Yeah, it seems that enemies who have a waypoint or waypoint route assigned to them seek out that waypoint above just about anything else. Blinding a kill target on Patrol is about the worst thing you can do, for instance, since they'll usually go into a full sprint towards their objective! Similarly, don't blind the Praetorians trying to disrupt the three Sync Plates outside the Vault of Glass because they'll stop fighting and walk straight onto the plate no matter what else is happening.

If you are going to blind the Round 4 target it might be better to just hang out at his destination and blind him there. That way he really will stagger and you can dice him up with shotguns.

i've never had a problem with blinding the target in the PoE. Maybe b/c we just killed him so quickly. 3 people blasting him with shotties takes him down in seconds.

I like to use the blinding bubble when possible because of the onslaught of Vandal and Captain Majors that swarm you from all sides. It is certainly doable without the blinding effect, but it does make life a bit easier :)

Yeah, it seems that enemies who have a waypoint or waypoint route assigned to them seek out that waypoint above just about anything else. Blinding a kill target on Patrol is about the worst thing you can do, for instance, since they'll usually go into a full sprint towards their objective! Similarly, don't blind the Praetorians trying to disrupt the three Sync Plates outside the Vault of Glass because they'll stop fighting and walk straight onto the plate no matter what else is happening.

If you are going to blind the Round 4 target it might be better to just hang out at his destination and blind him there. That way he really will stagger and you can dice him up with shotguns.

i've never had a problem with blinding the target in the PoE. Maybe b/c we just killed him so quickly. 3 people blasting him with shotties takes him down in seconds.

If you are going to blind the Round 4 target it might be better to just hang out at his destination and blind him there. That way he really will stagger and you can dice him up with shotguns.

Stand by the door that the Target comes out of. As soon as his waypoint spawns (it spawns before he comes out) through up a titan bubble with Helm of St 14.

The target will become disoriented. Found Verdict (compounded with the specialist perk) will tear him to shreds in seconds.

It's cool when it works, but I've seen several instances where the Captain just shields his eyes like he's disoriented, but continues to just sprint around the map with his arm over his face. Wish I could figure out what causes that.

-Disciple

The target will become disoriented. Found Verdict (compounded with the specialist perk) will tear him to shreds in seconds.

If Specialist is on, please, do consider an ascended Vestian Dynasty. That thing wrecks Fallen and has a lot more ammo than snipers.

# Weapons
are easier to talk about because they are universal across classes. Keep in mind I have almost no experience with the PoE weapons and their crazy specific perks.

## Primary:
I tend to use Hawkmoon (sorry, Cody+Xbox) because it kills people quickly and is useful across a wide distance and I'm comfortable with it. Really, though use what has high impact that you are comfortable with. I think Hand cannons are the way to go as you will have a lot of enemies around you and HCs are your best shot at a one hit kill.

I also bring in Fang of Ir Ut. I use it situationally. Arc Damage is useful, long range is useful, and it's not a legendary so I can swap in the g'horn for bosses.

Word of Crota is my favorite choice for Void burns so it comes along for the ride.

## Specials:
Found Verdict, if it is ascended seems like a great choice. Basically, take all that I said about the first two primaries above and combine it into one shotgun.

Invective is fun and it saves you some ammo problems, but I must say: I rarely run out of special ammo and it's hard to say it justifies the exotic slot. Still, if you have it and it's your best Special, you will like how it works.

Black Hammer. It kills bosses. It's what it does.

## Heavy
Jolder's Hammer is an Arc machine gun that hist hard and shoots straight (I home someone says that about me someday, but I suppose "Drinks hard" is more likely). It earns its keep. If you don't like to spend time on the PvP side of things (or are simply too lazy to move gear across characters at times), my acceptable substitutes include, but are not limited to, The Swarm and Corrective measure.

Gjallergjhogrrrhorn. It kills everything. It's what it does.

# Armor/specs
I main a Titan, and I tend to use Defender for PoE. (I'll let others talk about other classes as I'm getting tired of typing and want to play Destiny.)

It's tempting to use Striker for the Arc damage with all of the Fallen Captains, but the bubble is just too strategically useful for the mines, like Cruel said, and last-minute saves.

Spec for recovery and armor in the skill tree because no matter what you can't turn a tank into a twinkle-toes but also because Dex simply does not help that much here.

I think Armor of Light and Blessing of Light both have a useful place, but if you choose Blessing of Light, CyberKN will yell at you, so keep that in mind.

Suppressor grenade can keep the captains from teleporting, which is neat, but the ratio of grenades to captains is NOT in you favor, so I just keep it magnetic to make things die quicker.

As much as I love using creepy-face, Saint 14 is the way to go here. I made such a big deal about the bubble, you may as well make it even better. Far too many times before I started using Saint 14 I'd throw up a bubble and within 10 seconds it became a fallen dance party with no cover and aliens drink free before 2 A.M. Is anything worse than dying in your very own magical bubble of safety? Oh, yes. Watching the bubble drop and killing your friends right after. And, again, CyberKN will yell at you.

