hydra pvpers

[shrapner]

dueled one of these the other day. and it kicked my ***..

just wondering if there was a guide somewhere about pvp hydra sorcs

[FCSerenity]

Don't know about the guide part, but defeating a Hydra PvP character should be quite easy, especially if you have Teleport, and even better if you have TS (Have to be a sorc for TS, though). Just teleport and attack. Or, run around it in a circle and attack.

[sheepe2004]

Don't know about the guide part, but defeating a Hydra PvP character should be quite easy, especially if you have Teleport, and even better if you have TS (Have to be a sorc for TS, though). Just teleport and attack. Or, run around it in a circle and attack.

ts?

a hydra sorc would just be the same as a fire sorc but whenever your not attacking anyone lay hydras around. Maxed hydras, fire mastery, fireball, firebolt and meteor

[TheOriginalFox]

ts?

a hydra sorc would just be the same as a fire sorc but whenever your not attacking anyone lay hydras around. Maxed hydras, fire mastery, fireball, firebolt and meteor

I believe he means ThunderStorm. I could very well be wrong though.

[RetroStar]

ts?

a hydra sorc would just be the same as a fire sorc but whenever your not attacking anyone lay hydras around. Maxed hydras, fire mastery, fireball, firebolt and meteor

1) They do less dmg
2) They shoot a lot slower
3) They have a cast delay

I've yet to lose to any hydra sorc simply because they don't do a lot of dmg and all they can do is run around their hydras which means easy kill.

[Rauth]

The only good hydra sorc, is a fb sorc with hydras.

[RetroStar]

The only good hydra sorc, is a fb sorc with hydras.

They'll probably be better off putting the points into ES instead of hydra.

[Rauth]

They'll probably be better off putting the points into ES instead of hydra.

You can drop 1 into hydras with minimal sacrifice for great effect. Mostly they serve as a distraction, but they can chip away as well.

[shrapner]

i don't see why you guys think hydra is low dmg..

at lvl 20 he's doing 888 per shot.
3 heads per hydra
9 shots per head

thats 23976 per hydra with 5 out at most

119880 total fire dmg. plus it locks on target.., down side is you have casting delay and lock on target delay

ofcourse they can run away but you got fireball for that. and its doing insane dmg too..

you could use hydra to confuse them or whatever..

i was just wondering what gear would be best and whatnot.. and whether orb instead of meteor would be better.

[Phyrexial]

i don't see why you guys think hydra is low dmg..

at lvl 20 he's doing 888 per shot.
3 heads per hydra
9 shots per head

thats 23976 per hydra with 5 out at most

119880 total fire dmg. plus it locks on target.., down side is you have casting delay and lock on target delay

ofcourse they can run away but you got fireball for that. and its doing insane dmg too..

you could use hydra to confuse them or whatever..

i was just wondering what gear would be best and whatnot.. and whether orb instead of meteor would be better.

Your calculations assume your target will stand still for a good 30 seconds right next to a pit of hydras and get hit by all the bolts. No half decent dueler will do that. Your chances of getting even 1 hit before your target teleports away is small.

Also, you aren't taking into account resistance (which should be at 75% since facets and other -res on gear doesn't apply to traps/hydras if I remember correctly) as well as the 1/6th pvp penalty.

With all synergies maxed with maxed fire mastery and +15 skills the hydra does 2720 max damage per shot.
- Taking into account 75% drops the damage to 680 damage.
- Taking into account the 1/6th pvp penalty drops the damage to 113 damage.

At 113 damage per shot, it is largely ignorable. Against your average 3k life pvper, that's 26 hits to kill, 53 hits against 6k hp BvC barbs, Windies, etc.

[RetroStar]

Your calculations assume your target will stand still for a good 30 seconds right next to a pit of hydras and get hit by all the bolts. No half decent dueler will do that. Your chances of getting even 1 hit before your target teleports away is small.

Also, you aren't taking into account resistance (which should be at 75% since facets and other -res on gear doesn't apply to traps/hydras if I remember correctly) as well as the 1/6th pvp penalty.

With all synergies maxed with maxed fire mastery and +15 skills the hydra does 2720 max damage per shot.
- Taking into account 75% drops the damage to 680 damage.
- Taking into account the 1/6th pvp penalty drops the damage to 113 damage.

