Destiny Prison of Elders Guide: How to Beat Skolas, the Fallen “Kell of Kells”

Preparing for Skolas

Destiny‘s latest expansion, House of Wolves, introduces tons of new challenges and enemies for guardians to test their skills against. On the PvE side of things is the Prison of Elders, an arena styled activity that pits players against waves of enemies and special objectives. Within the Prison of Elders lies one of the most vicious beings players of Destiny will ever face. That being none other than Skolas, the Fallen “Kell of Kells”. The fight against Skolas, depending on the modifiers, is arguably one of the hardest in House of Wolves and Destiny as a whole, and will require you to pull out all the stops to survive.

But, like all challenges, Skolas isn’t a boss that is impossible to overcome, provided that you prepare. There are two things you need to consider when entering the fray against the Fallen’s mightiest champion: class and weapons. The battle has several phases that will require players to adapt as individuals, and also together as a fireteam.

In order to make the transitions between phases bearable, class consideration is of the utmost importance. There should be at least one Titan Defender. The Ward of Dawn super ability is invaluable when the fireteam is caught in a tough corner, or when a change of arsenal is needed (nothing like a dressing room made of nearly indestructible void light). The Ward of Dawn will also be useful in the later phases when holding down a specific point is required or if you’re trying to burn him down quickly with Gjallarhorns.

Both Sunsinger Warlocks and Bladedancer Hunters are useful for their offensive capabilities. Both are versatile damage dealers at both long and close range. The Sunsinger’s self resurrection is never not helpful and the Bladedancer has a knack for being able to eliminate pesky additional enemies (adds) quickly. The Hunter’s stealth will also come in handy during the later part of the fight as well.

For weapons you want power, as much of it as you can possibly wield. Thunderlord is a great exotic machine-gun that delivers Arc damage (perfect against the Fallen). Gjallarhorn, as always, is perfect for dealing loads of damage to the boss in small windows of time. Fatebringer is a powerful legendary from the Vault of Glass, that when fully upgraded, can one-shot most of the adds you’ll be up against in the Prison of Elders’ Fallen arena.

Make sure to equip at least one weapon that both shoots and reloads quickly, such as the sidearm rewarded to you for completing the House of Wolves story missions. Last, but not least, make sure to bring a handful of Heavy Ammo Syntheses.

One last thing to note is that you should not attempt to tackle Skolas if you haven’t reached the new Light Level cap of 34. Skolas waits at the end of the level 35 Prison of Elders activity and you’ll already have a damage reduction due to the fact that the activity is one level above your max. Don’t make it any harder for yourself unless you’re a serious pro.

The Fallen Arena

Now that you have your guardian and fireteam situated, it’s time to head into the Fallen arena for the encounter with Skolas. Since this fight takes place within the level 35 Prison of Elders activity, you should already be somewhat familiar with the layout of this particular arena. There are several small passageways within the center of the arena, with open platforms making up the top part. Along the sides are hallways that provide plenty of cover, but also house some of the spawn points for enemies.

When entering the area for the battle with Skolas, the entire team should go left. There is a lot of cover here, and it will place the team on opposite ends of the boss itself providing ample time to set up for some well placed critical shots. When the boss gets a bit too close for comfort, take the entire team to the opposite side of the arena. You’re pretty much going to continue jumping from one side of the arena to the other for the majority of the fight. Use the platforms and walkways so that you don’t get stuck in a tight spot.

There will be moments where you will have to play the center of the arena. When this happens make sure the Defender (if you have one, which you should) is close by for that extra bit of security. No team members should ever be too far away from each other since this is a fight that requires team coordination above all else.

Skolas: Phase One

When you first enter the arena you may get the sudden urge to start unloading your gun right into Skolas’s face. When you shoot, you may notice that your gun does basically no damage (a fully upgraded Fatebringer was hitting for 4 damage with Arc Burn). That is because in this first phase Skolas is being protected by a special Servitor. At the very beginning of the fight, if you followed our directions about heading left immediately, you will encounter this servitor. Take him out and you’ll be granted about 30 seconds of damage dealing time.

Use these 30 seconds to dish out as much damage as you possibly can. That means get out your heavy weapons, go for critical head-shots, and be completely relentless. After this small window of opportunity Skolas will revert back to his virtually invincible self until you can find another of those special Servitors.

