Destiny Prison of Elders Guide

Destiny Prison of Elders Guide by Yivoe

Below will be information from my own experiences, other peoples’ experiences, and other posts that have been made related to these topics. Most of what I have used to complete PoE (32, 34, 35) has gotten me through in about 40 min on good runs (lvl 35).

Disclaimer: If you’re already clearing lvl 35 easily, this information won’t be new or helpful (most likely) for you. This is general information all put into once place for PoE, and some little advice on clearing each room.

I will be leaving out info on modifiers, as those can change week to week

Prison of Elders (PoE)

General Information

• Each level of PoE consists of 5 matches (except for level 35 which has a 6th for Skolas)
• Each of these matches will have 3 waves.
• The last 2 of the 3 waves will have an objective to complete (defuse bombs, destroy bombs, kill a VIP). Once that objective is complete, you just need to finish clearing enemies from the room for the next wave to start.
• The last (or occasionally the last 2) matches will have you face a boss.
• For the destroy bombs objective, you will be able to see all the bombs from the locations that I suggest to sit in for each of the rooms (you can find that a little ways down).
• For the defuse the bombs objective, the easiest method will be to have a Blade Dancer Hunter to go invisible and diffuse each bomb on their own. Having more then one Hunter will obviously make it even easier. The next best way will be with a Defender Titan using their bubble/blessing on each point to keep themselves safe to diffuse it (Helm of Saint-14 is a plus). Lastly, if you’re in a team of all Warlocks, I’d suggest Sunsinger for revive, and finding an area next to each bomb site so that you can get on them quickly when they spawn. Maybe travel as a group as well so that you diffuse faster. (Honestly, just try to have a Hunter and/or Titan with you).
• For the kill the VIP objective, the VIP will usually spawn near the very beginning of the wave. It’s best to have vision of the area they will spawn and to take him out immediately when he spawns (use that heavy). Then the rest of the wave is just clearing adds.

Hive Room

• Place to be: Far left (take out Thrall early and nothing will come at you again)
• Shield types: Arc/Solar (focus Solar for Wizards as they can do the most harm, Knights have Arc)
• Weapons: Arc/Solar Primary, Arc/Solar Secondary (Ranged is best), Solar or Strongest Heavy

Cabal Room

• Place to be: The platform you start on when you enter the room. Move slightly to the right, and you’re safe.
• Shield types: Solar/Void (focus on Solar for those Centurions, Void may be on Psions)
• Weapons: Solar Primary (if Psions are shielded, go Void), Solar Secondary (Shotgun preferably, [Phalanx may rush]), Solar or Strongest Heavy

Vex Room

• Place to be: Far left (take out hobgoblins and minotaur on the left quickly and you’re safe
• Shield types: Void/Arc (focus on Void for Minotaur. Arc may be on Harpies)
• Weapons: Void/Arc Primary, Void Secondary (Shotgun preferably [Minotaur may rush]), Void or Strongest Heavy

Fallen Room

• Place to be: Far left (but if you get overrun, rotate to the opposite side of the arena)
• Shield types: Arc/Solar (focus on Arc for Captains. Solar may be on Shanks)
• Weapons: Arc/Solar Primary, Arc Secondary (Shotgun preferably, [Captains will rush]), Arc or Strongest Heavy

Urrox

• Place to be: Far left (take out Thrall early and nothing will come at you again)
• Shield types: Arc/Solar
• Weapons: Solar Primary, Solar Secondary (Ranged is best), Solar or Strongest Heavy
• Mechanics: Clear the thralls very quickly, then you won’t have any adds to really worry about during Urrox’s Rage. His Rage works like this: Text will appear stating it’s about to start, this is when you throw up your titan bubble (if you have one) and get ready to start jumping. When his rage starts your goal is to stay off the ground. Use whatever shield you have and get as much hang time as possible. As soon as you touch the ground, jump again. Repeat till it ends. Burn down Urrox between Rages.

