Start build phase with 2 aurastacks, both buff beams, 8DU worth of reflect beams, and 2 LT + 3 DST. If ogres wave 1 are giving your tower stack trouble, build the reflect beams wave 2 and build 2 archers on the top of the right minion wall wave 1 instead.

Upgrade Jester can be used all the way until boss, which requires a tboost monk, two guardian summoners (app/hunt on both), and the builder apprentice active (for 30% more dmg on towers as well as 1 more char getting map rewards). My tower boost stat was 3.5k.

Hint 4 is a wall of 6-7 blocker archers. It is very important to place these in FRONT of, NOT behind, the reflect beams, otherwise the mini mechs will stand right up against them and fire through the reflect beams.
Hint 5 is what the reflect beams should look like. The two on the sides won't cover the entire choke, and that's OK.

Consistency is a bit of an issue because of the randomness of boss pathing. This can only be solved by having higher stats*, ie killing the boss before it gets a chance to choose a game-losing path. If you find yourself struggling, I recommend you farm winter wonderland for accessories + coal instead.

*you can also influence the pathing somewhat by having a dps (ideally with a fairy) tank the boss and keep him towards the top half of the map. Even if you die, the boss is more likely to take a clockwise path around the right, giving your towers enough time to kill.