So with the new sunlight numbers too, you can tank up to 230 damage combos in the corner now which is pretty nice lol.
As far as blood totem, it's a long game. But when it pays out, God damn it is oppressive. Every session I play it I usually get one godly amount that they just pause the game or drop the controller and just looks at me defeated lol.
You do have to be vigilant with summoning, but you also have to be Rock solid on defense and know when to cash out. With the new cat dash frames it lets you meaty f2 and wave throws etc. But I try and back dash summon every now and then when they are scared etc. Or after f34 hits. If I already have a 2 stack I will almost always take hits to 3 stack.