Hydra (SG)

The Hydra is a triple-barrel, sawed-off shotgun, available in Resident Evil 5. Compared to other shotguns, it does a lot of damage from long range, and is just as effective at close range, similar to the Jail Breaker. It is the most powerful shotgun in RE5's Campaign Mode. In Revelations, it seems to have lost power, having weaker base firepower than the Shotgun Windham but a higher base ammo capacity than the Windham.

In-game
The Hydra, when upgraded in its attack range, it can triple or even quadruple its damage at close range. For comparison, the M3, which doesn't have the attack range upgrade, can only double its damage. It has a starting firepower of 280, reload speed of 3.67, a capacity of 4, and an attack range of 0. Fully upgraded, it has a firepower of 550, reload speed of 3.30, a capacity of 10, and an attack range of 2. Note that attack range works by increasing the number of pellets fired. It's only major downside is its very slow reload time, but consider that you can reload via your inventory, which would bypass the reloading animation.

The most notable feature of this gun is its erratic firing stance when used by either Chris or Wesker. Rather than the traditional two-hand grasp while aiming, both characters will instead turn sideways to a side view and hold it in one hand; this technique may need some getting used to upon first trying it out.

The gun becomes available for purchase for 30,000 gold after the Ithaca M37 is fully-upgraded.

Note that it's not recommended to use both Hydra and Gatling Gun at the same time, because it's very hard to aim with Hydra due to the ammo container of the Gatling gun blocking the vision.

Fully Upgraded Shotgun Stats
* Attack Range upgrades increase shot pellets by 50% each level - effectively doubling pellets from 7 to 15 when fully upgraded.
 * Rate of Fire: the time it takes to fire 10 rounds.
 * Each shotgun has a set 2 shell reload animation. With infinite ammo, all reload animations are negated.
 * With infinite ammo, all shotgun capacities are infinite.
 * Ithaca: 1 (in comparison, M92F has 3, VZ61 has 2)

These statistics were obtained by firing at a large wall.

Resident Evil: The Deck Building Game
The Hydra is a Weapon Card in the Resident Evil DBG, here called the Triple Barreled Shotgun. The Hydra is the special weapon of the Shotgun deck in the Resource Area, and is the successor of the Automatic Shotgun. Like most Shotgun cards, the Hydra grants extra Explores. But unlike other shotguns it grants +2 instead of just one. The additional effect of the Hydra is gaining +10 Damage the player character(s) is/are fighting, thus giving it 30 extra Damage if all the Explores are used. This makes it especially deadly in the hands of characters with effects that grant extra Explores or gain damage like the original Chris Redfield card, whose effect would technically give the weapon a +15 Damage bonus for every Infected encountered. The Hydra has a Gold Cost of 90, an ammo requirement of 80, and deals 50 Damage without the use of its effects.

Trivia

 * At some point in the game's development, this gun was known as the Mad Max.
 * While several arms manufacturers have attempted to build shotguns with more than two barrels, all designs that were actually sold had four barrels arranged in a diamond pattern. No triple-barrel shotgun has ever been mass produced.
 * If Sheva uses the Hydra, she will hold it in a typical shooting stance while aiming, while if Chris uses the Hydra, he will hold the shotgun straight out with one hand. Wesker uses the same stance to fire the Hydra as Chris, seen when using his S.T.A.R.S. outfit in The Mercenaries.
 * While all other weapons in both Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5 have a laser module mounted to the weapon via some sort of accessory rail or specialized mounting, the Hydra does not. Instead, the laser is secured to the bottom of the forearm via a piece of tape, further enhancing the unconventional nature of the weapon.
 * The single-handed wielding of the fully upgraded Hydra is a reference to Capcom's Devil May Cry, due to Chris & Dante's way of holding their respective guns.