PsiOps Battlegrounds

Wage Psionic warfare against the Lucent Hive.

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

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 Risen Season Pass or The Witch Queen Deluxe Edition. During the Season, non-Season Pass holders were given one free playthrough of the PsiOps Battleground: EDZ mission as part of the Rising Tensions quest.

Missions can be launched directly from their destination's map, but do not feature the same modifiers and additional rewards as the playlist. The PsiOps Battlegrounds playlist and the current Legend difficulty PsiOps Battleground mission can be found on the H.E.L.M. map. The Legend difficulty mission rotates daily (originally weekly), features additional modifiers, and does not have matchmaking.

The normal playlist has a recommended Power Level of 1400, while the Legend difficulty has a recommended Power of 1580.

Overview

PsiOps Battlegrounds missions are structured similarly to Strikes. Players will fight through a large amount of enemies (mostly Lucent 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. Occasionally, Barrier and Unstoppable Hive Champions, as well as Lightbearer Hive enemies, will appear.

Early in the mission, players will encounter an enemy called a Lighthoarder. This enemy has a glowing white aura, and will attempt to flee over time. The text log will indicate when it is about to leave. It will stand next to a Lucent Beacon, which will make it immune to damage. Destroying the beacon will make it vulnerable while it runs to find another. When the Lighthoarder is killed, it will drop Hoarded Light:

	Hoarded Light

Collecting Hoarded Light will grant an additional seasonal weapon or armor item drop at the end of the mission.

Each mission ends with a battle against a Lightbearer Hive boss. After players deal enough damage to the boss, a pair of allied Cabal Imperial Optus Psions will appear, freezing the boss in place. The players will be teleported into the Mindscape, a psionic projection created inside the boss' mind, where they must fight the boss for a final time. When the boss loses a certain amount of health, it will disappear, summoning a pair of Aspects of Savathûn, as well as an Unstoppable Ogre. This will happen twice per boss battle. These giant floating illusions of Savathûn, the Witch Queen, are immune to normal damage and can use Light-based Super abilities like Nova Bomb, Blade Barrage, and Stormtrance. Players must pick up Synaptic Spears that appear around the arena and repeatedly throw them at the Aspects of Savathûn to destroy them.

After the boss is defeated, and its Hive Ghost is crushed, players will be returned to the material plane, where two chests will spawn: one that opens automatically, and a Runic Chest that costs 500 Psychogenic Intel to open. The Runic Chest is only available in the playlist, and will not appear when launching a PsiOps Battleground mission from the destination map icon.

List

Name	Location	Enemies	Boss
PsiOps Battleground: EDZ	EDZ	Hive	Mor'ak, Lightstealer (Lightbearer Acolyte)
PsiOps Battleground: Cosmodrome	Cosmodrome	Hive, Fallen	Uul'nath, Lightcleanser (Lightbearer Knight)
PsiOps Battleground: Moon	Moon	Hive	Korosek, Thronebringer (Lightbearer Wizard)

Modifiers

These modifiers are used for the PsiOps Battlegrounds playlist.

• One of the following:
  • Arc Singe: Arc damage increases slightly from all sources.
  • Solar Singe: Solar damage increases slightly from all sources.
  • Void Singe: Void damage increases slightly from all sources.
• One of the following:
  • Grenadier: Grenade abilities deal more damage and recharge much faster.
  • Brawler: Melee abilities deal more damage and recharge much faster.
  • Heavyweight: Power weapons deal more damage, and more ammo is available.
  • Stasis Singe: Stasis damage increases slightly from all sources.
• Champion Foes: You will face Barrier and Unstoppable Champions.

Upgrades

The following upgrades (unlocked at the War Table with Insight) can affect gameplay in PsiOps Battlegrounds missions:

• Beacon Breaker: Destroying Lucent Beacons in PsiOps Battlegrounds awards Super energy.

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 War Table vendor in the H.E.L.M.

The Runic Chest can also be opened at the end of the mission for 500 Psychogenic Intel, rewarding 2 Risen Umbral Energy. The Runic Chest can also drop seasonal weapons and armor items.

Collecting the Hoarded Light dropped by Lighthoarders will grant an additional seasonal weapon or armor item drop at the end of the mission. Defeating Lighthoarders will also progress the Over Your Dead Body Triumph, which rewards a chapter of the Acts of Mercy lore book at each interval.

Weapons

The following weapons can drop when opening a Runic Chest. They can also drop if the team defeated the Lighthoarder and collected its Hoarded Light.

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

	Piece of Mind
	Pulse Rifle

	Sweet Sorrow
	Auto Rifle

	Under Your Skin
	Combat Bow

	Explosive Personality
	Grenade Launcher

	Thoughtless
	Sniper Rifle

	Recurrent Impact
	Machine Gun

Armor

The following armor items can drop when opening a Runic Chest. They can also drop if the team defeated the Lighthoarder and collected its Hoarded Light.

• Tusked Allegiance Helmet / Tusked Allegiance Mask / Tusked Allegiance Hood (Helmet)
• Tusked Allegiance Gauntlets / Tusked Allegiance Grips / Tusked Allegiance Gloves (Gauntlets)
• Tusked Allegiance Plate / Tusked Allegiance Vest / Tusked Allegiance Robes (Chest Armor)
• Tusked Allegiance Greaves / Tusked Allegiance Strides / Tusked Allegiance Boots (Leg Armor)
• Tusked Allegiance Mark / Tusked Allegiance Cloak / Tusked Allegiance Bond (Class Item)

Upgrades

The following upgrades (unlocked at the War Table with Insight) can affect the rewards obtained from PsiOps Battlegrounds missions:

• Legendary Requisition: The first Legend Battleground you complete each week will drop an additional weapon and armor item.
• Light Horde Slayer: Defeating Lighthoarder squads in PsiOps Battlegrounds now awards Risen Umbral Energy.

Patch History

• 6.3.0.5
  • Year-5 Seasonal ritual activities now count toward ritual progress of all Season Pass Exotic catalyst quests.
• 6.2.0.7
  • Fixed an issue where the legacy War Table weekly challenge was unavailable.
  • It now requires defeating Champions in PsiOps Battlegrounds]] for a powerful reward.
• 4.0.1
  • Fixed an issue where revives did not award points for scoring.