I load up on defense points (Vitality), but this results in a noodle armed character who cannot deal near enough damage to make progress. My problems typically go one of two ways: The Healing Bot, for example, simply cannot provide enough heal points fast enough, and I inevitably run out of healing potions. However, my character simply cannot stay alive against the monsters I'm fighting.

This time through I'm trying out a two-handed engineer, which I've had good success with on other difficulty levels. I'm trying for the third or fourth time to make it through the Elite difficult level in Torchlight 2, and as usual, I'm unable to proceed past the second stage of act 1 (the Estherian Steppes).