ARC Raiders Hydra: where it spawns, where to shoot it and how to beat it

The Hydra is a turret that doesn’t move, and I’d still rather fight something that chases me. Three weapon sections sit on one body and each one picks its own target, so a squad of three can end up with all three barrels on three different people at once. Three barrels, three targets, zero sympathy.

It came in with Frozen Trail, alongside the Bully and the Skulker, and it guards both the Frigate and the Fallen Emperor.

Where to find the Hydra

Two places. The first is the top deck of the Frigate map condition. Rocketeers and Vaporizers crowd it too, and as many as four Hydras show up. The second is inside the Fallen Emperor in Pendola Pass. You won’t find one in a normal raid. Kill one and it stays dead for the raid, and the rest climb up through the floor in pairs.

Where to shoot it

The back is unarmored. The front and the sides eat bullets and give nothing back, so the plan is to get behind it, hit the rear and put damage into its glowing sections. Whatever you bring needs real ARC penetration, because weaker guns just ping off the plating. The Hullcracker is the one I’d bring. Its rounds are explosive and only go off on ARC.

Bring a Barricade Kit for cover, and set it down on open ground. Since 2.3.0 the game refuses to place one against a solid wall or in a cramped gap.

The Boarding the Frigate quest only wants 100 damage on a Hydra (plus a Rocketeer and a Vaporizer), so the Hydra doesn’t even have to die. It pays out 10,000 XP and a Legendary Snap Hook, which is a decent wage for a few bursts from behind cover.

Fighting it with a squad

Spread out before anyone fires, so each of the three turrets ends up looking at a different person. Then take turns being the target. While one section is locked on a teammate, the others get a window to push the rear. Rotate who plays bait, use the cover on the deck and keep changing where you shoot from.

Rocketeers and Vaporizers join in as well, and if nobody deals with them a decent fight becomes a wipe. Have one person on adds so the others can stay on the turret.

Fighting it solo

Hugging it used to be the answer. The old trick was to run right at the Hydra and circle around it, because the sections struggled to track something that close. Update 2.2.0 on October 20 fixed the close-range problem, raised the Hydra’s base damage and made its weapons spread across targets properly. In a squad that spreads the pressure out. Solo there is nobody to spread it to, so standing on top of it is a bad idea now.

What works is the slow version. Plant a Barricade Kit, peek out, hit the rear, drop back behind cover. With nobody else drawing aggro the gaps are tight, but they exist.

Is it worth looting

No. It has no unique drop, so don’t detour for it. The reason to clear them is access: the cargo and the Power Cores sit beyond them, and the cargo is where Amplification Modules come from.