The Hydra is a Clan Boss fight available only to Clan Members. The Hydra can be found on the Clan Bosses Map after selecting the “Clan Bosses” Game Mode.
Note: The Hydra unlocks at Level 45. If you join a new Clan after leaving another, you must wait 6 hours before you are able to fight the Hydra again.
Clan Boss Hydra Battles
Similar to the Demon Lord. Hydra battles are a fight for your team to survive as long as possible and deal as much damage as you can along the way. For Hydra fights, you’ll be taking 6 Champions into battle, and you’ll be fighting 4 Hydra heads at the same time.
Each Champion can only be used in one Hydra battle per week, so you’ll need to utilize your entire Collection if you want to master the Hydra.
Hydra Head Selection
The Hydra’s Head setup will change on a regular basis, which means you need to build a flexible team that can handle almost any situation.
Monthly Rotation
The Hydra takes 6 Heads into battle, but you’ll only be fighting 4 at once. Here’s how it works:
- The Hydra works in monthly Rotations and weekly reset cycles.
- Every month, 4 of the Hydra’s total available Heads will be chosen as the “Starter Heads” for that month.
- 2 of the remaining Heads will be chosen as the “Substitute” heads for that month.*
- Each Head will also be assigned an Affinity for that Rotation.
- In every Hydra battle that month, the 4 Starter Heads and 2 Substitute Heads (and their Affinities will be the same.
*Note: Right now, there are a total of 6 Hydra Heads, so every Head will be included in every Rotation. However, in the future, when more Hydra Heads are released, some Hydra Heads will be left out of each Rotation – and there will be a fresh challenge every month.
Weekly Cycles
Players will then fight the Hydra across weekly cycles to win Hydra Chests.
Each Hydra battle requires 1 Hydra Key. You will receive 3 Hydra Keys per week. You’ll be given your 3 Keys every Wednesday between 08:00 and 13:00 UTC. The time will vary slightly for each Clan, but it will be within that time frame.
The Hydra also resets every Wednesday between 08:00 and 13:00 UTC, and the number of Hydra Chests each player receives depends on the outcome of that week’s Hydra battles:
- If the Hydra is damaged but survives, each contributing Clan Member will receive one Hydra Chest according to the damage they dealt individually!
- If a Clan defeats the Hydra (by fully depleting its HP), each contributing Clan Member will receive two Hydra Chests according to the damage they dealt.
Pro tip: You can experiment with different team builds and strategies without using a Hydra Key. When in battle, hit pause, then select “Free Regroup” to head straight back to the Team Selection screen. Exiting a battle this way won’t keep your score from the current battle, and you’ll be able to immediately try again with a completely different team.
Clan Members must work together to deal damage to the Hydra. Each Clan Member fights individually, but their damage scores are added together to wear down the Hydra’s HP. The more damage each Clan Member deals, the better the Hydra Chest they will receive at the end of the week.
Once the Hydra’s HP has been fully depleted on any given difficulty, the next difficulty will be unlocked. Players can only fight the Hydra on higher difficulties if their Clan successfully defeats the Boss on the previous difficulty.
Once a new difficulty is unlocked, it is permanently unlocked for that Clan. There are currently 4 difficulties available: Normal, Hard, Brutal, Nightmare
Hydra Boss Mechanics
The Hydra brings six different heads into battle, each one with its own mechanics and strategies, but you’ll only be fighting 4 of those 6 heads at once.
Each battle will start against the 4 “Starter Heads” for that Rotation, while the other 2 will sit on the sidelines waiting to be tagged in if you manage to decapitate any Heads.
You can take up to 6 Champions to battle with the Hydra.
There are a few mechanics that are unique to Hydra:
Devouring, Digestion, Consumption
At the start of the Battle, one enemy Champion will be marked with a Mark of the Hydra debuff with a 16-turn countdown. After those 16 turns, that Champion will be devoured by the Head that moves next.
