Insanity is a game mechanic mainly present in The Depths, but also on the Surface to a lesser extent. Insanity is dictated by a meter that is not directly shown to the player, but its progress can be tracked by a blue hue on the border of the screen. Once your sanity has decreased enough, it will begin to debilitate your character, eventually leading to death. Players start with a base 80
Echoes are a currency that is obtained by wiping characters. The amount of Echoes gained through wiping increases based on how much progress the character had made before being wiped. Echoes can be spent on Upgrades; permanent buffs that transfer with each Character Wipe. While in the character creation menu, the Echoes tab can be used to spend Echoes on Upgrades. In addition, Modifiers can be
Most Monster Mantras are appropriately considered very powerful, so having the Abyssal Ridge that's based off one of the Nautilodaunt's stomp attacks being weak is a pretty appalling sight to many. It doesn't instantly block-break like the Nautilodaunt's stomp, and bizarrely enough, it can be actually parried unlike the Nautildaunt's stomp attacks.
Golden tongue and all of the vow of mastery talents are good. For mantras you can use the linkstrider ones (obviously) and reinforce. You can also experiment with potions tooznpy.