Hydra: Head of Mischief — guide

In short

The Head of Mischief is one of the heads of the Hydra, the clan boss. This is the head that steals your buffs and spreads them across the whole Hydra, and it is behind most of the sudden team wipes. Hydra chests are where the gear, accessories and Mithrala Lifebane pieces come from, which is why clans run it every week.

Mechanics

• Thieving Jaws — hits the champion with the most buffs, steals all of those buffs and takes half of that champion's turn meter. The more buffs you pile on one champion, the worse this lands.
• Mischief's Spoils — strips every buff from this head and spreads them onto all heads, resetting their duration to a couple of turns. Your own stolen buffs end up working for the enemy on every head at once.
• All-Encompassing Harm (passive) — 75% chance to redirect an attack aimed at this head onto a random other head; the redirect stops while this head carries Hex. It also cuts the AoE damage all heads take, caps damage from skills that scale off the target's MAX HP (around 10% of this head's MAX HP), and caps a single HP Burn tick at 20,000.
• Fugue (passive) — whenever this head is decapitated, every other head's turn meter is wiped. That is both a breather and a trap: the heads' whole turn order shifts at once.
• Decapitated heads grow back after a while, so the fight is a damage race across the entire Hydra, not a single kill.

What your team needs

• Accuracy: be generous — the higher the difficulty, the more you need; think 200+ on low difficulties and 300+ near Nightmare.
• Speed: supports around 220–250, damage dealers around 170–200, so Hex and Block Buffs never drop.
• Survivability: 40,000+ HP and 3,000+ DEF on the core of the team.
• Effects that matter: Hex on the Head of Mischief (it switches off the redirect), Block Buffs on the heads, Decrease DEF and Weaken for damage, Decrease ATK, plus cleanse and Block Debuffs, heals and shields for your side.

Teams

Budget: Kael, Geomancer, Inquisitor Shamael, Uugo, Rector Drath, Ostrox Boneglaive. Shamael keeps Hex up and turns off the redirect, Geomancer brings HP Burn and damage reflection, Kael adds poisons, while Uugo and Rector Drath keep everyone standing.

Mid-game: Geomancer, Inquisitor Shamael, Uugo, Umbral Enchantress, Stonebound Thisbe, Skraank — a sturdier support core: debuffs stick more reliably, damage comes in passively and the heads never get to run away with the fight.

Endgame: Mithrala Lifebane, Cardiel, Firrol The Barkhorn, Yumeko, Titus Blackplume, Storm Herald Hekaton — Hex and Block Buffs almost never lapse, cooldowns get reset and damage stays even; this kind of lineup handles the top difficulties.

Common mistakes

• Stacking 5+ buffs on one champion — a direct gift to Thieving Jaws and to the spread onto every head.
• Pointing MAX HP nukers (Husk, Royal Guard, Acrizia) at this head: their damage hits the cap. Use them on the other heads instead.
• Going in without Hex and then wondering why half the attacks land on a different head.
• Treating HP Burn as your main damage source — on this head it runs into the per-tick cap.

Tips

• Set skill priorities for auto-battle: Hex and Block Buffs should refresh themselves without manual clicking.
• Sets: Accuracy and Perception on debuffers, Speed on supports, Lifesteal or Immortal for sustain, Toxic if you want passive poison damage, Relentless for extra turns.
• Do not lean on MAX HP masteries and skills here — they hit the ceiling; invest in survivability, accuracy and support instead.
• Put Block Buffs up early, before the head collects buffs from your team, or the spread is guaranteed.
• Plan your decapitation: Fugue wipes the other heads' turn meter, which is a handy window to survive their rotation and heal up.