[Wizzard] What Hydra do you use, and why?

[Mascotte]

Yes i know Hydra as a spell may not be BiS for people farming Inferno actwhatever for ultimatesuperpowergear but for those that use it, which one do you use?
I like the spell but i dont really notice a big difference between the set.
Currently i have access to all but the last one (i just started act2 nightmare) and im not really sure which one to use.
Atm i just use the poison one but is there actually a (significant) difference between em i didnt notice or is it just for the looks?

[Chouzan]

I use Poison for the most part, I am a Wizard who has A1-Inferno on farm. Poison Hydra has a crazy dot that stacks with itself so long as you can keep targets piled into a same location, so it's prime for killing long-range targets (Casters, archers, etc), melee that bunch up, or really anything in a small area (this is one reason why Poison is so dominant in Act 1: there are a LOT of small passages in the Halls of Agony that you can use to funnel champions through). The Poison stays not only on the ground but the Hydra still does its direct-damage attacks.

The only other Hydra I give consideration is Arcane, which is quite useful in a "mow down errything super quick" way once paired with the Arcane-damage slow passive. Its arcane orbs do aoe on impact and if you're so inclined you can Arcane Torrent - Disruption to increase their damage.

When I tried Lightning it felt just like the normal Hydra but without any perks. If its lightning chained then perhaps it could have uses. I attempted to try Frost Hydra in the small hallways of A3's in-building areas, but it paled compared to Poison Hydra which would just drop a poison patch that melted anything that wanted to walk through a hallway.

Hydra is nearly a must-have for a kiting Wizard in Inferno because even with a good kiting loadout, many champions even without the "Fast" ability can walk through Blizzards almost as quickly as you can place them and you do not have time to stand and cast much. Hydras are free damage, and it's a lot of damage to boot.

[DeltrusDisc]

Venom/poison, whatever you want to call it. Its damage stacks apparently, it has superb dps, and its pools do more damage, as well.

chaching?

[Mascotte]

Thanks for the replies.
Ill just stick with the poison one then

[Thalais]

I use Venom, but I wish I could use lightning.
I love how Lightning is all about instant damage vs travel damage, but venom can push out 810% weapon damage through its duration if you can hold someone in place. This is why I play tanky spec wizard.
I am level 54 and in act 2 (my least favorite act) in hell difficulty.
I rune Arcane orb for reduce arcane power to cast a lot of arcane orbs. I take the passive and arcane shield to buff me to 140 arcane power.
I want to grab a shield, but no shield can beat my current blue item, i lose 250 dps if I go from my held item to a shield and that isn't worth it.

So basically I just take it to the face and stack potions.
While I may not have the life regen as a monk, I expect to play that style at 60.
Venom Hydra is just too strong to place another hydra in its place for my play style.
They want us to play somewhat offensive, but I don't see that happening so I will stick to my high venom damage and arcane orbs with a very tanky/survival build.

[Pulski]

I've been using Arcane Hydra with this build: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...ROj!XUf!YbaaYY

I just finished Hell using that build exclusively (Since mid a2 probably) until the final boss, where I had to change it extensively. I was able to clear fast enough to reach him with a 5 stack of NV on my first run through, but there was just no way I was going to get him down with that build. I can see it needing some tweaks going into Inferno, but it has been very effective so far.

[Azsune]

Venom hydra is really retarded does way to much damage. If mobs stand still on it you see it tick for 25k damage. If you put it in the middle of a pack it'll hit tons of mobs.

[LolretKJ]

Arcane with the Passive that slows enemies down that get hit by arcane abilities. Makes for easy kiting with my orb spec.

[Snaige]

I am also a tanky wizard, lvl 53 atm, got a lovely shield. I use diamond skin, frost nova, venom hydra and an armor spell and just take the beating, aim for the gear with int, vitality and restore life. So far going great, havent had any problems whatsover, ofc I know that when I get to inferno it will be significantly harder but hell is still going smoothly.

[kumduh]

For a long time I only used Arcane for kiting and venom for dps, but I just switched to lightning in Inferno Act 4. It deals great damage and you don't have to worry about its shots missing because stuff is zipping all over the place. It definitely helped get me through the crystal spire.

