>>7638610I've beaten the game twice now and am starting a new build. I'm happy to offer some advice.
Chalice dungeons are optional but as you go deeper though layers their loot and difficulty becomes much higher. The depth 5 dungeons have the best blood gems in the game but don't worry about dungeons right now. You should play through more of the main story first then go back and clear depth 1 and maybe 2. Then once you are near the end of the game go for depth 3 and 4, possibly even 5 at very late game.
More tips:
Note down your chalice glyphs, if you re-create a chalice using a glyph it won't cost ritual materials. To get to the next depth of the dungeon you need the ritual blood, so Ritual Blood (3) for a depth 3 and the blood is found in Depth 2 dungeons of course. But when I first played, I missed the blood and couldn't make the next chalice, I also didn't note my glyph so I had to go back and do depth 2 again.
Also explore areas thoroughly and at the end of the game you should google some secret areas you might have missed. On my first blind playthrough I missed 2 and a half, whole secret optional areas because they are literally tucked away.
Most importantly:
When you're at the end of the game (you will know when you're there), make sure you are happy to go for the ending. Something I don't like about this game is once you get the ending, it's not like Dark Souls where you go to NG+ through the bonfire, you get thrown into NG+ without a choice so make sure you are happy to move on and have done everything before going for the last boss.
Have fun, Hunter.
