So I made a thread a while back about the strongest armor in the game... well... I found one that tops it and pretty much any other armor for that matter. It's a little number called the Spiked Armor. Now, on paper, it looks horrible, as you need level 72 Earth to even make this puppy, and it takes away a ton of mana gain per second. So much in fact, that unless you have capped out Water, and Mind, and using all their respective mana related spells, you're not gonna have any mana gain at all, since this ...

Since his Holy spells just cut through Def.

Sewer hideout - Ethereal Eel Burial Chambers - Ethereal Puppet Subterranean Sanctuary - Ethereal Mantis Castle on the Bridge - Ethereal Djinn

Just managed to beat Lytha and get to the Plains of Peace, but pretty much everything is wrecking me now. I can kill Mana Shells and Nine-tails, but they're grinds. Is there anything here I should really hold out and pick up for my next run? Or is this just one of those walls where it's really time to retire now?...

it seems impossible to progress because of this, trash mobs that start out not doing damage eventually one-shot, and i can't figure out what mechanic is causing it (it's not poison, in particular). help?