Yet Another Hydra Thread

[FrozenMoonsoul]

I may or may not be the wrong kind of person to speak about these things, as I've only beaten AtO's adventure mode for the first time yesterday. Nevertheless, I want to talk about the Hydra - I'm aware there's been a thread about it already, but I believe responding to it at this point would be considered a necropost.

Now, the Hydra. Simply put, I would like some in-depth responses on how people kill it. From my current perspective, both of the other portals' bosses are giant pushovers by comparison (in fact, I found Faeborg to outright be easier than the enemies close to his chamber). The final boss was tough, but felt to me as though you can't reach it unless you can also beat it.

I cannot fathom how to deal with the sheer quantity of status effects the Hydra throws at my party and regular, often even multiple, partywide attacks per turn. I can bring a healer with a deck that's literally nothing but heals, especially the party-wide Prayer of Healing, and dispels and still be deleted as miserably as if I'd not bothered bringing a healer at all (I've tried that before).

With complete lack of control over which head I target even from the very first action I get onward, as the fight seems to invariably open with the blazing-fast lightning head taunting, it seems as though I am meant to fell it with status effects. Upon having this thought, I said to myself "fair enough", and built a team around just that -- stacking as many burns, bleeds and (to a lesser extent, since Malice is immune to it) poisons as I physically could, to the great effect of... being able to kill one, and only one, head before being wiped out by the same hideous quantity of party-wide attacks I was already eating. Their sheer number seems to make them impossible to block, too.

Every single run that I enter the swamp on ends on the Hydra, save for one where I met the bunnies for the first time. The Hydra continues to appear outright impossible to me after defeating the final boss with relative ease (albeit because of a particularly mighty piece of equipment). I give up, I need advice -- there's bound to be something I'm missing, and so I ask you guys what exactly you do to be able to defeat it. The more detail, the better.

[TnJ]

1. Make sure you're choosing the best head for your party in the opening dialogue.
2. AOE as much as you can.

[FDru]

Originally posted by TnJ:

1. Make sure you're choosing the best head for your party in the opening dialogue.
2. AOE as much as you can.

Alright well I disagree with both of these points lol

First of all doesn't matter much which head you choose as (and the OP mentioned it) one will be taunting right from the start, and another will be taunting soon after. I've found it to be almost a non-choice.

As for AOEs I guess it depends on which one you're using (like the melee spinning slash or whatever, if it's upgraded to apply bleed, is very strong) but most AOEs do kind of low damage and it will heal through it.

Hydra's gimmick seems to be AOE poison so having a couple of dispels on the healer as well as at least one on the tank is probably smart. Since everything else it does is blockable, and it spreads a lot of damage around, AOE blocks and shields (which turn into blocks) are always nice. And bring a couple of each of the spells that provide resistances (AOEs if possible) for good measure. All these things are universally good to have so it's not like you're just building for a boss, they will help you in every fight.

Anyway, personally I have never lost to the hydra using AOE shields/blocks, picking the tank head first (not at all necessary but since it taunts a lot I want to kill it first anyway) and just focusing them each down one by one. Eventually the main head might resurrect one of them but it will have lower HPs and won't have the poison aura so it's not a big deal.

[HAWAIIANpikachu]

The head you pick changes the resistances they start with, and if you heal they gain all 3. Typically this means you want to pick the unholy head unless you completely lack a damage type.

The hydra bosses have various immunities and focus on taunting and diving in and out so they can focus on healing. So what you really want is high burst damage. You want to slaughter one of the hydra heads (doesn’t matter who as they’re all taunting except the healer) as quick as possible. This will help break up their cycle synergy and give you a turn when none of them are taunted to target whoever. Fire damage and/or bleed damage is probably the best at dealing with all of them, and having AoE elemental resistances (such as the upgrade that also gives the party powerful) will help deal with all the lightning damage while dispels can remove poison. Buffers can kinda help as well.

[TnJ]

Originally posted by FDru:

Originally posted by TnJ:

1. Make sure you're choosing the best head for your party in the opening dialogue.
2. AOE as much as you can.

Alright well I disagree with both of these points lol

First of all doesn't matter much which head you choose as (and the OP mentioned it) one will be taunting right from the start, and another will be taunting soon after. I've found it to be almost a non-choice.

As for AOEs I guess it depends on which one you're using (like the melee spinning slash or whatever, if it's upgraded to apply bleed, is very strong) but most AOEs do kind of low damage and it will heal through it.

Hydra's gimmick seems to be AOE poison so having a couple of dispels on the healer as well as at least one on the tank is probably smart. Since everything else it does is blockable, and it spreads a lot of damage around, AOE blocks and shields (which turn into blocks) are always nice. And bring a couple of each of the spells that provide resistances (AOEs if possible) for good measure. All these things are universally good to have so it's not like you're just building for a boss, they will help you in every fight.

