Is The Titanic Hydra worth it? A Deep Dive into a Legendary Item

As an experienced League of Legends player, the question I get asked constantly is – is Titanic Hydra worth buying?

My opinion? Absolutely, on the right champion!

Titanic Hydra‘s blend of damage, health, and waveclear can make it devastatingly effective when you fully unlock its potential. However, it comes with some big drawbacks that limit its users.

In this deep dive guide, I‘ll cover:

• Titanic Hydra‘s stats and passive effects
• What champions best synergize with Titanic
• How cost and build path affects the item‘s viability
• Waveclear, teamfighting, and damage potential
• Direct comparison to Ravenous Hydra
• Situations when to buy or avoid Titanic
• My personal ranking among legendary items

So whether you‘re looking to smash towers as Sett or crush teamfights as Shyvana, read on for the full breakdown on one of League‘s most iconic items!

What Does Titanic Hydra Do?

First, let‘s quickly recap Titanic Hydra‘s stats:

• 500 health – Decent chunk of HP but less than other tank items
• 30 attack damage – Solid AD for boosting auto attacks
• Cleave passive – On attack, deals cone AoE physical damage behind target

But what puts Titanic Hydra over the top is its unique passive that grants bonus AD equal to 2% of your maximum health.

This is massive for champions stacking health and resistance items. With 3500 HP, you‘ll gain 70 AD just from this passive alone!

Strong Champion Synergies

So who excels with Titanic Hydra? Here are some of the best users:

Sett

Titanic Hydra gives Sett everything he wants. The AD amps up his punch barrage, the health fuels his haymaker, and the cleave improves his mediocre waveclear. Sett with Titanic can easily demolish towers with his empowered auto attacks.

Shyvana

Shyvana loves health items that boost her dragon form abilities. With Titanic, she gains AoE cleave on her attacks, improving her jungle clear speed. The AD also significantly buffs the damage on her fiery breath.

Nasus

Nasus stacks health for his ultimate anyway, so Titanic is perfect for increasing his Q stacks. The cleave helps him effortlessly clear waves to stack faster. The item is core on Nasus in top lane.

Garen

Titanic Hydra extends Garen‘s judgement spin duration, resulting in massive AoE damage. The health syncs with his W resistances and the AD buffs his decimate. I always build Titanic when playing Garen against a tanky comp.

So in summary, Titanic Hydra excels on juggernauts and tanks who have abilities that scale off health or do AoE damage. It takes their kits to the next level.

Titanic Hydra‘s Gold Efficiency

A big advantage of Titanic Hydra is its outstanding gold efficiency – but only once fully stacked. Here is a full breakdown:

Item Component	Cost	Stats
Tiamat	1200g	20 AD, 150% health regen
Titanic Hydra	2100g	500 health, 10 AD
Total Stats	–	530 health, 30 AD
Gold Value	–	3500g
Cost	3300g
Gold Efficiency	–	106%

As you can see, on its own Titanic Hydra is barely gold efficient, giving just 106% value.

But once you factor in the health scaling AD at max stacks, the efficiency skyrockets:

Bonus AD	Extra Value	Total Value	Total Efficiency
+40 AD	1400g	4900g	148%
+60 AD	2100g	5600g	170%
+80 AD	2800g	6300g	191%
+100 AD	3500g	7000g	212%

This makes a fully stacked Titanic Hydra one of the best legendaries in terms of slot efficiency and value. But it takes time to scale up and unlock that potential.

Build Path and Cost the Biggest Drawbacks

Speaking of building Titanic Hydra, this is where the biggest downsides come in.

The combined cost is 3300g which can be tricky to finance on top laners. You typically want to build it 3rd or 4th item after your core.

Rushing Titanic 2nd leaves you too squishy in the mid game teamfights. The build path is also brutal – two ruby crystals, a pickaxe, and combining cost. It gives zero resistances when built.

As a result, Titanic Hydra leaves you vulnerable against burst comps. If I‘m facing a Rumble or Teemo top, I‘ll avoid Titanic and grab an early Spectre‘s Cowl or Negatron Cloak.

