How can I survive the STU Science Spire Elite Solo (Fire Tank)??

Discussion in 'Oracle’s Database (Guides)' started by bruceleroy98, Sep 11, 2021.

  1. bruceleroy98 Active Player

    I'm a veteran player but am returning after a year's long hiatus. I am a fire tank with 204 SP mostly spec'd into Dom and Health.

    What can I do to survive the adds and the 1st boss that melts through my immolation shield and everything else I try to use??

    Any loadout/spec/art/aug suggestions would be appreciated.

    This is my first stab at doing an elite instance so I want to be thorough as a fire tank personally and as a dependable fire tank for future elite group elite instances.

    P.s. I had the neck mod FB on and that didn't help much lol. Help me please lol.

    - Gold
  2. AzraelR Committed Player

    I tried this solo in elite mode a few times and I gave up. Is very difficult. (I'm celestial) Tried everything. I used supply, accomplice, etc etc etc.
    The boss hits really hard and sometimes kill you with almost hit kill :(
    Oh, and there is no healing barrel to use

    EDIT: ok, i managed to finish the elite version. The main problem is the first boss. After that is easy (final boss is ok)
    • Like x 1
  3. valiant Villian Well-Known Player

    Not sure if you are ready for elite stuff with 204 SP but here is what I learned after struggling with the solo elite and finally doing it over 50 times. I stick to the center where the kryptonite shard drops. I have a shield in my loadout for just in case. Right after the third wave of initial goons and before Boss even gets to you activate henchmen, pet and buff trinket. Give the Boss what you got, stuns will work if your Dom is strong. Do as much damage as you can as you wait for Lois to drop that first shard. Hit him with it and while he is stunned, use orbital and bring out ally and then continue your loadout rotation. Pop shield for that 'break glass in an emergency' moment. Hope this helps.
    • Like x 1
  4. Cordelia Well-Known Player

    Just a note - you HAVE to hit him with that shard, in my experience, or you will be one-shotted. I found having two shields in my loadout helped, as well as a bunch of pets to throw at him and to distract the adds. It you miss hitting him with the shard, his next attack hits very very hard and if you can't interrupt it you are simply dead.
    • Like x 1
  5. TheLorax 15000 Post Club

    There's two ways to go about this:
    1. You can tank him in the middle of the room and follow the mechanics with the kryptonite shard. This disables his big attack.
    2. Or you can tank him and the adds in the alcove that they spawn in. Ignore the kryptonite shard and continuously CC him out of his big attack.

    Use Hard Light Shield instead of Immolation. Immolation only mitigates 30% of incoming damage where HLS mitigates 100% incoming damage. Only pop your shield if you fail to CC him during his big attack.
    • Like x 2
  6. bruceleroy98 Active Player


    Hey thanks to everyone who offered to help me. I've been playing since beta but not consistently and somethings have changed for me as I'm jumping back in trying to progress.

    What pets, consumables, and CC moves should I use as a fire tank? I'm assuming you mean Crowd control moves...I use lasso and backdraft for pulls.

    I have no clue about which pet to use. I even tried to use chromatic emitters to buy me some time to do damage lol. They were just tickled at the attempt.

    Thanks everyone. I will also get my sp up as I know that's a factor.

    - Golden Assasin
  7. TheLorax 15000 Post Club

    Generally you want to use Backdraft and Flashpoint for the knockdowns whenever you see the red skull icon pop up. Lunge him whenever he uses his Heat Vision or spams his pistols.
    • Like x 2
  8. xxHELLSTROKExx Loyal Player

    Aside from your sp, which yeah is probably your biggest hurdle for this, I'd suggest you follow what I do with my rage tank. Be in tank role with full tank gear but dps loadout for utility belt augs and artifacts. So I run with hard light and redirected rage and then robot side kick, whirling dervish, lacerate, puke puddle. In my belt, trinket pet, buff trinket, supply drop, orbital. I drop my sd while picking up the 1st chunk. So I'm obviously choosing middle of the room. Orbital after sd. The biggest thing to this fight is making sure you're starting at full health. So make sure to clear the adds while always being shielded.

