Every time Djinn is killed by an Acolyte, the acolyte runs away and grants zero Steel Essence. I only get Steel Essence via Acolyte when I happen to be waiting for Djinn to spawn because something else recently killed it, and defeat the acolyte before Djinn re-spawns.
I mean, sure, I can just run no sentinel or companion at all on Steel Path, but this seems like a new and unintended bug.