I hear you, Elwin. I've got Phantom myself but I haven't started using it yet. I am going to take DGD's advice and put some work into the Summoning ability to counteract low Intellect (currently, at level 2, Phantom is only doing 31%) but Mind runes are a big problem. I think I'm going to have to do the rune exchange in Montero.
In my game I still can't find Target, which I could really use, or Resurrection or Time Back. I used Time Back a lot in my last game and I think it's the best way of 'rolling back' damage (although very expensive in mana). I used Horsemen in my last game for this reason, as they are both strong in terms of hp and very fast.
I got the Shettera map quite easily in Montero and, as someone said in one of these threads, Shettera is really good for picking up flags/crystals. There's even one quest you can do without fighting. But what I really want is that damn Target spell! I have the Tekron map but I don't want to run into that problem someone had where they were always running into one of the bosses when they arrived.
I think I am up to about 110 fights without loss and it's day 11. So I'm doing this slower than travelingoz, for sure. But I won't care if I get there in the end!