The Prince Brothers Down and now Blackflame Friede

After what felt like a hundred attempts (but was probably in the teens) I finally took down Princes Lothric and Lorian. I leveled up a bit (I think I'm SL 83 or so) and got the Estoc, which I fully upgraded to Sharp and +10. The main thing was dodging the strikes. Lorian seems to have a near-limitless reserve of stamina, so you need to be pretty active on dodging (I had a Dragon Crest shield that could block his strikes, but it would take about 3/4 of my stamina each time I did.)

Anyway, I traveled to Archdragon peak and progressed a little further. I think I can do the Nameless King fight but I figure I should hold off on that.

I went a bit further in the Painted World of Ariandel and actually got to the point where I can do the big boss fight. I know that there aren't many bosses, but I figured I'd have to do the Champion's Gravetender before Ariandel and Friede - apparently not, though. I don't even know where the former is.

I've also of course got the Soul of Cinder waiting for me. I wonder if, like in Bloodborne, by the time I level up enough that I can beat the DLC final bosses like Friede and Gael, I might be so powerful that the game's actual final boss is a cakewalk. I took down Gehrman and the Moon Presence with very little difficulty after it took me about 20 attempts on Orphan of Kos.

One thing that the Lorian/Lothric fight made me think of is the way that, at least the way I've built my character, you actually don't have to hit the boss all that many times to take them down. I think each stab with my Estoc took Lorian's health down by like 5 or even 10%. It's just that the opportunities to strike are so rare and you risk getting caught out and vulnerable if you mistime tings. When Lorian's sword takes off like half your health in a single hit, you really need to play defensively.

EDIT:

Made my first run at Friede and Ariandel - I nearly got to phase 3. The first phase is just Friede, who is quick, but her only really deadly move is when she goes invisible and you need to try to hit her before she gets off her next move, as it'll hook you on her scythe and do massive damage.

Once Friede goes down, Ariandel will rip his chair from the floor and attack you with his massive bowl. The entire room catches fire and the flames revive Friede. This is a pretty Ornstein and Smough-style fight in phase 2 - you have Ariandel, who is massive and does tons of damage with each attack, and Friede, who you'll be lucky if you can even see as she blasts you with frost magic and the like.

I know this fight has a third phase, once Ariandel is dead Friede will unleash her dark sorceries - she is from Londor, after all. In fact, if you've been doing the Lord of Hollows quest chain, she even calls you out, telling you that you should be tending to your people rather than bothering her in the Painted World.

Given how far in I got on the first try, I hope that this won't take as long as the Twin Princes. From there I'll be heading into the Ringed City (and at some point trying to figure out where the Champion's Gravetender even is.) If I wind up getting through it all I might go back and do another playthrough of Bloodborne.