So judging by how frequently this forum seems to be posted on now I'll guess this is falling on deaf ears (or blind eyes?) but I could use a quick bit of advice if anyone does read this.

I'm relatively new to Souls. Didn't have the patience for Demons, got up to Anor Londo(?) on DS1 with the giant archers and realised I'd fairly well nerfed myself by spreading my stats too thin so gave up. I have since started DS2 and finally seem to be getting into the swing of things, wielding a +5 greatsword & +5 tower shield and have demolished all recent bosses with relative ease (most recently killed the Ruin Sentinels & Royal Rat Vanguard). I am however now finding this all a bit too easy and a fairly uninteresting way to play the game, and so to the point of the post.

I'm debating swapping out my shield in favour of pyromancy/faith. Any thoughts on this?

Long and short, I want to build one and am looking for tips. Obviously there are many routes to go and I'm at something of a loss on knowing where to begin in regards to heavy armour vs light or one handed weapons vs two. I was considering heavy armour, two handed weapons, conjuration and destruction. The plan was to open fights with summons then wade in with battle-axes to mop up, and save destruction for archers/dragons, but it occurs to me that trying to level all 3 may end up a tad problematic. Any opinions/advice appreciated