Hydra OSRS Guide: How To Defeat The Alchemical Hydra

OSRS Alchemical Hydra – the Essential Handbook

If you have been playing the browser-based RPG OSRS (Old School Runescape) then you’ll know that the game is chocked full of content. There are a plethora of items and quests to complete and equally, there are a plethora of enemies and bosses that stand in your way, gatekeeping your access to the best items that the game has to offer.

It’s much like any MMORPG, you must grind your way to the top, plan strategies to take down these behemoths and then put your plan into action.

Well, we are well aware of the trials and tribulations that OSRS has to offer and the variety of bosses that will stand in your way.

This is why we have taken it upon ourselves to put together extensive handbooks, letting you know all about these monsters, informing you of their strengths and weaknesses, giving you the best strategies to take them down and most importantly, uncovering what kind of loot and profits you can make from decimating these creatures.

So without further delay, here is our extensive handbook on the Alchemical Hydra in OSRS.

What is the Alchemical Hydra?

The Alchemical Hydra is a boss variant of the standard Hydra in OSRS. This boss is a product of a Dragonkin called Karuulm who created this beast but ultimately cast the creature aside and deemed it a failure as he could not replicate any of the creature’s traits.

This was the same story for his other creations, the Wyrms, Drakes and the standard Hydras.

This creature is gargantuan and changes its appearance based on the stage of battle you find yourself in. The creature begins with five heads and will change from green to blue to red and then to black before the creature meets its demise.

These colours are representative of elemental traits that the creature will use to its advantage as the battle progresses. The creature has a combat level of 426, a size of 6×6 and will offer the player 1320XP if they manage to best this creature.

Where Can You Find the Alchemical Hydra?

The Alchemical Hydra can be found in the lower levels of the Karuulm Slayer dungeon in Mount Karuulm. Mount Karuulm is essentially a giant volcano that the player will descend deeper and deeper into before happening upon the Alchemical Hydra.

It is an area that is located on the northern edge of the Kebos Lowlands and is best known for its blue lava which maintains this hue due to the high levels of sulphur present. In terms of areas close to Mount Karuulm, you have Lovakengj which is located just to the west of the area.

To reach this area a little faster than conventional travel you have a teleport option that requires the player to use Rada’s Blessing 3 or 4. This will transport them to the summit of the mountain.

Players can also make use of the Fairy Ring, the Battlefront Teleport cast and the skills necklace or farming cape that will allow you to teleport to a nearby farming guild.

One thing that we will warn players about before they venture to Mount Karuulm is that there are specific items you should take to protect yourself. You see, volcanoes are hot and this one is no different, so if you do not prepare, the environmental damage will kill you long before you ever reach the Alchemical Hydra.

To combat this, players will have to wear boots of stone, boots of brimstone or boots of granite to protect against any unwanted heat damage. However, if you have completed the Elite Koruend Kebos Diary, you needn’t worry about this as this damage will not affect you.

Do You Need to Access a Quest to Battle the Alchemical Hydra?

Yes, the Alchemical Hydra is not a boss that you can simply head off to fight without being instructed to do so by the relevant slayer master.

This quest is given by Konar and with this quest, players will be able to find and potentially take down to Alchemical Hydra to further this questline and get a hearty batch of XP for their trouble. This slayer task is given at slayer level ninety-five.

Is this Fight an Instanced Boss Battle?

Yes, this boss battle is an instanced fight. An instanced battle means that a unique area is generated for every player that goes to this part of the map.

This makes every boss battle unique to the player in question, which means that all item drops can only be obtained by you and that you can not see other players when they attend the same area.

What is the Difference Between the Alchemical Hydra and Normal Hydras?

While both will pose a threat to the player, the Alchemical Hydra is certainly the more fearsome of the two. Hydra’s are essentially the basic variant of the enemy type.

Whereas the Alchemical Hydra is the boss variant, which offers a much more comprehensive combat experience, several battle phases and much better rewards for defeating it. Normal hydra’s appear as a three-headed beast, are half the size of the Alchemical variant, have a max hit of 22 and have a combat level of 194.

For mid-tier characters, these creatures would represent boss-like encounters themselves and as you must pass these creatures to get to the instanced boss battle, they act as gatekeepers of sorts, keeping away any lower level players.

The standard hydra uses a special poison attack that does 4 damage every two ticks. This attack hits three tiles, the one the player is on and two random tiles adjacent to the player, meaning that any companions may be caught in the crossfire.

Does the Alchemical Hydra Have any Immunities?

