So, I had by chance completely bypassed the Great Hollow and Ash Lake by accident, and decided to check those areas out before braving Lost Izalith. I'm glad I did, since there is some tasy treats along the way.

Now, the Hydra. Has anyone managed to beat this thing, since it is apparently way tougher than the one chilling in Darkroot Basin.

I'm a SL 53 with most points in End>Vit>Str, with a fully upgraded a pyromancer flame and Crystal Ring Shield, but the range just isn't good enough to hit the thing. I'm just wondering if the drop is worth taking this thing on, since it can on occassion, one-hit-kill me.

Ash Lake is friggin awesome, btw.

I just reflected most of the damage with my shield, and wailed on the heads when they dug into the sand.

It was taking a bit too long though, so I tried shooting some fireballs at its body, which killed it pretty quickly.

@StrikeALight: There is no way that Hydra is harder than the Darkroot Basin one. Then again, I beat it when I was like level 67 or something. I used the same tactics; roll away from projectiles, get closer and when it attacks, chop the heads. At some point, I was hurting it so bad, I killed it without even chopping all of its heads.

I completely missed that area on my first run through, but on NG+ I went in there and beat it to death with my fire great scythe. I believe all it drops is a dragon scale, or maybe two.

The trick is to stay just far enough away that none of the water blasts land behind you so you can block them as he slowly makes his way closer to the shore, then once he's close enough to melee you run in and fight him just like the other one. He'll sometimes back up some so you may need to retreat to lure him in again so he doesn't one shot you with a behind the back water blast. That's how I did it at least. It took a couple tries and was real stressful since one mistake was lethal, but it was very satisfying.

T@nohthink said:

@StrikeALight: There is no way that Hydra is harder than the Darkroot Basin one. Then again, I beat it when I was like level 67 or something. I used the same tactics; roll away from projectiles, get closer and when it attacks, chop the heads. At some point, I was hurting it so bad, I killed it without even chopping all of its heads.

Hmm, thanks. I couldn't get it to lunge at me, but I guess the same tactics apply as the one in Darkroot? I'll give it another shot later!

Get anywhere near him by using the driftwood as armor.

He will start using his stupid ass head smash, and then you can backflip/backstep out of the way and lob a chaos fireball or whatever pyro you got going. He's simple to kill once you get in, but getting in is the issue. Just make sure you have the Crest Shield from the Northern Asylum Pt. 2, because that will be the best anti-magic shield for you (probably) and you should be able to get in before he catches you with water bombs.

Once you're in, you're in for good. He can't stunlock you, he only attacks every 2-3 seconds at best so you can est up if you're low on hp. He will constantly head smash and give you free dagon scales.

I just ran past the hydra to the second bonfire, where the dragon for the covenant is and that thing just died. Don't know what happened. That was already the second time in the game that this happened to me.

This fight is super easy.

If you are melee he will back up into the water to take shots at you, if you stand as close to him as possible (on the edge just before it drops off into watery abyss) he can't hit you with any of his ranged attacks. He will then get frustrated and move towards the beach where you are and hit the ground with his heads. You can take out each head this way. It's probably slower then using magic or whatever, but if you're preference is melee this still works and is not that hard =)

I found the fight to be easier than the Darkroot Basin Hydra simply because of where the heads land when they hit the ground - there isn't an annoying one that forces you to take a swing that leaves you with 50/50 odds that you'll fall into the water.

???? Were is this so called Ash lake? D:

???? Were is this so called Ash lake? D:

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@Aetheldod said:

???? Were is this so called Ash lake? D:

Below blight town swamp. When you enter from the mainpath youll see a giant root leading up to a body. To the left is a fake wall with a twin humanity chest. Behind that is a path. And all the way down is ash lake As for the hydra. First saw him in new game plus. He hits super hard and tended to take my full stam when he did lol.

So from the bonfire at the bottom the one looking at were Queelag domains is , I go to the left towards the root you say? To were the leaches are right?

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@Aetheldod said:

???? Were is this so called Ash lake? D:

Below blight town swamp. When you enter from the mainpath youll see a giant root leading up to a body. To the left is a fake wall with a twin humanity chest. Behind that is a path. And all the way down is ash lake As for the hydra. First saw him in new game plus. He hits super hard and tended to take my full stam when he did lol.

So from the bonfire at the bottom the one looking at were Queelag domains is , I go to the left towards the root you say? To were the leaches are right?

@The_Laughing_Man: Thanks :D going there right now!!!

@The_Laughing_Man: Thanks :D going there right now!!!

