Finished the base game now (and did some cleanup for the platinum - save scummed for the endings of course), took me 170 hours all in all. Phenomenal game but I'm a bit annoyed by those last few story bosses, they didn't feel particularly great. Although Godfrey's first phase was pretty good, and Radagon as a standalone fight wasn't bad either, it just gets ruined by having to repeat it for each go at Elden Beast. I guess it's sort of fitting that the final boss fight perfectly highlights From Soft's greatest flaw: oversized bosses with a terrible camera. Anyway, on to the DLC.
Two things made it very manageable: reducing equip load to light and an emergency medium shield with 100% physical block. The light load does wonders for outpacing/outrolling Waterfowl Dance's first flurry from medium range, while the emergency shield can take the entire first flurry if she does it from close range. Sure, that heals her a bit, but it's better than starting over. Learning perfect reactions to all her patterns certainly wasn't easy, but once learned it feels pretty repeatable. I definitely trust myself to repeat her fight over something like Hoarah Loux and his endless spamming of grabs with space-time continuum bending hitboxes.