Yes, the Alchemical Hydra has two pure immunities. Firstly you have venom which will have no effect on the creature. Then secondly, the Alchemical Hydra is also not affected by any poison-based attacks.

So if you want to use tactics where you gradually wear down this creatures HP slowly, sadly that won’t be possible. So take these into account and adjust your approach as you see fit.

What Should Your Stats be Before You take on the Alchemical Hydra?

While there are no strict requirements regarding the stats that the player should have before they take on the Alchemical Hydra. There are a set of proposed stats that we will list just to give you an idea of what stats will allow for a challenging but fair fight with the Alchemical Hydra. Here they are below:

Attack: 90

Defence: 90

Hit points: 90

Ranged: 85

Prayer: 80

The most important of these listed are your defensive stats and your overall hit point count. These will allow you to withstand the heavy attacks that the Alchemical Hydra can dish out.

Plus, range is an important one as you will need to be able to deal a good amount of damage from a distance as the nature of this fight will see you keeping a wide birth from this monster.

How to Defeat the Alchemical Hydra – Inventory

Before we jump into the strategy to defeat the Alchemical Hydra, let’s discuss the weapons, inventory and gear that will make this battle as smooth as possible. Here is a list of the best items to equip for the battle with the Alchemical Hydra:

Weapons: Toxic Blowpipe, Twisted Bow,

Armour: Slayer Helmet, Barrows Gloves, Necklace of Anguish, Ava’s Assembler, Armadyl Chestplate and Chainshirt, Black D’hide Body and Chaps, Boots of Stone, Granite Boots, Boots of Brimstone, Ring of Duelling, Archer’s Ring, Pegasian Boots

Items: Antidote (++), Adamant darts (if using blowpipe), Saradomins Brew, Super Restores, A good amount of quality food.

The most important things that are absolutely essential are the choice of weapon. You need to strong ranged weapon and the two listed are the best for the task at hand. Then secondly, bringing an anti-poison item like Antidote (++) is a must. If you don’t, your strategy may fall to pieces as your HP dwindles to nothing.

How to Defeat the Alchemical Hydra – Strategy

Firstly, we must run through the types of attacks that the Alchemical Hydra will use. The Alchemical Hydra will use a magic attack that will be based on the chemical phase that the Hydra is currently in, then the second is a standard ranged attack.

Magic Attack: The magic attack is an attack that will vary depending on the phase of the battle that the player is facing. The attack has the same base damage as the ranged attack of 55.

However, at the beginning of every stage, the attack will receive a 50% buff which can be lowered by 75% if the beast is lured over the right chemical vent. This attack can take the form of poison sludge, lightning or fire. This attack looks like a cloud of colour.

Ranged Attack: This attack is the standard attack and has a base damage of 55 hit points. This attack takes on an appearance of a solid coloured, sharp projectile.

Strategy: To defeat the Alchemical Hydra, you’ll need to be able to count to three, that’s non-negotiable. If you can do that, the rest is a piece of cake. The monster will begin the battle with one of the two attack types and then switch to the other.

This will continue like clockwork for the entire fight so you need to constantly monitor the attack pattern of the beast. Then when the beast plans to change attacks, simply flick your prayer to mage or range and this will negate most of the damage.

It is also worth noting that the Alchemical Hydra will be initially powered with a poison elemental effect which will deal 50% more damage. However, to deal with this, you can lure your foe over to the red chemical vent, you can lower their damage output by 75%.

To do this the most efficient way you should run to the bottom right-hand corner of the eastern wall which will put the Hydra in the ideal position and then you can wear down the first 25% of their health with no issue.

Once you whittle the Hydra’s health down to 75% the beast will move onto its next phase. The Hydra will lose one of its heads and change colour to blue. The Hydra will once again receive a 50% buff to its magic attack damage and will begin shooting lighting attacks at the player.

While this buff represents a stressful and worrying damage dealer, this can be dealt with rather handily again by luring the creature over to the appropriate vent again. Simply run to the northeast corner of the battle area and this will then negate the buff.

You will have to repeat this process one more time as the monster will change to its pyro, red form. So you will need to lure the monster over to the blue chemical pool by running to the top left-hand corner of the battle arena along the western wall. This will deal with the buff and will give you ample chance to whittle the beast down to quarter health.

It is worth noting that the green and blue special attacks were nothing to worry about really. However, the fire maze special attack is one that will require a bit of tactical planning to evade. This special attack will see the player engulfed in a literal fire maze which will follow behind you for a period of time.

