Custom Hydra Splatling: Analysis and Thoughts

[Essence]

20

Great I'm at 19

 

[HappyBear801]

Great I'm at 19

If you avidly spend your money, however, I do advise you to save up since this is the most expensive of all weapons.



Also guys just for laughs check this post out.

It's like the most perfect thing.

 

[Chronya]

I don't know if you play defensive only with it, but for me hydras are useless. You have 1/5 of your normal speed, so any charger will splat you easily. Even bad one! Also its charge time make hydra useless in close combat. Close combat is a typical situation in Splatoon, so be ready for it. With hydra you are not.
I absolutely love this weapon, I like its range, sound, feeling etc. but everything hydra can, heavy can do better. I'll try to find the reason to use it but it will be hard objective.
Also, my run speed up build is useless for hydra and it makes me sad D: I'll try to use 1 or 2 , 2 or +1 and some of . and maybe . build should be good, so I'll give it a try.

 

[Award]

I don't know if you play defensive only with it, but for me hydras are useless. You have 1/5 of your normal speed, so any charger will splat you easily. Even bad one! Also its charge time make hydra useless in close combat. Close combat is a typical situation in Splatoon, so be ready for it. With hydra you are not.
I absolutely love this weapon, I like its range, sound, feeling etc. but everything hydra can, heavy can do better. I'll try to find the reason to use it but it will be hard objective.
Also, my run speed up build is useless for hydra and it makes me sad D: I'll try to use 1 or 2 , 2 or +1 and some of . and maybe . build should be good, so I'll give it a try.

I'm not the foremost hydra expert here by far, but I've become suitably decent with at least the Custom. Trying to get into vanilla too after some situations with Custom in Mackerel Zones where I was on the shelf and getting hammered from below and REALLY wished my sprinklers were splat bombs.

It is largely defensive IMO. It's a splatling for eliter player in a way. But it's also more aggressive in holding a position. You surely don't need a full charge to kill. It's, I believe, a 4hko weapon with insanely fast kill time. Even a tiny charge should give enough pellets to take out a single CQC enemy. In that regard, it outshines eliter quite handily (burst bombs aside.) So for CQC it doesn't take any longer to charge than a Heavy really. BUT you do have to be more defensive and use cover more wisely than heavy, IMO. On the other hand, with a charge, you're walking death. The trick, versus heavy, is to exercise the better part of valor.

 

[Of Moose & Men]

Heavy cannot suppress enemy Inklings from clear across the stage, Heavy doesn't really have anything for CQC either since it takes about the same amount of time to charge a shot quick enough to kill. Custom Hydra has the ever amazing Sprinkler + Bubbler combo which means you will almost ALWAYS have the Bubbler in the back. Vanilla has Splat Bomb Drop n' Runs for CQC which yea, can be avoided, but it has something to get away from enemy Inklings, not to mention it has Echolocator which prevents CQC from being a huge nuisance since you can see flanks.

It's a much more defensive weapon than that of the Heavy which is more than capable of being in the middle or even on the front lines.

I've been running
+
+
+

Which has been working quite well. 3 subs means you can avoid the 2hko from a 0 .52 Gal (AKA the Meta). If they're running any it's likely a single main and 3 subs which will always 2hko regardless of investment, so I feel no more than three subs is needed. and I'd like to think are pretty obvious with how much ink the Hydra guzzles. and are also pretty obvious, one cuts down on the time of one of the best specials in the game, and the other allows for better escape plans.

 

[HappyBear801]

Heavy cannot suppress enemy Inklings from clear across the stage, Heavy doesn't really have anything for CQC either since it takes about the same amount of time to charge a shot quick enough to kill. Custom Hydra has the ever amazing Sprinkler + Bubbler combo which means you will almost ALWAYS have the Bubbler in the back. Vanilla has Splat Bomb Drop n' Runs for CQC which yea, can be avoided, but it has something to get away from enemy Inklings, not to mention it has Echolocator which prevents CQC from being a huge nuisance since you can see flanks.

It's a much more defensive weapon than that of the Heavy which is more than capable of being in the middle or even on the front lines.

I've been running
+
+
+

Which has been working quite well. 3 subs means you can avoid the 2hko from a 0 .52 Gal (AKA the Meta). If they're running any it's likely a single main and 3 subs which will always 2hko regardless of investment, so I feel no more than three subs is needed. and I'd like to think are pretty obvious with how much ink the Hydra guzzles. and are also pretty obvious, one cuts down on the time of one of the best specials in the game, and the other allows for better escape plans.

