Game plan
The Red Rift is pretty difficult for everyone (even those with autochess experience), theres a few things you need to do that will help your progression in the Red Rift and build a streak.
The Rift Seal at 1-1
I'm a pretty big fan of not worrying too much about the bonus at the start and instead opting for choosing a Tank to begin charging the Rift Seal. Tanks in general are fairly capable of doing damage at 1-1, 1-2, 1-3 so you can opt to finish charging your tank seal instantly. (There are obviously exceptions, I don't like the team size adjustment options)
Most units have around 50 Def- any 5g item will make them significantly more tanky, but the red rift seal no matter how upgraded they are in the future will make them untanky, so I like to finish that portion of the seal immediately. In the image above all the choices are pretty good; you could select Gustav who (has the best relic IMO), Zuri, (who I think is pretty broken and is a tank), or Dragomir (who can farm you gold at 1-1 1-2 if positioned well - has the weakest relic).
First Shop
After 1-1 I would generally look to buy 2 champions (ideally 2 tanks + dmg), and select whichever relic gives gold at the 1-2 selection screen. The gold and go towards rerolls (but I generally wouldn't look to reroll more than once per stage) as the priority becomes to immediately upgrade whatever tank options you have.
