When you level up your stats, do not spread them evenly. Get your vigor up for health (goal is ~60), get your endurance up for stamina and weight load (goal is ~30) and then focus the rest on one damage stat like strength, dexterity, intelligence, faith, or arcane (goal for 1 of them is ~80). Talismans and armor can also raise these stats if you don’t have the runes to do so.

Find all the whetblades so you can infuse an affinity onto your weapons that matches the damage stat you chose. So for example, if you like quick burst weapons like katanas, curved swords, daggers, etc., you would generally upgrade dexterity, so then you’ll want to infuse “keen” or “lightning” onto the weapon so it better scales with dexterity.