Aquanos boss NMHC

Aquanos is probably the easiest Shards map layout to beat first time NMHC - just throw down physical beams, auras, and minions on every entrance. However every time I reach the boss I cant do anything without either getting 1-shot or my defenses going down due to how slow my DPS is on it. I'm currently using a Jester with nearly maxed resists on NM (~80%) with 3.5k DPS stat and a Classic's Eagle Crested Standard with about 30k damage. Is there a strategy to beat this dude? I cant even take out the tentacles once. His water ball attack takes out my minions in two shots and takes me out in two to three shots also. If the strategy is to use DPS Monk/Barb, what's the easiest good Monk/Barb weapon to get without having to build Akatiti? My dps is nowhere near good enough to do the boss

Thanks in advance,

ultix

Most staves don't work very well on the tentacles (and elemental staves are especially bad).  The ember sceptre does work well, but I can't recommend that because it comes much later in progression compared to the Kraken.

Monk with Seahorse is really good.  I would recommend clearing Aquanos on Insane (or lower difficulty) first if you can to unlock survival, and then getting a Seahorse on survival wave 20, either InsaneHC or NMHC if you can manage it.  It can help a lot against the Kraken.  One common strat is to use a squire with 100% block shield and Seahorse, blocking with your back to the wall while your pet kills the boss.

By the way, the Kraken is not affected by Strength Drain auras, unlike most bosses :(

A dps pet like plane said is the best way to go. A lot of us back in the day would pretty much use seahorses. If youd like I can run alongside you (heal aura helps boss), or we could run insane/nm for a seahorse run to get a starter dps pet. 

Summary

-increase resistances to 90%

-get different DPS weapon, ranged monk preferred

-get DPS pet, ranged such as seahorse or chicken

-party up with more (or me)

Monk is really nice to have hero boost and tower boost, and with a pet can make good work on the boss. Good luck, one of my favorite maps of all time!

@Garzhod quote:

A dps pet like plane said is the best way to go. A lot of us back in the day would pretty much use seahorses. If youd like I can run alongside you (heal aura helps boss), or we could run insane/nm for a seahorse run to get a starter dps pet. 

Summary

-increase resistances to 90%

-get different DPS weapon, ranged monk preferred

-get DPS pet, ranged such as seahorse or chicken

-party up with more (or me)

Monk is really nice to have hero boost and tower boost, and with a pet can make good work on the boss. Good luck, one of my favorite maps of all time!

That would be great thanks! Add my linked steam and I'll probably be on tomorrow

@Plane quote:

Most staves don't work very well on the tentacles (and elemental staves are especially bad).  The ember sceptre does work well, but I can't recommend that because it comes much later in progression compared to the Kraken.

Monk with Seahorse is really good.  I would recommend clearing Aquanos on Insane (or lower difficulty) first if you can to unlock survival, and then getting a Seahorse on survival wave 20, either InsaneHC or NMHC if you can manage it.  It can help a lot against the Kraken.  One common strat is to use a squire with 100% block shield and Seahorse, blocking with your back to the wall while your pet kills the boss.

By the way, the Kraken is not affected by Strength Drain auras, unlike most bosses :(

Does a 100% block squire weapon work if a Jester is using it?

@Plane quote:

Most staves don't work very well on the tentacles (and elemental staves are especially bad).  The ember sceptre does work well, but I can't recommend that because it comes much later in progression compared to the Kraken.

Monk with Seahorse is really good.  I would recommend clearing Aquanos on Insane (or lower difficulty) first if you can to unlock survival, and then getting a Seahorse on survival wave 20, either InsaneHC or NMHC if you can manage it.  It can help a lot against the Kraken.  One common strat is to use a squire with 100% block shield and Seahorse, blocking with your back to the wall while your pet kills the boss.

By the way, the Kraken is not affected by Strength Drain auras, unlike most bosses :(

Also, what quality of Seahorse can I expect to get on Aquanos ISHC? Are there other solid DPS pets on maps that arent Aquanos? I can probably beat a decent chunk of the maps that dont have awful bosses like this one as long as the Shards enemies or ogres arent too strong on them

You can get Myth/Trans which are sufficient, potentially supreme maybe? The insane ones are close to nightmare, very doable.

@✪ ultix quote:

@Plane quote:

Most staves don't work very well on the tentacles (and elemental staves are especially bad).  The ember sceptre does work well, but I can't recommend that because it comes much later in progression compared to the Kraken.

Monk with Seahorse is really good.  I would recommend clearing Aquanos on Insane (or lower difficulty) first if you can to unlock survival, and then getting a Seahorse on survival wave 20, either InsaneHC or NMHC if you can manage it.  It can help a lot against the Kraken.  One common strat is to use a squire with 100% block shield and Seahorse, blocking with your back to the wall while your pet kills the boss.

By the way, the Kraken is not affected by Strength Drain auras, unlike most bosses :(

Also, what quality of Seahorse can I expect to get on Aquanos ISHC? Are there other solid DPS pets on maps that arent Aquanos? I can probably beat a decent chunk of the maps that dont have awful bosses like this one as long as the Shards enemies or ogres arent too strong on them

@Garzhod quote:

You can get Myth/Trans which are sufficient, potentially supreme maybe? The insane ones are close to nightmare, very doable.

Can't get sup on insane, but trans seahorses are already pretty good.