Admittedly this could have used some refinement. We intended that when it gets dicey you use your abilities to create space for you to collect the essences. This was meant to encourage smart management of abilities and cooldowns while also introducing some risk.
Waves never end, but I won't give away spoilers. Try to finish the prototype to experience some eye candy ;-)
There is a feint aiming triangle under the character that follows the mouse position. The sword will always inflict damage on that cone. We can look at ways to improve the visibility of this or refine the character position to make aiming feel more natural and intuitive.
Great feedback! Thanks!