate here so use grenades and a high level weapon to destroy it. This will then damage the bigger Blight nearby.
There will be three waves of these smaller Blights (one for the first, two for the second, and three for the third). Play smart and have the other players on your time work on each Blight.
Heroic Trigger: Once the integrity of the Taken Blight hits 0%, it will explode - but it's not over yet. You've now entered the Heroic Phase, in place of that giant ball you've now got a nasty Taken Blightmaker boss to deal with. Concentrate fire on his white eye, but beware of the remaining Taken trying to mob you while you're at it.
In terms of spawning and location, the Taken Blight remains one of the rarest Public Events at launch. We've only encountered in The Sludge of the EDZ, although it does appear on Io as well.
Location: EDZ, Io
Disrupt Vex Construction
This Public Event is basically impossible to pull of solo, even for a Level 20 players with a 250+ Power Level.
It's all about teamwork, and fast teamwork at that. The idea is to protect a generator in the middle of the room and stop Vex from sacrificing themselves before it (they'll glow blue and white as they disintegrate, so ensure at least one player is here at all times.
Placing yourself one of the higher platforms surrounding this event on Nessus can also work really well.
Keep an eye on those three lines of white light steaming off the central generator. These lead to three specific portals on the map that will light up one at a time.
Have at least two players on this portal, and wait until the counter reaches 10. You'll have to contend with Fanatics, Hydras, Hobgoblins, Goblins, Harpies and Minotaurs so stay together to endure the onslaught.
Heroic Trigger: To trigger the Heroic, you'll need to capture all three of the portals, one by one, without letting ten of the Vex sacrifice themselves to the generator.
This is one of the toughest events to trigger, so ensure there's enough of you in the squad to pull it off. When the three portals have been taken, the Heroic phase will begin and you'll now have to fight a very tough Hydra.
As usual, time your fire to strike in between its revolving shields. Spacing out the players in your squad is the best tactic as at least a couple of your group will always have eyes on an exposed side of the Hydra.
Location: Nessus, Io
Season of the Haunted is here! Get up to speed with our levelling guide. For The Witch Queen, learn how to get Exotics including Dead Messenger and Parasite. Late last year, we saw the Bungie 30th Anniversary, which adds the Grasp of Avarice dungeon, Strange Coins and new Exotics, including the Gjallarhorn and Forerunner.
Witches Ritual
This is the only Public Event currently available on Titan, Witches Ritual Event is all about battling a bunch of Wizards and a lot of Thral.
As soon as the event begins, you'll see two glowing, green sigils appear on the floor. You can only damage the two wizard's by standing in these circular areas. So make sure you have at least one weapon with a decent amount of range on it.
The wizards will periodically release throngs of Thral, so make sure at least one of your team is concentrating on these foes as they can be deadly in a mob.
When both wizards have been defeated, two crystals will appear on either side of the main portal. Run back onto those circular sigils and destroy the crystals. You need to take both out to trigger the Heroic.
Heroic Trigger: Once both crystals have been destroyed (you won't have long, so everyone needs to be on the same page for this), the game will trade in the tough Wizard it was going to send and instead opts for a ultra-tough Knight.
There will be lots of Cursed Thral (the ones that explode) so concentrate fire on the Knight, but keeping jumping to avoid Thral-based death.
If you ensure at least one of your team is taking care of the Cursed Thral, you should have more than enough time and firepower to take down the Knight (Abyssal Champion) and claim your Heroic Event rewards.
Location: Titan
Ether Resupply
While this Public Event might seem simple, it's incredibly difficult to pull off without a decent team with you.
A large Servitor Prime will appear in the middle of the area, so he's going to be the main focus of your fire. He's surrounded by Dregs, Vandals, Marauders, Shanks and Explosive Shanks so you're going to need at least one player mopping up the smaller foes while the rest of the squad focus on the Servitor.
Other than his standard purple energy blasts, the Servitor also has a temporal displacement attack and teleports you to a position that's right in front of it, or much further away.
Either way, you'll end up high in the air, so be sure to air jump to safety. Periodically, smaller Transport Servitors will appear, making the larger one immune...
Heroic Trigger: This leads us into the Heroic trigger section. These smaller Servitors only appear for around 20-30 seconds, so you need to concentrate fire on it before it disappears.
When three of them appear at once (when he's around halfway dead), destroy each one (follow the purple beam of light to find them mid-battle) and you'll enter the Heroic phase.
The Servitor Prime will now become a lot deadlier and far tougher than before. Be on your guard for his temporal displacement attack - this will now affect all participating players, rather than just the one he's looking at. When's he down, go reap your well earned rewards.
Location: EDZ, Nessus
Vex Crossroads
Destiny 2's first DLC Curse of Osiris features a new planetary patrol space and a Destiny 2 Mercury Heroic Public Event named 'Vex Crossroads'.
Location: Mercury
Additional reporting by Matthew Reynolds.
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