There is a time to run away too. Stamina limitation can be an issue if you pull too many guys. But the enemy are coded to wander mid combat, so if you beeline (weaving around cover if enemy is ranged) to your nearby portal you can make good your escape. Better, enemy heal slowly if at all, so when you are healed up you have an advantage from every hit you made last try.

The game is tough. You are probably going to die sometimes: stuff happens even if you were more or less as prepared as you can be. Having a couple of sets of backup gear, esp easy to make stuff like padded armor (one extra swamp run, which is trivial by this point, gets you the iron, and linen you can grow & process) and black iron weapon/shield, there isnt a lot of excuse to not have pretty good backup gear. I have 3 sets of padded, frostner, porcupine, and BM sword and multiple BM shields (worst of the lot: need extra chains).