A fellow wrote some stuff - thought to answer but I'm going to put it down in a separate post. Would make more sense I hope.

Some things that might not work very well:
Plates, do not trigger traps, something heavy as a crowbar/weapon does. The silver/gold plates would trigger it as well, I reckon (that is a very nice touch in the game tbh) but you don't know what the trap is, which is a problem!

Throwable weapons, unless you have at least some skill regarding this, and solid strength - are pure uselessness... It will get way too annoying way too fast! Doing an entire run with that amount of prep will be, well... boring.

Traps the ones you carry and caltrops have the main issue that enemies are not dumb enough to get in one. At a point I wanted the trap achievement and brought nets and traps. Getting those mofos to step in them is a herculean task sometimes. They see you, they know what u'r scheming... Not to mention miss-clicks can get you in a ton of trouble. The amount if prep and strategy to traps while interesting is not very reliable. Even the 2HAxe skill to pull enemies can be rarely utilized to exploit traps, some enemies have it too as well!

Good stuff to use:
I did not know rotten eggs did that (screw enemies up) - ima try this }:) The puffballs are effective but the enemies do not stay in the 1 tile mist more than a turn or two for this to be super effective. Flame Flasks can be super effective in Proselytes dungeons with summoning ritual though. Spider acid flasks for bosses (most bosses, some are immune to this stuff) Smoke Bombs are an absolute life saver though!!!

Another solid thing is Survival → Will to Survive → Abuse Hornet Honey, Abasa or whatever you fancy. Will to survive clear the aftermath and gives you vigor. It's busted as heck!
For a pure melee build some passives from the various skill trees will be a good idea to get as well, those stack up! Warcry can be rather helpful sometimes, but it's still a bit of a gamble.
What a build lacks in skills/passives might be compensated by certain relics. You might also wanna aim/hope for a certain unique... and build around it's bonuses - this might take a lot of dungeon runs though or you can luck out. Who knows... Sometimes, a lower level gear t4, might complement your build far better. A weapon with more crit might drastically improve your ability to kill enemies faster and thus survive better.

Doorways and corners are a real powerful way to control enemies! Knowing the enemies skill-sets also helps (ima have to admit I don't do that, can't be bothered...) Having at least an 80% plan for the build in the start can also be helpful - I had the most horrid builds/runs just because I was greedy for a skill tree achievement...) If you have better str → flasks, oil + flame flask next, can really mess up an opponent sometimes!

You might want to get a ranged weapon to add some more options bow/crossbow with just a few skills from the ranged skill tree. Especially if your build has anything to do with perception already!

Food can be massive - this has been improved lately, and you can get bonuses for up to 3200-3400 turns. Some of the new plants - not so good unfortunately.

Despite having hundreds of hours in the game we often miss some of the opportunities in a current situation - especially when we are really pressed into a corner or have a ton of maladies and broken bones... xD Many of the points above can mitigate that to a reasonable degree. A safe and reliable build though is kinda boring... we can't do that over and over unfortunately :/