You can honestly climb with however much you're willing to spend. But a super cheap and effective method would be to make a guardian and put all your stat points into intelligence. Get a tier III club + plate with 30+ enhanced effect for 1 fg each and melee up until level 5 or 10, and then buy a weapon, armour, and charm with heal mastery and a heal charm with some enhanced effect
just upgrade your gear whenever you can afford it and you'll likely always be welcome in catacombs groups as long as you try
Good luck!