Go back to base before a big fight
There are times when an NPC will tell you a big fight is coming. Take advantage of that knowledge and go back to Haven to level up what you can for stats, armor, weapons, rings etc. if you don't want to lose any umbra then you should buy the pouches of umbra from the merchant. It will cost you a little umbra but it is better to spend only a little rather than losing the whole batch on a tough boss