Once devoured, the Hydra Head will begin digesting that Champion and a 5-turn digestion countdown will begin. You can save your Champion by attacking the Head that has devoured them: if you deal enough damage to the Head before they are fully digested, you will set them free and they will rejoin your team. If you don’t, they will be consumed. Once consumed, they cannot be revived or be returned to Battle.
Once a Champion has been devoured, or if a marked Champion dies, another Champion will be marked.
Threat escalation
- Each subsequent time a Champion is marked, the countdown until devouring decreases by 1 turn (to a minimum of 2 turns
- Each subsequent time a Champion is devoured, the digestion countdown decreases by 1 turn (to a minimum of 2 turns)
Decapitation
Once a Hydra Head’s HP hits zero, it will be decapitated and become an Exposed Neck, with an entirely new set of skills and mechanics. A new random Hydra Head will grow out of the Headless Hydra after 2 turns.
The Head that grows back may be the same Head that was chopped off, or it may be one of the available Substitute Heads. On lower difficulties, the same Head is likely to grow back, but on higher difficulties, there is a higher chance that a different Head will grow back, changing the battle entirely.
Hydra Boss Skills
Head Common Skills
All of the Hydra Heads have the same following passive skills:
- When attacking heads, damage that bases on Max HP cannot exceed 10% of the head’s Max HP.
- Max damage can be dealt in one tick from HP Burn is 20,000 HP.
- Damage taken from Warmaster Mastery, the Giant Slayer Mastery, or reflected damage cannot exceed 50,000 per attack.
- Immune to [Stun], [Freeze], [Sleep], [Provoke], [Block Active Skills], [Block Passive Skills], [Fear], [True Fear], and [Petrification] debuffs.
- Immune to HP exchange effects, HP balancing effects, cooldown increasing effects and Turn Meter reduction effects.
Head of Decay Skills
- Agonizing Jaws: Attack the enemy who has the lowest HP. Place a 100% [Heal Reduction] debuff for 2 turns.
- Speed of Decay (Cooldown: 4 turns) Remove all debuffs on all of the Heads. After that, fill the Turn Meters of all Heads by 30%.
- Rotten Ward (Cooldown: 5 turns) Removes all debuffs from the Head that has the lowest HP, then places a [Life Barrier] buff on them for 4 turns. This buff cannot be removed or stolen.
- Almighty Decay [Passive] Whenever an enemy Champion is healed, decreases their MAX HP by 15% of the value of the Heal (max = 75% of their MAX HP). Decreases all damage coming from [Poison] debuffs by 90%. All Hydra Heads take from AoE attacks is decreased by 10%.
- Decapitation Effect [Passive] Whenever this Head is decpitated, heals all of the enemy Champions by 30% of their MAX HP. Restore 50% of the MAX HP of any enemy Champions whose MAX HP has been decreased.
Head of Torment Skills
- Spectral Fangs: Attacks 1 enemy. Has a 50% chance of placing a [Fear] debuff for 2 turns. This debuff cannot be blocked or resisted. After the first attack, attacks all enemies under [Fear] or [True Fear] debuffs.
- Curse Storm (Cooldown: 3 turns) Attacks all enemies. Damage increases by 25% for each debuff an enemy is under.
- Almighty Torment [Passive] When attacked by enemies not under [Perfect Veil] buffs, places a [True Fear] debuff on them for one turn. This debuff cannot be blocked or resisted. Decreases damage taken from [Poison] debuffs by 90%. Decreases the damage all Hydra heads take from AoE attacks by 10%.
- Decapitation Effect [Passive] Whenever this head is decapitated, removes all [Fear] and [True Fear] debuffs from all enemy champions then places a [Perfect Veil] buff for 2 turns on 2 random enemy champions.
Head of Suffering
- Crippling Jaws: Attacks all enemies. Places a 25% [Weaken] debuff for 2 turns. This debuff cannot be resisted. Will not place the [Weaken] debuff on enemies with [Strengthen] buffs.
