Topic is pretty much the thread title, I am making this thread to basically give some information on our newest friend in Horde, although I suppose we could also discuss some about it as well for different view points. Some things in this thread may also be based off of personal experiences. Also, be warned that there’s lots of text ahead.
Also note that I have done my testing in Frenzy and as such it may not be representative for the 50 wave variant.
First thing, I’ve been working on identifying which maps the Wakaatu appears on over the last two days and have come up with this list which I think is 99% accurate. It also contains information for some maps where I saw reason to (or remembered) testing which spaces it will be able to enter.
To note : Checkmarks indicate presence of the Wakatu, but if it can spawn in on wave 8, it also can on wave 12 in my experience.
The ‘/‘ symbol indicates the Wakaatu hasn’t spawned on the map at all.
“Spawn not witnessed” means that I have not seen the Wakaatu spawn on the map despite it being open and large enough for it to appear, and am not entirely confident that it doesn’t spawn, but if people could confirm, that’d be nice.
Abyss : /
Allfathers Arena : 
Asylum : No spawn witnessed
Blood Drive : /
Bunker :
Canals : /(99% certain)
Checkout : /
Clocktower :
Dam :
District : (camps around arcade room entrances, stays underground if in smaller inside area)
Exhibit : /
Forge : (doesn’t appear to enter control room)
Foundation : (can go or get you basically everywhere except far back in the spawn)
Gridlock :
Harbor : no spawn witnessed
Icebound : No spawn witnessed
Lift : (does not attack by middle fab spawn, and in submarine location, only when in the corridor leading in/out)
Nexus : (can go pretty much anywhere)
Overload : /(should be pretty obvious)
Pahanu :
Rail Line : Presumably doesn’t spawn any, none seen during tests
Reactor : (may not go on the central platform in middle - only showed up after I went off it)
Reclaimed : (does not enter side rooms on left/right of spawn areas, only spits acid from outside)
Regency : (no safe place)
River : (won’t come into house but will spit acid in if on ground floor or upstairs at the edge of the room - under the bridge is a safe-ish space where Carrier also won’t follow)
Training Grounds : (spawn zone and frags underneath the overlook area are mostly safe)
Vasgar : no spawn witnessed
AI behavior/how it spawns :
May vary in personal experience.
The Wakaatu always shows up at the start of a wave for me, but only seems to go after players which are in places accessible to it, otherwise it will remain underground until someone steps into a zone where it can either spray them with acid from an entrance or go after them more actively in the open. So it may be possible to keep the Wakaatu away from the base or underground all the time until you’re ready to deal with it, depending on whichever player has its aggro. Leaving it until last may be the most viable strategy if it can possibly be ignored, as it will otherwise start flying and make your life a lot harder. Someone can also be a distraction to hit it so it doesn’t bother everyone else cleaning up the smaller enemies.
Controller vibration and/or simply watching the screen shake is a reliable indicator for when you have a Wakaatu about to make your lives miserable. The ground will also start bubbling green in the spot where it will surface about a second or two before it does. Standing too close will stagger your character, but so far I have not been insta killed by it. The beast likes to come up behind you so when you suspect it’s about to surface and you’re in the open… turn around.
When the first venom gland is knocked off the Wakaatu will start going airborne and spitting acid from the air while not exposing its weakpoints nearly as much which can make it significantly harder to damage, especially as part of its head/beak appears to be a no damage zone similar to Swarmak or Warden crystals.
When the Wakaatu reaches half health(or when it has lost two of its venom glands, I do not know for sure which of the two it is), it will also start creating “bubbles” of acid that act as timed bombs and come up from the ground. You have enough time to avoid those if you notice them.
What it spawns with :
While I have not specifically identified the spawn sets the Wakaatu comes with on each Frenzy map(except Reclaimed on waves 5-8, if you get Leeches and Boomshot Scions, the Wakaatu is one possible boss spawn), but it generally appears to tend to spawn in either with a Snatcher or Carrier as second boss. Some of those patterns may also have Guardians buzzing around to make things even harder.
Status effects :
Stun does not appear to affect the Wakaatu at all, so if you want to have it hold still, try your luck with a Cryo Cannon as it is potentially very vulnerable to it.
Bleed on the Wakaatu stops as soon as it goes back underground, also appears that it cannot be damaged if it’s in the process of going back underground.
Its health will also regenerate when heading underground, which I could tell by the Wakaatu going down on 25-30% health and coming back up closer to 60-70% of its health. Which was odd as I do not recall the Reclaimed daily from today having a regeneration modifier for enemies.
Damage :
The acid pools on the ground aren’t immediately lethal but getting caught in one of the direct attacks will almost certainly result in a one hit down if you’re playing on a mid level to higher difficulty. Unfortunately they’re also somewhat difficult to completely avoid getting hit by.
Health :
It seems to have a lot of it, enough to withstand an ult drop and GL barrage from a Demo with maxed skills, before heading back underground.
Other trivia :
Reflective shell doesn’t reflect acid damage back onto the boss, but just blocks it.
Anchor’s barrier ult will deflect the acid globs fired by the Wakaatu from the air away in seemingly random directions, or at least it seemed to be that way, rather than absorbing them like other things fired at the shield.
Sorry Kestrel, but you’ve been replaced as the new number 1 for causing wipes on high difficulty runs… unless it’s on maps where the Wakaatu isn’t present while the Kestrel is.
My impressions are the boss would be fair to fight while not being easy to cheese if it wasn’t for the fact that it seems to require players being mobile but that is practically impossible with TCs artificial difficulty where nearly everything is a hyper accurate bullet sponge that downs you in a second. It currently sure seems like the most difficult of them partly because it’s either made to be fought on its own or with only a few enemies, or TCs atrocious artificial balancing is rearing its ugly head again much like when people used to complain about how annoying the Matriarch was at launch.