Normal Heavy does have Splash Wall for CQC situations, but one would need a ton of stacked for that to be able to be used excessively, and normal Heavy users should really focus more on and for stackable abilities IMO. And the Deco has the Kraken, but again, that would take a ton of and/or to be able to have that constantly. The Hydras do have the better loadouts for ideal CQC, so that gives them a certain edge over the Heavies.

 

[Chronya]

With hydra you cannot react to some situations, especially offensive because of lowest mobility in game (no, e-litre is made for other things). Also you can't cancel your charge often (and for me it's one of the most important reason I prefer heavy). As a defender you can't waste charge easily, what if enemy is here or something like that.

weapon with insanely fast kill time

same as other splatlings.

Even a tiny charge should give enough pellets to take out a single CQC enemy.

Do you believe you can easily put all 4-5 shots to the moving enemy? In terms of quite long CQC Heavy Splatling is more reliable weapon plus 1/3-1/2 charge for heavy is pretty quick. Same charge-time for hydra doesn't give you this range and duration.

Normal Heavy does have Splash Wall for CQC situations, but one would need a ton of stacked for that to be able to be used excessively, and normal Heavy users should really focus more on and for stackable abilities IMO. And the Deco has the Kraken, but again, that would take a ton of and/or to be able to have that constantly.

outclass , even better for it. I don't see any reasons for in build for vanilla. Same goes for and deco. With its range you should survive as much as you can. If you depend on special, is better option. And ton of of course.

 

[Award]

With hydra you cannot react to some situations, especially offensive because of lowest mobility in game (no, e-litre is made for other things). Also you can't cancel your charge often (and for me it's one of the most important reason I prefer heavy). As a defender you can't waste charge easily, what if enemy is here or something like that.

This is true, you need to be a lot more predictive of your encounters, provide escape routes for yourself, and always, always keep usable cover in mind. Like you said, you can't waste your charge too freely so you have to know when to use that charge and when to reposition. As I said I'm not the biggest expert on the weapon in this thread, but I'm capable enough with it that I feel I have a good enough handle on its usage outside the most advanced usage.

Do you believe you can easily put all 4-5 shots to the moving enemy? In terms of quite long CQC Heavy Splatling is more reliable weapon plus 1/3-1/2 charge for heavy is pretty quick. Same charge-time for hydra doesn't give you this range and duration.

If the enemy is so close you need only a very quick charge, there shouldn't be difficulty in landing your hits. If they're far enough away that there's uncertainty in landing your hits it means they're probably far enough away to consider using cover, falling back, and certainly getting a longer charge. When all else fails, Custom has that bubbler. Typically in this situation it's more meaningful to use the bubbler to retreat than to press. The short charge difficulties you describe make even a bubbler less useful for a rundown than it is to fall back to a superior position. I've made that mistake too often. :)

But like with all weapons in Splatoon "abuse your range" is the motto. You should be trying too take enemies out with either the length of your range and/or using suppressive fire with your long duration barrage. If a single enemy gets in close, a quick charge is very effective. IF a group of enemies gets in close, well, your team wasn't doing a very good job holding the front lines (or you tried to go aggro with a rear-line weapon.) The Hydra isn't really a "heavier heavy splatling", it serves a different role further back behind front lines. Though it CAN be used for hit & run attacks too if you can get in position. It's more defensive than Heavy, just as eliter is more defensive than splat charger- BUT both can be used offensively when needed as well. It's just not the ideal weapon if you intend to use it that way. Hydra fares a little better than eliter offensively since the Sprinklers can anchor your position very quickly (or splat bombs can zone on the vanilla.)

 

[Smychavo]

While it's CQC abilities are decent at best, it's not the greatest idea to even approach opponents directly. You are much better off staying at a reasonable distance from your main offensive force or checking flanks while covering as much enemy turf as possible. It is a bit too dangerous to begin attacking opponents who have weapons that are more inclined for offense. Especially if a charger is absent from your team. If you get splattered due to a CQC situation your team loses an valuable source of pressure as the Hydra's fire duration and range makes it incredibly difficult for the enemy to approach (that is, if they don't have a charger)

 

[Hawk Seow]

I feel like a total jerk taking this thing to Triggerfish and just spamming sprinklers at the enemy base from the grates. Am I a bad squid? :D I was top of the team's ink though, and shared bubblers more than ever!

