As a caster I have had massive problems beating The Duke's Dear Freja at first, one of the four Old Ones in the game. Here is my little Dear Freja boss guide (for sorcerers). Spoiler: Beating Dear Freja As a Caster BEATING DEAR FREJA AS A CASTER Give up on the idea of beating the spider queen with spells only, take the melee approach even as a proud caster. Allies will also only make this boss fight harder, go solo. EQUIPMENT It all starts with the right equipment. Weapon: Required to inflict about 200 damage at least to kill spider minions in one hit and to inflict enough damage upon the boss. I recommend a fire-infused weapon such as Fire Longsword (upgraded to at least +6), which is obtainable at the Forest of Fallen Giants very early on. Fire seems to be Dear Freja's weakness in general. For NG w/ Bonfire Ascetic, upgrade the sword to at least +9. Shield: A good shield is not absolutely necessary as you will be two-handing your weapon most of the time. Nonetheless I would recommend any shield with a 100% physical block ability, such as Drangleic Shield, just in order not to stand too exposed in front of those nasty spiders. Rings: The Chloranthy Ring is absolutely required to keep your stamina up. Other rings, less important, that I prefer for this, and to fill up the remaining slots: Ring of Steel Protection, Ring of the Evil Eye+1, Ring of Restoration. (Keep in mind that this is a rather lengthy boss encounter.) Armor: Not important. I used the Hexer's Set. BOSS STRATEGY You can run through to the boss very quickly from the Lower Brightstone Cove bonfire (the third of the general area) without any fighting involved. As soon as you enter the fog gate, run to the right (there is a ledge) to get some distance between you, the boss, and the other spiders. Now you are ready to rumble! For a successful fight, follow the statutes below at all times. Strafing: Run-strafe the spider queen counter-clockwise (your right). Also, be sure to put a little distance between you and her to always bait out her laser beam attack, your prime attack window. Attacking: Her laser beam attack is the only time to safely strike either the spider queen itself (either of her heads) or her minions. As soon as she spools up to shoot the beam, run straight up to the other head and strike once or twice, not more. Alternatively, kill one or two of her minions that you have aggroed. Then continue strafing as normal. Crowd Control: Dispose of any spider minions that you have aggroed at your earliest convenience (ie., the next spider beam attack). On NG w/ Bonfire Ascetic or NG+, all that was said still applies; the fight is fundamendally the same. Besides the obvious, the biggest change would be that the small parasite spiders now possess about 300 hit points (instead of 200 on NG).
My guilty pleasure in DS2 right now: Belfry invasions with Chameleon and Velstadt's hammer. Dem backstabs.
After a little hiatus from Dark Souls 2, I picked the game up again and finally made my way through Shrine of Amana, which I so far find to be one of the most frustrating areas to complete, with all the long-range casters scattered throughout. In the end I was forced to make good use of the bow which, being a caster myself, would otherwise not have occurred to me in the slightest.
Dark Souls 2 DLC was just announced: http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/27aswt/dark_souls_2_dlc_trailer/