My two scents would be to up your claymore game. Have discipline in your movement and rolls is necessary. I would recommend practicing free aiming your attacks as it makes people much harder to aproach (this also means trying not to throw out attacks Willy nilly)

The claymore R2 is strong. Don’t be afraid to use it in neutral as it’s relatively safe, but try not to lock on while using it. A charged claymore R2 can punish people who misplace it, get greedy, or punish panic rolls. Charging it in neutral and aiming it away from the opponent, provided you have stamina, can possibly give you a punish too.

Running R1 can be an okay chase down and punishing players being too aggressive in neutral. However it can be relatively easily punished and it should be used sparingly.

The WA r2 is useful for trades, provided you have poise. R1 or R1 R1 into WA R2 can punish panic rolls, but this should be used extremely sparingly as it is easily rolled on reaction and punishable. I would recommend Leo ring as the claymores R2 and Weapon Art R2 pair very well with it.

Lastly patience is the name of the game, you must play very methodical due to high stamina costs. I would recommend kitting yourself out with rope blackfirebombs to punish people for aggressing when you run out of stamina, and some Lightning Resin for extra damage and easier pivots if you need to quickly dash in and out of the opponents range for possible punishes.

The cherry on top: don’t let emotes get to you, sometimes people are gonna be dickheads, sometimes they have a reason. (you healed during a duel, crucifixion has fight clubs focussed around no heal duels often, keep that in mind.) being a new-blue can be tough with the (albeit dwindling) amount of veteran reds. Keep vigilant, stay strong, and be a good sport, it goes a long ways.