The Trouble With Hydross

Loktari · 05/31/07, 4:48 AM

I've got a few questions about Hydross that I would like to get insight from other peoples experiences.

My guild has downed Hydross twice and we seem to have a really random time with the initial pull. I decided to post about this after we wiped tonight 5+ times because of him going over his tripline and spawning his poison adds. We have the tank pull by hugging the right "cleansing" pillar next to hydross and running towards him spamming charge. It works half the time and he can drag him into position without triggering the nature phase, but it seems like the "tripline" is kind of hazy as far as exactly where it decides to trigger a transition. This ends up in us having a really luck based pull depending on where the "tripline" ends up. We've tried having the tank use swiftness potions which helped somewhat but Hydross would still sometimes seem to trigger his nature phase on us.

It seems to me like the problem lies when the warrior charges he goes through the mob causing Hydross to reposition himself and sometimes trigger the nature phase depending on where the tripline decides to place itself.

I have some ideas to try next time such as having one of the druid hybrid resist tanks pull by using sprint and then have the warrior pull it off of him. I'd like to hear how other people handle this as I'm sure were just messing something up stupidly that should be simple.

Wizzcat · 05/31/07, 4:56 AM

We used to have a lot of problems with this as well at the start. What I do now to avoid him tripping is pop a swiftness potion, blood rage and intercept once I get close enough. As long as nobody does anything to agro him it works pretty much every time. It's also important to run in as close to the right pillar as possible, though it seems you're already doing that so should be fine.

Another possibility is using an invisibility potion. The only downside to this is that healers etc can't follow you in, though I'm not sure how much of a problem this is since I've never actually tried it.

Elvenstein · 05/31/07, 5:00 AM

Rogue stealths up to Hydross. Warrior intervenes in. Never had any problems with this method.

Valoran · 05/31/07, 5:02 AM

Two solutions.
1) Eye of Kilrog/stealther just infront of hydross, have your tank intervene them.
2) Just pull him to nature, it really makes very little difference which phase you start in these days.

Vohbo · 05/31/07, 5:07 AM

I build up rage on the assembly line mobs, then intercept him from the far right while a hunter misdirects on me.

BugRoger · 05/31/07, 5:41 AM

We had some problems with the pull as well. My theory is that the trigger is actually not the line in front of the platform. Sometimes you can pull him so far out that his center his almost on the line and he doesn't change. Then you only move him slightly and he changes phases.

What I think happens is that Hydross has a circular "hitbox" which is just as big so it doesn't fit inbetween the two banners. The banners mark the trigger points. Once a banner is inside his hitbox the phase change happens (at least during the pull).

If you pull him from the side and he only moves a few yards his "hitbox" will overlap with one of the banners. If you pull him frontally though he can move up to the line and not trigger a phase change.

And that's what we do now. Just run in frontally and charge. He moves quite a lot and it looks really close but worked everytime. Even without Swiftness Potions.

Hoonboof · 05/31/07, 5:53 AM

Ice Tank hugs the right pillar in berzerker stance, blood rage, runs and intercepts as soon as he's in range. His trip line is miles away from his starting position.

Your problems are probably caused by trying to charge, you can't charge in combat and Hydross' aggro range is larger than charge range.

Valoran · 05/31/07, 5:56 AM

Originally Posted by Hoonboof

Ice Tank hugs the right pillar in berzerker stance, blood rage, runs and intercepts as soon as he's in range. His trip line is miles away from his starting position.

Your problems are probably caused by trying to charge, you can't charge in combat and Hydross' aggro range is larger than charge range.

We tried this and still had a few pulls where he crossed into nature and then followed the tank back over the line to frost, spawning 8 adds.

We opted for pulling straight to nature and haven't looked back, no more arsing around with flukey pulls.

woo-haa · 05/31/07, 6:47 AM

Originally Posted by Valoran

We tried this and still had a few pulls where he crossed into nature and then followed the tank back over the line to frost, spawning 8 adds.

We opted for pulling straight to nature and haven't looked back, no more arsing around with flukey pulls.

You will lose one minute of pure DPS this way. If you can manage the enrage timers well, then you should go ahead. We simply intercept Hydross from the right pillar from out LoS.

Pyria · 05/31/07, 6:52 AM

Originally Posted by Elvenstein

Rogue stealths up to Hydross. Warrior intervenes in. Never had any problems with this method.

We do this with the druid OT stealthing in and a hunter misdirecting onto the warrior frost tank. Took some ironing out but seems to work fine now.

Dragooner · 05/31/07, 7:03 AM

Originally Posted by Valoran

Two solutions.
2) Just pull him to nature, it really makes very little difference which phase you start in these days.

Wow, I know hydross is pretty easy now.. but you would lose a large section of direct damage to the boss let alone having to have your raid ready for adds right at the start..

Valoran · 05/31/07, 7:17 AM

The strat we use is heavily AoE based and the difference in damage done from pulling him in frost and going straight to nature was only around 8% before the first proper change - the only trade off being that the pull has no chance of failing due to latency or just common bad luck.

I don't see how having adds picked up at the start is any more difficult than it is mid fight, if anything it's less prone to error as one of your tanks hasn't just been preoccupied with tanking Hydross.

gatz · 05/31/07, 7:24 AM

I do the pull and did several bad pull the three first nights on him.

My advises : pop a swiftness pot, hit bloodrage, go to him frankly, as close as possible to the pillar but not too much close to avoid being slowed and spam intercept key.

Mem · 05/31/07, 7:25 AM

I had the same problems when we tried Hydross during the last weeks. Even after popping a swiftness potion it can get pretty close imho since you have only a short window of opportunity where the intercept will hit Hydross in time. One of the main problems with this encounter is the inconsistency regarding the line where Hydross will switch over.
But generally speaking: build rage on the adds, then proceed to the right pillar, pop the potion, hug the pillar (but not to close, if you keep running slightly into the pillar, it will slow you down) and time your intercept. Everybody should watch their aggro closely, we had some pulls where my shield slam missed and Hydross straight went to a healer, resulting in a messy and quick wipe.

• Mygore · 05/31/07, 7:27 AM

What your missing on thou is a minute of pure pure dps focusing on Hydross where compared to pulling him into nature means dps will have to focus on the adds then onto hydross. This may not be a worry when your not near the enrage timer but for new guilds trying Hydross out this 1 minute of dps can be the difference between wiping and killing.

We go along with the swiftness potion and intercept tactic from the left pillar and I have yet to see it fail.