Also, we need a snappy catchphrase for Custom Hydra wielders. Vanilla hydra users get "Hail Hydra" any ideas for Custom Hydra? :)

Heh, I felt so dirty in that clip of me on Flounder Heights with that sprinkler placement that I had to take a shower under that same sprinkler :p

TBH I can't come up with what I'd consider as a good catchphrase for CHydra...Maybe something lame like ReHydrate (referencing its superior turfing ability) :p

Yeah, I know they intend to fix balance and map issues, but I still think dmg up limits counts as a rule change. They already limit you, as judd says, that stacked bonuses reduce effectiveness the more you stack. So if you're using your slots on maxing it, you're already giving up total bonus.

Yeah, eliter really just needs it. Too many missed shots without it where I do hit them but it's insufficient damage. I'm an impatient squiffer, too. It doesn't charge fast enough for me and I tend to release the shot too soon without it. Bamboozler, it needs the double shot no matter how much damage up you have, so there's no real advantage. I think Squiffer needs it more!

You know, after playing quite a bit of the charger-class, I still think E-Liter should get a nerf in some form. You're half-right (some abilities have arguably little use on E-Liter compared to dmg up) about giving up bonus, but it also says a lot that most E-Liters would rather stack dmg up than most other abilities from what I've observed.

Nintendo should either lower the cap on damage up bonuses or reduce the base damage. Right now the best solution against dmg-stacking E-Liters I can find is really just stacking defense up on myself. Also, E-Liters and Splat Charger variants with enough damage up almost render the Squiffer moot (unless up against defense stackers) IMO.

As for Bamboozler, potentially shooting 99.9 damage on the first shot is always worth it especially if you manage to engage enemies coming into your territory where they're likely to get some of your ink on them via stepping/swimming.

Ink saver seems wasted for me, I'd almost always rather use the slot for ink recovery. With saver, for a shooter, you can keep a sustained barrage longer, so it's useful. But with charged weapons (chargers & splatlings like CHydra, I tend to swim after every 2 shots or so out of habit to stay topped off for the sub, so I don't gain much. If the enemy is so close I need "one more shot" without refelling, I'm probably doomed with a hydra anyway. :) Right now I have my moto boots (2x run, 1x armor, ink resist main), Bicycle helmet (ink refill main, ink-saver-main sub, spc chrg up, ink svr sub sub), can't pick a shirt, right now I have the red anchor layered LS (run speed main, 2x armor, 1x refill.

Yea I haven't really labbed the effects of ink saver main for CHydra yet but I'm pretty much in agreement with your thoughts on shooters vs charging weapons and their ability to make use of ink saver main. Will update this after some testing.

Haunt doesn't really seem great to me outside squads. My team will ignore it anyway, so there's no real value and I'm not likely to get picked off by stealth players so much as a full on assault. If my team didn't see the enemy it means they're so far away they're not going to care about haunt. I'm more likely to get picked off by an octobrush or something with a shooter (or when I'm going stealthy with my own roller. Hydra, especially CHydra should NOT be anywhere near enough to enemy ink to get ambushed by a stealth ninja. Sprinklers leave it no excuse. And I KNOW where the snipers are - they won't get me twice. Once I know they're there, I focus mostly on taking them out so the team can advance. Hydras are pretty good at that. ;)

I think if you stack Haunt + QR, you might at least still have an idea of the location for the squid that got you (assuming team mates who actively ignore his location and no cold-blooded) and at the very least prevents potential ambushes from the same squid again. I'm not saying it's more useful than other abilities you can put, just that it's a playstyle that you can build around.

Stealth jump seems kind of wasted too. Beacons are always stealth, and jumping to a teammate is suicide normally, and twice with a hydra. Yeah you can bubble drop, but then you don't need to be stealthy! ;)

Well sometimes you don't want to Bubble drop right in the heat of things which is where stealth jump comes in handy although I'd say it definitely requires team mates who at least have an idea of what you're attempting.

LOL, your team mates defend mid? Mine don't, they rush into the enemy meat grinder again and again trying to push while I hold mid alone from wave after wave of attack like a Tower Defense game. I don't have time to ink the pits! Not even to drop a sprinkler! :p Actually I find with Hydra I'm more likely to try to actually push somewhat since my team will ultimately keep getting chewed up if I don't back them as they push - but I only take them to the enemy conveyor, then they're on their own. I have to get back to hold the fort. The extra harassment of sprinklers is helpful!

