Written by Jason B. | He is Coming

The Hydra may be the hardest fight in He is Coming. It breaks most builds by splitting into multiple heads, each with unique mechanics, while ignoring all battle start effects after the first.

Without strong regeneration or scaling armor, you will almost always get worn down before the final phase.

This guide is a WIP.

How the Hydra Fight Works

The Hydra is a chained multi-phase boss. Each head acts like a mini-boss with its own behavior:

Poison Head

Stacks poison every turn. Outhealing this is required or you’ll rot before phase three.

Acid Head

Burns your armor passively. It ignores armor sustain unless you can cleanse or recover it every turn.

Riptide Head

Deals frequent chip damage that strips armor and HP. Weakens glass cannons fast.

Stun Head

Skips your turns. You must out-sustain or resist it completely.

Only the first head triggers battle start effects. After that, all remaining heads count as the same battle.

This means:

Bombs only trigger once
“Wounded” effects don’t re-trigger
Acid, poison, or stun-on-entry do nothing after head one
Healing or attack buffs that apply on first hit are wasted after the opener

This design forces your build to work without any restart triggers.

This guide incorporates insights from our own time spent playing the game along with various sources, including valuable research from Wanderbots on YouTube. See their helpful video embedded below.

Best Builds for Beating Hydra

Regen Builds (Most Consistent)

You need per-turn healing to survive 3+ sustained boss phases. This is the strongest strategy.

Use:

Heart Drinker
Vampiric Wine (fused if possible)
Clear Spring Watermelon
Sanguine Morphosis
Tree Bark Egg
Life Root Gauntlet or Staff

Focus on stacking regen first. Scale healing second. Armor is optional if healing is reliable.

Armor Regen Builds (Second Best)

Static armor breaks under Acid or Riptide. You need armor that refreshes every turn.

Use:

Redwood Roast for max HP scaling
Squire Shield, Holy Shield, or armor-per-action gear
Grail of Purity, Purelake Helm, or belts that convert speed/acid to armor

You still need chip healing. Acid damage often outpaces armor unless you stack multiple triggers.

Hybrid Regen-Stun Builds

Stun on hit plus healing can work if you scale early.

Use:

Bassilisk Fang, Twilight Crest, or Riptide gear
Stun on Riptide or Stun every 5 strikes
Mirror, Sanguine Staff, Diamond Belt

Only works if you ramp fast and get healing early. Delay and you fall behind quickly.

Pacifist Regen Builds

Very niche but possible. Uses items that scale over time and reward no armor or low aggression.

Use:

Life Root Hammer or Staff
Marble Mirror
Tree Bark Egg, fused if possible
Sunlight Crest

This relies on avoiding poison and acid entirely, which is nearly impossible without proper rolls. High skill and planning required.

Builds That Fail Against Hydra

Bomb Builds

Bombs only trigger on the first head. After that, they do nothing. This includes:

Cherry Bomb
Razor’s Edge
Wounded Bomb Triggers
Edge Explosion Chains

Even with heavy setup, bombs are wasted after phase one.

Poison or Acid Spam

Poison and acid don’t carry well between heads. Acid builds burn out due to armor loss, and poison spam can backfire if a head resists or outdamages you.

Glass Cannons

High-damage builds fail due to:

Lack of healing
Stun turns
Riptide chip damage
Too many targets

You may kill one or two heads but always die by the third without sustain.

Item Synergy Hopes

Any build relying on one perfect combo (like full Squire set or song builds) usually fails due to RNG. There are too many pool options and too few reroll tools to consistently finish those sets.

Items That Help in Any Build

Sanguine Morphosis: random healing on hit
Mirror: triple effect scaling
Heart Drinker: consistent regen
Vampiric Wine: fused version can win the fight by itself
Purelake Helm: heals when armor is active

Stack healing, then build around damage. Most bosses are DPS checks. Hydra is a healing check.

Hydro Boss Video

Check out this video by Wanderbots on YouTube if you want to see more on the Hydra in action.

Final Blurb

The Hydra is built to kill rush builds, bombs, and anything relying on short fights. You need to heal, regen, or armor-up every turn across three to four boss phases. Build for durability, not burst. If your plan hinges on battle start triggers or fast kill effects, you will fail.

The only real answer is sustain.