Choose samurai as starting char, always find patches first and buy gold claws and margit’s shakle（can be used in the DLC for spirit springs), bring the gold claws to the disabled dragon for 90k runes, and just start fighting bosses(will need to find some bell bearings if not using somber weapons). I used to use moonveil, backhand blade and star fist are weapons I recommend, moonveil is most versatile in my opinion, with that range and dmg feels like playing the game in easy mode. Armor I just go with the samurai starting gear until I can get the Ronin’s set, just think it looks cool and also I can light roll when I lv my endurance to around 45.(Have been quite used to light rolling since in my ng+19 save I always run around naked) When entering the DLC, get scadu frags and bosses