Skolas

• Place to be: Far left
• Quick Method to kill him: video Run far left quickly (kill the servitor that is there), have everyone on your team empty GHorn onto Skolas, Synth once, and empty rockets again. If you all keep hitting him, he will die in <40 seconds. Now just diffuse mines.
• Mechanics: Skolas Fight Explained In the level 35 version of Prison of Elders, there is a 6th round, in which you fight Skolas, the Kell of Kells. There are a number of different mechanics involves, 3 to be exact, and people have been confused about these, so I though I’d help sort out the confusion.
  Prereq: So first and foremost, this encounter has Solar burn, so bring your Vision of Confluence, Black Hammer, Gjallarhorn etc.,

  1) Servitor Buff:

  When you enter the arena, Skolas will be near you, with a bunch of adds scattered around. To the sides, however, you will find these white Ghostly servitors. This Mechanic #1:

  • You need to kill this Servitor to be able to deal proper damage to Skolas (kind of like Time’s Vengeance), without it, you will barely touch his health.
  • Once you kill this Servitor, you will be given a buff for 20 seconds, which will say something like “the Servitor bonds are weakened”. Take this time to damage Skolas.
  • If you kill another Servitor, while the buff from a previous Servitor was active, this will simply refresh the buff back to 0:20, it will not stack beyond 20 seconds.
  • Once Skolas is at 65% health, however, you will no longer need to kill these Servitors, and will be able to damage Skolas normally.

  2) Devouring Essence:

  • This is a debuff. It will activate once Skolas reaches 50% health, and will affect one player at random.
  • It will make your screen turn green (sort of like Thorn), and a 30 second countdown will appear. Once this countdown goes to 0, you will die.
  • This requires precise teamwork. If you are tainted with this debuff, you will have to transfer this to another player (like how to transfer the Chalice of Light in CE).
  • It’s not that simple, however. Let suppose there are 3 players, A, B, and C. If A gets affected by the debuff, he must pass it on to B before he dies. Once B has the debuff, the timer will return to 0:30, however, B cannot pass this back to A, as A will be ‘immune’ for 35 seconds, and unable to take the debuff. B will then have to transfer this to C, who will then transfer it to A, rinse and repeat. So: A -> B -> C -> A…
  • This debuff will stay throughout the fight, all the way to the end, so make sure to coordinate.

  3) Dismantling Mines:

  Much like the previous rounds, this mission will contain 2 critical objectives.

  • It will pop up first when Skolas reaches 50% health, you will have to dismantle 3 mines, A, B, and C.
  • It will then pop up again, when Skolas reaches 25% health, 3 mines again.
  • You will have to dismantle them in the time window you are given, or will die.

  That is all for the mechanics. Below, I have summarised this with reference to Skolas’ Health. (100% = full health, 0% = dead)

  Linear Health Version:

  100% – You will have to kill the servitors to gain a buff and damage Skolas

  100% – 50% – Damage Skolas, keep killing servitors to be able to deal proper damage, stay alive.

  50% – First Critical Objective (Defuse mines) pops up

  ~65% – You no longer need to kill servitors to damage Skolas

  50% – One of you will get marked with the debuff

  25% – Second Critical Objective (Defuse mines) pops up

  0% – Rekt n Phat Lootz

Rewards

Big Chest on all difficulties: Your first time opening it on each character each week has a very high chance of granting you an exotic item (weapon or armor). All other times opening this chest will grant you with a queens weapon and a very small chance at another exotic item (weapon or armor). At level 35 you also have a chance for the ship/shader/emblem.

Urrox Rewards: After killing Urrox you have a chance for the Elder Cypher to drop (an exotic bounty). It will go straight to your bounty slots

Skolas Rewards: After killing Skolas you have a chance for an elemental primary to drop, or to get an exotic bounty from him (link forElder Cypher at the bottom). DO NOT open the Big Chest at the end in search for either of these things. Both will drop immediately after killing Skolas.

Small Chests

Level 32 (once per week per character): Armor Core, Motes, Strange Coins

Level 34 (once per week per character): Weapon Core, Etheric Light, Motes, Strange Coins

Level 35 (once per week per character): Armor Core, Weapon Core, Etheric Light, Motes, Strange Coins