- Thirst of Pain (Cooldown: 4 turns) Places a 50% [Ally Protection] buff on all Heads except this one for 2 turns, then places a 30% [Reflect Damage] buff on this Head for 2 turns. Also places a [Provoke] debuff for 1 turn on the enemy with the highest Critical Damage.
- Share Suffering (Cooldown: 3 turns) Attacks 1 enemy. Places a [Pain Link] debuff for 3 turns, then grants this Head an Extra Turn.
- Almighty Suffering [Passive] Increases the Resist of all Hydra Heads by 50. Decreases the damage all Hydra Heads take from AoE attacks by 30%. Decreases the damage taken from [Poison] debuffs by 90%.
- Decapitation Effect [Passive] Places a [Shield] buff on all enemy Champions for 2 turns equal to 30% of their MAX HP whenever this Head is decapitated.
Head of Mischief
- Thieving Jaws: Attacks the enemy with the most buffs. Steals all buffs from the target and steals 50% of the target’s Turn Meter.
- Spoils of Mischief (Caooldown: 3 turns) Applies a [Buff Spread] effect, taking all buffs from this Head and placing them on all Heads. Changes the duration of all spread buffs to 2 turns.
- Almighty Mischief [Passive] Has a 75% chance of redirecting an enemy attack onto another random Head. Will not occur if this Head is under a [Hex] debuff. Decreases the damage all Hydra heads take from AoE attacks by 10%.
- Decapitation Effect [Passive] Fully depletes the Turn Meters of all Hydra Heads Whenever this Head is decapitated.
Head of Blight
- Dripping Jaws: Attacks all enemies. Places three 5% [Poison] debuffs for 2 turns. Also has a 75% chance of placing a [Leech] debuff for 2 turns.
- Leeching Blight (Cooldown: 3 turns) Attacks all enemies. Places a 5% [Poison] debuff for 3 turns. Instantly deals damage from all [Poison] debuffs on each enemy under [Leech] debuff.
- Blinding Smog (Cooldown: 5 turns) Places a [Poison Cloud] buff on all Hydra Heads for 2 turns. This buff cannot be removed or transferred.
- Almighty Blight [Passive] This head receives double damage from [HP Burn] debuffs. Decreases the damage all Hydra Heads take from AoE attacks by 10%.
- Decapitation Effect [Passive] Inflicts damage to all Heads under [HP Burn] debuffs whenever this head is decapitated.
Head of Wrath
- Gnashing Jaws: Attacks all enemies. Places a 50% [Decrease ATK] debuff for 2 turns.
- Furious Roar (Cooldown: 4 turns) Attacks all enemies. Places a [Provoke] debuff for 1 turn. Also places a 50% [Increase ATK] buff on this head for 3 turns.
- Almighty Wrath [Passive] Decreases the damage all Hydra Heads take from AoE attacks by 10%.
- Wrath Unique Skill [Passive] Each hit received increases the [Vengeance] counter by 1. Whenever the [Vengeance] counter reaches 15, places a [Vengeance] buff, a [Block Debuffs] buff, and a 15% [Reflect Damage] buff on this Head for 1 turn, then attacks all enemies. [The [Vengeance] counter resets everytime it reaches 15. Enemy hits will not be counted while under a [Vengeance] buff.
- Decapitation [Passive] Inflicts damage to all Heads whenever this Head is decapitated. If this Head is decapitated while under a [Vengeance] buff, the damage inflicted to all Heads increases, and there is a 25% chance of placing a [Leech] debuff on all Heads for 2 turns.
Hydra-specific Buffs and Debuffs
The Hydra possesses some unique buffs and debuffs that aren’t found anywhere else in the game.