When Skolas cannot be damaged, shift all focus to the additional enemies for a bit. During this fight there will be more enemies than usual, and they can become a real headache if not taken care of quickly. The ones you really want to eliminate are the Captains and yellow-health Servitors since they will put serious pressure on you. Once you feel you’ve thinned out their ranks enough, hunt for the next special servitor and rain hell on Skolas once more.

After enough damage has been done to Skolas (approximately 1/3 of his health bar) the Servitor bonds will be completely broken and it will be open season on this terrifying Fallen commander. Unfortunately, that is also when the second phase kicks off, and staying alive will be even more important than it was before.

Skolas: Phase Two

After completion of Phase One, Skolas will unleash Devouring Essence upon your fireteam. This is an ability that inflicts one guardian with a curse of sorts that will kill them once thirty seconds pass. The only way to save that member is to absorb the essence into yourself. This may seem simple, but it’s where most of the difficulty during the Prison of Elders Skolas fight comes from.

Once the essence is absorbed from a player, they will be immune for 40 seconds, meaning that they cannot touch the essence again until that much time has passed. This means that if you take the essence from a player, that same player can’t take it back from you. The third fireteam member must approach you and absorb it. This becomes a serious problem when fireteam members start dying.

Once the pattern is set, only specific member of your team can relieve you of the Devouring Essence. If that person dies, and you were already more than five seconds into carrying the essence, you are out of luck unless they can self-resurrect. The only good thing is that if you fall to the essence it doesn’t end the round. You can still be revived, it will just make one player have to hold out solo for a bit.

Make sure to stay close with your fireteam at all times, with the next in line to absorb the Devouring Essence staying extra safe. Both the infected, and the one who is not next in line should be focusing on damaging Skolas. The third member should handle all additional enemies in the meantime as you wait to approach the third and final phase.

Skolas: Phase Three

The last phase of the Skolas fight will have players still dealing with Devouring Essence, while also throwing in a new obstacle for your fireteam. During the last bit of Skolas’s health, he will begin to summon Splinter Mines for you to defuse. That’s right, you must stand in the middle of a crazy battlefield, while infected, in order to stop a small bomb from instantly ending the round and erasing all of the hard work you’ve already put in.

This is the moment where a Hunter shines. Going invisible in order to sit down and quickly defuse the bomb is perfect while the other two guardians lay waste to Skolas. At this point you really want to go all in on taking out Skolas so that you can avoid having to deal with multiple bombs while still fighting Skolas. But, don’t become reckless as you try to take out this final Prison of Elders challenger. Skolas and his minions are just as hellbent on eliminating your team, as you are of eliminating them.

Play it cool, locate the bomb quickly, and move on it fast. Sometimes the Mine will appear right next to Skolas. When this happens, have two guardians distract him and slowly pull him away while the third sneaks up to handle the objective. As long as nobody panics you’ll seize victory with ease.

Beware of the Burns

As with every other section of the Prison of Elders, one thing to always keep in mind during each stage are modifiers. They can be anything from making you a punching machine, to penalizing you for being in the air. Chief of all modifiers though are burns. These make a specific damage type more powerful from all sources. During the Skolas Prison of Elders fight, the two you need to look out for the most are Solar Burn and Arc Burn.

While Solar Burn will probably make a fireteam that is rocking Gjallarhorns super happy, it will also give Skolas the ability to kill you with one shot. He has an incredibly long range, and his splash damage is equally as deadly. So during solar burn, make better use of cover, and make sure your team is never clumped up in a tight space and if you are using Gjallarhorns, consider trying to burn him down as quickly as possible with the use of Weapons of Light.

Arc Burn on the other hand will turn the adds into lean, mean killing machines. Even a Dreg will have the ability to send you running for the hills with this modifier active. If you find yourself dealing with an Arc Burn during the fight with Skolas, it will be better to have two guardians on minion duty at all times while one focuses on Skolas himself.

So there you have it, Destiny introduced some seriously worthy opponents with its House of Wolves expansion. Skolas is worthy of his rank, and his place as the final encounter in the Prison of Elders. But, you now have the tools and the know-how to beat him. Go forth and show him just how great your legend is.

How did you find the fight with Skolas? Too hard to tackle? Or, did you and your team destroy him with ease? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. For more guides, tips, tricks and information regarding Destiny‘s House of Wolves expansion be sure to check out our growing wiki. And, as always, safe travels guardians.