i haven't played vanilla in a very long time but everytime i play through sotfs there are so many areas which exist just to piss me off, gank fests of loads of high agro range enemies which leaves me just clearing the area out permanently to get through it properly.
Thing is in my vague memory of vanilla I don't remember any such area causing me much aggravation. I actually remember the game being pretty easy.
Ended up buying vanilla just so I can see if sotfs is actually just designed by a crazy person because the game just feels like a slog to play between eathen peak and iron keep. I'm struggling to think what part of sotfs is actually an improvement.
The dragon in Heide’s Tower in Scholar is my worst enemy
If you've done Forest of Fallen Giants first you can use a fragrant branch to free Rosabeth and buy flash sweat from her for a huge resist to fire damage.
That way you might not be instantly killed if you can't run across the bridge fast enough.