DLC too hard? Here are some additional tips:

[Shard of Manus]

The DLC has been out for a little while, but we're still getting threads about the difficulty of the DLC. A lot of that stems from how hard enemies / bosses hit, and how much HP they have -- compounded somewhat by the much higher aggression of bosses in this DLC compared to the base game.

Here are some simple tips to help survive the DLC, and are just in general good guidance for making Elden Ring a more comfortable and enjoyable game. They don't require you to re-allocate stats, or totally upheave your playstyle.

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Change your Great Rune:
People still use Morgott's and Radahn's Great Rune very commonly. They are decent, of course, but ultimately lack significant bonuses.

At builds where soft-caps are reached, Morgott's becomes very underwhelming, and no build should be relying on a Great Rune activation anyway.

Radahn's provides 15% bonuses to HP, FP and Stamina. While these are decent, they are essentially 'traps'. The bonus FP and Stamina are negligible, and the HP is lacklustre when compared to the EHP bonuses of equipping Malenia's or Rykard's Rune.

For bosses using Malenia's Rune will greatly increase your survivability during trades. Combined with Endure and you will be able to effectively trade against some bosses or tough enemies with less concern. You will certainly heal back more than 15% of your HP through a fight, a lot more. Combine this with items such as Ironjar Aromatic and/or Blood Tax (instead of Endure) and you can greatly increase survivability and be highly effective during trades.

For exploration using Rykard's Rune will save on Crimson Flasks and vastly improve longevity and endurance. This restores 7% of max HP + 80HP per kill. It is NOT effective in boss fights, so should be swapped out at a Grace Site before fighting bosses.

However, using this Rune will enable you to forgo the use of Flasks a lot of the time, and for casters you can allocate more Cerulean Flasks instead freeing up more use of spells. Combined with Taker's Cameo and you can restore 10% HP + 100HP per kill. The Blasphemous Blade stacks with this and restores an additional 4% + 40HP, whilst the weapon art restores 10% + 150HP on hit.

The weapon art exclusively scales with Faith however, and though heals regardless, the damage will be less effective on a build lacking Faith. However, this is still a 30FP cost for over 10% HP on hit, and on kill a max total of 24%HP + 290HP for just 30FP per enemy.

The DLC has plenty of poor little animals in the world ready for slaughter that allow you to completely ignore the use of Crimson Flasks outside of emergencies.

Change talismans on the fly:
Talismans aren't locked in. You can change them mid-combat and change them between encounters.

Don't keep the same talismans equipped all the time. Swap to the Crimson Seed / Cerulean Seed Talismans to improve the restorative powers of your Flasks before using one. Equip the Ritual Shield Talisman at the start of a fight if you seek to trade a heavy blow.

Switch out of Taker's Cameo or Ancestral Spirit's Horn if you want to restore some resources while fighting basic enemies. Using your WA? Equip the Filigreed Crest.

You may not be confident in switching Talismans in the middle of combat - but don't neglect the utility of equipping talismans based on your circumstances. Don't leave wasted talismans equipped, and switch them out temporarily for something more useful until you need to put it back on.

Change your Crystal Tears:
Try not to fall into the habit of equipping the basic healing tears on your Wondrous Physick. It might seem nice to get an additional 50-100% HP heal, but you will get far more out of a nicely tailored physick that complements your build. Some of the buffs provided by Crystal Tears are very powerful, and will increase your chances of success compared to one additional heal.

Opaline Hardtear improves damage negation by 15%. However, there are two important notes on this.

1. It is affected by diminishing returns, so if you are already stacking a lot of defence the buff provided by Hardtear will be much lesser. In this instance, it is typically better to replace it with a buff such as a Shrouding Tear or Thorny Cracked, etc.

2. Against enemies and bosses that deal split damage, between physical and/or different elements - the effectiveness of the Hardtear will be greater. It is less effective against enemies or bosses that deal only one type of damage.

Use healing spells, not flasks:
Caveat here being that this only applies to Faith builds.

Flask allocation is important. 1 Cerulean Flask equates to several casts of a powerful healing spell, so stop using Crimson Flasks. Allocate more Cerulean Flasks during exploration and use healing spells between battles. You will massively improve your healing capabilities.

As a side note, if you are an Int/Faith build or Arcane/Faith - Healing spells (and Faith weapon buffs) ONLY scale with Faith. Meaning even if your Incantation Scaling is better with Dragon Communion Seal at 30 Faith / 50 Arcane than your Incant Scaling with the Erdtree Seal - the S Faith scaling on the Erdtree Seal will ensure your healing spells are more effective. Try to cast healing spells with a pure Faith Seal.

Upgrade utility weapons:
Not every weapon is there to be your main.

Upgrade a bow. A greatbow. A repeating crossbow. An off-hand weapon.

There are many utility weapons with unique effects. We've discussed one already. Blasphemous Blade restores HP on kill. Sword of Milos restores FP on kill. These can be equipped and just sat on your back while your two-hand something else - the effect still works.

Take a bow for basic ranged mobs, or mobs that like to stay in the air. Use a whip to knock them down. Use thrown weapons to stagger.

Do not underestimate the use of status effect arrows and bolts. Light bows with Barrage, Bows with Rain of Arrows, Ansbach's Fan Shot and Repeating Crossbow are all very effective.

With a decent arcane build, Serpent Bow will scale build-up with related Statuses such as poison, rot and bleed.

A reminder that Frostbite reduces an enemies damage negation by 20% for 30s. It is a very strong debuff.

Also, Poison Spraymist inflicts a unique poison that is stronger than any other, and stronger (per tick) than the basic form of Scarlet Rot. (Rot from breath attacks is stronger).

Craftables exist to be used:
There are many powerful and cheap to craft consumables. Pots, knives, arrows, mists are all very powerful items.

Make them and use them. Sleep, Frost, Rot and Bleed are all highly effective.

Equip different armour:
This might not suit everyone, as fashion does come first... but for those of you that care less about looking great, and more about being victorious. Change your armour.

There are many pieces of armour with very unique effects. White Mask boosts damage after enemies (or yourself) bleed in close proximity. Black Dumpling boosts damage for the same albeit with Madness.

Many pieces of armour boost stats, buff particular spell types, raise FP or Stamina, boost jumping attacks or dashing attacks. etc. -- read item descriptions and determine which unique pieces of armour can directly buff your build. The DLC itself has introduced loads of armour pieces with unique buffs.

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That's it for now, but more tips welcome in the comments. These are all things that I regularly see people ignoring or not making use of, and it makes life harder.

Capitalise on what's available to you and the game will become much more comfortable.