Making it work: Skarre 2 Kraken

It's been a little quiet here lately, so I'll throw this into the group with the intent of sparking some discussion

After the WTC I wanted to dive into Slaughter Fleet Raiders and I've always had a soft spot for Skarre 2 and the Kraken because Death Ward, Black Spot and a basically immune feat is exactly what the Kraken needs. Gang Fighter is a great addition to this as MAT 6, POW 19 is quite sad, while MAT 8, POW 21 is respectable. DEF 15, ARM 21 unchargeable Kraken that chooses columns for damage is also not bad at all.

I've settled on this list:

conflictchamber.com/#c4201b_-0V0I1ac3kpkr2Ikq9ukjkg1_kkko

Cryx Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Slaughter Fleet Raiders

[Skarre 2] Skarre, Queen of the Broken Coast [+26]
- Defiler [8]
- Kraken [36]
- Satyxis Blood Priestess [4]
Axiara Wraithblade [0(6)]
General Gerlak Slaughterborn [0(6)]
Misery Cage [2]
Ragman [4]
Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]
Blighted Trollkin Marauders (max) [15]
Bloodgorgers (max) [15]
- Jussika Bloodtongue [5]
Scharde Dirge Seers [6]

So, the list is mostly about enabling the Kraken and exploiting DEF.

Dirge Seers can hand out Guidance to both Skarre and the Kraken, form a cloud wall to protect the squishy emo caster or mix it up in melee with auto wounds. I'm usually not afraid to play them aggressively.
Ironmongers let me laugh at DEF skews and take chip damage off the Kraken (sometimes I'm forced to take a pre-feat alpha if my threat range is too low. 
Ragman is the only damage buff in the list, bar Gang Fighter.
Bloodgorgers are excellent infantry blenders while the Marauders are great at softening up targets or swarming around the Kraken, to boost the DEF skew. Both being medium bases, means they are good at jamming and/or screening.  If I can spare Death Ward for them they are quite resilient against shooting. The choice of 10-man units is made to have more bodies available for Gang Fighter.
Misery Cage and Blood Priestess both help Skarre's efficiency, so she's not cutting too deep (pun intended). The Blood Priestess is another layer of defense for the squishy emo girl as well.
The Defiler is there because I need at least one arc node and had enough points to make it into a spray, which is quite nice if I already have Black Spot up. This model usually takes Admonition until I need it on Skarre.
Axiara is Axiara and Gerlak is Gerlak, though I need to learn to use both of them more efficiently as they often lag behind while not exploiting enough of their own combat abilities. Veteran Leader and the only Grievous Wounds in the list make Gerlak invaluable and Axiara handing out Reposition or Dodge to Skarre, Dodge or Prowl to the Marauders or Dirge Seers are great, not to mention Tactician.

It's rather important that I feat after I alpha, because without that double alpha, the Kraken doesn't get enough time to do things. Nonetheless, the list can struggle into ARM or box spam, especially if there's more than the Kraken can handle alone, as the rest is not great at cracking durable models. It also really suffers if my opponent can deal with the Kraken efficiently.
I've played it to success in a lot of combined arms lists, but even Armored Corps, that should be doable with such a low model count, can go wrong if the Kraken fails a few crucial rolls.
I'm quite sure that it's partly because I'm not playing the list to its full potential.

Despite that I love the list as it has a lot of options and answers many questions.

So, my question is if anyone would have thoughts or suggestions on how to play the list more efficiently and/or deal with the ARM cracking problem better while retaining the feel of the list. Maybe I have too much points tied up into Kraken support? I'm actually not 100% sure that opposing durability needs to be a problem as long as I deal with it efficiently, which is also something I need to work on. For instance, I played against a beast heavy opponent that also brought a gargantuan, but with all the tough medium bases I can jam it for days and not worry about it until I'm ready.

The Dirge Seers do enough by themselves to justify them regardless, but I'm not sure about the six points in the Ironmongers. Though in a pinch they can take half out of a heavy to unjam the Kraken, but then they need to be played more aggressively. I also think the repair option is really good so I am better able to take an alpha on the chin while staying at max functionality afterwards (just need to make sure I keep cortex)
It would also help if the rest of the list was better at cracking hard targets, but I don't think that's really available in SFR, especially while keeping a respectable model count?
Maybe it's a question of finding the right pair to scare away the bad matchups? What would those be, apart from ARM/boxes? 

TL;DR: thoughts on the list and how to play it?

EDIT: wow, my 1000th post, the sky finally fell.