Hydra: Head of Wrath — guide

In short

Hydra: Head of Wrath is one of the heads of the Hydra clan boss — not a standalone fight, but one target inside a long damage race. Cut it off and it regrows after a few turns, and the battle itself is limited by turns, so the goal is maximum damage per key. Hydra chests bring accessories, artefacts and Mithrala Lifebane fragments, plus points for Hydra Clash — that is why clans farm it weekly.

Mechanics

• Screeching Jaws (A1): hits the whole team and places 50% Poison for 2 turns. Poison ticks through defence, so without a cleanse or Block Debuffs your team quietly bleeds out.
• Vengeance counter (passive): every hit the head takes adds 1. At 15 it gains Vengeance, Block Debuffs and 15% Reflect Damage for 1 turn and immediately hits the whole team, then the counter resets. Hits made while Vengeance is up do not count — that is your damage window.
• Furious Roar (A2): AoE damage, Provoke for 1 turn, and 50% Increase ATK on itself for 3 turns. The Provoke forces your champions to attack this head with their default skill.
• Decapitation (passive): severing this head damages every head. If you sever it while Vengeance is active, the damage is higher and there is a 25% chance to place Leech on all heads for 2 turns.
• Almighty Wrath (passive): AoE damage to heads is reduced by 10%; MAX HP-based damage cannot exceed 10% of the head's MAX HP; an HP Burn tick cannot exceed 20,000; damage from Reflect Damage, Warmaster and Giant Slayer cannot exceed 50,000 per hit.
• Immunities: Stun, Freeze, Sleep, Provoke, Block Active Skills, Block Passive Skills, Fear, True Fear, Poison and Petrification; HP swap and HP balance, debuff duration extension and Turn Meter reduction do not work either.

What your team needs

• A cleanse or Block Debuffs for the Provoke and Poison — otherwise A1 and A2 simply switch your team off.
• Decrease DEF and Weaken on the head to decapitate faster; Decrease ATK on the head to survive its AoE and the reflected damage.
• Single-target damage is king: AoE is cut by 10% against heads, and every extra hit also feeds the Vengeance counter.
• Around 200–250 Accuracy early and 300+ at high Hydra levels (it depends on the stage), 200+ SPD on your support, and real HP/DEF on everyone for a long fight.
• Skip poison comps, Turn Meter control and provoke-based lockdown — the head is immune to all of it.

Teams

• Budget: Athel (Weaken), Uugo (Decrease DEF plus healing), Whisper (single-target damage), Rector Drath (heal and revive) plus any cleanse/Block Debuffs champion. Keeps debuffs off and grinds the head down with focused single-target hits.
• Mid-game: Geomancer, Inquisitor Shamael, Uugo, Demytha (Block Damage) plus a cleanse. Enough survivability to live through the AoE cycles and still land the decapitation.
• Endgame: Mithrala Lifebane, Cardiel, Acrizia, Yumeko plus one flex slot. A full support shell with heavy damage, and the head is severed inside the Vengeance window.

Common mistakes

• Bringing a poison team (Kael and any poison-based damage dealer): the head is immune to Poison, all that damage is wasted.
• Spamming AoE and rapidly feeding the Vengeance counter — then eating the retaliation under Increase ATK.
• Ignoring the Provoke and the cleanse: the team is locked onto the head and dies to poison and reflected damage.
• Building all damage around MAX HP nukers: a single such hit is capped at 10% of the head's MAX HP.

Tips

• Time the decapitation for the Vengeance window — you get the bigger hit on all heads and a chance at Leech.
• Keep Decrease ATK on the head before its A2, and always cleanse after A1.
• Gear: Lifesteal or Immortal on damage dealers, Speed, Perception and Accuracy on support, Stoneskin on a squishy opener.
• In auto-battle, set skill priorities so the cleanse and Decrease ATK fire before damage skills.
• Damage masteries still work, but respect the 50,000 per-hit cap — do not build your whole plan around them.