Back to DS2:SotFS. Two more bosses down. The no phantom attempts work so far.
I have started out with Belfry Gargoyles. The interesting thing, I have found out, that summoned phantoms boost up elemental resistances more, than I have expected. In NG, the lightning bolt did almost insignificant damage to them, so I have tried to go full melee on them in my first failed attempt. Unfortunately the only non-infused weapon, which I had was Grand Lance+10, which was not the best choice for the encounter, so in the second one, I have tried lightning spells again. And to my surprise, two casts of great one and one cast of basic one were enough to defeat single Gargoyle. I have used that to my advantage and won the second attempt.
Now that I got Covetous Gold Serpent Ring+2 from them, I went to Forest of the Fallen Giants, so I tried my luck again with a rare Hollow Soldier Shield drop. Aaand I got two of them In the meanwhile, I have visited the Last Giant as well.
The next goal is to get to Mytha as soon as possible, to get the Covetous Silver Serpent Ring+2 from her. So I will have to get through Skeletal Lords and one Red Phantom with rare drop, which I would love to have as well. Probably, I will have to grind a little bit for the rare Lizard Staff in Chariot arena as well.