View source for Swampland Challenge: Bare Essentials

{{Infobox challenge
| {{{1}}}
| title =		Bare Essentials
| goal =		Defeat the Swampland Hydra without any oils or edges
| reward =		Moonlight Cleaver
| is_weapon =	1
| rarity =		Heroic
| region =		Swampland
| chal_no =		58
| strat =       See below
}}

== Strategy ==

Defeating the Hydra without buffing your weapon is likely to take a number of attempts. Note that you can pass over the [[Blade Oil|oil]]/[[Forge Upgrades|edge]] tiles without accepting the buff.

You'll likely want to remove the [[Swampland Hydra Stun Head]]. If you can get through [[Swampland Hydra Acid Head|the Hydra's first head]] without losing your armor and without accumulating stacks of acid you're on the right track. The build below accomplishes this by stunning it.

;Weapon
: [[Thunderbound Sabre]]
: {{At}} 6 is sufficient. Higher attack is inefficient because the Hydra does not heal between heads, and excess damage is wasted once a head is destroyed.
: The two stacks of stun is passed to the enemy via a gold [[Clearspring Feather]].

;Equipment
: Gold [[Clearspring Feather]] to redirect 2 stacks of stun (see above).
: [[Petrified Statue]] combined with two additional [[Stone|stone]] items gives 3 stun (5 total).
: [[Marble Mirror]] (stone) combined with ...
: [[Plated Shield]] provides {{Ar}} 60. Don't remove the [[Swampland Hydra Acid Head|Acid Head]]; the second and third head do not have armor.
: Gold [[Arcane Bell]] to accelerate tomes ([[Symphony]] unused here)
: Gold [[Granite Tome]] primarily to provide the additional stack of stun above. The stone tag is more essential than the additional armor
: [[Purelake Tome]] provides adequate healing by generating and redeeming [[Purity]]
: [[Liferoot Beast]] was present, but not needed. [[Stoneborn Turtle]] or any other [[Stone|stone]] item would be better.

;Donts
: [[Acid]] debuffs are a poor choice against Hydra.
: The four heads are ordered to maximize the effectiveness of their respective debuffs. They are applied "on hit" and thus build up quickly. A debuff removing build is a sensible approach, but I found it too difficult to implement well.
: [[Fungal Cloak]] was not helpful. YMMV. The [[Swampland Hydra Poison Head|third head's]] position as last (or second) of the three results in [[Fungal Cloak's]] performance being either underwhelming or unnecessary.
: [[Muscle Potion]] and/or [[Muscle Elixir]], even when Gold or in multiple slots, is no guarantee of success. I failed repeatedly with double digit {{At}} stats.

;Unlocks
: [[Moonlight Cleaver]] is your reward for completing the '''Bare Essentials''' challenge.