Ok, maybe 'defending mid' isn't the best term for it but the people I play with tend to understand that mid is where the majority of the action takes place.

LOL, I do plant them in the enemy base sometimes, but mostly only when I play sploosh. CEliter is just a little too hard to get behind enemy lines

Yea I think it's less about getting behind enemy lines and more about staying there which is difficult for the C-Liter; getting there as a Kraken is easy :)

I get far too many shots where I hear the hit, and then nothing happens, but somehow, knock wood, I haven't had too much issue with CHydra. It fires such a fast barrage, but fires them in such a wide pattern around the crosshair, that it's impossible to tell if it's lag or RNG spread that made the miss, so you just keep pelting till it hits!

Hmm, generally if I landed a good shot with my chargers (even in laggy situations), I'll earn the kill unless it's one of those lag bubbler/kraken situations. The lag does cause delays in seeing the squid explode though and sometimes that makes things tricky.

 

[Award]

TBH I can't come up with what I'd consider as a good catchphrase for CHydra...Maybe something lame like ReHydrate (referencing out superior turfing ability)

I'm still having a hard time deciding which hydra I prefer. Overall it was CHydra that got me to finally understand how to use Hydra. But a few rounds in Mackerel zones where SPlat bombs would have flushed the enemy from under the ledge instead of staying helpless with sprinklers, in addition to being unable to really help teammates make a push at the other zone made me really think back to normal hydra. But every time I play that, I feel like I'm not using it well because I feel being a walking turf anchor is the heart of what I love about hydras.

Yea I haven't really labbed the effects of ink saver main for CHydra yet but I'm pretty much in agreement with your thoughts on shooters vs charging weapons and their ability to make use of ink saver main. Will update this after some testing.

I know that a lot of Hydra users use ink saver main, but personally I just don't see the point. With the long charge duration, and pressuring ability, if you did well the first time, you should have plenty of time to recover ink. If you didn't then you're probably being overrun and need to fall back (thus refilling some anyway.) And you really need to stay topped off to throw a sprinkler or splat bomb depending on hydra, anyway.

You know, after playing quite a bit of the charger-class, I still think E-Liter should get a nerf in some form. You're half-right (some abilities have arguably little use on E-Liter compared to dmg up) about giving up bonus, but it also says a lot that most E-Liters would rather stack dmg up than most other abilities from what I've observed.

Nintendo should either lower the cap on damage up bonuses or reduce the base damage. Right now the best solution against dmg-stacking E-Liters I can find is really just stacking defense up on myself. Also, E-Liters and Splat Charger variants with enough damage up almost render the Squiffer moot (unless up against defense stackers) IMO.

I don't know by how much, but yeah, reducing damage stacking is probably not a bad idea. However, I'm still not sure just how much to nerf eliters. Salty players seem to hate on them enough, but the reality is they really are so difficult to get reliable hits with in so many situations, despite hating burst bomb mains, and damage up mains, I actually kitted out that way yesterday for Zones. I think the problem with eliter is in TW they're so OP because everyone is naturally spread out and easy pickings for lone targets. But in modes like zones in clastrauphobic maps, the eliter can become VERY vulnerable, and a LOT of shots start missing, especially coupled with lag. In the fact paced, everyone's together and moving every which way type maps, you simply don't have time to charge up, and FAR too many shots come from 2-shot at sploosh range. And after a while I just wanted dmg up burst bombs for 3hkos because I was fighting CQC more often than from afar in Mackerel. Eliter's weird role makes it play so differently in different modes, that what's OP in TW is sometimes barely enough in Zones or RM. At least it doesn't have the cheap 2hko of doom just pointing in the general direction of foes like .96!

On the other hand the ONLY reason I wasn't using my CHydra at all there was because of how vulnerable that ledge can be....otherwise CHydra OWNS zone1 in Mackerel!

 

[Hawk Seow]

I'm still having a hard time deciding which hydra I prefer. Overall it was CHydra that got me to finally understand how to use Hydra. But a few rounds in Mackerel zones where SPlat bombs would have flushed the enemy from under the ledge instead of staying helpless with sprinklers, in addition to being unable to really help teammates make a push at the other zone made me really think back to normal hydra. But every time I play that, I feel like I'm not using it well because I feel being a walking turf anchor is the heart of what I love about hydras.

