Ash lake hydra won't die!

Hello:

This is my first post, so greetings to everyone. I've enjoyed reading the many contributions by members of the forum.

Anyhow, I'm having a strange problem with the Ash Lake Hydra, and have been unable to find any information on the net about anyone else with a similar problem.

The thing is, the bloody thing won't die, even with ALL of its heads cut off. The first time I cut its heads off, it continued floating around in the water, lunging at me with severed tentacles I couldn't reach with any melee weapon so I started firing every ranged weapon I had at it. In all, I fired 220 arrows with the long bow, 80 standard bolts with the heavy crossbow, and 50 heavy bolts plus 20 fire arrows. NOTHING!
Anyways, I died by ffalling the water trying to get closer to the damned thing.

Next time around I cut all it's heads off again and it STILL didn't die. I've done this four times now without any success. Has anyone experienced this before? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks everyone.

Tokidd

Welcome to the forums Tokidd! Glad to see another new face around here . Alas, I have never heard of this issue before. It could very well be that your game is not recognizing the loss of all of the heads, or somehow you are cutting off the heads before the health of the hydra reaches zero? Either way, I would imagine that this is pretty problematic since that would make it much harder to traverse ash lake :|. Hopefully someone has experienced this before and can give you some insight into what the issue is.

News to me. Is this XBL or PSN?

Also, were the arrows you fired still doing damage each time? Once I cut most of its heads off I often switch to firing arrows into its body at the base of all the necks (not at the severed stumps) and that kills it.

If none of this works I would just cut them all off one last time and then gather everything else you want from Ash Lake and move on. That way you're not getting hit with water sprays at least. Unless you are in dragon cov there's not much reason to hang out down there beyond your first loot runthrough particularly since you can buy sparkling titanite from the Anor Londo blacksmith now, and you can warp to the eternal dragon's bfire later anyway once you activate it.

Whatever you do, DO NOT USE THE BONFIRE after you cut off one or more heads. Otherwise, decapitation will not work for death. I have done this. If you even remove all the heads and see him not have any more, it will still function till it dies by no health. If this happens, exit and re-enter your game, and fight the hydra with all its heads back up. Do not use the bonfire at all, unless you just want to hinder the hydra from spewing water at you.

Other than that, if the dragon does not die VIA no heads, then body shots are your only option. Or, just walk around it. Hope that helps you.

Of course it is Acidic who can provide some insight, thank you Acidic, that is great to know . I checked the wiki and only saw that information vaguely listed for the black hydra, so I will change it later after I get this accursed assignment done :x

Yes, I have tested it. However there are times when I kill the hydra before I decapitated all of their heads (Demon Great Hammer with Shiny Shiny...), the hydra will die always when you decapitate all their heads, even if they have a good amount of health left (it sometimes has a speck left). However, decapitated one or more heads, using bonfire, and then decapitating all their heads might not work, unless their health goes to 0. If not, then it will stay alive. Weapons such as rapiers and weak swords (which I have found out this somewhat glitch spectrum with) may not kill them when you use bonfire, even if you decapitate all their heads. So, if you want it to die permanently, shoot it with arrows if glitch arises, or just not use the bonfire at all and fight it head on.

A more understandable consent than what I said before, so... just stating now and again.

I remember throwing a lightening spear at it and it died before I'd cut all the heads off. Couldn't understand it at the time but remembered seeing a red line which indicated it's body health so maybe I hit it's body a few times with arrows before hand.

Strange, this hydra is supposed to be harder than the one in Dark Root Basin but I've killed it twice quite easily, whilst the one in Dark Root gives me no end of trouble.

I find it easier to get to the black hydra (melee range) than the other one, as you can run from the bonfire to the first debris set, then run from there to the hydra, while you need to do the big long run to get to the first hydra while it shoots you.

That's probably because of the location. The hydra in Ash Lake moves closer towards the person, in which case allows the person to attack it from close range easily. The one in dark-root is stationary in better terms. Although it does move at times, it usually stays in the smaller area in which it can move in, in which the one in ash lake has plenty to move around in. You have to get closer towards the one in darkroot, while the other it usually comes towards you.

It is also noted that the one in darkroot is protected by not only the crystal golems, but the water as well. if you do not have the iron ring, you are screwed if you are not ready in combat. Their is a place (near the knights body) in which you can fight it in easily, however not all the hydra's heads are reachable, as some go into the stone walls or stay hovering in the dark pit where it resides in (the one you can fall into).

It is mainly the reason why many see the one in darkroot harder than ash lake. The reason why they made the one in ash lake more hardy, because it is more aggressive in terms of combat, and will get as close as possible at times in terms of combat. Plus, water is usually not a hinderer of movement in such times as the one in ash lake. Although easier to kill the one in Ash Lake, it is stronger and more loose than the one in dark root, although the dark root acts better in terms of what it is: A stable turret.

I found that the easiest way to kill the darkroot hydra is simply to shoot the heads from above with the Dragonslayer Greatbow. I haven't taken on the Ash Lake hydra yet, but I'm hoping to use a similar strategy.

@Acidic. The water is a much bigger hazard in the Dark Root Basin. I drowned more often than the hydra itself killed me there.

@Sebastrd. Above! Where exactly were you to be able to do that. I wasn't aware of any convenient ledges in that area.

he means in the forest hunters area, by the eastern set. dragonslayer or phrais and hawks ring will reach him, but dragon does more damage.

Thank-you for all your replies. In the end Acidic Cook has hit the nail on the head. I thought I had fund a little trick to defeating the Hydra easier, but in fact just made it that much harder. Now the damn thing is dead and I'm in Sen's Fortress. Is it just me or are there no bonfires here?

Thanks again for all your posts.

Tokidd

there is a single bonfire up near the top after you get past the traps, you have to fall off a ledge while getting firebombs tossed at you. trying not to spoil fun bits for you, but if you would like to know more it can be described in detail.

SlakeMoth wrote:@Sebastrd. Above! Where exactly were you to be able to do that. I wasn't aware of any convenient ledges in that area.

If you take the long ladder shortcut from the Darkroot Garden area (right past the 3 big cats), you can shoot the hydra from the wooden bridge right above his head. Dragonslayer arrows were doing a little under 200 damage for a good hit.

Well I never, I never thought of doing that and I thought I was the clever one. Well done, I'll remember that for next time.

I had an easy fight with Ash Lake Hydra on my SL 10 in NG+.

Ignore the heads, chasing heads and sometimes getting hit is not the way to go. Stand in the water and use your strongest crossbow and heavy bolts. My crossbow deals more damage than my strongest bow & arrows.

I think I got hit by the heads once, but I was able to heal.