You need to get the item that increases your damage. Blow your wad on the outliers that are directly blocking chokepoints.

The second try, after I died the first time, I had every single item before I engaged a single enemy.

Also, never fight more than 1v1.

I absolutely love that they add such variety to a game like this. It's refreshing. If it's too hard for you turn down the difficulty to get past it so you can continue your story, and come back to it once you feel like you really want to tackle it and figure it out.