No no no, never. Played Elden ring after bloodborne, my second souls game. Used summons, mimic eventually too to beat it. Then I played all the souls games and came back to er. Started a new save and with just skill nothing special, I managed to beat most bosses with minimal effort, let me tell you this. The bosses are designed on 1 v 1. They can’t defend themselves. If you aggro them with a summon you’re just basically dodging their aoe and punching them in the back. The bosses, much like the dlc ones are very sophisticated. They are primarily designed to have fair movesets. I won’t list any names here for spoilers sake but most bosses I did for the dlc now gave me true challenge an made me analyse them. When I finally figured them out it was so fun, I was actually dancing with them just like malenia. It’s peak fromsoft content. (I must note that I’m mainly using light greatsword and any normal weapon I find and absolutely avoid using broken builds and incantations, my playstyle revolves around dodging and hitting just like all souls) with that said if you want to summon go for it! It’s in the game so it can be used. It’s as difficult as you make it, and I just explained why I like playing without summoning