02-11-2005, 11:38 PM
Hydra does require a slightly different mindset than Meteor or Fireball. Instead of spamming FB or dropping Meteors on anything that moves, Hydra does best when combined with patience. It spreads its damage over numerous small shots rather than one large blast. This means that you will kill a bit slower with this skill. On the plus side, setting up Hydras while running around dodging ranged attacks has gotten me through numerous battles almost completely unscathed, even against the infamous Black Souls. And that was without a merc handy.
The Hydra/Orb sorc's game plan is generally to chill the enemies with an Orb, cast a few Hydras to pepper the opposition, then switch back to Orb and unload as fast as the spell timer will let you. Hydras can also be used to scout, by casting near the edge of the screen where you think enemies might be lurking (just about anywhere, really).
If Hydra just doesn't do it for you, you might be able to switch back to building up Fireball (depending on how many points you've got in each skill) and just use the low-level Hydra you have for the aforementioned scouting trick. Sounds to me like you've been mostly pumping Orb, so this might work out.
The Hydra/Orb sorc's game plan is generally to chill the enemies with an Orb, cast a few Hydras to pepper the opposition, then switch back to Orb and unload as fast as the spell timer will let you. Hydras can also be used to scout, by casting near the edge of the screen where you think enemies might be lurking (just about anywhere, really).
If Hydra just doesn't do it for you, you might be able to switch back to building up Fireball (depending on how many points you've got in each skill) and just use the low-level Hydra you have for the aforementioned scouting trick. Sounds to me like you've been mostly pumping Orb, so this might work out.