Just cleared the first of the game‘s Legacy Dungeons (Stormveil Castle), two of which apparently have to be completed in order to beat the game.
Did it at level 45 (17 Vig, 25 End, 12 Str, 22 Dex, 15 Arc) after having cleared the rest of Limgrave (aside from the Divine Tower) and all of the Weeping Peninsula. Dual-wielded Reduvia +2 and Great Knife +6 for the majority of the dungeon, with a bit of help from the Serpent Bow to peel stragglers off the bigger packs. It took a surprisingly long time but the only really difficult parts were not getting lost and dealing with the murder birds. Though I guess the knights with their apparently unstoppable windy homing attack combo were also pretty nasty.
The Tree Spirit in the basement would have been hard if I hadn’t already defeated the tougher version in the Fringefolk Hero’s Grave. Neither of them hold a candle to the Crucible Knight however, who is easily the toughest enemy you’ll find in these first two zones. I ended up having to use the Spear +7 a certain NPC drops to finally beat him (the range on the charged attack is perfect for hitting him after a roll) since he’s immune to Bleed and poison arrows weren’t doing anything… besides being blocked more often than not.
Apart from the stuff noted above, another key offensive item is the Fanged Imp Ashes I chose as a starting item. Choosing them was the best decision I’ve ever made blind. There’s two of them, they dodge, are resistant/immune to poison, have a ranged attack, and cause Bleed. Just incredibly powerful against single targets and great for evening the field against multiple targets. That said, I’ve also used the Jellyfish Ashes against the Erdtree Avatar and the Rotten Stray Ashes against that aforementioned Fringefolk boss battle.
Now to clear Liumia next, where there’s apparently an insanely overpowered weapon waiting in one of dungeons. Which will be nice to have the next time I run into another Crucible Knight situation.