Hydra - I didn't ask for this

Sorcerer
1

I was so excited when I saw the patch notes for the Hydra. Finally some love for my Hydra/Fireball combo.

Totally missed that you now lose ALL mana when casting Hydra. What insanity is this? You can no longer place your Hydras then start casting fireballs. You have to stand still doing nothing for 6+ seconds before you get your mana back again.

Instead of affecting your mana, can’t you add a “timer” (not cooldown) on Hydra itself? Each cast will bring the timer to 0 and then tick up to max over X seconds. The damage of Hydra will be based on this timer, just like it’s based on mana right now.

Sounds like a better solution to me.

1 Like
2

I mean you can just not use Serpentine Aspect if you don’t like that. It’s not the unique that adds the mana drain, it’s the updated Serpentine Aspect. It adds a huge damage multiplier but you can pass on it if you prefer uninterrupted Fireball spam.

3

It takes a second to regain all mana. And I prefer a mana cost in order to gain damage reduction and perma frost armor.
Though I didn’t manage to find the aspect during leveling so I can’t comment on that experience.

4

With a proper build you won’t even notice the mana loss. It is punishing early on but there are cheap ways to offset it.

Cem+Lum rune allows you to refill your mana almost entirely by simply using an evade. You can use the boots that have multiple evades to easily setup your 2 hydras then still have mana left to use other skills. Boots with evade cooldown reduction on attack are also a good choice for this combo.

Igni+Lum later on makes it even more braindead. Basically automatically refilling your mana just by casting Hydra.

3 Likes
5

I don’t have this issue. I cast 2 Hydra’s one after the other and barely lose any mana. Might be your gear.

1 Like
6

It is specifically Serpentine Aspect. Hydra has no mana cost as of this season, but Serpentine makes each cast consume all your mana in return for a very large damage boost that scales with your current mana.

7

But pointless, you can only have 2 hydras. It doesn’t matter how fast you can cast them, as long as you cast one every 5 seconds or so.

8

Sounds like the slowest speedfarm ever

9

It isn’t pointless… it allows you to move the hydras without losing damage and triggers your familiars which increase your damage even more. Also allows you to consistently trigger your seasonal power without sacrificing hydra damage.

10

It’s like a chain lightning build as it uses all your mana for increased damage. And it is a lot of damage. You cast when mana is full. You must learn how to manage it. Including the mechanics. The build guides tell you how. My mana refills almost instantly now. 2-3s at the most. Once the build ramps up it will refill almost instantly. I’m playing both right now.

1 Like