@nohthink said:

@StrikeALight: There is no way that Hydra is harder than the Darkroot Basin one. Then again, I beat it when I was like level 67 or something. I used the same tactics; roll away from projectiles, get closer and when it attacks, chop the heads. At some point, I was hurting it so bad, I killed it without even chopping all of its heads.

It totally is harder though. It's got better range, there's a lot less cover, it can jump to the other side of the lake, and there are a bunch of effing clam things along the way to damage you. The one in Basin is a joke in comparison, that thing never even hit me.

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@Aetheldod said:

@The_Laughing_Man: Thanks :D going there right now!!!

Be carefull. The curse and really mess ya up.

If you've got the Dingy armour set from the maiden at Firelink shrine you should wear that. It's got really high curse resistant. The monsters themselves are really easy to fight so don't worry about PHY resistance too much. The big mushroom guys at the bottom are slow but pack a real punch though so be careful of those fellas.

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@Aetheldod said:

@The_Laughing_Man: Thanks :D going there right now!!!

Be carefull. The curse and really mess ya up.

If you've got the Dingy armour set from the maiden at Firelink shrine you should wear that. It's got really high curse resistant. The monsters themselves are really easy to fight so don't worry about PHY resistance too much. The big mushroom guys at the bottom are slow but pack a real punch though so be careful of those fellas.

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@eroticfishcake said:

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@Aetheldod said:

@The_Laughing_Man: Thanks :D going there right now!!!

Be carefull. The curse and really mess ya up.

If you've got the Dingy armour set from the maiden at Firelink shrine you should wear that. It's got really high curse resistant. The monsters themselves are really easy to fight so don't worry about PHY resistance too much. The big mushroom guys at the bottom are slow but pack a real punch though so be careful of those fellas.

Ive all ways just run past em.

And miss your chance to pick up an Eye of Death?! DEATH?!

@eroticfishcake said:

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@Aetheldod said:

@The_Laughing_Man: Thanks :D going there right now!!!

Be carefull. The curse and really mess ya up.

If you've got the Dingy armour set from the maiden at Firelink shrine you should wear that. It's got really high curse resistant. The monsters themselves are really easy to fight so don't worry about PHY resistance too much. The big mushroom guys at the bottom are slow but pack a real punch though so be careful of those fellas.

Yeah, just run past those big mushroom guys, not worth the effort in my opinion. Ash lake is probably the most beautiful zone in the game, but there is not a lot to do there besides the hydra and ....

@Stingraymond: if you wait until the hydra flies over to the right side of the lake he's really easy. I'm not sure why he did it, might have to do with where you're at in Ashlake, but no dodging projectiles required. From the skull statue in the sand (I believe its just after the hollowed out tree you can walk through) just walk down to the water and stand near the edge before it drops off. His projectiles cant hit you there. (I forgot to mention where I fought him on my first post)

I did it after he flew to the right side (facing where he will be at from the bonfire), but other then that- he is really easy. I expect hes even easier if you can do decent ranged damage (spells maybe or arrows). I don't know what his attacks are like on the left though and I didn't really have a problem with the clams. They seem to go down fairly easily so I killed them from behind the skull if I remember as the projectiles didn't really hit me there.

Hopefully that info is helpful, i found him to be an easy fight.

@eroticfishcake said:

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@eroticfishcake said:

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@Aetheldod said:

@The_Laughing_Man: Thanks :D going there right now!!!

Be carefull. The curse and really mess ya up.

If you've got the Dingy armour set from the maiden at Firelink shrine you should wear that. It's got really high curse resistant. The monsters themselves are really easy to fight so don't worry about PHY resistance too much. The big mushroom guys at the bottom are slow but pack a real punch though so be careful of those fellas.

Ive all ways just run past em.

And miss your chance to pick up an Eye of Death?! DEATH?!

Alrady past them :P , I do not fear curse cause I got the curse resist ring and the Bloodshield ... fighting the hydra at the moment

Edit: Done >:3 crossbow for the win!!!

@eroticfishcake said:

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@eroticfishcake said:

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@Aetheldod said:

@The_Laughing_Man: Thanks :D going there right now!!!

Be carefull. The curse and really mess ya up.

If you've got the Dingy armour set from the maiden at Firelink shrine you should wear that. It's got really high curse resistant. The monsters themselves are really easy to fight so don't worry about PHY resistance too much. The big mushroom guys at the bottom are slow but pack a real punch though so be careful of those fellas.

Ive all ways just run past em.

And miss your chance to pick up an Eye of Death?! DEATH?!

