I did the Crota ones at 29, with 2/3 legendary armor, and HoW... Maybe at the same level. The exotic helmet moved me directly to 32.
- In the warmind, the initial problem was that I thought waves would keep coming unless I killed the wizards and tried to kill them without getting rid of the mininions. After understanding that it was easier. Biggest issue was the vestiges taking out your safe spots.
- With the Urn, I could not find a safe spot to heal and kill from behind cover. I would have to hover hoping I would not get shot. I believe that one practically has no safe areas, and thralls will force you to move. I only had an scout rifle and it was not enough rate to kill them.
- The last story fight about skolas, I would get swarmed immediately while trying to kill the Servitors before the waves came. Skolas coming for me plus captains with shields. Since my best weapons at the moment were a legendary scout rifle and the murmur, I barely could do anything. I went down one level, but I would get fallens even from behind. In the end I found that retreating to the farthest part, very few enemies would come down and Skolas could not move beyond a point, making him an easy target moving around a column.
Usually I play it safe when soloing on hard with the heroic, but some missions don't have a safe area and enemies will make a run for you instead of keeping the distance with firearms. Thralls in heroic can be the worst in terms of invading your safe place. No other enemies except for blade fallens can be so moronic in making it so personal and close quarters.
Overall, I am still having issues with weaponry. I have a decent scout and pulse for PvE, and I got the low grade humillity sniper, but I am really missing a shotgun and a rocket launcher, making bosses extremely hard to kill.
-Warmind: Destiny add spawns can be very confusing. Sometimes they spawn continuously on a timer until you meet some criteria, sometimes only in finite groups. My memory is that most story missions use the latter method so you can take your time clearing them out one by one. One tip is that those vestige circles never actually kill you, they stop damaging you after breaking your shields (of course the enemies can kill you then).
-For the Urn, the reason I like it so much is also why it would be frustrating for newer players. It forces you to be really dynamic, to use the sword for mobility and evasion. Looks a little like this:
A tip here is that you can finish that entire part using only the swords, don't have to use your guns at all.
(side note: That gif made me realize I could farm Ogre Grimoire kills there. Probably not faster than Shrine of Oryx farming since Ogres are the final wave, but holy cow that would be more fun.)
-Skolas: Pay attention to where enemies are leashed and how to manipulate their aggro to pull them where you want (i.e. exactly what you said about retreating etc). Different enemies have different behaviors, which can also vary between encounters. Thralls are more aggressive just like you said, but they still de-aggro and fall back to their leashed zone if you can retreat far enough.
Most enemies have a proximity aggro that will override their leashing if you stay too close to them (i.e. Sword Bearer in Crota encounter, which you haven't seen yet). Learn where the nearest "exits" are for tough encounters, often it'll be wherever you entered the area. Then don't be afraid to high-tail it if things get hectic which should pull the enemies back into their leashed zones and give you a breather.
Like you said, better weapons will make a huge difference just by themselves. Hopefully this post is actually helpful and not too much crazy rambling, haha.
