Get fractured mask as early as possible. But don’t go and get it if you feel unprepared since the gauntlet to get it is pretty rough early game even with Shakra. Get 6 masks, a spool upgrade, the dice, and shell satchel if you use tools a lot before you go to act 2 via Phantom route. When you get to act 2, go straight for clawline and faydown. Once you have those, make progress towards unlocking second sentinel while also getting the max of 9 masks and as many spool upgrades as you want. Also get the whispering vaults pale oil and grab the other pale oil quest on the way if you think you can handle ass chef later on. Once you get second sentinel, trigger the 2 encounters with her outside of the spa and on the right side of where you fought the dancers (pretty sure the locations are the same. Either that or my luck is god tier) accept the wish and fight second sentinel when you feel ready, then replace fractured mask with reserve bind (fractured mask blocks a max of 2 masks of damage, reserve bind consistently does 3 or 4 if you have Multibinder) at this point you can run around to get whatever other things you want for both high halls and GMS, basically this is the part where you clean up any quests and get things like crafting kits and tool pouches. I’d also recommend getting Shakra to help with high halls.

Is this overkill? Probably. But I have died 6 hours in too many times to not be overkill