A lot of people seem to be missing the fact that while I said I consider myself a casual, I also consider myself a raider... I've done both previous raids more times than I can count, and I've completely cleaned them out. And don't say "oh you were carried" because I've lost count of the number of times I carried the relic, did the sword, was the last alive and landed the final hit, etc. Endgame was FUN, until this Prison of s**t. What I want to know is? WHY THE SUDDEN DIFFICULTY SPIKE? Anyone remember any enemy besides the boomers that could 2 shot you in the level 33 hard raid? Remember the bridge? The end of the abyss? The confluxes in VOG? The beginning of the VOG? The whole idea of the atheon fight? What do they have in common? Holding your ground! And making you feel like one bad mother****er when you held that ground! And now we can't do that... Because the adds do more damage than the goddamn boss. ... This crap needs some serious rebalancing, cause the "strategy" to beat 35 pos is bulls***. You shouldn't have to run from ads like a pansy... No previous endgame content or challenge had ever made you run away (except ogres, and legions, even I ran from that ****. But you get the idea.)

No. It's not. You don't play a challenge arena that is one level above you and expect it to be easy. The Skolas fight is so much more fair now. You actually have to do the fight, and you have to pay attention. I don't have an issue with casuals. That word is a matter of perspective, anyway, but you can't be a casual, and then say that it's too hard.

Lvl 35 PoE is not broken, if you take your time and do it properly it is not that hard at all. If you still think it is, then have you considered that maybe this is something that is not intended for the casual player? But is intended to be very difficult, and to be completed by the high level end game player

Its fairly easy, just take your time and be patient. Know about his health (when enemies and bombs spawn) and get good dps!

Pretty easy for me keep at it just takes practice

There's cover EVERYWHERE

You can't allow ads and skolas to dictate pace and location of the fight. You also have to be patient and dps him when the time is right. Running around killing ads or dodging them while shooting Skolas , dismantling mines and passing poison is too much for the casual gamer. However with the proper strategy , and good team work and communication it's easy. It takes practice , which unfortunately also means repetition. If you'd like I'll explain it to you step by step to make things a whole lot easier. Leave air lock and head left until you reach the left side perimeter wall. There will be a door behind you. Kill the servitor then Move up the stairs and hit Skolas with everything you have until he teleports close. At this point if your facing where Skolas 'was' move left off the ledge of platform and run all the way to the back to the elevated platform with the two spawns and arches under it. At this point you'll be clearing ads. If you get overwhelmed there simply rotate clockwise back to the first dps site and keep killing ads ( ignoring dps on Skolas) until their all clear. Once again move to the 'back' platform and kill servitor and dps Skolas until bonds are broken. Keep repeating and rotating until you break bonds. This is where I personally think it's very important to dictate location. Only dps Skolas from the first platform after bonds are broken. Reason being is that it is easier to dismantle mines from this spot as it takes less time to travel from there to the back nine as it does to travel from the back mine to the original dps site mine. Also the majority of the ads spawn on the opposite side of the map at that location as well. Repeate clearing ads and rotating until you're ready to dps for second set of mines. At this point you should be looking for opportunities to kill him.

It took us like 5 hours to do it the first time last week. This week we got him down in 2 hours, twice. Just keep plugging away at it till it clicks.

Update: attempt #5 this week just failed after 3 hours of trying... Mines, wire rifles, captains... Weather rotating or using the spot behind the rock. It's impossible to stay alive when everything kills you in one or two hits.

How is the garbage you're rewarded for beating Skolas even possible?

Message me on XBL and we'll run you through it, along with teaching you where to be and when in order to get past Skolas. Gamertag: Cubistic

It's an easy fight and the completion rate isn't low because it's difficult.

i do skolas each week and its even easier now that they reduced his strength from 27000 to 15000 if you run with at least one other experienced player, you can beat skolas in 20 minutes just watch some you tube vids and get some practice by helping others stuck at skolas it gets easier...the worst was arc burn bc the ads were all dealing arc damage! it was still doable tho if your team isn't experienced it is very painful good luck!

First time doing it legit(as in no Gally and solar) my friends and I read how the fight goes, first attempt we wiped after 5 mins, second attempt we completed it. If it's challenging for you then try look on areas to improve such as how to kill him eg. Clear the waves of enemies before dealing more dmg to skolas because the enemies spawn at certain boss health percentages. And make sure you have decent weapons for the fight(365 with burns for shields). I know it can be really annoying at times but if you have competent people and time you should give it another shot, it is the hardest PvE of this expansion for a reason. A side note I agree, making enemies higher lvl then you shouldn't be the way to make content harder. It just makes the enemies bullet sponges.

