Board Thread:Dark Souls II/@comment-24.150.90.12-20140319175308/@comment-24684538-20140319211247

I prefer playing without a shield as I find it saves me stamina since powerful attacks and sometimes medium attacks drain more stamina from blocking than the stamina it takes to dodge. Also some attacks are unblockable, but if you dodge every attack you don't need to know which are unblockable.

Playing without a shield revolves around keeping your distance and dodging, when in doubt just back off and study the attack patterns for a bit. For conserving stamina, be patient, don't get greedy with your attacks and keep an eye on the stamina bar, also if you decide to go with a shield don't keep your shield up all the time as keeping your sheild raised slows down stamina recovery.

As for avoiding death...you're playing the wrong game :P but in general, learn attack patterns (you will most likely die whilst doing this so don't worry if you die) and think before you act. Before turning a corner, turn the camera angle to get an idea of what's behind the corner, you can generally avoid traps and ambushes this way.

Another last bit of advice, when your spending souls be smart about it, if you have a choice between levelling up a little bit or upgrading your weapon, then upgrade your weapon (unless you require specific stats for a weapon/spell you really want).