Why doesn't Hydra's Bite actually do what it states?

Classes Hunter
1

So i’ve been leveling my Hunter lately and wanted to go Survival because i haven’t tried it out since the revamp. And i’m loving it so far, mostly.

One thing that really bothers me though is Hydra’s Bite. I really love this talent in theory, if only it actually worked like stated.

How it’s supposed to work:
“Serpent Sting fires arrows at 2 additional enemies near your target, and its damage over time is increased by 10%”

How it actually works:
“Serpent Sting fires arrows at 2 additional enemies that are engaged in combat with the player and is positioned near your target, and its damage over time is increased by 10%”

Notice the massive difference?

At first i thought it was just a Combat/Out of Combat flag that decided it, but it’s not. The 2 additional arrows will only appear if all the targets are already in combat with you, only you and your target being in combat doesn’t do it.

I tested the talent in multiple zones with Red/Yellow mobs by using Serpent Sting after activating Harpoon, which instantly puts you into combat with the target (even before the actual projectile hits).

I’ve read on multiple forums that this is so that it won’t accidently aggro more mobs than intended. But this explanation is completely false given that Barrage still works as it’s stated in the description, and does not require every single target to already be in combat with the player for it to actually do something.

Limiting the spell in this way makes the talent completely useless for any sort of open world usage where mobs aren’t likely to survive much more than the dot duration.

I would very much love a Blue response to this Talent because i really can’t wrap my head around it. And i hate the fact that one of my favourite talents doesn’t actually work as intended or advertised.

2 Likes
2

I like it the way it is now thank you very much.
If you want to aoe pull, throw a grenade instead

3

So the talent should continue having an incorrect description of what it actually does?

“If you want to aoe pull, throw a grenade instead” is probably the stupidest response i’ve read on this subject given how different AoEs actually work.

Not sure if you’ve ever used the grenade as a Survival hunter but if you had you would’ve known that it works in a cone, meaning it does nothing to semi-spread targets. Targets that the Talent in question is supposted to be useful for…

If Blizzard believes this talent to be working as intended, then they should atleast make sure that the description of it is actually correct, which it very much isn’t at this moment.

3 Likes
4

It says it shoots 2 additional nearby targets and it does when I’m in combat. Not seeing any problem with it at all. It would be a way bigger pain in the butt if it randomly shot whatever mob around that is NOT in combat

5

This also happens with Arcane Barrage for Mages and has done since Legion, it’s freaking annoying, especially since it wastes the Resonance talent which buffs barrage by 10% for each target hit.

It just seems to be how these abilities work, They should really change it so that it hits any valid target in its range, regardless of their combat status with you.

6

“It says it shoots 2 additional nearby targets and it does when I’m in combat.”

You seem to be mistaken, it only does this if all of the targets are in combat with you.

It’s supposed to shoot whatever mob that is near the target no matter what. That is what it says it’s supposed to do. But it’s not what it does.

If you think that is a pain in the butt then that’s on you not being able to understand how and when to use AoE abilities.

1 Like
7

If this was the case, you would only dot a single enemy with every shot in m++, raids, etc. But it is not the case

8

Almost every single ability in the game works like this, you just have to know certain interactions, there is no way they can fit on a tooltip.

While we are at it, let’s fix some other hunter spells too!

Harpoon
8-30 yd range
Hurls a harpoon at an enemy, rooting them in place for 3 sec and pulling you to them. Unless they go out of your line of sight while the projectile is in the air, sometimes… maybe.

Intimidation
45 yd range (Pet LOS Only)
Commands your pet to intimidate the target, stunning it for 5 sec.

Wildfire Bomb
40 yd range
Hurl a bomb at the target, exploding for (45% of Attack power) Fire damage in a cone and coating enemies in wildfire, scorching them for (90% of Attack power) Fire damage over 6 sec. Has the ability to AoE down stuff that is immune to AoE, aka totems and warbanner.

Binding Shot
30 yd range
Fires a magical projectile, tethering the enemy and any other enemies within 5 yards for 10 sec, rooting them in place for 8 sec if they move more than 5 yards from the arrow. Does not break on damage

Bloodseeker
Kill Command causes the target to bleed for [Ranged attack power * (0.1) * (4)] damage over 8 sec.
You and your pet gain 10% attack speed for every bleeding enemy within 12 yds.
Stacks up to 9 times

Chakrams
40 yd range
Throw a pair of chakrams at your target, slicing all enemies in the chakrams’ path for [(40% of Attack power)] Physical damage. The chakrams will return to you, damaging enemies again.
Your primary target takes 100% increased damage.
If you target a totem or warbanner and press chakrams, it has the ability to kill other nearby totems or warbanner with AoE… somehow idk wtf

Camouflage
You and your pet blend into the surroundings and gain stealth for 1 min. While camouflaged, you will heal for 2% of maximum health every 1 secs.
Breaks when you or your pet takes or deals damage, unless you throw a knock trap on someone, then it won’t break, but the stealth will break if you toss a tar trap on someone, unless you throw it on the ground first and then someone walks into tar trap, that’s fine, that won’t break camouflage don’t worry about it bro. Also using a trinket will remove the effect of camouflage. Also I’m the only stealth in the game that won’t break whenever you use an essence, ofcourse unless you deal damage with it, but proccing minor effects that deal damage won’t break stealth, for example if you used knock trap (deals damage) and it procs crucible of flame minor (dot that deals damage) then that won’t break stealth. As a hunter player, you will get the best stealth in the game, even better than rogues, enjoy standing close to people without them seeing you.

I could go on and on and on and on, the problem is not Hydra’s Bite, the problem lies within the game itself.

2 Likes
9

Once again, you seem to be mistaken, the examples you give are when the targets are already in combat.

I’m talking about targets not already in combat.

10

Great examples of Whataboutism there, but why are you posting if you can’t contribute anything to the subject?

Oh, and not all spells work like that, infact, most spells dont work like that. Barrage doesn’t. Avenger’s Shield doesn’t. Throw Glaive doesn’t. Heck, even the grenade throw doesnt, even though like i stated in an earlier response that isnt a substitute given how different AoEs work.

11

I’m just saying that you can’t look at the tooltip to figure out how a spell works most of the time, just gotta learn to live with it.

12

Because tooltips are hard coded into the source code of the game, or what?

Kinda sure Blizzard can change the text on spells if they wanted to.

2 Likes
13

Just been reading through the forums, and I’m curious - why do you want it to change to exactly what it says in the tooltip?

For me at least I feel like this would be a huge inconvenience, constantly pulling some small crabs in Nazjatar would be a good example.

14

This is to prevent the talent automatically pulling entire dungeons with no way to control it.

If it worked like the OP stated then every single serpent sting would cleave random mob packs and would be completely outlawed by the community because of it. The in combat and near target is a necessary mechanic.

They could be more clear on the radius tho.

15

why are you all assuming the OP is talking about a huge radius for pulling extra, he is clearly stating, that the talent should work like every other enemy-targeted aoe:

it should be able to hit 2 additional enemies within a radius around your target regardless if they are in combat with you or not, like multishot or fireball/ignite splash, outbreak etc.

16

Because the radius is pretty damn big when in combat

17

You do realise you just contradicted yourself completely, right?

"because the radius is pretty damn big when in combat.

Did you even read my original post? Because it certainly doesnt look like it.

18

Still salty about it? move on mate… it’s not a bug and most of us like it that way

2 Likes
19

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