Lawnmower and I took our first shot at Skolas last night, joined by veteran Steel. I threw in the towel after 3 hours, defeated. I feel like there is just one thing too many happening during this fight.

The buff
The debuff
The immunity
The mines

Removing just one of these things would make it feel more feasible. We had 2 Sunsingers, which gave us some room for error with the debuff, but it was just ridiculous trying to keep the right person alive to keep the chain going.

PoE 35 is all or nothing. If you break on Skolas, you'll have sunk hours into an activity that has to be restarted from the beginning and won't have anything to show for it. I think the Skolas encounter is too much for an activity with no checkpoints.

Lawnmower and I took our first shot at Skolas last night, joined by veteran Steel. I threw in the towel after 3 hours, defeated. I feel like there is just one thing too many happening during this fight.

The buff
The debuff
The immunity
The mines

Removing just one of these things would make it feel more feasible. We had 2 Sunsingers, which gave us some room for error with the debuff, but it was just ridiculous trying to keep the right person alive to keep the chain going.

PoE 35 is all or nothing. If you break on Skolas, you'll have sunk hours into an activity that has to be restarted from the beginning and won't have anything to show for it. I think the Skolas encounter is too much for an activity with no checkpoints.

I don't know how you guys were approaching this fight, because you don't really have to deal with all these elements at once. Just break down and focus on one thing at a time Here's what Chaos, Cyber and I did. It wasn't exactly quick, but it worked:

-We rotate around the outside of the arena killing adds, then when it's clear we kill a servitor and burn Skolas.
-When the bonds are broken, continue this until you get the Devouring Essence. The key is to kill all the enemies first, then only when it's clear attack Skolas
-Stick together for the devouring essence, set a rotational order, and take it when it gets below ten seconds. Just keep communicating.
-For the mines, ignore Skolas, dismantle the mines, and kill enemies.

Basically, the gist of the fight is that you should focus primarily on the enemies, then when it's clear take out Skolas. Do so by rotating around the arena and leaving your safe area when it's no longer safe.

PoE 35 is all or nothing.

I would expand that to include all PoE challenges. The lower levels are certainly less demanding, but there are still plenty of things that can go wrong and blow the whole thing. It's become a fairly widespread complaint. I'm sure Bungie will be looking at ways to address it.

As far as the Skolas fight itself, I've still never attempted it. I might give it a shot on monday night (I'd like to finish it once, just to say I've done it) but I can't say I'm looking forward to it. PoE is just a drag for me overall.

Void Burn means nothing but you is doing extra damage. With Solar burn you can Gjallarhorn Skolas with a minute, but that requires full ammo + a synth ready to pop.

Heaven help us if next week is "small arms" something similar.

I just upgraded my Word of Crota to 365. Truth is already maxed out. Maybe I'll upgrade a void shotgun and/or sniper rifle. I've actually got a few pieces of Etheric Light to play with (thanks to ToO and IB), and this seems like as good a reason as any to spend them.

I just upgraded my Word of Crota to 365. Truth is already maxed out. Maybe I'll upgrade a void shotgun and/or sniper rifle. I've actually got a few pieces of Etheric Light to play with (thanks to ToO and IB), and this seems like as good a reason as any to spend them.

I used a 365 Void HMG on Skolas to great effect. I would ascend a void one that has high impact.

I just upgraded my Word of Crota to 365. Truth is already maxed out. Maybe I'll upgrade a void shotgun and/or sniper rifle. I've actually got a few pieces of Etheric Light to play with (thanks to ToO and IB), and this seems like as good a reason as any to spend them.

I used a 365 Void HMG on Skolas to great effect. I would ascend a void one that has high impact.

I've still got my old Swarm with Void damage. Might give that one a shot.

petetheduck, after you and Lawnmower left, NicolasFlamel and a friend came to try. Since NicolasFlamel and I did this PoE the night before, I figured we'd get it after a few tries. 3 hours later we gave up. I started about 7:30pm PST, and quit around 2am. (I'm fuzzy on the exact time.) And I have nothing to show for it. ... Except for fewer synths.

It would be nice if I could go back to the airlock with the same fireteam that tried it, and see if we could finish it after getting some sleep.

-We rotate around the outside of the arena killing adds, then when it's clear we kill a servitor and burn Skolas.

Eh... I was never able to clear the adds. I watched everything from Dreg to Captains respawn through the doorways. I was never able to get through more than a couple of "waves" though since I was by myself. Do they stop eventually or something?

I don't have an Arc primary, so I have a really hard time clearing Fallen adds. By the time I think I'm done, more show up.