Quacken

Exclusive to:

Quacken
	1000
	50 (37.5 )
Attack Period	15
Special Ability	Lobs ink bombs, spawns Quacken Tentacles.
Drops	, , , (first time only)
	"kraken"

“Now's not the time for me to be Quacken wise!”

–Wilson

“Kill it with fire!”

–Willow

“Crummy breadeater!”

–Wolfgang

“Kneel to me, foul beast!”

–Wendy

“WHAT'S THE NATURAL PURPOSE OF THIS ABOMINATION?”

–WX-78

“Octopodes have numerous defensive strategies.”

–Wickerbottom

“For Lucy!”

–Woodie

“You will bow to me.”

–Maxwell

“What an awe-inspiring vitriolic creature! I need a closer look!”

–Wagstaff

“I'll return yöu tö Hel herself!”

–Wigfrid

“Run away!”

–Webber

“Surf's up!”

–Walani

“I can't take the heat! Get me out of this kitchen!”

–Warly

“'Tis th'mightiest beast in th'sea!”

–Woodlegs

“UNEASY LIES THE HEAD 'NEATH THE WATER!”

–Wilba

“Angry Beaker”

–Wormwood

“Am I supposed to be impressed? Because I am.”

–Wheeler

The Quacken is a boss mob found in the Shipwrecked DLC. It is a giant brownish-blue creature with three eyes and many tentacles. It drops an​ Iron Key (only if Woodlegs hasn't been unlocked yet, and once per world), a Booty Bag and a Chest of the Depths when killed.

Quacken will spawn while the player is using a Trawl Net in Deep Ocean or ship graveyard (dark colored ocean tiles near Wrecks). Each item caught in the net has a 5% chance to spawn the Quacken. Once killed, another one won't spawn for 20 days. A Quacken will despawn if the player gets too far away.

Behavior

The head lobs 3 balls of ink towards the player when approached. The ink blobs deal 50 damage to any Mob around the impact location. After they land, either on the player or in the water, they leave behind an ink patch that lasts a few seconds. If the player enters the ink patch, it slows the Player Speed by 70% until the player leaves the ink patch or the patch disappears. If the blobs land on ground tiles, no ink patch will be generated. The head has no damaging melee attacks and can be safely hit while avoiding waves from tentacles.

The head will summon tentacles to aid it. Tentacles will attack most nearby Mobs. Aside from their direct damage, they also create large Waves in 4 directions when they attack. Tentacles do not share their health with the head, and damaging or killing tentacles is not necessary to kill the Quacken.

When the head receives a total damage more than 25% of its maximum health (250), it submerges to reappear some distance away. The same rule applies after it emerges in another location, meaning the Quacken will submerge 3 times, and the player will need to find it 3 times before it can be killed. The Quacken head has a map icon, which allows players to locate the head after it submerges. Damaging the tentacles is not necessary for the head to submerge, and will not speed up the process.

Fighting Strategy

Quacken Tentacles
	90
	50 (37.5 )
Attack Period	8
Special Ability	Creates Big Waves
Drops	5% 10%
	"kraken_tentacle"

The Quacken is a relatively easy boss mob to kill. When facing the Quacken, the biggest dangers to the player are boat damage and Wetness caused by the continuous surge of Big Waves created by the Quacken's tentacles. It is very likely that the player's boat will lose a significant portion of its durability while fighting the Quacken. For this reason, using a fully repaired, durable boat (such as the Armored Boat) and having at least one Boat Repair Kit in the player's inventory is recommended. Water resistant clothes are also recommended, as the waves will quickly soak any player not wearing them.

After the Quacken spawns, the player can sail directly to its head while avoiding its tentacles. The map can be useful for locating the head if it is not already on screen. Once the head has been reached, repeatedly attacking it with even a basic Spear will cause the Quacken to retreat and submerge fairly quickly. It will then reappear a short distance away. If the player's boat was heavily damaged during the first attack, this brief pause in the fight provides ample opportunity to use a Boat Repair Kit.

Repeating the above process 3 additional times will kill the Quacken.

Tips

• Quackens can be summoned quickly by attaching a Trawl Net and repeatedly dropping one buoyant item such as Twigs or Cut Grass in front of the player's boat while paddling in the Deep Ocean (CTRL + Click will drop one item while holding a stack). This process will roll the 5% spawn chance much more frequently than using the Trawl Net normally, though of course nothing of value will be collected from the net. Multiple nets may need to be used before a Quacken spawns, so bringing a few before setting out to sea is advised.
• Purple Groupers or Tropical Bouillabaisse can be eaten before and during a Quacken battle to provide immunity to both Wetness and boat damage from the Big Waves created by the tentacles, making the fight significantly easier.
• Befriending Bottlenose Ballphins is an alternative to water-proof clothes to offset the sanity drain from Wetness.
• During Hurricane and Monsoon seasons, the Tiger Shark can be summoned to fight the Quacken by eating a stack of Seeds, or any other easily obtained food.

Trivia

• When killed the second time, and every consecutive kill after, it will not drop the Iron Key when Woodlegs is still locked as a playable character.
• Quacken's name is a portmanteau on the name of the Kraken, a legendary sea monster that looks like a giant octopus, and "quack", an onomatopoeia of a duck's call. However, curiously, the Quacken seems to create high-pitched whistles and squawks rather than quacks. It also lacks any distinguishing features of a duck. Instead of a duck-like bill, it has a small black beak, a common feature of octopodes and squid.
• The attack in which it lobs a large ball of black ink towards the player is a parallel to a defense mechanism used by real life octopodes and squid, where, when threatened, they release a large cloud of dark, black ink around them. This allows them to distract and temporarily disable their attacker's vision, while they quickly escape the scene.
• The Quacken was introduced in the Release the Quacken! update.
  • This is a play-on-words of the iconic line from the 1981 film The Clash of the Titans, where Zeus says: "Release the Kraken!".

Bugs

• If one is using a Trawl Net or fighting a Quacken near the edge of the map, it is possible that the head will spawn or resurface in the fog surrounding the map. This will cause the head to be unreachable since every time the player approaches it, they will teleport to the other side of the map. However a Boat Cannon can be used to damage the head enough so that it moves outside of the fog.
• There is also a chance that the Quacken may spawn in with only the tentacles, and not the head, therefore making it impossible to kill the Quacken and get the loot. The tentacles can still be killed, but the head will never spawn in.

Gallery

• 

  A Quacken tentacle, as seen in the Shipwrecked trailer.

• 

  The Quacken, as seen in the Shipwrecked trailer.

• 

  An early sketch of The Quacken.

• 

  Quacken Tentacles as seen in the poster for the Release the Quacken update.

• 

  The Quacken as it appears in the Time Flies animated short