Ranged attacks are a definite part of it! I love sneaking around and sniping and am generally peeved that it refuses to let me do that to bosses. I was ECSTATIC when I finally found the dude in the undead burg who sold me a bow. Blighttown bugs, I deal with by a combo of shield and a targeted magic missile; I diversified into a few experimental spells and liked that.

I also haven't played in a while; I got to a point where I couldn't make serious progress in any of the avenues currently open to me, and then the keeper of the initial bonfire got killed, and I accidentally used what the internet tells me is the only item that could bring her - and the flame - back. I really didn't want to continue and I also really didn't feel like starting fresh.

Also use the environment! Pull gangs of mobs into a place where there's room to pick them off one by one, or just circle around and lose them. Aggro a mob, vanish around a corner, and beat heck out of it as it rounds the corner and tries to figure out where you are. Hell, I cleaned out ALL the dragons in the dragon valley by cheerfully abusing having an arrow range longer than their aggro distance...