Hydra

Hydra is an Enemy in Dragon's Dogma.

Description
"Even the bravest man would surely gasp at the sight of the great, demonic serpent that is the hydra. The black scales that cover its body seem to beckon ill luck and the body that stretches well over a hundred feet splits at last into four horrible heads. The trouble lies in the fact that those four heads each possesses a mind of its own and will act against you independently if you approach it as an enemy. Even one of the heads would be a formidable enemy, so it is probably easy to imagine the threat that four can pose when attacking simultaneously. The hydra has great size and dreadful strength, but its intelligence is on par with its reptilian appearance. In the end, its destructive tendencies and various attacks are nothing more than the result of base instinct.  The hydra possesses such horrifying life force that it can even regenerate its heads if they are cut off once."

- Capcom official description

Combat
Striking at the head, preferably with cutting weapons may remove a head, leaving an uncontrolled stump .. searing the stumps with Fire delays regeneration.

The quickest way to defeat a Hydra is by using a powder barrel; when thrown at the right moment, one of the Hydra's heads will swallow it and then shooting or striking the bulging throat will trigger an explosion. If done correctly, the head that swallowed the barrel will both take massive damage from the explosion and cauterize the wound to prevent regeneration.

By cutting off all four heads of the Hydra before each can regenerate, the Hydra’s body will collapse, becoming immobile and highly vulnerable. During this time, adventurers should take advantage of its collapse as the Hydra will take more damage from any attack on its neck stumps, making it an easy kill. However, it will regenerate at a high speed in this state, so one should inflict as much damage as possible.

The Hydra faced in the Encampment does not die when the Arisen takes its head in the early game; it flees. The Hydra can be fought later during the Post-Game in the Frontier Caverns as part of the quest "A Challenge". After the quest is complete the Frontier Caverns Hydra will respawn after three days like all boss monsters.

Offensive tactics

 * Nearly impervious to Dark magic (High Maelstrom is almost completely ineffective).
 * Weak to Fire: Permanently and temporarily fire enchanted weapons, fire-based spells, and items causing fire are all effective.
 * Weak to edged weapons; swords & daggers can cut off its heads.
 * Attacks nearer to the head are more effective.
 * Immune to debilitations, except Tarred in oil and Lowered Defense (throw a Skull or use Sapfire Daggers).


 * After cutting off a head, setting the stump on fire will delay the regeneration of the head whilst the stump is ablaze.
 * Attacking a dead stump seems to inflict more damage than attacking the other heads.
 * After one of the heads initiates a "head butt" strike, the head will be temporarily at ground level - use this opportunity to decaptitate with a strong physical attack, or to mount the snake near to the neck, and then attack.

Climbing tactics

 * If possible, employ the augments Adhesion (for grip), Opportunism (+30% strength) and Arm-Strength (for stamina) with Gloves of Might (more grip and climbing speed) for best results.

Vocation-specific tactics

 * Striders : Splinter Dart or Fracture Dart are good skills against the Hydra, both have elemental Fire damage, a wide range of attack, and good height.
 * Striders, Rangers and Assassins : Blast Arrows will cut off heads, and successive Blast Arrow hits on a stump not only cauterize but also exploits the additional damage hitting a stump receives. Standard climbing attacks and techniques of choice can be used on the neck.[[File:Hydra slain, Arisen undamaged. No buffs, curatives or Wakestones. Hard mode. 2 Masterful Kill counters (D)|thumb|right|285px|An Assassin demonstrating Masterful Kill against a Hydra at the Frontier Caverns.]]
 * Rangers : Hydra Husk not only does much greater damage than other longbows, but also is especially effective at severing heads.
 * Magick Archer : Immolation whilst climbing exploits the Hydra's weakness, and also prevents swallowing.
 * Mages : High Comestion is the most effective mage spell against a Hydra.
 * Sorcerers : High Seism, High Gicel High Bolide, and High Miasma can all cut off multiple heads.
 * Mages and Sorcerers : For fun, cast a Brontide or Fulmination based spell and wait for a head to eat you. Canceling the spell will unleash multiple tongues of Levin's lightning into the Hydra's mouth. This may cut off the head that swallowed the Arisen. Even if it fails to cut off the head, the Hydra will spit out the Arisen.
 * Mystic Knights : Great Cannon is ineffective unless Fire-enchanted; climbing attacks with Abyssal Anguish and Fire-enchanted weapons is effective; Stone Forest on a partially- or better yet, fully-decapitated Hydra does massive damage.

