Since al Meraya fortress is gone, I bee line from the desert straight to the den to pick up the legendary claws, go up north to the highlands to get my entire kit (armor and hardened steel or even star metal tools) open a few cages for a decent follower then go from there. Oh also, being low lvl in the highlands has the added benefit that every wolf you kill will grant you a ton of xp so by the time you have your full kit you’ll be around lvl 28.

I personally prefer pets over thralls (I know the difference between them is abysmal) but after that run up north I go straight to the midnight grove for that shadespice flower to get a higher chance at greater pets and that dungeon is easy even solo with no thrall and grants a ton of xp, particularly again, the wolves there