Hydra: Viable?

[BaalWannabe]

Hydra: Viable?

Topic says it all. I've always been fascinated by the skill, but have absolutely never used it for any reason beyond novelty.

My sorcs are usually Meteorb or full Frost for MF. Anyone have any real experience with Hydra deeply invested?

I'm thinking of a mix between Blizzball and Meteorb but in the Fire tree Meteor is substitued with Hydra, and the Cold tree uses Blizzard and Glacial Spike.

1 Fire Bolt
1 Warmth
20 Fire Ball
1 Enchant
1 Fire Mastery
20 Hydra

1 Ice Bolt
1 Frost Nova
1 Ice Blast
20 Glacial Spike
20 Blizzard
1 Cold Mastery

Am I crazy? Would this be as viable as standing in front of Hell Baal with max block and resistances spamming Meteor? :crazyeyes:

 

[lumpor]

Re: Hydra: Viable?

Blizzard is too synergy-intensive. A hydra-frozen orb build is viable, and there have been several threads about it lately.

 

[melianor]

Re: Hydra: Viable?

Folks open your eyes! What about Blizzballer then? That build works perfectly well and uses BLizzard with just 1 synergy. Please put arguments forth when you display your opinion. When you mean synergy intensive i guess you mean, that Blizzard with 2-3 synergies is stronger than Blizzard with just 1 synergy. That is true, but i don´t think you can compare single-tree builds to dual tree. That´s like trying to compare apples and peaches

A single tree build will ALWAYS be more powerful than dua or tribuild. But i do not think that is you can compare those to eah other, since they all have their benefits in beiing versatile.

Blizzard with just 1 synergy is still way powerful enough for 8p hell games. I will not dispute that any single tree build will outdamage any hybrid build, but its not always all about the maximum killing speed and power.

 

[theleetpanda]

Re: Hydra: Viable?

In my opinion, Orb outclasses blizz in every way when just synergized once, so I personally can't see why you would want to go for a hybrid with blizz (yes including the blizzballer) unless you really really liked playing with blizzard or are bad with orb.

Orb also doesn't need the synergy that badly, so that opens up more possibilities for masteries/hydra synergies if you want.

 

[Phredreeke]

Re: Hydra: Viable?

I'm thinking of a mix between Blizzball and Meteorb but in the Fire tree Meteor is substitued with Hydra

Fireball and Meteor synergize eachother. Hydra receives synergy from Fireball, but not the other way around so your fireball will end up much weaker than a Meteorber or Blizzballer.

 

[lumpor]

Re: Hydra: Viable?

Yes, weaker fire balls, but still respective. With good gear andfuly synergized, hydras can get up to about 5k damage PER BOLT, and 1 hydra shoots 15 bolts in a lifetime.

Anyway, I think unperfected skills (like the blizzballer) are disgusting really. Dual tree sorcs are boring. It's more fun to be good at one thing than suck at two things

 

[Cwicseolfor]

Re: Hydra: Viable?

Anyway, I think unperfected skills (like the blizzballer) are disgusting really.

Why?

Dual tree sorcs are boring. It's more fun to be good at one thing than suck at two things

In what way do they suck?

 

[LupusPhoenix]

Re: Hydra: Viable?

I dunno but trying to deal with cold immunes in hell on my mf sorc has been a pain. It'd be nice to have two trees.

I wish three trees was more viable.

I always liked hydra. Even in D1. I'm going to try making a hydra sorc but I'm not sure what else to give her. Lightning is weak without lots of gear/synergy?

 

[GaryColeman]

Re: Hydra: Viable?

i use hydra, and have hydra maxed and just keep popping back and forth between fire mastery and fire ball, both around 18 w/ gear id say, and my hydras rape the cold immunes in NM that my Orb cant kill. I can run all the bosses w/ ease and not really have a problem dying...and I have some junk gear minus the tal's ammy/belt. (Peasent Crown is my helm ugh.) So I think it is VERY viable if your blastin fireballs in between orbs/hydras, not the fastest of all builds by any means, but its fun for sure. Seeing like 4 diff sets of hydras just blastin....lol I like it

 

[Flarfy]

Re: Hydra: Viable?

Hydras are the coolest skill ever.

Does anyone have a list of items that give either +% to fire damage or -% to enemies fire resistance?
And would these items be worth using instead of just boosting +skills?

 

[melianor]

Re: Hydra: Viable?

Yes, weaker fire balls, but still respective. With good gear andfuly synergized, hydras can get up to about 5k damage PER BOLT, and 1 hydra shoots 15 bolts in a lifetime.

Anyway, I think unperfected skills (like the blizzballer) are disgusting really. Dual tree sorcs are boring. It's more fun to be good at one thing than suck at two things

I certainly agree that everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but the expression of said opinion could be done differently?! Disgusting? Suck? One can hold his opinion and still keep one's respect for the playstyle that others find good, without sounding offensive?

 

[candystar]

Re: Hydra: Viable?

I've been thinking of hydra myself. Has anyone actually tried it with experience in running hell meph and andy (what I plan to do) with frozen orb? Thanks, just a pain to remake a sorc.

 

[tomlol]

Re: Hydra: Viable?

you can kill andy and meph fine.

i have 5 in Fbolt max FB hydra FM and still working on FO.

FO sucks pretty hard though, id just go pure fire and do something like cold armor or a bunch in static if i were to do it again. If you are just boss running you dont need duel element imho.

hydra is really safe or really caustic to play. there is very little middle ground.

I just clear blood raven and masoleum on my own. In a party its a lot more fun, and I dont need duel element then either.

If you want general purpose id recommend blizzballer over hydra/FO. hydra is very relaxing to play however, I like playing it with my friends. kind of thing i like to do is full clears though. not sure how it compares to someone who wants to run meph over and over and over. seems like blizzard would be faster.

 

[EnerSense]

Re: Hydra: Viable?

Hydras are the coolest skill ever.

Does anyone have a list of items that give either +% to fire damage or -% to enemies fire resistance?
And would these items be worth using instead of just boosting +skills?

I don't have a list but I have used Full Tals for this. The list could be found in arreat summit at www.blizzard.com. Now, the full set gives:

-15% enemy fire resistance
-15% enemy lightning resistance
+15% cold damage
The orb can also add 1-2 mastery points.
Gives mana bonus.
Life bonus.
+6 skills
some FCR

It's an awesome set! You can always add skillers and get other equipment like Magefist and Spirit shield to increase +skills.

 

[lumpor]

Re: Hydra: Viable?

I'm sorry that I talked in such a way. When i read it today I regret I said it. I usually get that way when I have an opinion that I believe is firm

Anyway, for fire builds you shouldn't really get +% to fire skill damage. You get enough from fire mastery already, and 10% +skill damage will actually only increase your damage by less than 3%. What you need is -enemy resistance. Sadly, there is very little equipment for fire sorceresses that lowers the enemies resistance. These are the ones I know of:

Ravenlore sky spirit: Sadly, it's for druids only
"Hand of justice runeword": It's not designed for casters, so it's not recommended)
"Phoenix runeword": This one is not so caster-friendly either. I still do think it's a bit underrated though.
Mang songs lesson archon staff: It would be a great weapon, if only it was one-handed. You will lose lts of fcr if using this. Still, I think it's a bit underrated.
Tal Rasha's lidless eye (3 items bonus): This is a good option. You need 2 other set pieces though, and none of the other set items look too appealing. Still, a good option.
Rainbow facet (fire version): Fire facets give so little -fire res, but it's the only option without sacrificing alot of other modifiers.

So maybe 3-piece tals, and fire facets. that's your only option