Need SSF Advice

I've been playing PoE since ~2017 and got completely obsessed with it over the last few patches. These are the first leagues where I've finished 36/40 and did all ubers in POE2.

I've been doing SSF to mix things up, and both of my characters have stalled out somewhere in the mid/late maps so it'd be great to get some advice from more experienced SSF players.

For example, I most recently ran DeadRabb1t's Plant Abyssal Lich through yellow waystones and couldn't find, roll, or gamble a +5 staff to save my life and break into reds. My feeling is that I should've started saving and rolling bases much earlier.

• How are you prioritizing the atlas and using league mechanics? What types of nodes are you prioritizing?
• Should I be tweaking my filters aside from T1/2 bases?
• Crafting feels limited without trade. How do you handle needing essences, omens, and currency?

Honestly just looking for ideas because right now my goal is to do SSF Arbiter in 0.5.5.