To avoid this attack, toggle your run function off and walk cautiously through the area, avoiding the fire as it appears. If you get hit with this attack it will do 20 initial damage, stun you for one second and will do additional damage over time, so best to avoid it. When the beast starts using basic attacks again, you can proceed as normal.

Then we move on to the final phase, where the Alchemical Hydra has no chemical boosts whatsoever. The first thing to say is do not lure the beast to any of the chemical pools. This will only add buffs to the creature and make your life a misery.

Instead, keep the beast central. The beast will use a poison attack as the default special attack but this is easily evaded. The real issue with this last phase is that the attack types change after every attack instead of three.

So you will need to focus on flicking your prayers as needed to avoid being blown away in the latter stages. However, if you can do this, you will have taken down the Alchemical Hydra.

The beast will spawn in the centre of the zone after 25 seconds. So you have time to teleport out. Gather your loot, or you can position yourself at the bottom right of the eastern wall once again and chain some kills if you feel up to it.

What are the Best Drops that the Alchemical Hydra Offers?

The Alchemical Hydra has a range of items that it will drop after you defeat it. Some of these are guaranteed drops, whereas others are based on the luck of the draw.

Some excellent resources allow you to craft excellent items and several valuable drops that will help you rack up some serious coin. Here is a list of the best drops you can receive after defeating the Alchemical Hydra:

Guaranteed Drops

Hydra Bones – 8432 Gold

Unique Drops

Hydra’s Eye – Not Sold

Hydra’s Fang – Not Sold

Hydra’s Heart – Not Sold

Hydra’s Tail – 60,562 gold

Hydra Leather – 3,866,431 gold

Hydra’s Claws – 44,115,891 gold

Dragon Throwaxe – 188,500–377,000 gold

Dragon Knife – 890,500–1,781,000 gold

Best of the Rest

Onyx Bolts – 300,230–428,900 gold

Grimy Snapdragon – 87,860–131,790 gold

Snap dragon Seeds – 122,712–184,068 gold

Magic seeds – 243,996–365,994 gold

Dragon fruit tree seed – 370,448–555,672 gold

Celastrus seed – 168,334–252,501 gold

Ikkle Hydra – Not Sold

Do I Lose my Items If I Lose to the Alchemical Hydra?

As this is an instanced boss battle, the player will need to be aware of the risks that they face before they enter the fray. If you die at the hands of the Alchemical Hydra, you cannot simply return to the area and pick up your belongings. However, that is not to say that their items are lost forever.

You can purchase your items back for 100,000 gold after the initial death. However, if you return and die once again without retrieving your goods, they will be gone forever, so be sure to manage your items carefully or suggest the consequences.

Do I have to Face the Alchemical Hydra Alone?

Yes, as mentioned above, this boss is an instanced battle. So the area is completely unique for each player. Meaning that even if you and a group of players travel together, when you reach this boss, you will be separated from the group and have to go it alone.

However, it is worth noting that players who wish to make the journey to the boss battle a little easier should consider travelling with companions.

The standard Hydras can be a nuisance in the area before the boss battle and can lead to you using health and antidotes that you might have saved fr the battle with the Alchemical Hydra. So consider bringing a pal along to see you off at the battle gate, many hands make for light work.

How Many Times Can You Kill the Alchemical Hydra in One Hour?

This will depend on your skill level and your base stats going into the right. However, we reckon that if you come into this fight fresh, it will take you anywhere from 3-4 minutes to complete.

Meaning that you could rack up about twenty kills an hour. However, if you are a skilled fighter who knows this battle inside and out, you should have it wrapped up in two minutes. Meaning that thirty kills an hour wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for you.

Then as an additional bit of info, based on a stat that estimated the drop rate of the Alchemical Hydra after 292,738 kills. The average value of a drop after killing the Alchemical Hydra is approximately 161,275.22. However, this is a figure that requires you to be on Konar’s slayer task.

FAQs

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Callum Marshall

Callum Marshall is an experienced content writer. He’s been working in the business for several years and offers his services as an editor-in-chief, PR consultant, game tester, scriptwriter, and an all-around gaming aficionado. He lives and breathes gaming, and that’s why he’s here to provide you (the reader) with important news that matters without all the fluff.

Outside of working hours, he stops typing and picks up a controller. His favorite games of all time are Runescape, Kingdom Hearts, Journey, Fallout New Vegas, Disco Elysium, and he also dabbles in Rocket League in the lulls between titles. When he’s not gaming, you can find him rewatching Peep Show for the hundredth time or re-living his youth skating. Skateboards are the new comb-over, haven’t you heard?

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