Always use Green Blossom and Gold Pine Resin if possible before starting a fight.
Recommended weapons:
Falchion (longer reach & dmg than shotel)
Shotel (r2s ignore shields but shorter range)
Gold Tracer (short range but can bleed out opponents fast)
Quelaag's Furysword + >=10 humanity (longest range from the curved swords but deals split dmg and has slower swing speed recovery)
Estoc (for safe shield pokes and shield poking trades)
Demon's Spear (really long range but slower when used as shield poke)
Rapier for quick backstabs/post parry swaps ripostes
Any dexterity weapons that fit with the the leftover weight after picking a fitting shield
Pyro:
Black Flame for stamina pressure and high poise dmg (great combustion is a good alternative)
Tempest when you land a backstab for free dmg
Flesh Sweat for pyromancy abusers
Recommended shields depending on opponent:
Heater Shield (faster parry recovery than the shields below)
Grass Crest Shield (faster stamina regen)
Dragon Crest Shield (vs fire dmg)
Crest Shield (vs magic dmg)
Bloodshield + Bloodbite ring (vs Gold Tracer mirror match)
Rings for the free slot:
Wolf ring to tank more and spam more yourself (example without wolf youre already able to tank 3x katana 2 handed
r1s the ring adds 1 more)
Hornet ring (kinda weak with curved swords but with post parry swaps to a rapier or quick swaps to a rapier it can be worth it)
Bellowing Dragon Crest Ring (to boost the dmg of the pyromancy)
Red Tear Stone Ring (boosts dmg by a lot when on low hp)
After getting hit once swap out the Mask of the Mother for either the Crown of Dusk (more pyromancy dmg) or Mask of the Child (faster stamina recovery)
Make sure to not just braindead spam the curved swords with lock on.
Unlocked with a bit of angling to the left and right side makes it more unpredictable for the opponent to react or parry attempt the attacks.
Low hp safe setup with same build but requires a bit of menuing:
http://mmdks.com/b7y6
