In Destiny 2, public events spawn in the overworld areas of Earth, Titan, Nessus and Io, inviting any Guardians nearby to join a tough fight. If anyone involved completes a certain action, though, it will become a Heroic Public Event. These are much harder fights with much better rewards. It’s kind of hard to define what better means here, but generally speaking, you’ll get higher level, higher damage weapons, better armor and more glimmer than usual.

There are several types of public events, and each requires its own action to turn it into a Heroic Public Event. We’ll break them down below.

Vex Crossroads public event

Triggering the Heroic version of the Vex Crossroads public event is relatively simple. Play through the event like normal, killing the Vex until the percentage hits 100. Once the Vex are dead and the Gatekeepers come out, choose a side and take them down. Grab their charges and place them on either side of the gate. This will turn the man-cannon around and launch you over to an island. Destroy the Keeper of Ages here and slam their charge into the middle of the island.

This is where things change. Instead of returning to the central area, look to the back of the island. There will be a crystal floating in the air. Naturally, you'll want to shoot this until it explodes. The destruction of the crystal will create a platform. Jump on the new platform and look for more crystals in the air. Repeat this process until you reach the top of the island.

Once up here, stand on the middle plate to turn the Public Event Heroic. Finish the event, and you will be rewarded with two chests and a heap of XP. You do not need to destroy the crystals on both islands. You only need to destroy one.

Cabal Excavation public event

In a Cabal Excavation public event, you have to capture a Cabal drill from the (Cabal) troops guarding it. Just stand within the white circle surrounding the drill, and you’ll see a timer counting up to 100 that reads “Overriding Lander.”

When the drill is about 30 percent captured, a flying Thresher will appear. Destroy it (rocket launchers work great) to turn this into a Heroic Public Event. Don’t worry if you don’t destroy the evil flying machine the first time it appears. I’ll retreat and loop back around in a minute or so.

This summons a Cabal Centurion for you to defeat. Also, the mortars all target you directly instead of aiming and firing at random.

Glimmer Extraction public event

During a Glimmer Extraction public event, you’re chasing Fallen as they try to mine Glimmer. Mostly, you’re going to be focused on shooting the bad guys guarding the drill, but to turn this into a Heroic Public Event, you have to ignore them. There’s a small machine that appears on the ground near the drill. You have to destroy this machine at each location before killing the Fallen in each wave.

To complete the Heroic portion, you just have to protect the pile of glimmer that appears from the waves of incoming Fallen.

Injection Rig public event

An Injection Rig public event sees the Cabal dropping an enormous rig into an area. As you’re fighting but before you kill the Infiltrator Valus, look for the open heat vents on the rig. They’ll open in phases — three at the top, three in the middle, then one on the bottom — as you destroy them.

Once you trigger the Heroic Public Event, a Cabal Centurion will appear. He’s your new objective. Kill him to receive your big reward.

Ether Resupply public event

An Ether Resupply public event is pretty straightforward. There’s a Servitor, it’s big, and you shoot it. (We didn’t say it was easy.) To turn this into a Heroic Public Event, you need to quickly take out the smaller Servitors that spawn around it. If you destroy them all quickly enough, the main Servitor will get a whole lot tougher.

Just keep fighting and destroy the beefed-up Servitor to complete the Heroic Public Event.

Disrupt Vex Construction public event (Spire Integration)

Your job during a Spire Integration public event is to keep the Vex from rushing toward you and sacrificing themselves to a conflux — the altar-like thing made out of energy and guarded by three Harpies. For a regular version of this event, you just keep the Vex away until time runs out. While you’re probably focused on the Vex during one of these events, look around nearby for some plates to appear. Capture enough of these plates to activate the beacon to start the Heroic Public Event.

During the Disrupt Vex Construction phase of the public event, you need to stand within the boundaries of circular plates. Look for vertical pillars with rotating tops. Stand in the area surrounding them. When you’re inside of the glowing white circle, a timer will count up to 100, indicating that you’re capturing it. It’s useful to split up and capture multiple areas simultaneously, as we did in the video above.

Stand in all of them and satisfy the timers, and you’ll trigger the Heroic version of the event. Now you’ll have to face waves of increasingly difficult Vex and still prevent them from getting to the conflux.

Taken Blight public event

A Taken Blight public event is a Taken-shooting free-for-all. During three waves, pillars surrounded by force fields will appear. Walk through the force fields surrounding the pillars. When you exit, you’ll have a buff called “Blight Receding.” (You can see it on the lower left part of your screen.) Shoot the large Blight glob while the buff is active, which is the only time you can damage it. Repeat the process until you destroy the glob, and you’ll trigger the Heroic Public Event. This will summon a new, super-strong Taken for you to defeat.

Weapons Exchange public event

These are a new twist on the familiar Walker public events. There are some shielded weapons around the area where you’ll be fighting. When you drop the Walker the first time, it’ll spew out some arc charges. If you use these arc charges to unlock all three shields before you defeat the walker, you’ll turn this into a Heroic Public Event.

Another walker will drop in (because why not) and you’ll have to destroy that one, too, to complete this Heroic Public Event.

Witches’ Ritual public event

A Witches’ Ritual public event on Titan (and Titan only) requires you to prevent a pair of Hive Wizards from opening a portal. To do so, you have stand in the circular green areas and, from each, shoot one of two crystals at the top corners of the giant portal in the room. Doing this will summon an incredibly difficult enemy. Defeat it to complete the Heroic Public Event.