The Golden Hydra (黄金竜, Ougonryū) is an enemy which appears in Suikoden. It is the final boss of the game, and the transformed form of Barbarossa Rugner.
It is advisable to take out the leftmost head first as it has the ability to revive the other heads once they are destroyed. Following that, take out the right head, which uses powerful magic against the party and then turn your attention to the center head. Be careful when attempting unite spells as together the three heads cover four elements, leaving many wide-ranged unite spells ineffective. Wind and Holy magic are the only elements that none of the heads are resilient to.
The right head boasts the highest STR in the game, with 520, and the left head holds the highest MAG in the game, with 420. All three heads boast high MAG stats, however so a player having trouble should consider leaving characters with low MAG stats behind. The right head also drops the most potch in the game, 200,000, not that the player can spend it after the battle.
Winning the battle is simply a matter of keeping the party's health topped up while focusing attacks on one head at a time, rather than trying to evenly wear down all three together. As soon as the first head falls, the pressure will alleviate, and the other two heads will prove easier to defeat in turn.
In the final battle of the Gate Rune War, the Scarlet Moon Emperor Barbarossa, with the help of the Dragon King Sword, which had the Sovereign Rune embedded in its hilt, turned into a three headed Golden Hydra. Each of the heads held a fire, lightning and wind weakness, respectively, but also held resistances to many forms of magic.
It could best be described as a very powerful and formidable enemy, and very difficult to beat, even with the best selection of warriors in the Toran Liberation Army.
| Stats | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| LV 75 |
HP 10000 |
STR 520 |
DEX 105 |
| CON 55 |
SPD 75 |
MAG 370 |
LCK 80 |
| Elemental Resistances | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fire Weak |
Water Resists |
Earth Normal |
| Lightning Resists |
Wind Normal |
Holy Normal |
| Location and Loot | |
|---|---|
| Area | Floating Garden |
| Potch (Bribe) | 200000 potch (Can't bribe) |
| Items | This enemy does not drop any items. |
| Stats | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| LV 75 |
HP 10000 |
STR 510 |
DEX 105 |
| CON 55 |
SPD 75 |
MAG 380 |
LCK 80 |
| Elemental Resistances | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fire Resists |
Water Normal |
Earth Resists |
| Lightning Weak |
Wind Normal |
Holy Normal |
| Location and Loot | |
|---|---|
| Area | Floating Garden |
| Potch (Bribe) | 0 potch (Can't bribe) |
| Items | This enemy does not drop any items. |
| Stats | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| LV 75 |
HP 10000 |
STR 490 |
DEX 105 |
| CON 55 |
SPD 75 |
MAG 420 |
LCK 80 |
| Elemental Resistances | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fire Normal |
Water Resists |
Earth Normal |
| Lightning Resists |
Wind Weak |
Holy Normal |
| Location and Loot | |
|---|---|
| Area | Floating Garden |
| Potch (Bribe) | 0 potch (Can't bribe) |
| Items | This enemy does not drop any items. |
Gold refers to Barbarossa's title of the Golden Emperor. In Greek mythology, the Lernaean Hydra was a chthonic water beast that possessed many heads and for each head cut off it grew two more. It was killed by Heracles as part of his Twelve Labors.
Meanwhile, the use of りゅう as the word for dragon in the Golden Hydra's Japanese name seemingly reflects that the dragon is styled after Chinese rather than European dragons.
| Japanese kanji | 黄金竜 |
|---|---|
| Japanese hiragana | おうごんりゅう |
| Japanese rōmaji | Ougonryū |
| Chinese simplified (HDR) | 黄金龙 |
| Chinese traditional (HDR) | 黃金龍 |
| Chinese pinyin | Huáng jīn lóng |
| English | Golden Hydra |
|---|---|
| French (HDR) | Hydre dorée |
| German (HDR) | Goldene Hydra |
| Italian (HDR) | Idra dorata |
| Spanish (HDR) | Hidra Dorada |
