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 newer champions in the game that instantly was top tier for hydra: White Dryad Nia.

When the new Sylvan Watcher faction game out, one of the champions that stood out the most for the sake of hydra was Nia. Everything about her kit makes for a strong hydra champion (unfortunately minus having an aura). She has an AoE A1 with Decrease SPD, making her great to put with Warmaster Mastery for extra damage and Blessings like Brimstone or Cruelty. Her A2 also removes all debuffs from an ally, heals them then also decreases the cooldown of all the target’s skills by 2 turns. If using her on manual, you can help bring back the most important skills like a clutch revive or extra burst of damage from your heavy hitter at the perfect times. Her A3 also helps protect the team from big hits like from the Head of Wrath and her Passive adds another heal. Now, let’s talk about who you should try to pair her up with.

With Nia’s A2 being able to reset cooldowns, it’s like extra Reflex/Refresh gear to help your big hitters like Acrizia, Royal Guard and Husk be able to use their big heavy hitting skills more often. Keeping an eye on cooldowns during the fight to see when to use her A2 to refresh them is key. It could help you pump out a ton more damage and save champions that have been devoured. It also cleanses and heals so paired with the A3, if your damage dealer is a bit squishy, she’s great support to help keep them alive.

The Mighty Ukko was an instant MUST fuse for the sake of hydra as soon as the information popped. If Ukko is on the same team as Nia, you’d probably choose to have Ukko be the one in the leader spot and also in Taunting gear due to the AoE A1 and great Aura. Ukko also brings an A2 with Block Buffs and Decrease ACC, two more necessary buffs for Hydra. The A2 also removes 2 random buffs from the targets which can come in handy if things get messy. Their A3 is a revive + Block Damage buff. This also has an Increase SPD buff while Nia brings the Decrease SPD debuff. Nia can provide the heals while Ukko can provide the revive. It’s great synergy to check the boxes of a great hydra team composition.

Inquisitor Shamael shines when the Head of Torment is out. If it’s in the starting rotation of heads and you’re focusing lower levels of hydra, this might be a pairing to note. Shamael can bring insane damage if built to smack with how many attacks he will do against Torment thanks to his A1 plus his hard hitting A2. His passive makes it great to pair with Nia, having Nia in the lead to get boosted. The passive reads Whenever an ally receives a Fear or a True Fear debuff, this skill will instantly remove the debuff and fill the ally’s Turn Meter by 15% but how it actually works in hydra is whoever is in the lead gets the Turn Meter boost. It’s also another great reason to put Nia in a Provoke set to keep the Head of Decay controlled as she’ll go frequently due to the boosting. She can also come back to her A2 more often to allow her to frequently reduce the cooldowns of allies skills, a huge help!