[Danish]

I for one loved the hydra from Diablo 2 and even used that as my main spec. It wasn't the most fast-killing spec, but it was fun to play.
Finding this thread really got my hopes up for D3, thanks guys <3

[Jadè]

Standard Fire Hydra with Conflag passive.

[Danish]

For those of you who have experience with the poison hydra..

Would you consider it being too powerful? Not in line with other abilities, etc?
I'm mainly worried that the hydra will get a nerf, a spell I found to be very cool back in Diablo 2.

[Baelroc]

I use Venom, but I wish I could use lightning.
I love how Lightning is all about instant damage vs travel damage, but venom can push out 810% weapon damage through its duration if you can hold someone in place. This is why I play tanky spec wizard.
I am level 54 and in act 2 (my least favorite act) in hell difficulty.
I rune Arcane orb for reduce arcane power to cast a lot of arcane orbs. I take the passive and arcane shield to buff me to 140 arcane power.
I want to grab a shield, but no shield can beat my current blue item, i lose 250 dps if I go from my held item to a shield and that isn't worth it.

So basically I just take it to the face and stack potions.
While I may not have the life regen as a monk, I expect to play that style at 60.
Venom Hydra is just too strong to place another hydra in its place for my play style.
They want us to play somewhat offensive, but I don't see that happening so I will stick to my high venom damage and arcane orbs with a very tanky/survival build.

I hate to break it to you, but this playstyle will not cut it in Inferno. As a wizard, if you get hit 2-3 times in Inferno, you will die. You might want to start looking into different builds.

As to the OP. Im finishing up Act 2 on Inferno and I am using the Arcane Hydra with the Temporal Flux passive (arcane damage slows by 30%) While it might not do as much hypothetical damage as the Venom Hydra can (although this is largely over exaggerated as alot of the mobs in Act 2 passively move fast and there is no way you will get them stuck in multiple stacks of poison), the slow as well as the knockback it has is invaluable, especially in later Acts. Once swapping to this build I was finding that the only packs I could not kill were ones with Invulnerable minions.

[oplawlz]

For those of you who have experience with the poison hydra..

Would you consider it being too powerful? Not in line with other abilities, etc?
I'm mainly worried that the hydra will get a nerf, a spell I found to be very cool back in Diablo 2.

Nah, because the poison is stationary . . . it's a very reasonable amount of damage for a stationary effect, especially in the harder difficulties where mobs are moving fast and running/porting all over the place.

[HatsHatsHats]

For those of you who have experience with the poison hydra..

Would you consider it being too powerful? Not in line with other abilities, etc?
I'm mainly worried that the hydra will get a nerf, a spell I found to be very cool back in Diablo 2.

I would consider it broken if you were unable to viably use any other hydra, but since arcane hydra is also a good alternative for kiting in inferno then I would say no, it's fine.

But I would like them to buff the other hydras to be more competitive with venom, lightning specifically, because I loved that one

[Baelroc]

I would consider it broken if you were unable to viably use any other hydra, but since arcane hydra is also a good alternative for kiting in inferno then I would say no, it's fine.

But I would like them to buff the other hydras to be more competitive with venom, lightning specifically, because I loved that one

I agree. I would love for Mammoth Hydra to be viable. Its a very fun/cool looking spell.

[Deleted]

Venom Hydra, it's just an insane amount of damage

[moff]

I think hydra is a must for every wizard in inferno, you will kite a lot and hydra will do constant damage to the mobs

only two of the hydras are really recommendable, I have to admit, the hydra rune is the only thing I sometimes switch. arcane is great for kiting (with temporal flux of course) but the poison hydra is really incredibly insane and actually overpowered in my opinion.

[HatsHatsHats]

I think hydra is a must for every wizard in inferno, you will kite a lot and hydra will do constant damage to the mobs

only two of the hydras are really recommendable, I have to admit, the hydra rune is the only thing I sometimes switch. arcane is great for kiting (with temporal flux of course) but the poison hydra is really incredibly insane and actually overpowered in my opinion.

To call it overpowered would suggest that nerfing it would make it 'just right' but seeing as nearly every wizard needs it for the damage. I think the other hydras just need a buff