A few things I'll edit in as I watch: - re: Drones not being able to take Reactions --- They can't. Their abilities use _your_ reactions, just like Turret Drones. - re: Drone Commander Talent --- In addition to providing Shepherd Protocol, the first rank also gives all of your drones _another_ +5 HP. Your Ghast Drone is sitting with 2 AP and _15_ HP; your Tempest Drones meanwhile have 15 HP and Resistance to Everything. _Definitely_ tankier than many mechs! - re: Annihilation Nexus --- You can center _both_ its main attack _and_ its secondary Protocol attack on yourself or your Drones: The line "You may center this weapon's attack on yourself or any of your Drones within Sensors" is meant to be read separately from the line before it describing the Protocol attack (this is clearer in the rulebook, where a full line break separates the two). - re: Assassin Drone --- The deployment rules specify that you _must_ deploy it to an adjacent space, so your advice to do so is baked into the rules :) Also, you seemed to miss what I consider the most important part of the Assassin Drone: It is not limited to taking one reaction per round. That means you can theoretically use an Assassin Drone on every single enemy turn. - re: Core Bonuses --- Grabbing Core Bonuses from another manufacturer (e.g. SSH's increase to sensor range) requires at least LL6... but you didn't mention Lesson of the Open Door, which is a fantastic HORUS Core Bonus that seems tailor-made for the Hydra: All but one of its Orochi drones are capable of forcing multiple saves on enemies, and Tempest Drones do so as well. Increasing your Save Target beyond its already-impressive base number _and_ dealing Heat damage on every fail is just \*chef's kiss\*
Glad you made this vid. I am joining a game next week, finally getting into Lancer. Hydra is the first License I am going to progress through. Wish me luck.
When I eventually get to finally play in a Lancer game, this is definitely going to be my mech of choice lol. That said I do wonder if investing in systems is really worth that much for a hydra unless you plan on including a lot of good hacking systems or talents. If you're spending all your points on drones, then I imagine you're not hacking that much. And it only gives you a max of +3 system points at 6 ranks, which is only enough for a single extra drone since I think every drone system requires at least 2 points. I think that I'd probably invest more in Hull and Evasion, especially since your built-in drones share your evasion, and having higher speed means you can position things better. Meanwhile by comparison 6 Agility gives you +6 evasion for a total of 13 on the hydra and boosts your speed up to 8, which I think i'd be using a lot more than the tech bonuses from systems. but yeah in terms of builds, the talents practically pick themselves. You gotta get Drone Commander so that you can have drones with a whopping 15 hp. Centimane is basically required because you're almost certainly going to be using some of the free Nexus weapons you get, and you have a built in source of Lock On with one of your drones. And then for my third there is a talent called I think House Guard that lets you apply adjacency bonuses out to Range 2, which means that you can defend your drones from further away. Heavy Gunner also seems like a solid choice, because your Ghast Nexus can qualify for it and it effectively turns it into an Assassin Drone, a potentially even better one too since at max rank you can impair and shoot at two targets with just the one Ghast drone. Other than that, I'm still debating if I'd actually take the third level in the license. The superheavy nexus seems powerful, but I think I'd prefer the versatility and the extra drone you get from the Ghoul and Ghast nexuses. Plus I can't be spending my whole turn barraging when I have drones to deploy! The assassin drone is really tempting tho I will admit, but the reason why I might only go 2 ranks is because I'd want to dip Balor 1 to get the Hive Drone, which has a lot of interesting support and control potential since it grants soft cover for allies and passively damages enemies. After that, I'd probably take my next three ranks in SSC stuff because you can get some nice drones like the Lotus drone which is effectively just a really good scout that is invisible and in turn reveals hidden enemies. I wouldn't bring it on every mission but if you know there are going to be sneaky enemies afoot it'd be a nice tool for your back pocket. And then I'd go into Black Witch. The first tier gets you the Ferrus Lash, which I think combos really well with the Tempest drones, because it lets you drag an enemy 5 tiles in any direction, which means you can throw them right into a Tempest drone and start pinballing them around the battlefield. Just imagine tossing someone into a tempest drone, that bounces them into another tempest drone, that bounces them into a Hive Drone or an Assasssin drone lol. But then level 2 of Black Witch gets you the Iceout Drone, which makes you immune to Tech Attacks entirely, which I think further renders the need to invest in systems pretty moot. Again, it's not a drone for every mission, but if you're dealing with hackers you might as well bring it. And with the Hydra making it a 15 hp drone that has resistance to all damage, I bet that those hackers are going to be very upset. And finally by taking three levels in SSC, that lets you get one of their core powers, and I think that the one that makes you invisible on your turn could be great to help the hydra manipulate things like a puppet master without getting into too much trouble. It could at least let you move somewhere and hide to stay out of trouble while you move your drones around, and once all of them are deployed, you can probably get away with maintaining it beyond your turn as well. Otherwise you could boost your Evasion all the way up to 15 or increase your ranges or other fun stuff. \ I really need to get into a proper Lancer game lol
Taking 2 instances of Tempest Drone lets you deploy two at the same time. One of my favorite tactics is setting up a pinball machine, then using Goblin or Black Witch systems to walk the enemy into the bumpers. You can seriously displace enemies with this tactic! Just make sure you do it to enemies that won’t make their saves.
