Target: Hydra Race: Vex Special: Rotating Shield I will talk about one of my more resent encounters with the Vex "Hydra". I have died twice, at the moment of this post, because of a silly little mechanic the Hydra has. I have only encountered five, but a 2.5 kill ratio is horrible. I'm truly ashamed and crawl into a corner and cry sometimes. But I pull it together and look into why this tough to kill monster has such a good hold on my KR. First what we know. Hydra's have a revolving shield that rotates around its body. You cannot by pass this shield with weapons and getting close to it does damage to you. Best way to get handle the shield, wait or move to it's opening and/or grenades, or get to a high point and shoot in. I play dominantly Sunbreaker, so my thermite grenades work well. I'm sure others work well if placed right. Second the Hydra has a melee attack. It doesn't punch, but discharges. It hurts too. Enough if you melee and run into his shield it's a one-two-punch and dead. As a Sunbreaker I have my melee set up to increase incoming damage from myself and allies. So I punch and punch often, it would be wise to strike and jump out quickly. Third is his ranged attack. What a freakin annoying attack. They hit hard and shake your screen. Then add all of his buddies doing the same thing and now you are running into walls. They hit hard and I would guess for those with low defense, could even be a one shot. Boss forms of these Hydra's are hell on game play. Wise thing to do is to let him see you, duck behind a pillar and stay low and move around. Fourth is their communication skills and speed. They are slow, but become alert to your location quickly. As stated above, if you are moving around to get away or better vantage point and a goblin or another one of his buddies see you, the Hydra will launch his heavy assault in that last known location without having to see you. In boss fights or in normal game play, killing the other mobs is "critical" *snickers*. Fifth and the reason I have a low KR on this guy. When a Hydra dies, they blow up. I melee a lot, when an enemy is weak enough I move in and seal the deal. It takes a while for this death to happen, but when it does it is like a super grenade. So far a Hydra is the only mod I know of that does damage as it dies. Do not be anywhere near it. Even a guy in melee like myself has enough time to move in, move out. BUT, if you are like me and move in and get pinned by incoming fire, well get ready for a res. I'm not sure the area of effect range, but my guess is no less than ten meters. This scales to Hydra bosses. My poor fellow Strike mates went in to collect loot after our victory and they were blown apart. Funny, it truly was, because the AoE is much larger, duh. Silver lining about this, it kills other things besides us. How to handle: Move around and stay moving. Weak spots are it's "Head", aim for eye. If a model has a white crystal in it's body, that is a good spot to shoot too. Use the AoE death to your advantage. Get his buddies next to him and drop it like its hot, saves ammo. Do not use heavy swords, chances are you will jump into his shield. Grimoire: First Tier → 50 kills , Second Tier → 125 Kills, Third Tier → 250 Kills