    It takes me about 3 chunks to end the fight. Last boss, I just run my regular dps melee loadout/build. With my main, I keep him in the alcove but hes dead before 1st chunk drops anyway with that toon. My water toon, I fight in the middle in dps role with HL and bubble shields. Getting the fight over with is probably more important than being able to survive. Knocking him out of the 1 shot is the most important part of the whole fight tho. Those 3 toons are all over 500sp and minimum of 160 artifacts tho. I gave up on my 180sp munitions guy with 120artis for now. I'll get him geared up a bit then start doing it.
    • Like x 2
  9. The OmniScrooge Level 30

    Even though I'm a quantum troll here's how I do it:

    First off 412sp, 180 DPS arts

    The area he spawns I try to keep him there the entire fight and launch Beastimorphs henchmen to tank him in the corner. That let's me do range damage and unleash other pets, orbitals, and ally to help with the damage. The reason why I keep him in that area is when he's prepping his one shot. Then I move against the wall outside of that little room and the one shot doesn't touch me. Then rinse and repeat till he's done for. Becomes quite easy once you get the hang of it.
    • Like x 2
  10. valiant Villian Well-Known Player

    That sounds interesting. I have the elite feat for 50 victories so I may go in there and mess with this strategy of yours just for fun.
    • Like x 1
  11. Napoleon Well-Known Player

    My fire toon is sitting at 212 SP and I run the instance in tank role with DPS gear on (don't need to really wear tank gear for this, at least for fire.) It actually becomes stupidly boring once you get the mechanics down for the first boss.

    Here's a loadout that might be useful. Immolation > Burning Determination > Stoke Flames > Backdraft > Enflame > Burnout.

    So it basically goes; 1,2,3 <-While that's on cooldown: 4,5, weapon mastery, rinse and repeat.

    I can pretty much sit in the middle of the first room and juggle the ads for days with that loadout.
  12. bruceleroy98 Active Player

    Thank you all for the input. I have a lot to try out. Guess I need to grab some DPS gear.
  13. Napoleon Well-Known Player


    I honestly don't know about that. Perhaps it would be a longer process with all tank gear, but it will be far superior in terms of survivability compared to the "battle tanking" ideology I laid out.

    It's just what works for me.
  14. The Anxient Loyal Player

    Try adding hard light shield or your movement shield supercharge to your loadout. Hit him with the shards to interrupt his skull attack.
  15. DeitySupreme Steadfast Player

    This is more so about burn than anything else. As a support role you may not be able to burn him and the adds fast enough. The solo encourages you to dps. As fire you can set up a dps and dps in tank role to gain your increased defenses.

    As a fire dps/tank you can do what I do on my baby toon (160 sp, 80 artifacts, dps gear).

    Loadout:
    Absorb heat, backdraft, hard light shield, heat vision, robot sidekick, immolation

    The rotation is simply AB > BD > HV > BD > repeat and use your shields as needed.

    Fight him in the cubby where adds spawn as close to the corner as you can. When an add spawn focus the add so that they don’t build up. Backdraft and absorb heat will heal you up while your shields will hep mitigate the damage. When the skull pops back away while absorb heat it up. He won’t move while the skull is up so get around the corner to get away from his line of sight. After he does hit attack him back into the room and continue to attack.
  16. Great Architect Loyal Player

    Juggle adds with WotP, with the tiny (but useful) heals from WotP leg mod it'll get you through with shields.
  17. AzraelR Committed Player


    I've already completed the elite 4 times (or more). I think since the day I made the post here on the forum, hahaha
    The hardest one is the first boss, but I managed to find a way to defeat it. The rest is easy.

    I will edit my (first) post to warn about that.
  18. BrandonB Well-Known Player


    Flashpoint. Flashpoint seems to juggle him out of everything, even his skull attack.
  19. stärnbock Devoted Player

    if your damage is high enough, you should be able to kill the first boss before his devastating attack.
    as soon as you see the skull, you can lunge him and use weapon attacks to interrupt him till he stops.
    if he is still prepairing, just use your shield: any should do the trick, i recommend amazon deflection.
  20. Illumin411 Loyal Player

    On my tanking alt I actually start in my ST DPS loadout and throw everything at him (buff trinket, pet, orbital, supply drop and supercharge) to do as much damage as I can until his skull tell appears. Once I see that, I quickly pop my battletank loadout and throw my shield on. That allows my to absorb the one shot leaving me with 20%-30% health left. Since I'm atomic which self heals, I just combo to heal myself up and do my normal battletank rotation to finish him off.

    One thing that will help, especially those with lower CR, sp, etc is to know the dual pistol counters and hit your lunges.

    That's what I do on my main. But I personally try not to promote just burning through/around mechanics. There's too much of that already in this game IMO
    • Like x 1