Holy moly. That A2 is *insanely* strong. Two hits of 4.2x DEF? I don't think anyone else comes even close to that. Soulless is the closest I can find at 4.9x DEF + bonus from debuffs, but unless you're at 7 debuffs or more, it's still less. And it even has a very decent pity version if you don't get the second hit. And his passive gives him a growing amount of DEF too, for longer fights.

And his alternate form is equally silly. He has a two-hit 0.18xHP *A1*, which is almost in-line with Magnarr's double 0.22x HP A2. 

This guy seems like an absolute monster in arena!

^^ i hadnt even considered arena to be honest, i was looking at potential hydra use?

I think on Hydra he is much less impressive. His main form A1 will basically never be useful, his A2 will sometimes get the double-hit, but will often just do a single-hit for an okay amount of damage, and his A3 is a great way to have your run instantly end when Mischief steals and spreads the CA. His alternate form is definitely better - the A1 is super strong, and his A2 and A3 are very solid too - but without books, the A3 is on a 5-turn CD.

He feels like he's much more intended to be an arena champ than a Hydra champ.

Yeh i was worried about the steals of those buffs, unless you are completely confident about keeping block buffs up its an issue

I am really torn on whether to use my books to be honest, i have 7 books in total for mythics and will eventually get mikage. 

So few champs make me say 'i have to build' nowadays, i pulled gwyndolyn as well today and immediately vaulted her.

The A2 is only a double hit if you take the opponent down below 50%, will he hit harder than baron in arena? i am not sure...

The reason why I like the A2 for arena is because even if he doesn't double-hit, the pity effect is still really strong. I see him as filling the same role as Harima on an arena team - not necessarily insta-kill the other team, but over time wear them down.

True, although harima may have better survival. Just looking at clash, one of our clash opponents has used him in hydra- and he did 219 million on NM himself, he outdamaged grazuur.

They have him in a protection set, which is interesting.

Interesting. Wouldn't have expected that, but I suppose the A2 could do quite a lot of work if you were able to somehow keep the heads below 50% for a significant part of the fight, and the A1 on alternate form in the interim?

Alaz has obliterated me in Arena on multiple occasions.  

As far as Hydra goes, He looks OP to me & I would build him ASAP.    

I already use a High Res CA team on NM, and this guy would be a huge upgrade.  

HP Burn, Burn Activation, Full Team CA w/Block Damage, Inc Def, Strengthen, Inc Res & Provoke...in one skill kit.

I just fused Mikage last weekend, and she was my first Mythical.  Have not pulled one yet.    

Thing is - IMO his kit is really a lot less impressive without booking. So the question is - is he good enough for Hydra to warrant using those relatively scarce books on him, instead of saving them for someone else?

Obviously, Trevor would have to decide that for himself since he does not have enough books for Alaz & Mikage.  However, he could be months away from Mikage.  

Since I don't spend money on primal shards or mythical books (just like you & Trevor), it would be a calculation of odds for me.  

Shards:  Since Mythicals were introduced, I have pulled 44 primal shards and I currently have 36.  I have not yet pulled a Mythical and the odds are against me pulling one anytime soon, let alone more than one.          

Books:  I have managed to grind out 21 Mythical books, so if I did manage to pull Allaz, the 8 books he needs would be a no-brainer since he would immediately be useful to my account in both Live Arena & Hydra. 

Im of the opinion you build what's in front of you.  Alaz is worthy of the books so holding on the off chance you pull a better one in the near future feels like wasted potential.

Thanks guys i am going to book and build.

As pointed out those last two epics may take months to get at the end of the day, and if i do a standard damage build with enough accuracy for hydra i dare say he will get use

21 books 

0 mythical champs

F u op... jk. Congrats! 

And yes, build.  

PS - unrelated, but I'm somewhat surprised y'all are using your primal shards. Why not wait until we get actual events for them?

I have only used Primals when there was some sort of boost going on, whether that was a 2X, a summon rush points boost, or both. 

I normally save them but pulled one to finish the rush and grab the epic.

Impatience often gets the better of me.

Well i booked and built this guy, gave him my second best defence based damage gear (gnut has my best)

He is - ok but i am struggling to see where he would excel to be honest.

Arena, i have harder hitters and when i tested in hydra the buffs being stolen ruins a run.

Is anyone using this guy? Did you book the HP form and do you use it?

Thanks

I can't comment on the Hydra part, except to say that, from Wiley's comment, it probably requires the entire team to be running high resist.

To the arena side, though, it feels like where he'd be best-suited is on a team that relies on longer fights, and not just winning right away. I don't know exactly what that looks like, but I'd expect something like three support champs + him.

You may be right, i cant just take out say- rathalos and slot this guy in, i have to build a completely different team if i want to use him, based on high resist.

Arena- i do have a stoneskin defence based nuke set i could use, i may try that thanks.