Personally I prefer CHydra if my goal is turfing and Hydra if I want to use Splat Bombs more. I haven't been playing either Hydra for a while now though so my impressions are a bit hazy, although I do remember skillful usage of Splat Bombs is very satisfying: like getting them to bounce exactly where you want and timed to detonate at the time you want etc. :D

I know that a lot of Hydra users use ink saver main, but personally I just don't see the point. With the long charge duration, and pressuring ability, if you did well the first time, you should have plenty of time to recover ink. If you didn't then you're probably being overrun and need to fall back (thus refilling some anyway.) And you really need to stay topped off to throw a sprinkler or splat bomb depending on hydra, anyway.

Nothing wrong with you not seeing the point although version 2.6.0 might change things. I haven't really experimented much with Ink Saver Main on either Hydra so I'll refrain from discussing that. Instead, I'll tell you what I've been doing recently next...

I don't know by how much, but yeah, reducing damage stacking is probably not a bad idea. However, I'm still not sure just how much to nerf eliters. Salty players seem to hate on them enough, but the reality is they really are so difficult to get reliable hits with in so many situations, despite hating burst bomb mains, and damage up mains, I actually kitted out that way yesterday for Zones. I think the problem with eliter is in TW they're so OP because everyone is naturally spread out and easy pickings for lone targets. But in modes like zones in clastrauphobic maps, the eliter can become VERY vulnerable, and a LOT of shots start missing, especially coupled with lag. In the fact paced, everyone's together and moving every which way type maps, you simply don't have time to charge up, and FAR too many shots come from 2-shot at sploosh range. And after a while I just wanted dmg up burst bombs for 3hkos because I was fighting CQC more often than from afar in Mackerel. Eliter's weird role makes it play so differently in different modes, that what's OP in TW is sometimes barely enough in Zones or RM. At least it doesn't have the cheap 2hko of doom just pointing in the general direction of foes like .96!

You know, after reading your description, I realized why I heard about more snipers making the switch to C-Liter over time. I can totally see C-Liter being stronger in TC and RM where Kraken helps a lot more overall. Burst bombs are still fantastic but due to the way ranked is, you really won't be earning many kills from burst bomb splash damage I think. And Echolocator definitely doesn't shine as bright as Kraken in those two ranked modes to me.

With that said, I've been playing both 3Ks (scoped and unscoped) in TW recently and earlier i went with a C-Liter with no damage ups. What I had was mainly 2 Ink Saver Mains + 1 Ink Recovery Up and 6 subs of Defense Up spread unevenly over the 3 items. My rationale for this build is quite simple. I get 4 shots from a full tank and a brief dip in ink can refill me back up to 2 shots pretty quickly. This allows me to fire stray shots more as opposed to making every shot count. With this build I escaped the burden of being the lowest turfer in my team :P

The 6 Defence Up subs basically force most snipers to have to get closer to a full charge when we engage in Charger Wars so I don't have to worry about dying because someone could kill me from roughly 5/8 of a charge. At least I have some peace of mind knowing that we both have to deal with similar charge times (I'm almost always going for a full charge in these situations).

As for kills, for the most part I was able to get 4-8 splats and maybe 1-2 deaths per game. I did have a bad start where the lobby had 3-4 Neo Splash-O-Matics running tons of swim speed up and they'd keep infiltrating and spam Suction Bombs and my team mates were generally not savvy enough to ink our base so I was having tons of trouble even maneuvering around our own base for positioning. Needless to say I lost pretty much all of those few matches.

And why am I mentioning all this? My point is that, the builds still allow flexibility...well ok ranked is a totally different story, but go try my build out in TW and see how it feels! :)

 

[Skoodge]

According to the splatoon frame data, which says that Hydra has 4 frames between shots, that means that a 3 shot kill at full charge is killing in 9 frames,(not counting travel frames, 4+4+1 for the 3rd shot) That is 0.15 seconds, which is insane. This damage increase makes the Hydra much better, and I have already noticed a big difference popping the rainmaker shield.

 

[Award]

This thing is a beast now. That kill time is like a sploosh that can hit from half-way across the map!

With the increased damage, does that mean droplet size is larger too now? I.E. does it have superior turfing? IT seemed to in my brief tests with it.

 

[Skoodge]

This thing is a beast now. That kill time is like a sploosh that can hit from half-way across the map!

