Sorry if you don't like this, but I always found the hydra spell for sorcery to be kind of a rip off for the most powerful school balance spell. Not only is the animation for it kinda lame, but its attack isn't that good either. Judgement can do 100 damage per pip, and hydra can only do 570 for six! It's not worth using! Besides shields can be used against it that block more damage MULTIPLE TIMES. Now you could say that you can use the special sorcery elemental blades and traps, but each of those is worth one pip! So really this is an eight pip spell if you want to make it any good! Here are some ideas to make it better.
1) Increase it's power to 200 storm, ice, and fire damage
2) Make some other bonus that comes with it. (add traps to enemies for next spell, weaken enemy's next spell, or remove positives for the enemy)
3) Make elemental blades and traps worth 0 pips FOR SORCERERS ONLY, just like the pixie spell is worth 420 health and can be used on anyone for LIFE ONLY.
4) Animation? Please make it better. Maybe make it have wings, and flies down (Hydra does have wings depending on sources) where it only has one head to start with, then grows too more. (oooooh, cool!)
By the way, I know a lot of people don't like the Judgement spell, and think that if the hydra was better too it would give balance an unfair advantage, so maybe if you use my idea then you lower judgement to 90 damage per pip? That way it is more fun and people will use a wider variety of spells.
I didn't know people even used Hydra because of Judgement.
A sorcerer that relies mainly on judgment in Celestia is a dead sorcerer.
As for the topic of the post. I have no problem with hydra as it is. It already does 190 damage per head. With the right boosts Hydra is a very good spell. At one time, I got my hydra to do nearly 1000 per head. I used a Gargantuan card, elemental blades, elemental traps, balance blade, and amplify. As for shields...That is something ALL schools must deal with.
The animation for Hydra really isn't all that bad. As for it flying down from above...I do not believe the hydra of legend had wings. Actually, I like the fact that hydra has short animation unlike Orthrus which gives you enough time to make a sandwich and get something to drink while waiting for it to finally stop barking. (Sorry Conjurers. I do have a myth and I love Orthrus. Just not the length of the spell.)
Well I kinda like the idea except 200 damage per head? well you could get 220 damage per head if you get the amulet .., So why not change that idea to 260 damage per head :-D
The amulet gives 220 damage per head, but the real spell that you can learn only gives 190, and as for the other coment, I'm not saying hydra isn't a good spell, I'm just saying that it is far less useful than using other spells from other schools with the same pip cost. Not only that but those schools can only be blocked using one shield type, making it easy to knock down with a wand spell, but hydra can be blocked by THREE, meaning that to make it worth casting on an enemy with multiple shields, you would have to knock down ALL THREE shields instead of just one.
The amulet gives 220 damage per head, but the real spell that you can learn only gives 190, and as for the other coment, I'm not saying hydra isn't a good spell, I'm just saying that it is far less useful than using other spells from other schools with the same pip cost. Not only that but those schools can only be blocked using one shield type, making it easy to knock down with a wand spell, but hydra can be blocked by THREE, meaning that to make it worth casting on an enemy with multiple shields, you would have to knock down ALL THREE shields instead of just one.
I still stand by what I said before
I actually use my hydra spell quite often, when I am fighting balance enemies. Yes it takes a while to boost it, but at the same time, balance has one of the best sets of gear for power pips. so it really goes quickly.
The amulet gives 220 damage per head, but the real spell that you can learn only gives 190, and as for the other coment, I'm not saying hydra isn't a good spell, I'm just saying that it is far less useful than using other spells from other schools with the same pip cost. Not only that but those schools can only be blocked using one shield type, making it easy to knock down with a wand spell, but hydra can be blocked by THREE, meaning that to make it worth casting on an enemy with multiple shields, you would have to knock down ALL THREE shields instead of just one.
I still stand by what I said before
It apparently has occured to no one here that Hydra actually does have a "special add-on." Here's a hint: Spectral Blast has it too. Figured it out? Mm hmm, Elemental Attacking. Let me explain what that means.
Elemental Attacking is unique to those two Spells. It is dealing Fire, Ice, and/or Storm Damage - with only one Spell.
There are two indisputable advantages that come from this on Hydra:
1: "Elemental Attacking" being a card's special add-on makes it incredibly difficult to fully block. In other words, one has to have three different Shields up to completely counteract it.
2: In PvP, most players expect a Sorcerer to use Judgement, Spectral Blast, Ra, SandStorm, or Power Nova. The one thing all these have in common is that they only Attack once. Any generic Damage mitigaters are unlikely to be stacked; as a result, Hydra's Fire head will absorb most if not all these, letting the Ice and Storm heads deal quite a bit of Damage.
Hydra's advantage lies in the fact that it can absolutely spam traps and blades to boost its damage. You can trigger three feints with the spell; three blades; three times balance blade, three times pretty much everything. Sure, shields can be a pain in the unmentionables, but considering that Hydra also removes any tower shield in its first hit makes it shockingly powerful.
:-D