To be fair, Zazzlegut, Cursed Oasis is a tough dungeon (behind Labyrinth, Hard Gaan-Telet and maybe Shifting Passages if you don't know the tricks to it I think it's the third or fourth most difficult 'Hard' dungeon) -
My general advice - as Tinkers, prepping Elite Items is almost always worth it. On a Daily, the Apothecary might be equally valuable. You can translocate Yendor or Zot, Elven Boots and Dwarven Gauntlets are both big whole-game power items, Kegs are great, Alchemist's Seal is great for halflings or gnomes and tinkers can usually afford all of these. Another note as Tinker is that you'll want to buy items just for the CP a lot of the time.
I think with today's run confident JJ worship and understanding the curse mechanic on this map probably makes a lot of difference, as does knowing that fireball is not worthwhile against the dragon boss, so you want to keep another combat glyph for the endgame. Finding the Good Glenrick subdungeon early would also be really helpful and easy for a Tinker. As always in Cursed Oasis, save as much blackspace in the subdungeons as you possibly can, because you're going to want to explore almost all of the map before you fight the Curse Shade.
This map is kind of tricky from a monsters perspective. It's always worth knocking down Animated Armour death protections as you go. High level bandits are definitely your best catapults *but* can leave you stuck in the curse world, so treat them with caution. Thralls are really tough and it's sometimes a good idea to weaken a mid-level Thrall before you level up so you can snap it up and clear curse. Kill Shades (if practical) when you need to clear curse in the bottom side of the map, as you'll lose access to them and their XP once you beat the Curse Shade.
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JJ + Halpme + Dwarven Gauntlets... I had a 25 mana pool, nearly 200 health and Yendor and a Chaos Avatar *and* popcorn left over and TT still on the map. Was truly thoroughly ridiculous. Even converted Fireball and just punched the Shade to death.
Out of interest, how does it work if you push the Curse Shade onto the Curse Dragon's tile then pick up the soul to decurse yourself? (I imagine there's nothing to be seen here but still it would be decidedly cutesy).