Yeah, I'm very cautious with the Chemist too. This one wasn't terrible, what with the Blue Bead in the shop pool and Mystera for Refreshment and HALPMEH to beat through the magic resistant form. The snakes, golems, and wraiths were excellent XP fodder. I managed to get a +4 level kill just by spamming fireballs at a wraith in mana form, and got some very nice kills against the other monsters with HALPMEH. In hindsight, I didn't use mana form nearly enough and could have gotten way more piety. I switched to JJ for the final form of the boss, using Binlor to nab petition and avoid any unwanted surprises and grab a few boosts.
And I totally sympathize with the post streak-break apathy. I've been knocked out of 2nd place on the leaderboard twice now and... well, you just have to take a page from the Glowing Guardian and request the Humility boon.