@holly bring a lot of food. I often use pizza because it restores a ton of health and can be bought from the saloon but there are more efficient uses of your money. I've heard that goat cheese aged in casks heals a ton of health and is relatively easy to get large quantities of. You could also use salmonberries/blackberries since it's easy to get huge quantities of them
I put the food in my first item slot so if shit gets hectic I can hit 1 and then mash right click to restore some health
If you have a prismatic shard sitting around then put it in your inventory and go to the center of the weird structure in the top right of the desert and it will transform into one the game's strongest weapons
You could also build ten or so stairs for emergencies and plop one down whenever you enter a room that looks too dangerous
@holly oh yeah eating food that buffs luck is also good
Luck will increase the probability of finding staircases or holes
Spicy Eel, Fried Eel, Pumpkin Soup, and Lucky Lunch are just some of the foods that buffs luck
You can also turn on the TV and listen to the fortune teller to see if you have good luck that day before deciding to mine