The Spitting Hydra is a weapon manufactured by Gadgetron in Up Your Arsenal. It is an electric weapon that locks onto targets as it is held down before unleashing tendrils of electricity that damages them.
The Spitting Hydra is made available for 40,000 bolts upon reaching Marcadia. It is required for the challenge "Hydra'n Seek" in Annihilation Nation. With use, the Spitting Hydra can be upgraded to the Tempest, which in challenge mode, can be upgraded to the Mega Tempest for 540,000 bolts.
Characteristics[]
The Spitting Hydra is a light blue and silver carbine with a large nozzle and a left-handed grip. When being charged up, it makes a humming noise before it unleashes multiple large tendrils of lightning that hit the targeted enemies. The Tempest is a purple, silver, and blue weapon with a much larger nozzle that dishes out more lightning tendrils.
Gameplay[]
The Spitting Hydra locks onto targets while the fire button is held down, and once the button is released, shoots out tendrils of lightning unless canceled. These lightning tendrils not only damage enemies the weapon locked onto, but also any enemies which get caught in their path. Therefore, it is possible to use the weapon more efficiently by firing from an angle that not only hits the maximum number of enemies, but will catch smaller enemies along the blast.
The Spitting Hydra is most effective against mobs of smaller to medium enemies when used correctly. Against single targets, the Spitting Hydra is much weaker as its additional blasts are wasted, making it ineffective against bosses. The Spitting Hydra and its upgraded versions are also rapidly outclassed later on, particularly by weapons such as the upgraded Annihilator, the Bouncer, and the Plasma Coil, which can deal damage to multiple targets while also being useful against single targets.
The Spitting Hydra's upgrades not only add damage, but allow it to target more enemies. At V1, it can lock onto three enemies at once. This increases to four at V2, five at V3, six at V4, and seven as the Tempest. The upgrades to the Spitting Hydra do not address its weakness against smaller groups of enemies or bosses, and the number of enemies it can lock onto becomes fairly redundant later on.