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Monday 24 October 2011

Defeating the Hydra demon: tips and strategy

Today I will be writing some tips on how to defeat the Hydra demon in Darkroot Basin. While this boss is optional, it will drop some fairly rare items, and it may be useful for characters to clear the area so they can gain safe access to the shortcut ladder behind it (leading to the wood near Sif). There are 3 ways to reach this boss which I will outline below.

1. Access through the lower door in the tower before the Taurus demon boss using the Undead Burg basement key OR the master key. In this area you will find Havel - he's wearing heavy armour and wields a large club. The easiest way to defeat him is to lure him back up to the top of the tower and fire projectiles at him. Alternatively you can face him in close quarter combat as he is very slow and quite easy to backstab. He will drop Havel's ring which is a personal favourite of mine as it gives you much greater movement speed and improves your equipment load. Follow these stairs down and you will emerge in Darkroot Basin, the Hydra is on the right-hand side as you come into the area quite a distance away - but be careful as he can fire long range water spells at you. These spells cause splash damage so are very powerful and difficult to avoid, but can also kill the golems in the area.

2. Approach from the first blacksmith near the Undead Chapel:
Follow the path away from the large room with the titanite demon in and turn right once you reach the first pool (where the road forks) which leads you down the cliff face.

Firstly make sure you have rested and have plenty of estus flasks available. You can do this by kindling one of the nearby bonfires - either the one above the smith or the one at the bottom of the cliff path near the black tower knight and grass crest shield in the cave. This will give you 10 estus flasks which will be useful later on.
Secondly try wearing some protective armour to absorb his attacks as when you get closer to him he will attempt physical attacks. Magic defence is not really necessary for this battle as you should be able to dodge most of his long-range attacks, and once you are close enough he will stop using the water breath attack completely.
Defeat all the ice golems in the area first as you don't want to have them attacking you in the back as you try and deal with Hydra. Pyromancy works well against them or you can position them between hydra's water spells to kill them in one. They're quite resistant to physical damage and cannot be staggered, they also have a relatively powerful AoE attack.
Once you have cleared all the golems run towards the Hydra dodging from side to side to avoid his water breath. You will see a set of rocks on the right-hand side of his large pool, very close to him. When you're close enough he will begin using physical attacks by slamming his heads into the ground. Raise your shield to protect against his attacks and go to work on the heads one by one. Each time he uses the head slam technique the heads will remain on the ground for a while giving you a chance to either attack or heal. If you need to heal its a good idea to use the rocks on the right to hide and drink.

Once you have defeated him you'll get a load of souls and some nice items, and another access to the hidden forest behind the sealed door in Darkroot Forest. This can be found by passing the waterfall on the left-hand side of the area and climbing a long ladder up. Beware there are some tough enemies in the following area and you can also be invaded by other players quite frequently who are part of the forest hunter covenant, although this is also your chance to discover that covenant and join it if you wish.

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