Anyway, personally I have never lost to the hydra using AOE shields/blocks, picking the tank head first (not at all necessary but since it taunts a lot I want to kill it first anyway) and just focusing them each down one by one. Eventually the main head might resurrect one of them but it will have lower HPs and won't have the poison aura so it's not a big deal.

It absolutely matters which head you pick.

ha

I love to AOE them specifically because of the taunt. 1-2 rounding this boss in low Madness is extremely doable. Hell, Thuls can almost 1 shot this boss by himself in the first round on Madness 0.

[HAWAIIANpikachu]

Two minor side notes: Hydras is a lot easier act 2 vs act 3, because it’s significantly easier to burst one head down when each head has less HP.

Alternatively, Going here after the fire act gives some some counters. There’s the lava crystal which dispels water, a good amount of fire weapons and even a good amount of resources hidden there for just gaining a ton of resistance

[Evillevi]

You need to stack on detoxify, mass dispel, etc . This alongside any regeneration bonus can mitigate the problem of the Hydra in madness 0

That or have enough burst damage to kill a head.

[ν]

TBH I never even knew the hydra's full abilities until madness 7 because it dies too fast otherwise. I've gone to fire -> green zone pretty much every run for unlocking stuff, never had an issue with it.

[Rianith]

I've just come back to the game and the way the new perks system works, just lose a few times, and perks earned and applied make your basic characters way more powerful, you totally lose the first time and then win the second or third?
Hydras, much like all else, tons of dispels and the tank only tanks and be patient.
And prioritise fast/speed, mages's first job.

[Zouls]

Best answer i can give is i just kinda kill it?

Even when trying various combos since i stack up on making people good at one thing i havent managed to lose yet on madness 0. It seems to me that as long as you can just reasonably kill them in a low time and have a good healer and tank there isnt much of an issue.

[MagicSock]

There's just to many status effects even with mass dispell you cannot get rid of the correct ones. Ones the poison head transforms the wet to poison it's over and everyone has 30 poison stacks. Yes this boss is way harder than any other bosses in the game.

[DJDiceZ]

Oooh that's what choosing the head does. It's not obvious enough, the game should give a better clue as to what happens.

Also you aren't forced to fight it anymore since the update right? So not really an issue.

It all depends on whether your team can handle the boss there or not. Go to the area that has better loot or that is easier for your team. And if you really want to go see the hydra, then do it first as it'll be weaker than if you go there last.

[TnJ]

Originally posted by DJDiceZ:

Oooh that's what choosing the head does. It's not obvious enough, the game should give a better clue as to what happens.

Also you aren't forced to fight it anymore since the update right? So not really an issue.

It all depends on whether your team can handle the boss there or not. Go to the area that has better loot or that is easier for your team. And if you really want to go see the hydra, then do it first as it'll be weaker than if you go there last.

The text dialogue tells you. Even that much was added this year, there used to be no clue in the fight dialogue at all.

[HAWAIIANpikachu]

Originally posted by MagicSock:

There's just to many status effects even with mass dispell you cannot get rid of the correct ones. Ones the poison head transforms the wet to poison it's over and everyone has 30 poison stacks. Yes this boss is way harder than any other bosses in the game.

You can keep dispelling and buffering. Warriors have a few self-dispel options and healers have plenty. The 2 you dispel from the warrior now might mean the 3 he dispels on his turn allows him to clear the poison. Or you can save plenty of shards to get the AoE dispel.

[Evillevi]

Originally posted by MagicSock:

There's just to many status effects even with mass dispell you cannot get rid of the correct ones. Ones the poison head transforms the wet to poison it's over and everyone has 30 poison stacks. Yes this boss is way harder than any other bosses in the game.

AOE dispell isn't to clear the poison, but to reset the stacks to something your regen and can deal with. SImply having aoe dispell + prayer of healing + regen bonus can effectively net 0 the poison stacks.

[Daynen Drakeson]

The hydra is indeed one of the most complex and comprehensive boss fights in the game. The multiple conditions it inflicts can be a serious pain and the constant taunt rotation does indeed make focus fire a challenge. Bouncing attacks can be a good option; things that hit random targets, jump, chain or repeat tend to have good damage for the card and the mana at the cost of unpredictable damage spreads...but they ignore taunts.

Even disregarding what bonuses you get for picking each head, bear in mind your party's targeting style. For example if you have a lot of "front" targeting cards, which are strong for the cost, then you absolutely care which head you pick because that's the one you're most likely to burst down first. Bring cards that inspire (a healer with a blue anthem of hope is a personal favorite) and have some cards that can energize, like the mage's replenishment or mana surge, so your big bursty damage dealers cycle faster and hit harder.

This fight definitely tests your endurance and your ability to seize an opportunity. All you really have to do is get one head down and it gets dramatically easier. Just be sure to ignore Scorn, the back head. I don't recall seeing him use that ultra heal on any other head, so if you leave him at full health while you burn down the other three, he'll waste turns healing nothing.

Just keep looking for ways to increase your party's overall efficiency with fewer cards; the hydra is a good benchmark to measure your party's overall power, so beating it without casualties is a good sign.