Am I missing something with Sanctum?

So if I understand Sanctum mechanics correctly, it's like this:
- You get books as drops in maps.
- You can use those books to start Sanctum runs.
- You have a Resolve pool. If a mob hits you, you lose Resolve.
- It's impossible to regain Resolve through any means.
- Resolve also does not regenerate after room completion.
- Once you lose all Resolve, you fail a run.

If all of this is true, how exactly am I meant to not fail a Sanctum run on the first or second room? I just burned through 3 books, 2 times I failed on the first room and the third time I failed on the second room (though the first room gave me 3 chaos, which is kinda nice).

I can't think of any sort of build that would successfully be able to complete a Sanctum run. Your Resolve doesn't seem to be tied to your Life, and even though upping armour is meant to reduce Resolve loss on hit, it still feels impossible to kill the unique mobs without losing at least 50 Resolve on each.

Is there something which can make Sanctum easier or is it meant to be ultra-hardcore bullet hell?

Some builds are good at sanctum, some builds are very bad. It is about avoiding damage not being able to tank it. You also need relics to have better chances and you basicly need a lot of dps, since if stuff is alive for to long you basicly get hit to often. Builds that can kill stuff very quickly offscreen are as always very handy.

And this is just the first step. Then you need to learn which choices are advantageous and what to avoid at any cost. Meaning rooms, rewards and afflictions/boons.

To answer your question: Relics make it easier and boons you get, stuff you can buy at the vendor(imortant) makes it easier. You can try to avoid some of the "bullet hell" rooms once you know them.

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Strickl3r#3809 wrote:

Some builds are good at sanctum, some builds are very bad. It is about avoiding damage not being able to tank it. You also need relics to have better chances and you basicly need a lot of dps, since if stuff is alive for to long you basicly get hit to often. Builds that can kill stuff very quickly offscreen are as always very handy.

And this is just the first step. Then you need to learn which choices are advantageous and what to avoid at any cost. Meaning rooms, rewards and afflictions/boons.

To answer your question: Relics make it easier and boons you get, stuff you can buy at the vendor(imortant) makes it easier. You can try to avoid some of the "bullet hell" rooms once you know them.

Hmm, you're actually right. A VFoS build like mine won't stand a chance, but it could be clearable with the builds that clear screens fast.

VFOS can work just fine if you are either good with the mechanics of the monsters that show up (requires practise and paying attention to what monsters do, not something a modern poe player would be used to) or if you have enough damage to just oneshot everything so you have less chances to get hit. From there it's just matter of getting relics for resolve recovery. You can do full sanctum runs on builds that aren't specialized for it with some practise.

That said, super high dps off screen/shoot around the corner builds are best for sanctum since your hp/defense hardly matters at all.

I haven't touched sanctum since the sanctum league and the league after for some challenges.

Melee builds, although capable, complete sanctum runs 4times harder than a sanctum build can.

You can also generate resources ( like resolve or inspiration) through the runs based on the choices you make.