Life Barrier
The Head of Decay offers Life Barrier. The Hydra Head’s HP is reinforced with a Shield-like effect; however, Life Barrier takes priority over active Shield buffs. Any damage going towards the Head with this buff available will be subtracted from the Life Barrier value first before actually going to the Head’s HP. In case the Life Barrier is not removed, after a few turns, the Head under this buff will get full HP. Whenever the Life Barrier is removed, the Head gets stunned for 1 turn.
This buff cannot be removed, stolen, or affected by any buff manipulation Skills.
Poison Cloud
The Head of Blight offers Poison Cloud. This buff blocks all of the damage from all Poison debuffs. All of the attacks coming towards this Hydra Head under this buff will become Weak Hit. Using HP Burn debuffs cancels the effects of Poison Cloud, allowing Poison debuffs to deal damage and attacks to hit the head normally. Any skill that specifies the kind of hit they deliver and the Affinitybreaker Artifact Set can counter this effect very well.
This buff cannot be removed, stolen, or affected by any buff manipulation Skills.
Vengeance
The Head of Wrath offers this buff. While this buff is active, all of the attacks deal x4 more damage.
This buff cannot be removed, stolen, or affected by any buff manipulation Skills.
Pain Link
This debuff creates a link between the Head of Suffering and an enemy Champion. The linked enemy receives 15% of all damage that dealt to the Head of Suffering. This damage is reflected, not moved, so the Head of Suffering will still take all of the full damage.
Decapitated
Whenever you kill a Hydra Head, it will be cut off, leaving behind an Exposed Neck with the debuff Decapitated. An Exposed Neck cannot act for a few turns, and takes 200% damage. The debuff cannot be removed or otherwise affected by Skills that manipulate debuffs.
Serpent’s Will
Whenever a new Hydra Head grows in place of an Exposed Neck, the Head gains this buff until it gets a turn. This buff decreases all incoming damage by 75%.
This buff cannot be removed, stolen, or affected by any buff manipulation Skills.
How to Defeat Hydra Heads
Head of Blight
The Head of Blight uses vast amounts of Poison to inflict damage, and brings a unique buff, Poison Cloud), to protect itself and its allies. The Poison Cloud buff causes all incoming attacks to deliver Weak Hits, which deal less damage and can’t place debuffs. If a Head with Poison Cloud also has HP Burn), all hits against it go back to normal.
The Head of Blight’s other attacks focus on putting out and exploiting Poison, and (Leech) debuffs, creating a deadly combo that can detonate tons of Poison on your Champions.
This nasty combo can be easy enough to stop – blocking or removing debuffs will protect you from this Head’s worst attacks. So, it comes down to dealing damage to it, and for that you’ll want Champions with area-of-effect HP Burn). (HP Burn deals bonus damage to the Head of Blight, and it neutralizes the Poison Cloud buff on all the Heads. It will also add an extra kick at the end: the Head of Blight’s decapitation effect deals damage to any Heads that are under a CHP Burn] debuff.
Head of Torment
The Head of Torment is focused on using [Fear] and [True Fear] to control your Champions and reset their cooldowns, but it also can deal a lot of damage if you’re not careful.
Its attacks put [Fear] and [True Fear] debuffs on your Champions, then exploits them to deal additional damage.
The Head of Torment’s Passive is the real issue, though, as any Champion who attacks the Head of Torment without (Perfect Veil) buffs will get a True Fearl debuff that can’t be blocked or resisted.
The solution is pretty clear: bring Champions who can cast [Perfect Veil] buffs, and Champions that can remove Debuffs. This will keep your Champions able to fight, and minimize the Head of Torment’s ability to inflict damage on your team.
Head of Mischief
The Head of Mischief will attack the Champion with the most buffs, stealing them along with part of the target’s Turn Meter. Then, its second Skill passes its buffs along to the other Heads.
What makes this Head difficult to attack is that it has a Passive skill which redirects single target attacks to another Head. If you want to get around this, use, the [Hex] debuff – which disables the effect – or just hit it with area attacks.
