Heist Battlegrounds

Embark on daring heists to repossess fragments of Rasputin's scattered subminds in order to restore the Warmind.

Heist Battlegrounds is a 3-player matchmade Arena activity introduced during the Season of the Seraph. It is a successor to the PsiOps Battlegrounds activity from the Season of the Risen. It was followed by Defiant Battlegrounds in the Season of Defiance.

With the release of Lightfall, most Year 5 seasonal content was removed from the game and added to the Destiny Content Vault. The PsiOps Battlegrounds and Heist Battlegrounds missions remained in the game, moving to the Vanguard Ops strike playlist. They cannot be launched as individual missions through the Director, and can only be played when randomly chosen by the playlist.

Access

Access to this activity requires the player to own either the Season of the Seraph Season Pass or The Witch Queen Deluxe Edition. During the Season, non-Season Pass holders are given one free playthrough of the Heist Battleground: Moon mission.

Missions can be launched directly from their destination's map, but do not feature the same modifiers and additional rewards as the playlist. The Heist Battlegrounds playlist and the current Legend difficulty Heist Battleground mission can be found on the H.E.L.M. map. The Legend difficulty mission has additional modifiers and does not have matchmaking. At the start of the Season, the Legend mission rotated weekly. In the final week of the Season, it was changed to a daily rotation.

The normal playlist has a recommended Power Level of 1550, while the Legend difficulty has a recommended Power of 1580.

Overview

Heist Battlegrounds missions are structured similarly to Strikes. Players will fight through a large amount of enemies (usually including Hive) in a linear progression, occasionally needing to complete objectives that will remove obstacles and allow progress to continue. These objectives vary depending on the mission. In the playlist, Barrier and Unstoppable Champions will appear.

Players must avoid hazards as a result of the Warmind's self-defense system. In outdoor areas, Warmind towers will aim a laser at any players in their line of sight; after 15 seconds, the player will die. By hiding behind cover and breaking line of sight with all nearby towers, the player's timer (visible as a buff) will start ticking back up. Inside the Warmind bunkers, players will often encounter laser barriers and other traps that can kill or hinder them.

At one point in the mission, a Deathtongue Chorister will spawn, with its appearance announced in the text log. This Acolyte will attempt to reach a floating Hive totem nearby. If it is not defeated before it gets there, it will channel Xivu Arath's Battlesong, disabling all players' abilities until it is defeated. It is recommended to kill the Chorister before it activates the totem, since doing so progresses Triumphs and can grant additional rewards at the end.

Eventually, the players will enter a Warmind bunker and reach the door to the submind vault. In order to open the door, they must navigate the nearby area and pick up PDT Refraction Cores. The Core can fire a laser, which can be used to destroy the Hive seals that are locking the door to the boss room. If players take too long (indicated by a timer shown under the current objective), enemy reinforcements will be called in.

After the boss is defeated, two chests will spawn: one that opens automatically, and a Seraph Chest that costs 500 Seraph Key Codes to open. The Seraph Chest is only available in the playlist, and will not appear when launching a Heist Battleground mission from the destination map icon.

List

Name	Location	Enemies	Boss
Heist Battleground: Europa	Europa	Hive, Fallen	Warwatcher, Eye of Xivu Arath (Shrieker)
Heist Battleground: Moon	Moon	Hive, Scorn	Once-Phyris, the Exhumed Tether (Raider)
Heist Battleground: Mars	Mars (Savathûn's Throne World)	Hive, Taken	Darkblade Kelgorath, Risen from Bones (Darkblade Knight)

Modifiers

These modifiers apply to the Heist Battlegrounds playlist. Launching a specific mission from the Destinations map will instead use the current modifiers for the Vanguard Ops playlist.

• Playlist Rules: Power Level: All combatants in this activity will be at least 5 points over your current Power level.
• One of the following:
  • Empath: Enhanced radar. Take increased damage from melee.
  • Fire Pit: When defeated, Acolytes spawn fire pools that cause damage over time.
  • Martyr: Exploder units have more health.
• Champion Foes: You will face Barrier and Unstoppable Champions.