At 113 damage per shot, it is largely ignorable. Against your average 3k life pvper, that's 26 hits to kill, 53 hits against 6k hp BvC barbs, Windies, etc.


Also hydra remain stationary and cannot be cast far far away. You either stand right beside the hydra to lure the opponent into your 'hydra trap' which means you'll get owned by any caster.

Also hydras shoot so slowly you can take a step sideways and not get hit.

Also yes, facets don't affect hydras.

[Dennis_KoreanGuy]

Hydra sorcs just suck. Period. Its not matter of gear or skill or w/e.

Nova Sorcs or Meteor Sorcs who don't use Lightning or FB would be more effective in PvP.

If a target is going to be stationary for such a long time like you suggest, consecutive 90K Meteor > mere 1xx xxx 6 digit number fire damage.

[Lyrs]

Use hydras as you would traps; however, 1 pt is sufficient as all you really want to do is force them to make mistakes.

One thing to remember, hydras shoot fire bolts. these look identical to a sorceress' fire bolt. When you have 9 hydras shooting at someone, even if the rest don't do a lot of dmg, there is going to be at least 1 that is 10k+ because that one is yours. This forces the other player to either dodge all of them or risk getting hit with the real one.

On a 200fcr fire sorc, tele'ing and casting firebolts amid a screen of hydra's can really mess up some players.

I've never met anyone on pubs other than myself that has used this strategy; most tend to spam fireball, which is stupid. But if they had, I swear, I'd given them all my gold out of respect for "strategy."

[RetroStar]

Use hydras as you would traps; however, 1 pt is sufficient as all you really want to do is force them to make mistakes.

One thing to remember, hydras shoot fire bolts. these look identical to a sorceress' fire bolt. When you have 9 hydras shooting at someone, even if the rest don't do a lot of dmg, there is going to be at least 1 that is 10k+ because that one is yours. This forces the other player to either dodge all of them or risk getting hit with the real one.

On a 200fcr fire sorc, tele'ing and casting firebolts amid a screen of hydra's can really mess up some players.

I've never met anyone on pubs other than myself that has used this strategy; most tend to spam fireball, which is stupid. But if they had, I swear, I'd given them all my gold out of respect for "strategy."

Can you cast 9 Hydras at once? I thought the cast delay would probably kill off the first hydra before you get to 9.

[no2fakeshakes]

Can you cast 9 Hydras at once? I thought the cast delay would probably kill off the first hydra before you get to 9.

i think he meant 3 hydra summons, each summon with 3 heads = 9 heads

[RetroStar]

i think he meant 3 hydra summons, each summon with 3 heads = 9 heads

Oh alright. I get it.

[mastermind]

hmm that shold not be a duel u lose in the only reasons i can see u get killed in a fight like that is bad res, slow mover lag, or u were afk. other than that the dmg is too low to affect an average 3-4k life pvp char.

And the dmg someone post is unrealist because the chances of u being hit by all them hydras is low.

[RetroStar]

hmm that shold not be a duel u lose in the only reasons i can see u get killed in a fight like that is bad res, slow mover lag, or u were afk. other than that the dmg is too low to affect an average 3-4k life pvp char.

And the dmg someone post is unrealist because the chances of u being hit by all them hydras is low.

Average 3-4k life?? wow.

[Rancors]

this is an old school sorc...

no big deal, max fire res and u will be fine. (u dont even need absorb)

hydra's fire bolt is not that hard to dodge...

[mastermind]

Average 3-4k life?? wow.

u sound surprised but most good duelers hit arround that hp but the avearge life for a barb and druid can be 5-6k + if he is a BvA or BvB and even higher if a proper BvC

Also most chars have max res like 90 res etc with that amount of life and good res the dmg will be pitifull and take a long time to kill infact they will prolly kill u before u even dmg them

[RetroStar]

u sound surprised but most good duelers hit arround that hp but the avearge life for a barb and druid can be 5-6k + if he is a BvA or BvB and even higher if a proper BvC

Also most chars have max res like 90 res etc with that amount of life and good res the dmg will be pitifull and take a long time to kill infact they will prolly kill u before u even dmg them

Show me any max block which is around 80% of the dueling population that has near 4k life except for druids.

