play the mistlands without it. i have been doing this for 3 weeks now myself. it works. gotta be more careful and look for mistfree areas and the blue lightposts.
i didnt do this because i wanted tough. i simply didnt know plains boss existed till i found a sign for it WEEKS after i was done with my plains gear and never saw a fuleing totem till then either. given its spawn is als FAR off south from my exploration route i am not suprised i found 2 queen spawns before it. and its on an isolated island in the middle of nowhere ocean on top. and it had 3 fuleing totem spawns pretty much right next to it... no suprise i never saw the damn things till then. still havent seen a 4th of 5th totem yet. and didnt bother searching for them given i already have full mistlands gear anyway already.

so whatever you get from him really isnt needed if you are careful take your time and avoid the super thick mist at the start. once you have the new gear venture into the mist and zoom IN. youll see a bit more. listen to enemy sounds. if you get jumped run to next dwarf outpost if the jump is too much for you.