Upgrades

The following upgrades (unlocked at the Exo Frame by making progress in the More Than a Weapon quest) can affect gameplay in Heist Battlegrounds missions:

• Tactical Armor: Allows the bypassing of traps and reduces damage taken from traps and laser barriers in Heist Battlegrounds and the mission "Operation: Seraph's Shield."
• Security Clearance: Allows interaction with terminals to open locked doors in Heist Battlegrounds and in the mission "Operation: Seraph's Shield." Can be used to gain an additional PDT Refraction Core outside submind vaults.
• Extreme Ordnance: Allows the spawning of a power-up that refreshes all abilities and grants a damage bonus against Deathtongue Choristers in Heist Battlegrounds and Sentinel Servitors in the mission "Operation: Seraph's Shield."

Rewards

A treasure chest at the end of each mission rewards Glimmer and gear. Completing missions will also grant reputation, which increases rank with the Exo Frame vendor in the H.E.L.M. Wearing seasonal armor will increase the amount of reputation gained, with each armor item granting a stacking boost (5% each, up to a maximum of 20%).

The Seraph Chest can also be opened at the end of the mission for 500 Seraph Key Codes, rewarding 10 Seraphic Umbral Energy. The Seraph Chest can also drop seasonal weapons and armor items.

Weapons

The following weapons can drop when opening a Seraph Chest.

These weapons have Weapon Patterns that can be learned through Deepsight Resonance extractions, allowing them to be crafted.

	Disparity
	Pulse Rifle

	Tripwire Canary
	Combat Bow

	Judgment of Kelgorath
	Glaive

	Path of Least Resistance
	Trace Rifle

	Fire and Forget
	Linear Fusion Rifle

	Retrofit Escapade
	Machine Gun

Armor

The following armor items can drop when opening a Seraph Chest.

• Warmind's Avatar Helm / Warmind's Avatar Mask / Warmind's Avatar Headpiece (Helmet)
• Warmind's Avatar Gauntlets / Warmind's Avatar Vambraces / Warmind's Avatar Gloves (Gauntlets)
• Warmind's Avatar Chestplate / Warmind's Avatar Vest / Warmind's Avatar Robes (Chest Armor)
• Warmind's Avatar Legplates / Warmind's Avatar Legguards / Warmind's Avatar Pants (Leg Armor)
• Warmind's Avatar Mark / Warmind's Avatar Cloak / Warmind's Avatar Bond (Class Item)

Upgrades

The following upgrades (unlocked at the Exo Frame with Exo Frame Modules) can affect the rewards obtained from Heist Battlegrounds missions:

• Umbral Silence: Defeating Deathtongue Choristers in playlist Heist Battlegrounds before they activate the alarm will grant Seraphic Umbral Energy at activity completion. The amount is increased in Heist Battlegrounds on Legend difficulty.
• Heisted Seraphic Gear: When opening the locked Seraph Chest in playlist Heist Battlegrounds, the chance of getting new Season of the Seraph gear is greatly increased compared to the chance of getting repeats of gear already acquired. When a repeat does drop, which will be guaranteed after acquiring all gear, it comes with additional Exo Frame reputation.
• Heisted Deepsight: The first time you open a locked Seraph Chest in playlist Heist Battlegrounds each week, an additional Seraph weapon that you do not have the Pattern for will drop with a guaranteed Deepsight Resonance.
• Heisted High Stat: The first time each week you open a locked Seraph Chest in the Heist Battlegrounds playlist, you receive an additional high-stat piece of Season of the Seraph armor.
• Seraphic Deepsight Bonus: Locked Seraph Chests in playlist and Legend Heist Battlegrounds have a chance to drop an additional Seasonal weapon with a guaranteed Deepsight Resonance that you do not have the Pattern for.

Notes

• Wrathborn enemies appear in some missions, last seen in the Wrathborn Hunts activity during the Season of the Hunt. They do not retain any unique mechanics from that Season, with their differences from normal enemies being mostly visual.

Patch History

• 6.3.0.5
  • Fixed an issue where Shadebinder Warlocks couldn’t shoot Stasis projectiles during their Super.
  • Legend difficulty now grants progression toward various Triumphs and Challenges.
  • Year-5 Seasonal ritual activities now count toward ritual progress of all Season Pass Exotic catalyst quests.
• 6.3.0.3
  • Fixed an issue where the game would crash when depositing an Arc charge while the boss is immune in Heist Battlegrounds.
  • Players can now join in progress during the boss encounters in the Heist Battlegrounds playlist.
  • Fixed an issue where the Heist Battlegrounds: Legend node would sometimes display incorrect activity details, such as matchmaking.