Increased difficulty in last Stolen Dreams quest

[(PSN)Seraphiel_777]

I hit a brick wall in Stolen Dreams: The Arcane Machine. I soloed all previous quests fine, but now it is a fierce struggle to kill one enemy. I don't understand why the difficulty would ramp up so high on a 16-18 mission. Is this normal?

My Excalibur and weapons (Hek, Galatine) are all level 30, and decently modded (some potatoed) after two weeks of obsessive play. As a newer player, I don't know what else I can do, but level more mods with endo and hope to find more rares.

On second thought, I don't know that I tried The Arcane Machine without the Extinguish Dragon Key, but I thought it only weakened my damage while aboard the Orokin vessel. If this is the problem, I guess I won't be opening the vault. 

Wonder if I could just avoid all the enemies and treat this as a stealth mission?

[Chipputer]

Keys affect you anywhere as long as they are equipped. If you have an Extinguished key on and you're having trouble killing enemies then... well... that's what happens when you equip an extinguished key.

[(PSN)Seraphiel_777]

1 minute ago, Chipputer said:

Keys affect you anywhere as long as they are equipped. If you have an Extinguished key on and you're having trouble killing enemies then... well... that's what happens when you equip an extinguished key.

That's really good to know! Most likely that is my problem.

[midtarget]

Im pretty sure its impossile to stealth the arcane machine because you need to attract the chroma, meaning alert

[kyori]

Dragon key is only needed for opening the vault in derelict. Its effect will stay as long as it is equipped no matter which planet. If you unequipped the key, you can equip it again, you won't lose your ability to open vault forever if you unequip a key 

[(PSN)Seraphiel_777]

I'm happy to report I soloed The Arcane Machine mission with a Decaying Dragon Key equipped, opened the Orokin Vault, and was rewarded with the Fleeting Efficiency mod!