Notes from author
Starting with bandit will provide you with a 100%/ poison resistant shield and a good starter weapon.
Get 16STR and 10DEX asap to use the claymore, eventually DEX to 12 to use a short bow
Elemental weapons will give you the most bang for your buck in NG. Since they don't scale, you can put all your points in health and endurance and stop levelling STR/DEX at 16/14. Use Halberd/ Gargoyle halberd, Claymore, Scythe/ Great Scythe. Make one +10 then lighting, one fire (or chaos if you can keep >5humanity) and one divine. If you don't mind respawning skeletons, you can skip divine.
Since you have 14 Dex, you can also upgrade a bow to kill/ poison or cheese.
Since Pyromancy can one shot most bosses besides Quelaag, it is highly recommended to upgrade it as much as possible.
Armor doesn't matter, but I prefer fast roll.
Use a 100% block shield: balder is accessible early but if you get a Silver / Black Knight shield drop use it instead, their high stability will block even bosses in the DLC.
