Garen + Ultra Hydra

Why this rating

B tier: the payoff is powerful, but the route requires an early prismatic quest, three completed Hydra items, and later range and attack-speed augments. No combined win-rate is available.

Why it works

• Ultra Hydra turns Profane Hydra, Ravenous Hydra, and Titanic Hydra into one reward item. The completed tooltip in the source shows 200 attack damage, 25 ability haste, 25 lethality, 1,000 health, and 15% omnivamp before its cleave effects.
• Scopier Weapons gives melee Garen 200 bonus attack range, while Critical Rhythm can stack to 60% bonus attack speed and also grants 25% critical strike chance.
• This is a basic-attack route, not another spin-only Garen setup. Ultra Hydra provides the burst; Garen's ultimate finishes targets after the cleave lands.

How to play it

1. Take Ultra Hydra early or skip the route. Farm aggressively and complete all three required Hydra items before buying the normal Garen follow-up items you still need.
2. Use Goredrink to stabilize the expensive build. Take Critical Rhythm only when you can remain in basic-attack range long enough to stack it.
3. Choose Scopier Weapons when target access is the problem. Against armor stacking, add Lord Dominik's Regards instead of assuming Ultra Hydra's lethality is enough.

Avoid it when

• Your team cannot buy time for a three-item quest.
• The enemy composition can chain slows or hard crowd control before Garen reaches basic-attack range.
• You are behind on farm. The creator's fast completion depended on heavy last-hitting, so the same timing is not guaranteed.

ARAM Mayhem context

Availability checked against the site's Patch 26.18 reference data on 2026-09-13. All named augments remain available. The source match does not display a patch number, and no combined win-rate is available, so this guide does not present the creator's result as patch-level performance data.

Source evidence

• 0:35 · The creator explains the three-item quest and its gold requirement.
• 7:19 · Critical Rhythm becomes the attack-speed engine.
• 11:31 · Scopier Weapons shifts the build toward ranged basic attacks.
• 16:48 · The creator adds armor penetration against 100–200 armor targets.