Advanced components like Kindlegem or Giant‘s Belt would improve Titanic‘s build path considerably. But the high total cost to fully unlock the passive is necessary for balance.

Titanic Hydra‘s Waveclear and Teamfight Power

Now let‘s examine Titanic Hydra‘s gameplay strengths with two powerful effects:

Waveclear

With Titanic Hydra, bruisers and tanks can shred minion waves. The cleave passive damages all enemies in a cone behind your target.

This allows champions like Garen and Sett to demolish waves and splitpush with ease. Below are some average waveclear times for top laners:

• Sett – can clear a wave in ~3 seconds with 1-2 rotations of abilities plus Titanic‘s cleave passive. Great for pushing side lanes.
• Garen – can extended spin + Titanic hydra to wipe a whole wave instantly. Excellent for shoving and roaming mid game.
• Nasus – improves his otherwise weak waveclear enormously. Can pressure side lanes and reach higher Q stacks.

In general, Titanic Hydra allows juggernauts and tanks to splitpush much more effectively compared to other legendaries.

AoE Teamfight Damage

Teamfighting is where Titanic Hydra also shines. The cleave passive allows tanks to deal AoE damage to multiple enemies simply by auto attacking the frontline.

Champions like Shyvana, Renekton, and Volibear love diving onto the enemy backline with Titanic because they‘ll shred nearby squishies with the cleave AoE.

This gives an advantage over single target legends like Death‘s Dance or Maw of Malmortius. I‘ll take Titanic over Sterak‘s Gage if the enemy has 3+ melees.

How Does Titanic Hydra Compare to Ravenous?

Let‘s examine how Titanic Hydra stacks up against its sibling Ravenous Hydra:

Titanic Hydra	Ravenous Hydra
500 Health	65 Attack Damage
2% max health AD	10% Lifesteal
Better for tanks	Better for fighters
AoE cleave	Single target damage

The main difference comes down to whether you want more tankiness or sustain.

Titanic is great on champions who stack health and resistances. Ravenous provides more raw AD and lifesteal for dueling.

I‘ll build Titanic on Sett, Garen, Renekton and Ravenous on Fiora, Riven, Aatrox. The lifesteal keeps fighters healthy while splitting versus tanks who itemize Titanic.

So in summary:

• If you need waveclear and tankiness, build Titanic
• If you need dueling power and sustain, build Ravenous

When Should You Avoid Titanic Hydra?

While Titanic Hydra is incredibly strong on the right champs, there are certain situations where you should opt for different legendaries:

• Vs burst comps – Avoid Titanic if you need early resistances from Death‘s Dance, Maw, or Guardian Angel

• As a solo frontliner – Other tank items like Gargoyle‘s or Warmog‘s provide more specialized defenses

• On ranged/AP champs – The passive only deals 75% damage making it weak for Teemo, Kayle, etc.

• When behind – Lower gold efficiency makes it a win-more item. Prioritize cheaper components if struggling.

• As a sole damage item – You still need offensive legendaries like Sterak‘s to complement Titanic

So generally I‘ll skip Titanic if I don‘t need the waveclear or if I‘m against a heavy poke comp. Building more resistances is higher priority in those situations.

Final Verdict: Among the Best Legendaries with the Right Champ

After extensively testing Titanic Hydra, I firmly believe that when fully unlocked, Titanic Hydra is one S+ tier legendary item.

The combination of tankiness, AD scaling, waveclear, and teamfight AoE can elevate certain juggernauts and tanks into absolute monsters once they complete their build.

However, it shares the drawbacks of any late game scaling item – expensive components, vulnerable early, and delayed power spike compared to rushing a mythic.

Overall, I rank Titanic Hydra among the top 5 legendary items thanks to its phenomenal synergies with bruiser and tank kits. I highly recommend builders and cleavers give Titanic Hydra a try and unleash the true hydra power!

Let me know in the comments if this guide helped shape your opinion on Titanic Hydra. And as always, thanks for reading!