Titus Blackplume – Hydra Clan Boss Guide
In this guide we’ll break down everything you need to know about building a Titus Blackplume team for Hydra Clan Boss!
For even more information about Titus, check out:
CRAZY DAMAGE POTENTIAL
Titus is currently the second best damage dealer for Hydra in the entire game–second only to Trunda. At maximum potential, Titus can leave even other amazing damage characters like Kro’khad in the dust (with Kro’khad’s record sitting at around 2 billion, Titus can do almost 20 times more damage than him…).
The reason Titus deals so much damage is his A2: the short version is that the bigger your Shields are, the harder he will hit—potentially for MILLIONS of damage with every use of this skill.
For a full breakdown of the mechanics behind this, check out our Titus Champion Spotlight.
For this guide, the key thing to know is that: BIG SHIELDS = BIG DAMAGE!!
NERFS?
Longer-term players will remember the old Corpulent Cadaver teams; these worked in essentially the same way as Titus, but Cadaver was nerfed a couple of years ago due to his performance in Hydra Clash. There was a similar team built around Yannica, and this was also nerfed.
As of the time of writing, Plarium has officially stated that they will not nerf Titus. This means that Titus is currently the only champion with significant damage scaling from Shield buffs, and he should not be changed in future. BUT… The community is very skeptical about Plarium’s “no Titus nerf” stance, so have a back-up plan just in case they change their minds.
SHIELDS ARE THE KEY
There are currently 3 different types of Shields in RAID: Shadow Legends:
- Shields from gear sets.
- Shields from abilities.
- Shields from the Volcardiac Heart Mythical Relic.
Each of these Shields can be extended and grown (see the next sections!) and each will contribute to Titus’ damage.
Ideally, you want each of these Shields present in your Titus team (though good luck getting the Mythical Relic!). It will work with only one type, but bringing a second type of Shield is not hard and will effectively double your damage.
NOTE: the Shield set is the ideal set for Shields from gear sets, since it gives a strong Shield. Bolster is NOT viable, since it cannot be extended, and will therefore disappear after 3 turns no matter what.
SHIELD GROWERS
Now that you have at least 2 types of Shield in your team, the next step is to grow these Shields, since the bigger the Shield, the bigger the damage boost for Titus.
There are very few champions in the game who can do this: for Hydra, you are looking at Vault Keeper Wixwell, Underpriest Brogni, or even Bloodshield accessories.
WIXWELL
Vault Keeper Wixwell if by far the best option for any Titus team, bringing much stronger Shield growth than other options, alongside the Increase Defence buff and the Decrease Attack debuff to drastically mitigate incoming damage against the Shields..
Wixwell’s ability to grow Shields comes from the number of buffs on your team, so look for champions who bring the buffs he’s missing to grow your shields faster.
BROGNI
Underpriest Brogni is also viable, albeit a weaker and more demanding option than Wixwell. Brogni’s ability to grow shields depends on his own damage dealt, so he works well against the Hydra where he has multiple targets and a huge damage boost against decapitated heads. He also brings Block Debuffs to prevent the most debuffs in the fight.
Unlike Wixwell, you will have to find Decrease Attack, Increase Defence, and Buff Extension elsewhere in your team composition.
Brogni’s ability to grow Shields comes from his damage, so build him with 100% C.RATE% and as much ATK and C.DMG% as possible. 6-piece Merciless is ideal for both the Ignore Defence and chance for Cooldown Reduction.
BLOODSHIELD AND OTHER OPTIONS
Bloodshield accessories are an interesting option for Hydra (but not other Clan Bosses). Due to the massively increased damage that decapitated heads take, you can start to snowball a powerful Shield buff once you have your first head down. This will be much weaker than using Brogni or Wixell, but is a viable option for players who lack these champions.
BUFF EXTENDERS
With your Titus and Shield Growth champion locked in, the only other core requirement to make the team function is to bring 3 champions who can Extend Buffs on a 3-turn cooldown.
