Hi guys, this is my Hydroid Prime build for post-Hydroid rework.

This build uses tempest barrage for corrosive/viral priming and dealing enough raw dmg for significant damage. Breach surge uses that raw damage to spawn new sparks that will damage nearby enemies as well. Tidal surge can be used for status cleanse and invulnerability period, much like how [Rolling Guard] functions. Plunder is used for the permanent armor strip and gun buffing. Tentacle swarm has been taken out as I felt like it would be the least synergetic with the rest of the kit. Since this build is not farm-oriented, there is no place for that ability here as it makes it harder to actually nuke enemies with breach surge and forces one of the other more useful abilities to be removed.

I will now go over the stats and choices made for them.

Strength:
Strength stat needs to be as high as you can fit it in this build for more tempest barrage damage and breach surge spark damage. It also increases the weapon damage gain from plunder. 199% should be more than enough for normal use.

Duration:
Duration does not need to be very high, but a positive duration helps sustain plunder's buffs and makes tempest barrage and breach surge last longer as well. It does NOT affect tidal surge.

Range:
We want to maximize range for tempest barrage and breach surge and as such use a combination of [Overextended], [Augur Reach], and [Cunning Drift] to get 235% range. Though we could easily slot [Stretch] over [Augur Reach], the choice for augur is explained later.

Efficiency:
Though the abilities of [Hydroid] cost a lot at base, using a combination of Arcane Energize, [Streamline] and [Primed Flow] for energy economy should be enough to keep you afloat.

Survivability:
Using [Brief Respite], [Augur Reach], and a single augur mod on pistols, a single cast of tidal surge should fully reset shields (thanks to [Catalyzing Shields]) and thus give you 1.3s of invulnerability on top of the invulnerability supplied by tidal surge itself.

Helminth options:

• Breach Surge: gives nice crowd control, which works against eximus, and allows tempest barrage to do big group damage as well.

• Any grouping ability: can make casting tempest barrage a bit easier to use and ensures as many enemies get their armor drained by plunder. Tidal surge can technically group as well but might be clunkier to use.

• Roar: buffs tempest barrage and might make it easier to nuke low lvl enemies and gives another great buff to your gun's damage output.

Weapons to use with this build:
The weapons with the most synergy will be high raw damage weapons. Since plunder can give high corrosive damage to weapons, it might be a good idea to mod for viral + heat/elec since that gives the highest dps against unarmored opponents.
If using any grouping method such as a grouping ability subsume, tidal surge or [Magus Anomaly], it would be a good idea to invest in a weapon using elec or gas for massive group dps. Since the corrosive is already added by plunder, the weapon would then be able to both strip armor and do a lot of group damage. My suggestions include bubonico alt-fire built for elec, verdilac gas projectile build, phantasma elec build. For good gas/elec builds for these weapons, be sure to check ninjase's weapon builds as he has multiple optimal grouping builds.