Frankly, my strategy on all the rest of the armor is "whatever gets you to 34" Once again whit this bubble bobble start, you may want to max out Intel first. If you have fancy room-specific perks you can put them on, but my group never has patience to play dress-up between each round so just use what you love.

I hope you don't mind me hijacking your guide with my own Cruel, I just wanted to share my method with a bit more detail - specifically the rotation order and "rules" for when to burn Skolas.

Don't mind at all... In fact, this is exactly the kind of stuff I was hoping to see more of! I'm detecting a bit of anxiety towards this battle from the greater community, so the more tips and strategies we can gather in 1 place, the more helpful this thread can be for those who haven't managed to complete the challenge :)

I hope you don't mind me throwing my hat in the ring with a slightly more detailed (but also a little more restrictive - it requires one of each class) method for dealing with mines. It's an exceprt from a post I made a while back, but you've covered most of it better than me so I'll just repost the mines section.

The Strategy
You want to make sure:
# Your Bladedancer has a Super ready and has specced for max invisibility (Vanish, Stalker, Escape Artist, Shadowjack)
# Your Sunsinger has their self-res ready and knows not to use it impulsively
# OPTIONAL: Your Defender has Gift of the Void specced for additional orbs

For this strategy, the order in which you each absorb the Essence matters a lot. It should be:
Warlock -> Hunter -> Titan -> Warlock

Once a Guardian has been tainted, spend a little time getting used to rotating the Essence while you kill adds and build your supers. Once
you're ready, you can start burning Skolas' health down towards halfway. Now this is the important bit: Once his health gets near half - STOP. From here on you're only going to burn Skolas when your hunter is holding the Essence.

Use the time inbetween (While your Warlock and Titan are holding it) to thin out adds and reposition yourself away from Skolas, then as soon as your Hunter Absorbs, start unloading your big guns.

Eventually you'll hear Variks warn you about incoming mines. At this point you want your Titan to take the Essence and move with your Warlock towards the mine that spawns closest to your current location - this is your Home Team. At the same time, your freshly immune Hunter Uses Arcblade Vanish to run to mine spawn at the opposite side of the map. This is why the Hunter needs to pass on the Essence first - the mine phase will take longer than 30 seconds, and your lone Huntwr will die if s/he's carrying it.

If the first mine spawns Far or Mid-map, your Hunter should be able to disarm it while still invisible from the Vanish (Don't forget you can re-vanish just before your Super runs out for additional invisible time), otherwise have your Hunter stay out of sight until the Far or Mid-map Mine spawns and dismantle them while Invisible.

PROTIP: You can attack a mine you're dismantling to activate your Blink Strike Escape Artist for emergency invisibility. Just make sure you're visible when you use it or it will cancel out. 

When the Home team mine spawns, have your Titan put a bubble on it and hang out with your Warlock in there.

At some point during the mine phase, your Warlock will need to Absorb from your Titan. Your Hunter may not be able to regroup in time to save your Warlock, but that's fine because self-res - this is why your Warlock needs to be the last person holding the Essence.

After the mine phase is over, work on killing adds and building up your Supers again, then continue burning Skolas only when your Hunter is holding the Essence.

As I say, this approach is a little more restrictive due to it's class requirements, but if the option is available I highly recommend this method - my team has a 100% Dismantle Rate using it (Disclaimer: Our Skolas Defeated rate is a lower due to stupid mistakes and/or Lightswitch, but it's never the mines that cause the wipe).

I hope you don't mind me hijacking your guide with my own Cruel, I just wanted to share my method with a bit more detail - specifically the rotation order and "rules" for when to burn Skolas.

Round 4 (Fallen Kill the Target with Specialist and Juggler)

Your strategy is perfect, but I'd add a warning that this round is more difficult than it appears. Wipes will occur after killing the VIP because there are A LOT of majors still left to kill... maybe 10-15 captains and vandals. Don't get overconfident.

PS I know a lot of time goes into a post like this... you have time to put it together at work?

I have an hour-long commute to and from work, so I wrote most of this on the subway ride to work this morning and finished it on my lunch break :)

I'm sure there are multiple strategies for the earlier rounds, but in case anyone is having trouble here are strategies I've used:

Round 1 (Hive with Exposure and Brawler): I think this round is intended to give you a sense of security and confidence; it plays out like any other Hive round. Run to the left side and split your team across the two raised platforms with cover. A Black Hammer sniper can speed up the larger enemy kills.

Round 2 (Vex Destroy Mines with Grounded and Airborne): Run to the right side; there's cover and you can snipe all the mine locations (a couple of them are a little tricky - if in doubt or pressed for time use a tracking rocket). Harpies can fly up to the platform, but otherwise all enemies must funnel through a single set of stairs to approach you - have one person cover the stairs and left side open area, one person (furthest to the right) cover the right side of the open area, and one person floating between cover on mine duty and support.

