Thank you so much for that deep review! I don't use shields either haha, but overall don't worry, the game is a bit hard indeed, especially that pharaoh and his clones.. requires a good dose of strategy to focus clones and scarabs in priority, and some good rng too to take him down fast enough... also some weapons make it even slightly easier, typically hose with effects or 25 dmg (which is the max)..
We wanted to add the stats of swapped item indeed, but did not have time left to implement it sadly..
Thanks again! Really glad you enjoyed so much :D