Hydras are challenging bosses that call for a unique strategy: each Hydra head has its own strengths, and their vast amount of health makes them difficult to defeat. This guide covers Hydras' abilities, the best tactics to counter them, and the heroes who will be most effective in Hydra battles.
Basics
Hydras are formidable opponents with immense health, so success depends on forming a line-up that can withstand long fights and deal consistent damage. Here are some essential tips for gathering a team against Hydras:
- Hydras are immune to control effects, so they cannot be stunned, thrown in the air, or charmed. Heroes who specialize mainly in applying control effects will not contribute much in such battles.
- Hydras also have magic and physical protection, but lack energy. Thus, skills that provide energy deduction or other energy interactions will not be of much use.
- Each Hydra head is unique and requires a specific strategy to win. To learn more, tap the i icon in the upper-left corner after selecting the Hydra level in the Castle Ruins. You can also find details about Hydras' abilities and battle tips below.
- Your team needs to have enough healing and shields to last the entire battle and deal as much damage as possible. Losing even one hero mid-fight can significantly reduce your overall damage to a Hydra.
- Some heroes have skills that are efficient against bosses with a lot of health. Consider adding them to your team.
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The main goal in Hydra battles is to deal as much damage as possible. As the Hydras' difficulty increases, balancing damage output and survivability becomes more challenging.
The more damage your heroes take, the more energy they gain — and the more frequently they can use their ultimate skills. So to maximize damage, you need to upgrade your heroes very carefully. They must have enough health and armor to survive the Hydra's attacks, while still taking sufficient damage to generate energy efficiently.
It is best to build your Hydra team gradually and test the setup step by step. This way, you can adjust the stats if the team becomes too tanky and starts losing damage potential.
Hydra Abilities and Combat Tips
This section provides an overview of Hydra head skills and strategies for countering them.
Note: In addition to its unique abilities, each Hydra head can also perform a head strike that deals physical damage. As a result, heroes may take physical damage even from the Light and Darkness Hydras, whose abilities and basic attacks deal magic and pure damage. For example, Rufus's Rakashi's Oath skill will not protect him from a head strike, making it possible for him to fall even in battles against the Light and Darkness Hydras.
Earth Hydra
- Basic attacks deal physical damage.
- Elemental Breath also deals physical damage, stunning the first affected hero and nearby heroes in a small area of effect.
Hint: To protect your team from stuns, consider including Sebastian in your team, as he can prevent the stun from being applied in the first place. Other heroes can remove stun only after it has been applied, which might not be possible if they have already been stunned. Keep in mind, though, that Sebastian's shield has a capacity limit: once it is broken, your team becomes vulnerable again.
Water Hydra
- Basic attacks deal physical damage.
- Elemental Breath deals physical damage, inflicting more damage on front-line heroes. The affected characters are also slowed.
Hint: Make sure that the front-line heroes have enough armor and health and receive sufficient healing to survive the Hydra's attacks. Also, consider including heroes like Nebula, who can remove the slowing effect.
Fire Hydra
- Basic attacks deal physical damage.
- Elemental Breath also deals physical damage, setting ablaze the affected heroes. This debuff decreases hero armor and deals physical damage over time.
Hint: To counteract the burn effect, prioritize heroes with high health or healing abilities.
Wind Hydra
- Basic attacks deal physical damage.
- Elemental Breath deals magic damage and pushes heroes back. The first affected hero is pushed back further than the others and also slowed.
Hint: Heroes are automatically positioned on the battlefield according to their auto-attack range. The Wind Hydra's knockback ability disrupts the team's formation, which prevents heroes from using skills until they return to their positions. Andvari can help with that, as he protects allies behind him from displacement, though he himself can still be pushed back.
Light Hydra
- Basic attacks deal magic damage.
- Elemental Breath deals pure damage. The affected heroes are blinded, which decreases their accuracy.
Hint: A blinded hero misses any physical damage, either attacks or abilities. So, using magic or pure damage dealers may yield better results. Additionally, heroes who can lift negative effects — such as Nebula or Celeste — can remove the blind status from allies.
Darkness Hydra
- Basic attacks deal magic damage.
- Elemental Breath also deals magic damage. Affected heroes gain the Cursed Flame debuff, which prevents any healing.
Hint: Make sure your team has plenty of healing and shields to survive.
