Pythium Strategies

[shovah]

try a F9 N9 bless. they get extra regen and all their attacks are flaming. i got 10 of them with no support and they slaughtered lvl 9 indies including heavy cavalry and crossbows/100 barbarians (although 1 casualty in the first case 2 in the second) once they go berserk+their regen they are hard to stop. or if you find them too vunerable go with S9/E9/high air if your afraid of crossbows ect. i find the astral works well for the luck (and the magic resistance helps) so i hope to have fun in my next multiplayer game since i am starting with sword that gives allies luck so i dont have to take serpent cult. ive never had a survivability problem with them (1 or 2 casualtys yes but still) and if anything they are good for expanding if nothing else (they slaugter anything with low health) and hoburgs are Really fun for them (5 turns of poison kills em)

[Frostmourne27]

uhhh... shovah, isnt the astral 9 bless twist fate not luck? If it is i don't really see how twist fate is going to help you, except maybe against heavy cav. (ignore the lance if you're lucky) a W9/E? blessing would help them to survive perhaps a bit better (defence from water and protection from earth) not to mention that with all pythium mages being sacred the water 9 bless is allways helpful.

[Valandil]

and water 9 means your hyra makes a LOT of attacks. Hoburgs vs Hydras... Intersting.

[condors]

Shovah

what pretender/scales could you use for a f9 n9 bless i always run out of points

[shovah]

go for a crone or something and just take heat 1 or 2 and maybe some misfortune. but remember they are only sacred in serpent cult which i tend to avoid so..... (try w9 and high air blessed battle vestals as good bodyguards for mages)


and water 9 raises them from low to mediocre defence... and dont forget those attacks all target 1 square. if you want to go for pure offense try water 9 fire 9 (loads of armour piecing attacks) and even with twist fate chances are it will let you survive an initial charge hopefully and allow you to poison/attack/rout opposition. and if combined with air it dosnt get wasted on missles

[shovah]

double post

[Oversway]

I still havn't been able to play hydras so they are as cost effective as other pythium themes (or other nations). They are fun, though

[quantum_mechani]

If you want to get the most out of sacred hydra's, you might want to try the 9e9n bless strategy. Each greater hydra can can clear decent armies on their own, great regen, fear, poison, berserk, good armour, and don't fatigue out.

[archaeolept]

you get the most out of any hydras by honoring them in the breach.

personally, I'd mod them to give them a Standard...

[shovah]

berserk works better than standard for holding the line AND i found an sc to stand up to them: bane lord with accursed shield/the summit and barrier (shield makes a little more survivable but he cant kill) wraith crown/amon hotep (i suggest the crown if vrs unblessed hydras simply for etheral) monolith armour. any boots. ring of regen and pendant of luck. overall he has:42 health, 40 or so protection and around 15-17 defence, etheral, lucky, and 9 regen. this setup if almost impossible to kill without good magic beccause of the 40 protection and 9 regen per turn