Defensive tactics

 * Avoid the tail area. Striking the tail inflicts no damage, but tail whipping can inflict great harm to the Arisen.
 * Using multi-strike attacks (like Great Windmill or Thousand Kisses) on the neck area (while standing on the ground) with a Holy enchanted weapon (like Ascalon or Heaven's Key) will incrementally heal the Arisen.

Pawn Bestiary Knowledge

 * Hydra Tactics - Grant knowledge for the whole Hydra family
 * Hydra Strategy Vol. 1 - Advises using a sword to sever the heads.
 * Hydra Strategy Vol. 2 - Suggests searing the stump (using Fire attacks) to prevent regrowth of a severed head
 * Throw an explosive barrel into a mouth and shoot the bulge to make it explode
 * If the pawn has this knowledge, they will say "shoot the bulge in the neck" when the Hydra swallows a barrel. Knowledgeable pawns will also shoot the bulge, if their vocation permits.
 * Have all 4 heads cut off at the same time

In addition to witnessing these techniques, it is necessary for Pawns to participate in killing 7 Hydras either with their own Arisen or while travelling with others.

Explosive barrel advice
Throwing an explosive barrel in the Hydra's mouth and then shooting the barrel with an arrow will decapitate a head, but can be difficult to do, and is required for the Pawn Bestiary Knowledge.

To illustrate, after sufficient attacks (lightning is especially useful), a Hydra's head can be stunned, with its head swaying slightly above the ground and its mouth opening for about 15 seconds. During this moment, grab an explosive barrel, walk close to the head, and throw it towards the opened mouth. The head will immediately swallow it, bulging the throat as the barrel moves down slowly down the neck over about a minute and a half. During this time, attacking the bulge with an arrow will explode the barrel, tearing off the head and sealing the wound with flame.


 * The simplest way to observe a barrel throw is at The Encampment during the Hydra encounte in the quest A Rude Awakening . Be sure to choose a vocation that can shoot arrows.
 * When the Arisen reaches The Encampment, remove weapons from Pawns, or release them into the Rift so they are less likely to decapitate one of the four heads and complete the quest.
 * Wait, observe the battle but do not attack
 * The Hydra will eventually coil itself in front of the northern gate, and a cutscene will show Mercedes throwing an explosive barrel to the Arisen who will then toss it towards the Hydra. After the cutscene, the Arisen must shoot the barrel in the Hydra's neck.

Witnessing the 'barrel throw' at least 2 to 3 times is required for the bestiary knowledge. The encampment hydra encounter can be repeated quickly by switching difficult to hard mode and back (resetting the game progress but not losing character development) This is repetitious, but Mercedes' assistance in the cutscene is much easier than throwing the barrels manually when fighting the Hydra or Archydra.

NB When shooting the neck, be sure to use the Come! command (Down on the D-pad), to ensure pawns are close enough to witness the event and gain bestiary knowledge.

Related quests

 * A Challenge (slay the Hydra within the Frontier Caverns)

Trivia

 * The Hydra is known from ancient Greek Myths as a many headed serpent-like water monster.  In the myth the hydra regrew two heads for every one cut off. It was fought by the hero Heracles, first with flaming arrows, and then with a hand weapon, in the course of the battle discovering its ability to grow many heads. Using advice to burn the stump of each severed head, he successfully defeated the monster. In another version of the story he used the Hydra's own poison to cauterize the wounded stumps. See Lernaean Hydra
 * It takes 1 minute and 40 seconds for the Hydra to slide a swallowed Arisen or pawn from mouth to main body, with the prey going through five stages as they pass down the Hydra's neck.
 * During the Hydra encounter in the Encampment the soldiers are not be able to free themselves, and quickly slide down the Hydra's throat.
 * The Hydra in the Frontier Caverns will also attempt to swallow the Goblins. Unlike the soldiers in the Encampment, the Goblins have the chance to free themselves, but always fail. The swallowed Goblin will disappear immediately after the Hydra swallows it instead of sliding through its throat.
 * After losing half of its health, the Hydra will take on a bloody appearance.

Gallery
Gallery=