ty ty
the shield is mostly a stall weapon and doesnt do as much potential damage as other weapons, the battles will last longer, moreso if youre banking on the hp bonus and regen of the slime augments for survivability.
the enemies that come in swarms are usually weaker than normal enemies in all aspects so they go down quickly but they will overwhelm you if you dont have enough damage to focus down one or two at the start, you might want to try other weapons or augments if youre having trouble with a build, for example you can get bursts of damage with agility augments.
the rena teammates are almost as strong as the mc, i cant see how theyd be considered a detriment, you might have to manage their corruption to keep them from turning into enemies but you have 3 characters instead of 1.
If youre having trouble you might want to try using the easy mode item that reduces enemy stats, more equipment slots would get too powerful with combinations as i add more augments.