With the increased damage, does that mean droplet size is larger too now? I.E. does it have superior turfing? IT seemed to in my brief tests with it.

I can't say if the droplets are bigger, I doubt it, but maybe slightly. Also actually, with this buff the Hydra kills the fastest of shooter weapons, since the .52 kills in 10 frames, the sploosh in 11 frames, tentatek 13 frames, not counting travel frames, which do factor in, but I am leaving out for simplicity, since the range of the hydra is so much more.

 

[Award]

TW wasn't the best place to test it, but given my brief tests in Museum TW, and in the test room, it's absolutely brutal now. The up side is I'm going to get to play Hydra in squads a lot more often without teammates having to plan on me being mere support. The down-side is these things are going to be a LOT more annoying :P

 

[Skoodge]

Having played it some more in S+, I can say it is much better. Now I will win many more engagements, that I had to trade before. Because we only lose 40% special gauge now, we can have bubble more often, and I pair that with tenacity to get extra bubbles, I pretty much always have special ready. I just won a game in about 2-3 minutes of TC on Blackbelly, went 7-2, and I felt I could get people off the tower much more easily. The swim speed nerf sucks, but pretty much only kills me when a kraken is too close, since I will have a full charge now almost always, which can fend off a kraken for sure. The buff definitely rewards the ~500k points I have on Hydra.

 

[Award]

Having played it some more in S+, I can say it is much better. Now I will win many more engagements, that I had to trade before. Because we only lose 40% special gauge now, we can have bubble more often, and I pair that with tenacity to get extra bubbles, I pretty much always have special ready. I just won a game in about 2-3 minutes of TC on Blackbelly, went 7-2, and I felt I could get people off the tower much more easily. The swim speed nerf sucks, but pretty much only kills me when a kraken is too close, since I will have a full charge now almost always, which can fend off a kraken for sure. The buff definitely rewards the ~500k points I have on Hydra.

Nice! With the 40% special gauge and the echo nerf (though it's sort of a buff in some ways too...) Custom might truly be the dominant Hydra these days. That bubbler's looking a lot more impressive, and splat bombs seem less relevant on the hydra with the damage boost.

 

[karl childers]

Very fun weapon. I first tried it out a couple of weeks ago as a joke and ended up having lots of fun with it. I used it through the entirety of the last splatfest and lost half of the matches but got good k/d's through out (I guess it's not the greatest for Turf Wars). The weapon has like double the charge time of the Heavy Splatling and not even an entire bar of extra range to compensate for it, but I think the recent buff might give it a reason to exist. Those 3-hit kills are brutal. I was hoping for a range buff, but I think that will do. And the kit is just about perfect for it: Sprinklers help with charging the Bubbler; mitigate the Hydra's weakness at establishing stage control; and can be used to bait opponents. As for abilities, Run Speed Up made a world of difference for me (I'm currently running the equivalent of 4 mains of it along with Ink resistance & Swim Speed Up). Before it just seemed like a fun weapon, but after stacking run speed it starts to actually feel viable on a competitive level. I think the weapon will ultimately have a place in the meta game. Where charger weapons have a definite advantage over it in terms of being able to one-shot opponents and being able to do it from greater distances, I feel that the Hydra can counter rush down tactics more effectively (especially when they're using ninja squid): a charger can be easy to bum-rush if they miss a crucial shot at close range, but a Hydra will rip the opponent to shreds. In short terms, the Hydra (and shooters in general) have the advantage of having a significant room of error while charger weapons have none (obviously the hypothetical e-liter user that has absolutely perfect accuracy will put the Hydra to shame, but it would put to shame every other weapon in the game as well).

For those who are new to the weapon I recommend 2 things:

1. Make a habit of charging up shots while hiding behind objects and try to surprise opponents by shooting at them from unexpected angles. Being unpredictable is key - especially for dealing with enemy chargers. But also be careful not to overextend yourself.

2. If you're not satisfied with it at first, try it out with stacked run speed if you haven't already. It will feel a lot less tanky.

 

[Airi]

Sometimes, I feel like I'm the only Hydra main who doesn't use Run Speed and doesn't see it as very necessary at all. xD I don't know. I never felt like the Run Speed Up made too much of a difference, so I abandoned it in favor of Ink Saver (Main) and Special Charge Up. :P The Hydra feels mostly just about adjusting to the speed and range. It's fairly similar to running a Heavy in a very defensive manner once you get used to the slower speed but longer range.