I too am a first-time player heading into Hydra as my first non-GMU frame at LL2, as I've always loved playing drone boats (the necromancers of sci-fi!). I have a question regarding the Hydra's Core Bonus Passive --- "... additionally, your drones regain all HP and are automatically repaired if they were destroyed." Does "drones" in this sentence refer only to Orochi Drones, or to all drones you have equipped?
If I can, I want to get two levels of Hydra then go full KIDD, that emplacement with extra +5HP and *resistance to all damage* seems too good to be true. The targeting laser too slots pretty well if you're going for Centimane and chasing crits!
A few things I'll edit in as I watch:
- re: Drones not being able to take Reactions --- They can't. Their abilities use _your_ reactions, just like Turret Drones.
- re: Drone Commander Talent --- In addition to providing Shepherd Protocol, the first rank also gives all of your drones _another_ +5 HP. Your Ghast Drone is sitting with 2 AP and _15_ HP; your Tempest Drones meanwhile have 15 HP and Resistance to Everything. _Definitely_ tankier than many mechs!
- re: Annihilation Nexus --- You can center _both_ its main attack _and_ its secondary Protocol attack on yourself or your Drones: The line "You may center this weapon's attack on yourself or any of your Drones within Sensors" is meant to be read separately from the line before it describing the Protocol attack (this is clearer in the rulebook, where a full line break separates the two).
- re: Assassin Drone --- The deployment rules specify that you _must_ deploy it to an adjacent space, so your advice to do so is baked into the rules :) Also, you seemed to miss what I consider the most important part of the Assassin Drone: It is not limited to taking one reaction per round. That means you can theoretically use an Assassin Drone on every single enemy turn.
- re: Core Bonuses --- Grabbing Core Bonuses from another manufacturer (e.g. SSH's increase to sensor range) requires at least LL6... but you didn't mention Lesson of the Open Door, which is a fantastic HORUS Core Bonus that seems tailor-made for the Hydra: All but one of its Orochi drones are capable of forcing multiple saves on enemies, and Tempest Drones do so as well. Increasing your Save Target beyond its already-impressive base number _and_ dealing Heat damage on every fail is just \*chef's kiss\*
Ah yes, the "Time to play Bloon Tower Defense 6"-frame
Glad you made this vid. I am joining a game next week, finally getting into Lancer.
Hydra is the first License I am going to progress through. Wish me luck.
funilly enough, the hydra has said to have killed pilots because of the moving parts because they didnt know they made a Hydra Mech
When I eventually get to finally play in a Lancer game, this is definitely going to be my mech of choice lol.