Heroes with Effective Skills for Hydra Battles
This section focuses on heroes whose skills are effective against high-health bosses like Hydras, but you are not restricted to using only them in your Hydra teams. You can include almost any heroes, as long as they fulfill their role in the team and provide sufficient survivability, damage, or support to overcome such a tough opponent.
Though primary healers and supports are not included in the list below, they are essential for every Hydra battle. You can select for your team those healers and support heroes you have upgraded the most, or pick them based on the Hydra head you are facing.
Jhu
Jhu's second skill, I will take your life, deals additional pure damage that scales with the opponent's current health, making him especially effective against high-health opponents like bosses or Hydras. For maximum impact, use Jhu at the beginning when a Hydra head still has most of its health.
Additionally, after activating his ultimate, Jhu enters an enraged state and cannot die while in this state — an advantage that proves valuable against powerful opponents.
Note: Hydras have a limit on how much health can be deducted by a single attack.
| Hydra Difficulty | Attack Limit |
| Legendary Hydra | >0.12% of Hydra's health |
| Dreadful Hydra | >0.25% of Hydra's health |
| Ancient Hydra | >0.51% of Hydra's health |
| Elder Hydra | >1.65% of Hydra's health |
| Common Hydra | >5.09% of Hydra's health |
Mojo
Mojo's fourth skill, Hex, applies a mark every two seconds. This mark deals a portion of the damage the target received during a two-second period, equal to Mojo's current health percentage (no less than 20%). This skill remains active even after Mojo's death. It is particularly powerful when paired with Jhu, as it amplifies the damage from his I will take your life skill.
Qing Mao
Qing Mao also has a skill that scales with the target's health — Dragon's Claw. It deals pure damage to the nearest opponent based on their current health. The limit on how much health can be deducted by a single attack also applies to Qing Mao.
Rufus
Rufus's ultimate skill, Rakashi's Barrier, absorbs magical and pure damage, while his passive skill, Rakashi's Oath, prevents Rufus from dying from magical or pure damage. Thanks to these skills, Rufus is very useful against Hydras, who deal magic and pure damage.
Xe'Sha
Xe'Sha's ultimate skill, Deadly Ray, can inflict plenty of damage as it depends on Xe'Sha's magic attack stat plus 3% of allies' max health. Her third skill also causes opponents' basic attacks to miss.
Mushy and Shroom
Mushy and Shroom's skill, Rotting Seeds, deals damage to the nearby opponent, with the damage increasing for every point of healing their allies have received since the skill was last activated. Their ultimate skill, Perfect Copy, conjures up to five Shroom clones that can use all Mushy and Shroom's skills. These skills, in combination, can deal a lot of damage. Just make sure that your team has plenty of healers, as Mushy and Shroom's skills need sufficient healing to activate faster.
Faceless
Faceless can copy another hero and use their skill. So the strategy is pretty straightforward — Faceless can boost your team with an extra use of a support, healing, or damage ability. Faceless fourth skill also increases magic defense, which helps against Hydras' magic attack.
FAQ
Why does the Journal show less damage than my team actually dealt?
The Damage Dealt tab also takes into account the damage inflicted by heroes on themselves or their allies. If the damage in the Damage Dealt tab is significantly different from the Journal, it means that heroes in your team have skills with the Sacrifice keyword.
Thanks to such skills, heroes usually sacrifice part of their health, i.e., inflict damage on themselves, to receive or give a buff.
Here are several examples of skills with the Sacrifice keyword:
- Lilith's Sacrifice,
- Dorian's Ancestors' Amulet,
- Aidan's Phoenix Ritual and Bonds of Fire,
- Kayla's Inner Flame,
- Xe'Sha's Deadly Ray, Spiritual Power, and Soaring Might,
- Cleaver's Putrefaction,
- Jhu's I will take your life.
Why is my team dealing less damage than before, even though I'm using the same lineup?
Most often, a drop in damage happens because you have upgraded some of your heroes, which shifted the timing of their abilities in battle.
For example, increasing Martha's armor may slow her energy generation rate. Thus, she will use her ultimate skill less frequently, providing fewer heals and speed boosts to her allies. As a result, one of your damage dealers may fall in the middle of the fight, and the overall damage decreases.
Fighting Hydras, particularly Legendary ones, typically requires exact tuning of hero stats. That is why upgrades to health, armor, magic defense, magic attack, and so on can significantly affect how the fight plays out and how much damage your team deals. Additional adjustments can help rebalance your line-up and restore its efficiency in battle.