[Rancors]

u sound surprised but most good duelers hit arround that hp but the avearge life for a barb and druid can be 5-6k + if he is a BvA or BvB and even higher if a proper BvC

Also most chars have max res like 90 res etc with that amount of life and good res the dmg will be pitifull and take a long time to kill infact they will prolly kill u before u even dmg them

there is no max block sorc /w cta that has over 3k life, and is even impossible for a sorc to hit 4k.

[shrapner]

eh..

just gave up on hydra.. if anything ill throw in 1 point later on

anyway went fb/es

14k fb
25k meteor
1.1k hp after bo
2.8k mana after bo

[mastermind]

there is no max block sorc /w cta that has over 3k life, and is even impossible for a sorc to hit 4k.

u miss understood my post, i never mentioned a sorc any where in that last post i said other chars like palas druid and barbs. but even so i seen a sorc which was not far from 3k with max block

and even so the point is hydra aint gonna do much againt anyone over 2k life espeically barb druids or palas who can get high life.

[mastermind]

Show me any max block which is around 80% of the dueling population that has near 4k life except for druids.

ur actually saying this?

a barb any type of barb can exceed 4k with ease as long as u do point dstribution properly, palas 2 can hit this life size but they will need to be able to bo using cta though.

And he above i mentioned all use max block apart from a BvC barb and life on a BvC barb can go beyond 6k

[RetroStar]

ur actually saying this?

a barb any type of barb can exceed 4k with ease as long as u do point dstribution properly, palas 2 can hit this life size but they will need to be able to bo using cta though.

And he above i mentioned all use max block apart from a BvC barb and life on a BvC barb can go beyond 6k

I don't think everyone in PvP uses a barb do they. Also show me some pala with max block that has close to 4k life unless they prebuff their CTA bo and load themselves with 37x20life sc which isnt very likely.

Also sorc hitting 3k life w/ block is very unlikely unless she uses 37x20 life sc again.

When you say dulers, I take into account of all the dueling chars out which includes other classes other than barbs and druids.

[RetroStar]

u miss understood my post, i never mentioned a sorc any where in that last post i said other chars like palas druid and barbs. but even so i seen a sorc which was not far from 3k with max block

Also I believe your post said 'average dueler with 3-4k life'

Does the term average dueler include zons/sorcs/palas?

[mastermind]

listen i was dueling a hamerdin which hit around 4.5k life or more but he used mostly, if not all life 20hp sc in inventry and cta and still had max block (i think he said all and if ur wondering how much dmg he did he still hit 13k hammer dmg. if this is true i wouldnt rule out 3-4k properly. :)
oh y i did make a mistake i shouldnt have said "average dueler" cuz that could mean im including amazonz, assa, and sorc and all classes i should have specified.

But life also matters on charms if u get good charms or perfect 1s and have bo its possible but it comes at sacrifices, i.e no skilllers, lower potential dmg etc.

[RetroStar]

Exactly my point.

Also 13k without any combat gcs is very high.. Was he using Sojs/+3combat circlet/etc? If he is, he's probably sacrificing FCR and resist.

[dkay]

I don't think everyone in PvP uses a barb do they. Also show me some pala with max block that has close to 4k life unless they prebuff their CTA bo and load themselves with 37x20life sc which isnt very likely.

Also sorc hitting 3k life w/ block is very unlikely unless she uses 37x20 life sc again.

When you say dulers, I take into account of all the dueling chars out which includes other classes other than barbs and druids.

my pally had 4k life easily. rebuilding for 4.5k. also no prebuffing is required. wind druids hit 6k+ life.

[RetroStar]

my pally had 4k life easily. rebuilding for 4.5k. also no prebuffing is required. wind druids hit 6k+ life.

List equip/stats please.

[mastermind]

Exactly my point.

Also 13k without any combat gcs is very high.. Was he using Sojs/+3combat circlet/etc? If he is, he's probably sacrificing FCR and resist.

y he used 1 soj and bk ring but im not sure about circlet cuz he used a shako i think didnt ask him wot res he had though

[dkay]

List equip/stats please.

wow its amazing how skeptical you are about this. you can do the math yourself but i guess your too lazy. here let me do it for you:

level 90

base strength
base dex 70

465 stats to use at level 90
50 went into dex

415 goes into vita

total vita: 435? i think pally has 20 base vita or 25. well go with 20 for your sake.

