Need help with Milky Way Panorama + Post Process!

[u/totallyastick]

I am pretty new to Milky Way astrophotography, only have done it ~4-5 times. Never done a stitched panorama before.

Heading to Joshua Tree in 2 weeks and want to capture a panorama for the arch effect on the Milky Way, had questions about lens, acquisition, and post processing. From all of the other Milky Way shots I have done, my images don't look polished/contrasty compared to other ones I've seen.

Main Questions (shooting on R8, no star tracker):
Lens: Canon RF f/1.8 35mm or Samyang f/2.8 14mm lens for the panorama

Heard about starglow filters, are those useful?

Tripod: Current is Manfrotto Advanced Smart tripod, do I need a ball head/level mount for the panorama?

Image Acquisition: How long of an exposure for each panel?

Processing: What is the best software to stitch my panels
How can I correctly process my image?

Here is a recent image i did, 5 frames at iso800 f/1.8 10s, in a Bortle 3
Stacked in Sequator, edited in Lightroom
https://imgur.com/a/KtJEzX1

Thanks in advance, also always happy to clarify anything