I ran into a pack of three really tough guys at the beginning of the Snowy Depths. My first idea was to use my cool vertical barrier wand to keep them back, but they could shoot through the barrier, even if they couldn't pass it themselves.
Then, I decided to take shots then retreat into the shaft that drops into the Snowy Depths because it's narrow, and my bouncy beam could cover a lot of it. It did kill some of them, but it also attracted more of them.
So, I started retreating further into the Holy Mountain ruins, but I got cornered and lost my extra life. I did win but was hurt badly, then got killed by the first guy who found me after the standoff. At least I got a lot of blood and gold!