Tried him again this week with 2 from my regular raid group... Couldn't get him below half. Gave up again...

Hello To begin with I will state that I totally disagree with your point of view. Now I have only beaten skolas 3 times myself (once was with gali and solar burn) but the other two times were legit. I agree that it takes probably about an hour to get to the final round (possibly even longer depending on how things go) but defeating skolas is not that hard in my opinion. The first time I beat him legit we wiped probably for about half an hour getting no where but I believe it was one of my teammates ultimately holding us back. The reason I suspect this is because after said person left we beat him next try in like 10 mins. The second time I beat him legit we beat him first or second try maybe 20 mins. The point I'm trying to make here is not that this activity is not hard (challenging) because it is for sure. But ultimately what determines the difficulty is not the level of the enemies but the skill of the players involved. In my first attempt where we had the guy who left then found someone else and beat him the next try I firmly believe it was the one guy in our team who was keeping us from beating it. Even while I was playing with him I felt like he was holding us back (I know that sounds douchie) but it's what I think. I of course didn't say anything but my point is that even one player whose maybe not quite up to snuff can keep a whole team from beating it. To be clear I'm not suggesting that you yourself aren't very good or anything I am simply pointing out that even one mediocre player on a team can mess it up for everyone. During my second attempt we beat him on the first or second try it took like 20 mins and I was playing with (in my opinion) a pretty damn good team witch I believe made all the difference. We were working together communicating watching each other's backs passing the curse coordinating our fire, preparing for each wave as it happened. Here's our strategy 1) Kill all (most) adds in the room before even bothering with skolas. 2) Once the adds are taken care of assign one guy to take out servitor. Then coordinate damage on skolas. (You should be able to break the bonds in one go but if not rinse and repeat). 3) Adds will have respawned kill them again don't focus on skolas at all. Once all (most) adds are gone coordinate fire on skolas. Prepare to pass the taint. 4) Again kill all adds while not worrying about skolas. Once adds are dealt with coordinate fire on skolas (be sure to pass the taint just before you start firing so you can maximize damage). Prepare to deal with mines. 5) Coordinate to disarm mines. Try to stay together (mines disarm faster with more ppl on them) if not use a group of 2 and 1 to disarm mines. During this phase supers are helpful (titan bubble with armor), Hunter invisibility, Warlock res are all helpful here. Watch each other's backs and pay attention to the spawn locations if you die there always the same. 6) After mines disappear kill all adds then coordinate fire on skolas. Prepare for second wave of mines (it is possible to kill him at this point). 7) Coordinate to disarm mines (repeat 6). Kill adds then coordinate fire on skolas. At this point he should die. During all phases of the above mentioned instructions your group should be rotating around the map luring skolas to the different cover/vantage points. Don't rush adds spawn based on his health not a timer so there's no rush slowly and carefully pick off the adds one at a time while rotating to the different vantage points in the arena. Try and rotate as a group. Once the taint is introduced communicate all the time and keep rotating you should be able to stay together as a group of three for most of the fight. If you're patient and work together the fight is more than manageable. Good luck guardian.

Communication and strategy is the key to beat Skolas. I had the same problem took hours teammates quit (not a problem). Standing in 1 area guns blazing will never work. The level is designed for almost impossible completion without communication and strategy. We used the heavy ammo glitch. And communication after that what took hours of constant failure took 30 minutes to beat.

Bump

It's almost impossible with light switch. All others it's doable and fun. Just wait and see what the modifiers are on Tuesday.

Yea. I've never heard of a level based game that makes things a difficulty that is beyond what the player can actually achieve. As the only option I should say. Having it is fine, it being the only version of said mission is a bit ridiculous. I will end up not doing Skolas until after TTK and I am higher level. Games should be fun, not exclusively frustratingly difficult. That's how I play any game with player level progression. I like to be prepared and feel like I am on par with things before I attempt them. What is this, Dark Souls? Calm down Bungie.

If you could have 6 players, you would have to remake the whole fight over again. It's not hard as long as you communicate. Watch videos on YouTube of the fight.

Last week we completed on our first try but being said we were all in sync with eachother. It's hard to get a team that will mesh well.

I think its easier now. The trick is communitation, moving as a team. Well... shoot, move, communicate. Can't Ghorn him down anymore.