435 x 3 = 1305 life base

charms: x9 35 lifer gcs + 9 20 life scs with assorted resist: 425

1305 + 425 = 1730 base

2 hit points per level. level 90 so add 180

1730 + 180 = 1910

add 60 from quest = 1970

this is your base life without gear but charms.

my only item gear wise that adds life that multiplies by bo is my ammy which gives me 50 life so. 2020 life is total so far. add 65 from water walks. so.. 2085.

2085 life that multiplies by bo.
+2 shako. +9 bo switch. + 2 soj. +1 arach. +1 anny. +2 enigma = level 17 bo. plus enigma gives another .05% of your life so total increase in life is about 86% more life.


2085 x .86 = 1793 life add back to 2075 base and you get: 3878.
add 90 life from hf and anny and your get: 3968. add 130 from shako and you get 4098 life.

realitiscally i have lifers that are higher than 35 but i used that so you can see that "non godly 45 life users" can hit over 4k. not to mention that hammerdins can EASILY switch half thier charms for regular 20 lifers. still maintain 13k hammers and stacked resist and hit over 4k life. i also forgot to add 5 more levels worth of vita into the equation since my hammerdin finishes at level 95. and i think i added too much dex.

edit:o yes i forgot to add 60 life from HoZ (20 vita) and 90ish~ life from x2 bks.

if you think im sacrificing too much gear to obtain this life heres the entire gear setup:

-shako ber'd
-hoz ber'd
-enigma
-arach
-x2 bk
-water walk
-trang glove
-hoto
-pally ammy with fcr and life (i simply just used shadow knuckles for this equation but you can hit ammys with more life)
spirit/6 bo cta on switch

edit x2: i forgot to mention that this is my 75% fcr setup. with my 125% fcr setup i get more life since i simply subsitute my hoto for wiz and x2 bks for fcr rings with 35+ life each which would get multiplied by bo too.

[RetroStar]

I never realized having 35lifer+ gcs is our 'average dueler' My intention wasn't to compare our average dueler against ppl who have 45lifer gcs and loaded with 20/17s

[no2fakeshakes]

I never realized having 35lifer+ gcs is our 'average dueler' My intention wasn't to compare our average dueler against ppl who have 45lifer gcs and loaded with 20/17s

he's using offensive gcs which were pretty cheap before ladder merged.

plus 20 life scs are cheap unless they are modded

[RetroStar]

he's using offensive gcs which were pretty cheap before ladder merged.

plus 20 life scs are cheap unless they are modded

On NL 3x20 life sc = hr which is reasonable

Though I'm only concerned about those 35lifers. Even though they are not as demanded as pcombats. It will still be time consuming to get all Off gcs with 35life+. They are still not pretty cheap. :/

[dkay]

On NL 3x20 life sc = hr which is reasonable

Though I'm only concerned about those 35lifers. Even though they are not as demanded as pcombats. It will still be time consuming to get all Off gcs with 35life+. They are still not pretty cheap. :/

actually we got 6 of them within 3 days. not shabby. also, when we discuss chracter classes and builds, its always best to use "above average" to "godly" equipment and charms. getting rich on d2 is not hard. getting 35+ lifers takes very little time. and if your going to make agood build, yes you need to spend some time. ;/

[Rauth]

actually we got 6 of them within 3 days. not shabby. also, when we discuss chracter classes and builds, its always best to use "above average" to "godly" equipment and charms. getting rich on d2 is not hard. getting 35+ lifers takes very little time. and if your going to make agood build, yes you need to spend some time. ;/

Less posting more leveling!

Haven't pked with you in ever david :(. You're missing my random pwnting and being pwnt with chris' barb haha.

[RetroStar]

actually we got 6 of them within 3 days. not shabby. also, when we discuss chracter classes and builds, its always best to use "above average" to "godly" equipment and charms. getting rich on d2 is not hard. getting 35+ lifers takes very little time. and if your going to make agood build, yes you need to spend some time. ;/

Well maybe for you :P I rarely see any ppl trading 30+lifer charms in trade games. Most of them probably keep them and not even use them. I myself have quite a few of these godly high lifer skillers and I myself is reluctant trade them since there is never a definate price for these.

Also mastermind was talking about our average dueler.