The goal here simple: we must maintain the same Shield buffs (which we grow from the very start of the fight) on Titus at all times.
The method is also simple: if we bring 3 champions who can extend buffs by 1 turn every 3 turns, then every 3 turns we will have extended our buffs by 3 turns total, and they will never expire!
GREAT BUFF EXTENDER OPTIONS
Wixwell himself can extend buffs on a 3-turn cooldown, so you need two others for his team; Brogni will need three extenders alongside him and Titus.
Krisk the Ageless is a classic example, who also brings Ally Protection, thereby soaking up 50% of the damage your Shields would take.
Mad Hatter was a fusion champion this year, so is a strong option many will have. His Ally Attack is not particularly useful for Titus, but his Weaken debuff is!
Demytha is an Epic option, who will also protect your Shields from some damage with her Block Damage buff.
Lady Mikage is a permanent Mythical fusion, who will supplement your team with Debuff Extension and Increase Crit Damage as well.
REFLEX SETS AND COOLDOWN REDUCTION
If you lack the ideal buff extension setup, you can potentially use a 4-turn buff extender like Lanakis the Chosen by building your extension champions in Reflex, Impulse, or 4-piece Merciless sets. Each of these sets gives you a chance to reduce your cooldowns, which can make up for a suboptimal setup if you run enough of them.
Reflex is always a great option for Wixwell, since it not only enhances his Buff Extension, but also his Shield Growth.
BUILDING THE TEAM
Unlike the other Clan Bosses, you have 6 team members when fighting the Hydra, which opens up a lot of flexibility.
When building a standard Titus team (i.e. one which doesn’t utilise Reset champions–as discussed in the next section), follow these team building guidelines to up your effectiveness.
To help your Shields take less damage, look for champions with:
Next, look for champions with:
These will help your Titus (and other champions) hit much harder, or use their key skills more often.
Finally, look for gear sets such as:
- 9-piece Protection on buffers, for 5% more damage per buff.
- 9-piece Feral on debuffers, for 5% more damage per debuff.
Additional damage boosts will push Titus’damage even further!
DEALING WITH THE HYDRA MECHANICS
Aside from these general team building tips, you will also need to handle the typical Hydra mechanics that the heads will do.
The Head of Mischief is the biggest problem, since he can potentially Steal the Shield buffs off Titus! To deal with him try:
- Building Titus with enough RES to resist the buff steals.
- Bring another champion with self-buffs and high RES to be the “Mischief tank”.
To deal with Head of Decay you will need a champion with Provoke.
To deal with Head of Torment you will need a champion who can give your team Perfect Veil, or who can regularly Remove Debuffs. You can also just hope for good luck if you’re daring…
To deal with Head of Blight, Suffering and Wrath, bring Block Buffs to prevent run-ending buffs such as Poison Cloud or Reflect Damage.
You should also bring a Hex debuff in your team, since this adds a huge amount of damage due spreading 10% of the big single-target hits you will be dealing against this boss.
RESET CHAMPIONS UNLOCK RECORD DAMAGE
To push your Titus team to the highest potential, you will need to use Cooldown Reduction champions.
The goal is simple: have Wixwell and Titus use their A2 abilities every single turn they take.
Since this removes the requirement to bring other Buff Extenders, it opens up your team building to include damage boosting champions such as Gurptuk.
LAMASU AND YUMEKO
The ultimate team uses Authoratrix Lamasu and Yumeko together: Yumeko resets the entire teams’ cooldowns with her A3, then Lamasu resets Yumeko with her A3.
This team is incredibly powerful, with the major downside being that it will require manual play to ensure Lamasu targets her A3 on Yumeko.
FULL AUTO VARIANTS
An auto-friendly team can be built by stacking several champions who give smaller cooldown reductions to your entire team (i.e. they phsyically cannot target the wrong champion!).
Consider champions such as: