I'll always pimp for my boy Kristoff. Bro is tanky as fuck and really the most important part of ashes in solo play is just helping pull agro from time to time. Even on the toughest fights he'll usually last to the very end at like 10-20% health.
Screw that level 1 shit, I aint git gudding that much. Doing an ashless all boss run. I'm up to Renalla with all of Limgrave bosses and most of Liurnia bosses down in about 8 hours so far.