Table of Contents
What is Destiny‘s Prison of Elders?
Alongside the divisive Trials of Osiris, the Prison of Elders is Bungie’s latest addition to Destiny alongside the House of Wolves. In what is essentially a horde mode, players must fight through 5 rounds of increasing difficult enemies, with round each sporting 3 waves. Some waves just consist of enemies in droves, while others have specific objectives that need to be completed to avoid wiping and losing.
Who is Skolas?
Skolas – the ‘Kell of Kells’, as the Fallen leader refers to himself – is the antagonist of the Destiny‘s entire House of Wolves expansion.
Having been set free from the Prison of Elders at the beginning of the story, the player goes through story missions and eventually subdues him so the Queen can re-capture him. Now the Queen has granted Guardians access to the Prison of Elders for you to finish the job.
Skolas is the big bad boss of Destiny‘s House of Wolves, and as such he sports an incredible amount of health, and a large Scorch Cannon, which shoots Solar Burn projectiles with large splash damage. As is usual with bosses, he also moves quite slowly, which is integral to defeating him.
How can I beat Skolas in the Prison of Elders?
Beating Skolas is no mean feat, considering the mission features level 35 enemies in droves. The technique to defeating him is also different to that of previous Rounds in the Prison of Elders, so as such requires a lot of teamwork and a quick trigger finger.
The following method is based on this week’s (26th May) Arc Burn buff – with subsequent burns, simply swap out for equivalent weapons with the appropriate burn if you have them.
Here is a video by ‘Identical Things’ for a visual example on how this method works in action.
Method 1.
Loadout:
- Primary: Any Arc-based primary weapon – used to deal with smaller enemies
- Secondary: Arc-based Field Scout Sniper Rifle – ensures you have plenty of ammo in reserve, used for laying down fire on Skolas
- Heavy: Any Arc-based Rocket Launcher
Player Tasks:
- Player 1: Spawns Weapons of Light Bubble Shield (this is important, due to consistent protection), focuses on Skolas
- Player 2: Focuses on Skolas, leaves to defuse Mine as soon as bonds are broken
- Player 3: Focuses on Skolas
Where do I go?
Head over to the left corner of the room upon entry, past the crates and against the far wall, at the bottom of the staircase where the Servitor spawns. Ensure you have a direct line of sight t0 Solas. This area is perfect because it hides you from a lot of the smaller enemies that spawn on the other side of the room, and it puts a fair amount of distance between you and Skolas without sacrificing visibility.
The Bubble Shied is necessary to remain in the open and shielded at the same time.
What do I do?
This method is all about speed. If you can get it done, you need to get it done quickly:
- Head over just past left back corner of the room.
- Shoot and kill the Servitor in the corner. Message “Servitor Bonds Weakened” will appear.
- Titan sets up Bubble Shield, gives players “Weapons of Light” upon entry.
- All players use Sniper Rifles to shoot Skolas continuously; preferably in the head.
- When Mines spawn, one player leaves to dismantle them while other 2 stay behind and keep shooting Skolas.
- Upon running out of Sniper Rifle ammo, switch to Rocket Launcher.
- Victory.
The method will obviously vary depending on what Light level each player is, but with persistence and enough ammunition, everyone should be able to successfully use this to beat Skolas and the Prison of Elders. We are obviously yet to test it, but when there are other burns available it’s safe to assume the method will work just as well (maybe not with Solar Burn, but we’ll see).
Here are a few parting tips to help you conquer Destiny‘s Prison of Elders and its toughest inhabitant, Skolas:
- Keep in mind a lot of Fallen enemies shoot Arc-based projectiles.
- You must destroy the Servitor before you start shooting Skolas.
- If you fail to disarm the Mines, you die.
- One player will be ‘tainted’ by Skolas – look for “Skolas taints a Guardian’s Light” – while you’re fighting, so keep in mind you will have to absorb that player’s Essence to keep them from dying. Keep in contact with your team to see how much health the Tainted player has to decide when to absorb it from them.
See here for a guide on how to defeat Qodron, the Prison of Elders level 34 boss.