Alrady past them :P , I do not fear curse cause I got the curse resist ring and the Bloodshield ... fighting the hydra at the moment

Edit: Done >:3 crossbow for the win!!!

I got the hydra's attention and then stood behind part of the big tree right at the start of Ash Lake while he swam right over. Then I ran up under his projectiles into melee range and blocked his attacks (Eagle Shield). Every now and then he'd drift away a bit and use his projectiles but you can stay close enough that they go right over. Eventually he'll come back for more. I didn't do anything to vary my strategy from the Darkroot Basin hydra at all.

Right, let me make this simple for you. Make your way to the first big tree. You've made it to the first big tree, you've killed a few clams, or maybe the hydra has done it for you. Either case, there's branches on the right side, thick ones, and the hydra is in the water on that side. Hug the branches and equip a shield that absorbs physical, as well as your biggest hitting weapon. Stand there and raise your shield, he'll dive at you with his heads, but due to the branches, he's not likely to even hit you. If he does, it'll be with but a few of the heads, if even that, and you'll have plenty of time and stamina to two-hand your weapon and chop the heads off. Rinse and repeat.

Once you actually make your way down to this here spot (as in having defeated previously mentioned clams and not getting blasted to hell within the first 20 seconds), you shouldn't even lose health with this tactic. If you want to be on the safe side, get yourself a crossbow for your offhand, or a spell to shoot the thing if you feel that you can't reach the heads in time once there's just one or two left.

You "kill" him one way without ever attacking him and you still get the souls and loot.

Start at the first bonfire and run straight to the eternal dragon. Don't go near the clams and if you see/hear the hydra jumping into the other side of the water, you are doing good. The hydra wont go all the way to the eternal dragon so once you get to him, you are in the clear. Then sit at the bonfire there and hang out for a bit. Eventually the hydra will try to reset himself by swimming to his original spot on the other side of the path. Once he gets up onto the land, he instantly dies and you get the souls and loot.

It is an exploit of course but I get tired of dying sometimes.

@Stingraymond said:

@nohthink said:

@StrikeALight: There is no way that Hydra is harder than the Darkroot Basin one. Then again, I beat it when I was like level 67 or something. I used the same tactics; roll away from projectiles, get closer and when it attacks, chop the heads. At some point, I was hurting it so bad, I killed it without even chopping all of its heads.

It totally is harder though. It's got better range, there's a lot less cover, it can jump to the other side of the lake, and there are a bunch of effing clam things along the way to damage you. The one in Basin is a joke in comparison, that thing never even hit me.

The trick to Ash Lake Hydra is to keep him on the left side where he starts. If you let him drift too far right he gets too close to the clams and is able to find a place to jump over to the other side which is more problematic than its normal methods of trying to kill you. Close but not too close is the basic mantra, it's just a point of figuring out where you can stand that doesn't get hit by two of the Hydra's heads (you can block one head and retaliate but typically can't block two whose paths intersect, mileage may vary with sufficient stats and gear) while keeping yourself to the left after he attacks because he tends to centre himself on you between strikes and you can unintentionally make him drift too close to the clams if you're consistently ending up on his right side after a strike (it comes as no surprise that there is a good starting blind spot to his far right).

It has less blind spots and more danger spots than the Deeproot Hydra because he actually has more than one strike pattern and more overlapping strikes but otherwise the same kinds of tactics work. Find a good distance that's far enough to be able to block the heads that strike left and right across his body but close enough that he will never bother to shoot you. If he starts swimming away from you into the lake, run forward to the edge of the lake because he wants to shoot you, and if you're on the edge of the lake the shots always go over your head (remember to move back to the sweet spot when he moves close again). The more heads you kill the more safe spots there will be, but because his heads have three or so different strike patterns and he can drift left and right and backward the cheese method of killing two heads then standing in the blind spot and pelting the body with arrows like the Deeproot Hydra doesn't really work.

I stood behind a rock where it couldn't hit me with it's ranged attack and I shot the shit out of it with standard arrows. Easy-peesy.

Well, there's a boring way to beat the guy and turn the game into an FPS if you've got a large amount of Dragonslayer Arrows and the Hawk Ring. Basically, after running from the first bonfire towards the 2nd in Ashe Lake you'll see a bit of the land curve up some into a semi wall that you can still fire arrows over. All you need to do is get the boss to aggro and he'll sit at extreme range spitting at you with the resulting shots hitting the sand wall while you calmly aim shots and shot them over the wall slowly picking off each head. Using this method the Ash Lake Hydra makes the Darkroot Basin one actually require some skill besides aiming >_<...