You can also use the (Block Buffs debuff on it to prevent it from benefiting from any Buffs it steals, and high Resistance will prevent the loss of your buffs in the first place.
Head of Wrath
The Head of Wrath is a furious damage dealer. It uses Provoke to force you to attack it, but once it takes enough punishment it will unleash a powerful buff, [Vengeance], to quadruple its attack power and wreak havoc on your team.
Attacking the Head of Wrath with lots of hits will build up stacks of the Head’s Vengeance counter. When it gets to 15, it gives itself the unique [Vengeance] buff and attacks your entire team with quadruple the damage. [Vengeance, only lasts 1 turn, but it means the Head of Wrath ‘s next attack will also hit with the same devastating power.
Because it concentrates so much damage into such a short time, it’s not enough, to bring strong healing. You’ll need to increase the durability of your Champions with [Increase DEF], [Strengthen], and [Shield] buffs. Or, if you can carefully control the number of hits you land, you can also time your Champions to use Block Damage] or [Unkillable] buffs right when Vengeance comes out.
That timing will serve you twice-over, actually. Killing the Head of Wrath while it’s under a [Vengeance] buff doubles the damage it deals to all other Heads, and has a chance of placing [Leech] debuff on them.
Head of Decay
The Head of Decay will disrupt your healing and try to preserve other Heads by using a special buff: [Life Barrier].
The Head of Decay’s third skill removes all debuffs from the most injured Head, then gives it a Life Barrier buff. Life Barrier works a bit like Shield, but it can’t be bypassed or stolen. If you break it before it runs out, the Head is Stunned for a turn. If not, the Head will be fully healed instead.
But the Head of Decay gets its name from its passive most of all: every time your Champions are healed, it destroys the HP of the healed Champion – the amount destroyed is equal to 15% of the total value of the heal, so putting a huge heal on a Champion that was barely injured can destroy more HP than it recovers!
So, while the Head of Decay is very annoying, it doesn’t actually have a good means of defending itself. It’s very difficult to go completely without healing, so you’re better off decapitating the Head of Decay as soon as possible. This also helps counteract some of the problem, since its decapitation effect heals your Champions a bit then restores 50% of the HP that its passive destroyed.
Head of Suffering
The Head of Suffering’s main role is to protect other Heads, increase their Resistance, and decrease received damage. It is also eager to punish you if you neglect debuffs, as it brings the powerful [Pain Link] debuff to the field.
Any Champions with a [Pain Link] will also receive 15% of the damage that the Head of Suffering takes. The Head still takes full damage, but your Champions aren’t nearly as durable. You can easily end up defeating your own team.
Despite everything, there are ways to beat this Head. To help survive, you can block the [Weaken] it puts out with its default attack by using the [Strengthen] buff.
Or, you can cleanse it – you’ll want to be able to remove debuffs on your Champions anyway, to deal with the [Pain Link]. You’ll need high accuracy if you want to remove the Head’s Reflect Damage] buff, but if you do it makes things easier for your damage-dealers. And while it’s nice that the Head’s decapitation effect gives you a [Shield] buff, the real benefit is that the Head won’t be around to increase it’s ally’s Resistance and decrease your AoE damage.
Hydra Chests
Attacking the Hydra gets you Hydra Chests. Hydra Chests are given out to players at the end of the weekly cycle. The more damage you dealt to the Hydra that week, and the harder the difficulty, the more valuable your Hydra Chest.
Hydra Chests contain some Clan resources such as Clan Gold and Clan XP, but most importantly, they are the only way of winning Stone Skin and Protection Artifact Sets. Both Stone Skin and Protection Artifacts are special in a couple of ways:
- They are both Variable Sets. This means you will gain extra bonuses depending on how many of them you equip.
- Both are available in Mythical Rarity, which is even rarer – and stronger-than Legendary