i HIGHLY recommend the Mimic Tear ashes as it gets stronger alongside you. Dungeater and Banished Knight Oleg are also sweet early to late-mid game, IMO. The Skeletal Militiamen can also be useful because the boss/enemies need to hit them when they've been defeated just like you do without a sacred weapon.

will you cover the DLC too?

You do get to keep latenna the whole game just to let you know. She says she will fight by your side until the end after completing her quest

can you fight the beast at the beginning of the video down in altus on torrent? or does it kick you off? maybe hitting it on torrent would make it less annoying

Lake of Rot....... can't say I'm a fan. Died down there so much first time because I didn't know flame clense me was a thing. Usually leave it til last & waste a respec to get max immunity.