It was a bit fun the first go around, could I have made better choices? Yes. Went full wolf, never deviated. Eventually you cannot beat anything if you don't sacrifice your blood/sanity max. I did no do that since I thought they'd have a general use as they always did. They did not and it was more so based on exp that can never go below the level you reach.

I tried rebirth run and it was a slog as I got 3 points. Maybe from lvl 3? Who knows. It really needs some soul point optimization and a speed up once you beat it the first time.