Round 3 (Cabal Destroy Mines with Catapult and Arc Burn): For the first wave, run to the back left raised platform and clear adds. There are clear fire lanes on the left and right, but watch for jumping Cabal - they can jump right to the center of your platform. For wave two and three, put two guardians on the raised, sloped platform between the center mine and the left mine, and one on the ramp leading to the top of the "crows nest" right side structure. The two guardians should send rockets into the back spawn doors a few seconds after they open to create some breathing room. They can move as a unit to the left or center mine to clear them quickly. A hunter here is preferred to leverage his invisibility if it gets crowded. The single guardian should pick off adds until the right side mine appears, then move to the roof of the structure and dismantle the mine from there (there's a small corner above the mine where you can disable it). Don't spend too much time on the roof, or a shielded Centurion will eventually spawn above you. A titan here is preferred to leverage a bubble for protection, or a Warlock for self-res since he's running solo.

Round 4 (Fallen Kill the Target with Specialist and Juggler): For the first wave, run to the left or right platforms (whichever you prefer) and clear adds. Watch for splash damage. For wave two and three, get out your shotguns and stand just beside the door where the VIP spawns. Wave 2 will have 2-3 Captains precede the VIP. You can dispatch them (and the VIP) very quickly with concentrated shotgun fire, then return to your safe platform for the rest of the wave. Wave 3 has 4-5 Captains precede the VIP - you'll probably need to reload. A titan with a blinding bubble opened just in front of the spawn door makes this much easier, but don't get too secure - the Captains begin their melee inside the door and outside of the bubble and can hit you, so keep moving in there. The VIP will often run through the bubble, but he'll still be blinded along with the rest of the adds and easy to pick off.

Round 5 (Fallen Kill the Pilot Servitor with Trickle and Small Arms): Run to the left or right platforms (whichever you prefer) and clear adds. There's not much to this battle - stay alive and damage to the Servitor when you can. The adds come in waves; we focus on clearing until there's a lull, then focus fire on the Servitor until new adds spawn. A Titan bubble with Weapons of light can speed this up (so can a black hammer sniper and a couple of Gjallarhorns).

b) This is more of a playstyle preference than anything, but I just don't feel comfortable spending much time in a position where I feel "cornered". For me, part of being "in control" of this battle is keeping a good overview of the entire arena and constantly clearing adds out of the right and left lanes... none of which you can effectively do from under the right-side platform (if I understand correctly). That said, it is great to have a "danger free" zone to retreat to. I really want to give it a try for myself. Certainly sounds like a great method :)

I feel the same way -- the "normal" way is more fun and enjoyable. But camping under the platform makes the fight go much faster because you don't spend much time circling the map and you are less likely to wipe and have to start over. It's also much easier to teach because there's less improv.

This is a bit like a Nexus nightfall. I really like running all around the bottom, trying to stay alive, killing the vex adds, and shooting the boss occasionally. However, staying up top and dealing with the Minotaur every so often is just so much easier. Skolas isn't quite that extreme because you can't stay in your hidey hole the entire fight, so you at least get a taste of the good stuff.

PS I know a lot of time goes into a post like this... you have time to put it together at work?

This may be more detail than necessary, but with regards to the essence management during the mines:
We ran Hunter/Warlock/Titan and passed the essence in that order. When we were ready to trigger the mines, we ran from safety as soon as the Titan had the essence (running clockwise to the left side platform). We passed the essence to the Hunter just as we got to the left ledge, then dropped Skolas below the threshold. We then passed the essence to the Warlock. The (immune) hunter stayed behind to cover that mine using his various invisibility skills with Skolas so close, while the poisoned Warlock and Titan who would grab the essece from him ran to the right side to cover those two mines.

This is funny to me because I like to do it the opposite way... the hunter gives the poison away and then goes to defuse the other two mines on the other side of the map. However, the invisibility advantage with the advancing Skolas does make a ton of sense. I think I've been doing it wrong!

This is incomplete:

My group tends to treat the elevated platform in the far left corner of the arena as our "home base". We find it to be the most easily defensible position. There is another, smaller elevated platform in the far right corner, which we treat as "position B"

You didn't mention the only actual safe area -- underneath the far right corner. You could stay down there and nothing would spawn or attack you forever (as long as you don't shoot anything).

I specifically avoided talking about this technique for a few reasons (although I did link to your writeup so people can check it out).

a) I haven't tried it myself yet, so I don't have a great feel for it. I definitely want to check it out, though.

b) This is more of a playstyle preference than anything, but I just don't feel comfortable spending much time in a position where I feel "cornered". For me, part of being "in control" of this battle is keeping a good overview of the entire arena and constantly clearing adds out of the right and left lanes... none of which you can effectively do from under the right-side platform (if I understand correctly). That said, it is great to have a "danger free" zone to retreat to. I really want to give it a try for myself. Certainly sounds like a great method :)

This may be more detail than necessary, but with regards to the essence management during the mines:
We ran Hunter/Warlock/Titan and passed the essence in that order. When we were ready to trigger the mines, we ran from safety as soon as the Titan had the essence (running clockwise to the left side platform). We passed the essence to the Hunter just as we got to the left ledge, then dropped Skolas below the threshold. We then passed the essence to the Warlock. The (immune) hunter stayed behind to cover that mine using his various invisibility skills with Skolas so close, while the poisoned Warlock and Titan (who would grab the essence next) ran to the right side to cover those two mines.