Bloodborne Boss Guide: How to Beat The Shadows of Yharnam

This boss is the one that made me rage-quit. I want to try back again, but I don't know if I can take anymore abuse lol.

Rock Candy nailed it. Don't worry about weapon, build or level. Just use your fastest weapon, I run counter-clockwise (past tombstone, past tombstone 2, past gate, past large monument) in as wide an arc as possible. Dude, you can do this all day while they chase you. Plenty of time to heal. From time to time, do a "crazy Ivan" (about face) and swipe at your pursuers, I don't focus on ONE of them, I take them each down a little at a time. When there is ONE left, bum rush and flail on that guy- No time for him to summon the snakes. Focus on the circle movement and there will be little stress. :). Don't fear this boss.

PS The fire rockets do little damage, don't let it rattle you!

Just run them around in a circle by constantly sidestepping. You should be able to keep side stepping in a circle without getting hit. Take their health down evenly until about 1/3rd of a bar. Kill the fireball guy while they're transforming. Then go after the melee fighter. Stay in close range and keep him stunned with your attacks (his ranged attack is real annoying.) If they summon snakes run and roll a lot. After the melee fighter is dead you can just spam r1 on the last guy. The trick to this fight is dancing around in the beginning and being aggressive at the end once the mage is dead.

Okay, wearing my charred gear and still having a lot of trouble with this fight... Is there any items that can be used to assist. Like the music box against the first dude?

This is a really easy fight if you wear all your charred gear (fire resist) and then focus on the sword guy first. The other 2 can't do much in the way of damage if you have max fire resist.

Recommended weapon? What tools should we bring? What Stats should we invest in (I'm assuming heavily into Strength)?