Having Trouble Understanding Game's Balance

[Jackson]

Hey friends,

Just wanted to share some thoughts as I've been casually playing Last Epoch in between other games. Usually to my detriment, I enjoy playing games in hardcore, and so I have been attempting a deathless campaign run in this game.

I have experienced random difficulty spikes throughout the campaign. Some examples that come to mind are the Imperial Welwyn and Majasan Desert where ranged attackers are relentless and I cannot seem to mitigate the damage they inflict. I regularly upgrade my resists to as close to 75% as possible, with a focus on Physical Resist first and then others depending on common damage types of the area. An example, for the Desert, I had everything to 75% except for Cold and Lightning which hovered around ~60%. The main damage types appeared to be Physical and Poison. but I was getting shredded regardless.

Is the game unbalanced or am I misunderstanding the fundamentals? For reference, I was playing a Void Knight with a skill focus on spinning hammers. Being as mobile as that character is as well as tanky as the passives suggested, I left the game frustrated when I died in the desert as it felt unmitigated. Your insight is appreciated.