Advanced gearing
Introduction
This guide will focus mainly on Kraken's mechanics and the general framework for building a team to beat Kraken comfortably. In addition, unless otherwise stated, all facts and figures mentioned here are with reference to Level 150 Kraken.
Important Mechanics
When you first start the fight, there will be 3 black tentacles on the map. Each of these tentacles will start a hit check (5 second duration, requires 85 hits to clear) once they reach 30% HP. You will receive 10 deployment points for each successfully cleared hit check; However, failing a hit check will cause the tentacles to attack you instead with a series of 3 attacks that has 8 valid hits and Super Tier Hitstun. The damage from these 3 hits is not much, and will usually only kill extremely squishy units, like Old Admin Rifleman.
After killing the first 3 black tentacles, the Kraken boss itself will appear on the map. Upon entering the map, the boss will use a mapwide attack with 99 valid hits and Super Tier Hitstun, pushing your entire team back slightly, while also silencing all your units for 5 seconds. It will then use its Special Skill immediately after, pushing your entire team almost all the way back to your ship. This Special Skill also has Surefire, but units that have Perfect Evasion (like A.Mina) can dodge the knockback, while units that have Hitstun or Knockback Immunity (like A.Regina) can ignore the knockback entirely. However, this is not a good thing, because units which avoid the knockback will be left exposed and all alone, with no access to healers and no protection from proper frontliners, which can result in them dying outright, especially for backliners. To avoid this from happening, do not use units that have Perfect Evasion / Hitstun Immunity / Knockback Immunity too early. After the boss uses its first Special Skill, it will spawn 3 more black tentacles which follow the same rules as the first 3 black tentacles: Passing the hit check will reward you with 10 free deployment points, but failing it will cause the tentacles to attack you back. Upon killing the tentacles, the boss will enter its "Groggy" state, inflicting itself with a -30% DEF debuff and not doing anything at all for the next 15 seconds. After 15 seconds has passed, the "Groggy" state will end, and the -30% self-inflicted DEF debuff will disappear.
After the “Groggy: state ends, the boss will now be able to use its Ultimate Skill, but it will not be able to use its Special Skill.
The boss will also now spawn the final set of 3 black tentacles, but these tentacles cannot be attacked by allies; they will remain invincible for the remainder of the fight, continuously menacing your entire team with their attacks.
Additional Notes:
Aside from when the tentacles are performing a Super Tier Hitstun attack after failing a hit check, all their other attacks have Skill Tier Hitstun.
Melee attacks from the boss will inflict a permanent debuff that gives -1% Category 2 RES and -2% Incoming Healing, stacking up to 50. Ranged attacks from the boss will inflict a 30 seconds long undispellable debuff that gives -20% Incoming Healing, stacking up to 5.
This means that you cannot out-heal or out-tank the boss forever, thanks to the permanent Incoming Healing debuffs.
Basic Team Building for Kraken
Units that have fast ASPD, buff ASPD for your team, or consist of multiple units are very good at efficiently clearing all 6 hit checks. Examples of such units include A.Seo Yoon, R.Gaeun, Sobin, Shin Jia, Old Admin Rifleman, and Ifrit.
Due to the large amounts of deployment points rewarded to players upon clearing multiple hit checks, multiple expensive awakened units can now be easily used, even without units like Lin Xien and Sigma to generate deployment points. Some of the best awakened units for this boss include A.Shin Jia, A.Mina, and Curian.
In terms of debuffers, the usual choices such as Agnes, Tarrasque, and Chifuyu will work just fine. Since the boss is also a CO, Lone Lee works great here.
For DPS, just pick the best DPS units that you have.
Since the Kraken is also a “Struggle” type enemy under the Origin system, you can also use your own “Struggle” type units for additional bonuses against the boss. To find your “Struggle” units, use the filtering menu as shown below:
Linked below is an example video that I have recorded, for your reference: