Hydra Guide: The Head of Suffering

Since introduced, Hydra Clan Boss has been one of the toughest forms of content added to Raid Shadow Legends. However, with a little understanding and practice, you may find it’s easier than you think. Each head brings a unique challenge to the battle and finding the balance to counteract each of them is the real challenge. Let’s break it down one head at a time. Next up: the Head of Suffering

For the A1, you cannot resist the Weaken debuff but you can prevent it with a Block Debuffs buff. Also, if you have a Strengthen buff up, it will not place. You can also remove it later with a cleanser. Keep in mind this is an AoE attack. You can mitigate damage from AoE’s numerous ways including:

1. Using a champion with a passive skill that decreases the damage taken by all allies from AoE attacks (ex. Duchess Lilitu)
2. Consider your gear. Guardian is a great set to put on a champion with high HP as it transfers damage to allies to the wearer instead. This is great if you have “squishy” champions in your team. Stalwart also provides damage mitigation; though is not necessarily the best set for most champions to use against Hydra due to other sets having more utility. However, it does provide 30% decrease damage taken from incoming AoE damage. Consider this if you’re struggling with specific champions dying during AoE hits.
3. If you’re going down the Defense mastery tree, try to get Blastproof which decreases damage from AoE attacks by 5%.

After you decapitate the head, a shield is placed on all your allies. Keep this in mind if the Head of Mischief is out and your target only has shields as extra buff. This could throw off your targeting and the buff could be stolen after by the Head of Mischief. However, it could also be very helpful if you have this happen before the Head of Wrath does the AoE attack.

The A2 places Ally Protection buff on all heads and Reflect Damage on itself. All of these can be prevented if you’ve placed a Block Buffs debuff. They can also be removed with a buff stripper or a champion that reduces the duration of buffs. Be careful not to hit with a high-damage skill when the Reflect Damage buff is up or your champion will likely be killed instantly. This can, however, work in your favor if the champion has been Marked to be devoured by a hydra head. You can have them die and that Mark will go to another champion (assuming you have a reviver in there to bring them back or a Revive on Death buff up).

The A2 also places a provoke on the champion that will likely be your best damage dealer. Keep in mind if the Reflect Damage was placed, this will likely take a big chunk out of their health if the provoke was not prevented or cleansed before your champion takes a turn. This debuff can be prevented with high enough Resistance, Block Debuffs buff, or removed by a cleanser. Be sure to check out our Stages Tool and look up the difficulty you’re fighting to see how much Resistance you need to counteract the Accuracy.

The A3 targets an enemy champion creating a link with the Head of Suffering. 15% of the damage received by the head is taken as damage by the target champion. Be careful not to use an Enemy Max HP hitter to attack if this debuff is up on one of your champions. Like the other debuffs, this debuff can be prevented with high enough Resistance, Block Debuffs buff, or removed by a cleanser

As for the passive, the resistance of all hydra heads is increased by 50. Keep this in mind when you are building your champions. Be sure to add extra accuracy to counteract this. You can use the Stages Tool and look up the difficulty you’re fighting to see how much Accuracy is needed to counteract their Resistance.

This head takes less damage from Poisons, but you can still poison it. You also can use someone like Lydia with Poison Sensitivity to increase the damage poisons will do.

While this head is up, it decreases the damage all hydra heads take from AoE hits. This does not mean avoiding using them entirely. The same goes for Enemy Max HP champions. Even though the damage is limited due to the passive, they still do great damage overall (so use those Royal Guards & Husks anyway)! Lastly, as the skill states, it is immune to many debuffs, turn meter manipulation, etc. so please keep those abilities in mind before you head into your hydra battle.

Uugo – Not only does she bring Block Buffs debuffs but she also brings Decrease DEF, Leech, cleanses, heals, and even has a conditional revive. She is particularly strong in a Reflex or Relentless set to help keep Block Buffs up all of the time.

Lady Kimi – Her A3 will remove 1 buff from all enemies and place Block Buffs on any enemy that has a buff removed. This is great for dealing with the buffs placed by the Head of Suffering. She also brings Decrease ACC, Decrease SPD, Increase SPD, Increase ACC and turn meter fill for allies. This is very helpful especially at the higher levels of hydra.

Godseeker Aniri – Her A2 can increase the duration of your buffs and decreases the duration of enemy buffs. This isn’t a direct buff strip but can be another helpful way to make the buffs fall off quicker. She also has a revive and heal that can help greatly if you’re stuck attacking while Provoked and the Reflect Damage is up.

*If you’re looking for a good cleanser to deal with the debuffs, some other of the best cleansers for hydra include: Tuhanarak, Cardiel, Brogni, Mithrala and Doompriest.