When it comes to finding all the pieces of the puzzle for creating a great hydra team, exploring synergies between champions is just as important as finding someone that checks multiple boxes. Sometimes, those boxes are only checked when paired with the right champion(s). Let’s explore options for one of the best epics in the game for hydra: Uugo.

Uugo alone is a hydra queen. She has a leech on the A1, AoE Decrease DEF and Block Buffs debuffs on the A2, a cleanse and heal on the A3 and a passive that can save the day if she’s the only one left alive. However, there are some particularly great pairings that can make her even stronger.

For this combination, the main strength is in Soulless’ A3 paired with the debuffs placed by Uugo’s A1 & A2. On his A3, he attacks all enemies and increases the duration of all debuffs on the target by 1 then places a Provoke debuff on all enemies for 1 turn. He places a Shield buff on himself for 2 turns equal to 30% of damage dealt. The damage increases by 10% for each debuff on the target.

These two champions together cover many of the bases needed in a successful hydra comp. Uugo brings healing + Leech, cleansing, Decrease DEF and Block Buffs. Soulless brings overall damage, Provoke to deal with the Head of Decay, a buff strip on A2 and Debuff Extension. He can also be a Mischief target if you don’t bring anyone else in with Shields and avoid Bloodshield Accessories on everyone else but him. Both Soulless and Uugo work very well in Relentless or Reflex gear + Refresh accessories. A great combo is Relentless artifacts + Refresh Accessories on Uugo and Reflex on Soulless.

Let’s talk about this aspect of Debuff Extension. Extending Uugo’s Block Buffs is an easy way to keep that debuff up 100% of the time and not have to worry about having a Mischief Target. Block Buffs on the Head of Mischief means it can’t steal your buffs. Block Buffs on the other heads means buffs can’t be spread if he was to steal something. Keeping Block Buffs up the whole time also helps you prevent the buffs from Head of Blight, Suffering, and Wrath.

Other champions that can be helpful in Hydra and also bring a Debuff Extend include: Tylessia, Vildrax, and Crohnam.

With these 3 together, you have almost everything you need in a hydra fight with just 3 champions. Uugo brings heal + Leech, cleanse, Decrease DEF and Block Buffs. Nekmo Thaar brings Decrease ATK on his A1 as an AoE, Decrease SPD and Leech as an AoE on his A2,  and his A3 gives all allies an Increase SPD buff and turn meter boost then he takes another turn. His turn meter also fills by 5% every time a debuff is removed, transferred, or expires. His kit really lends well to SPEED. Going more often to land all of these helpful skills and enabling other champions to go more often is what he excels at. If you’re limited on Relentless gear, putting him in it is a good idea to make sure you can keep Increase SPD on your allies at all times and Decrease SPD on the hydra heads at all times. He’s also a good candidate for a Taunting set to help aid in provoking the Head of Decay.

Speaking of which, that’s also what makes Kantra the Cyclone a good pair here. She brings nice utility on her A1, being able to steal buffs. Her A2 throws out a TON of debuffs on the enemies. She can be great “insurance” with these 2 skills in case things get messy or debuffs drop off the heads. Her Passive allows her to place Provoke at the start of each turn. This, however, is only 75% chance to land so consider having a back-up provoke option. This skill also requires the Head of Decay to have 5 or more debuffs in order to get that Provoke. Kantra puts up a lot but it’s a bit random. Having both Uugo and Nekmo in there to put up even more buffs helps to ensure the 5 minimum is met.

Geomancer is often a good candidate for the lead spot, especially if Inquisitor Shamael is on the team. He provides a HP% in All Battles Aura for your team. Uugo’s heal is based on her HP so adding extra will help make her heals be stronger. This can be necessary especially if she’s the only healer on the team. Besides providing great damage via his HP burn & Passive, he can also be good “insurance” for Uugo. He can remove or steal buffs on his A2; very helpful if block buffs falls off a head and they place an annoying buff. His HP burn is a great backup for dealing with Poison Cloud from the Head of Blight if that goes up due to missing a Block Buffs debuff.

It should also be noted that regarding Uugo’s role for Block Buffs and cleansing, there’s another champion that may shine above her: Tuhanarak. Depending on what else you bring to the team (or don’t), Tuhanarak may be better suited if you have one (but it’s not recommended to pair with Geomancer). She is a void Legendary and people are less likely to have her, however. Plus, Uugo may be better suited depending on the synergies mentioned.

Regarding Uugo or any champions for hydra: pay attention to the affinities in each rotation. For example, if you don’t have a Mischief Target and you’re relying only on Uugo (who is Magic Affinity) for Block Buffs, this can be an issue if the Head of Mischief is Force affinity. Having a backup champion to place Block Buffs (Kantra, Lydia, etc) might be needed. Or use of a different Block Buffs champion for that specific rotation.