That said I do wonder if investing in systems is really worth that much for a hydra unless you plan on including a lot of good hacking systems or talents. If you're spending all your points on drones, then I imagine you're not hacking that much. And it only gives you a max of +3 system points at 6 ranks, which is only enough for a single extra drone since I think every drone system requires at least 2 points. I think that I'd probably invest more in Hull and Evasion, especially since your built-in drones share your evasion, and having higher speed means you can position things better. Meanwhile by comparison 6 Agility gives you +6 evasion for a total of 13 on the hydra and boosts your speed up to 8, which I think i'd be using a lot more than the tech bonuses from systems.
but yeah in terms of builds, the talents practically pick themselves. You gotta get Drone Commander so that you can have drones with a whopping 15 hp. Centimane is basically required because you're almost certainly going to be using some of the free Nexus weapons you get, and you have a built in source of Lock On with one of your drones. And then for my third there is a talent called I think House Guard that lets you apply adjacency bonuses out to Range 2, which means that you can defend your drones from further away. Heavy Gunner also seems like a solid choice, because your Ghast Nexus can qualify for it and it effectively turns it into an Assassin Drone, a potentially even better one too since at max rank you can impair and shoot at two targets with just the one Ghast drone.
Other than that, I'm still debating if I'd actually take the third level in the license. The superheavy nexus seems powerful, but I think I'd prefer the versatility and the extra drone you get from the Ghoul and Ghast nexuses. Plus I can't be spending my whole turn barraging when I have drones to deploy! The assassin drone is really tempting tho I will admit, but the reason why I might only go 2 ranks is because I'd want to dip Balor 1 to get the Hive Drone, which has a lot of interesting support and control potential since it grants soft cover for allies and passively damages enemies.
After that, I'd probably take my next three ranks in SSC stuff because you can get some nice drones like the Lotus drone which is effectively just a really good scout that is invisible and in turn reveals hidden enemies. I wouldn't bring it on every mission but if you know there are going to be sneaky enemies afoot it'd be a nice tool for your back pocket. And then I'd go into Black Witch. The first tier gets you the Ferrus Lash, which I think combos really well with the Tempest drones, because it lets you drag an enemy 5 tiles in any direction, which means you can throw them right into a Tempest drone and start pinballing them around the battlefield. Just imagine tossing someone into a tempest drone, that bounces them into another tempest drone, that bounces them into a Hive Drone or an Assasssin drone lol.
But then level 2 of Black Witch gets you the Iceout Drone, which makes you immune to Tech Attacks entirely, which I think further renders the need to invest in systems pretty moot. Again, it's not a drone for every mission, but if you're dealing with hackers you might as well bring it. And with the Hydra making it a 15 hp drone that has resistance to all damage, I bet that those hackers are going to be very upset.
And finally by taking three levels in SSC, that lets you get one of their core powers, and I think that the one that makes you invisible on your turn could be great to help the hydra manipulate things like a puppet master without getting into too much trouble. It could at least let you move somewhere and hide to stay out of trouble while you move your drones around, and once all of them are deployed, you can probably get away with maintaining it beyond your turn as well. Otherwise you could boost your Evasion all the way up to 15 or increase your ranges or other fun stuff. \
I really need to get into a proper Lancer game lol
Taking 2 instances of Tempest Drone lets you deploy two at the same time. One of my favorite tactics is setting up a pinball machine, then using Goblin or Black Witch systems to walk the enemy into the bumpers. You can seriously displace enemies with this tactic! Just make sure you do it to enemies that won’t make their saves.
I too am a first-time player heading into Hydra as my first non-GMU frame at LL2, as I've always loved playing drone boats (the necromancers of sci-fi!). I have a question regarding the Hydra's Core Bonus Passive --- "... additionally, your drones regain all HP and are automatically repaired if they were destroyed." Does "drones" in this sentence refer only to Orochi Drones, or to all drones you have equipped?
I believe it was all of them
I feel like we are the same kind of player Mr Badluck 😅
All the ones you’ve said you liked are ones I want to play
If I can, I want to get two levels of Hydra then go full KIDD, that emplacement with extra +5HP and *resistance to all damage* seems too good to be true. The targeting laser too slots pretty well if you're going for Centimane and chasing crits!
These Drones uses your Actions (in this cause, reactions) unless stated that they have their own action they can use
No there inst anything the increases sensor range, seems like they decided against it in the base game due to balance issues in the play tests