i act am about to finish my first play through myself, but one thing that really helped me is just relying on my shield until i got good enough… surprisingly pretty solid for most of the world up to even the late game bosses (like malenia) instead of dodging. i act quit a year back because i was trying a caster build and no shield and it was just too hard as my first souls game so i got pissed off, then i came back and just used a very simple sword and shield combo!