I've been playing C16 almost exclusively at this point, so I wanted to write a quick guide to help everyone through it, since I believe its the most fun way to experience the game. There won't be anything super specific here like build or character guides, more like general tips you can you no matter what class/build you go for.

EQUIP SOUL SCARF!!!

- I seriously cannot stress this enough - this item is by far the most broken starting gift and no other one comes even close. Below I will explain how to exploit it fully:

HOW TO USE SOUL SCARF: Always keep it in your inventory, and when you get to a bonfire, you can equip it, attune items at bonfire, and then drink your flasks. Each flask = 1 soul heart. You can also rest at the bonfire, restoring your flasks. With the start of 2 flasks (1 base + 1 from mastery tree), you get 2 soul hearts per rest, which in turn means each 10 souls can be converted to 2 soul hearts. The Nurse in the tavern can also refill all your flasks for 10 gold, or 5 if you have the Health Insurance mastery. This is an extremely important mechanic to abuse in order to succeed in C16.

I won't give a full mastery tree since you can succeed with anything, but I'll highlight some nice nodes:

• First Aid - The only mandatory node IMO. Solely for the purpose of abusing Soul Scarf starting gift.
  
• Health Insurance - Makes the nurse cost 5 gold instead of 10, giving you more flasks to turn into soul hearts.
  
• Lazy Stroll - Makes enemies in early floors have less HP and armor. Self-explanatory, makes early floors a LOT easier.
  
• Precognition - You always encounter the enchantress at the tavern if your weapon is not enchanted or has a negative enchantment. Enchantments can be very strong, so this helps a lot with damage.
  
• Loyalty - The Blacksmith can upgrade weapons to level 4. Helps a lot with damage, especially with certain effects that synergize with weapon levels.

• Ignore stat food - I've written more about this below, but early on it doesn't do much, and there are more important items to go for.
  
• Focus on getting keys/bombs/gold - Always make sure to have at the very least 2 keys and one bomb, and then focus on getting gold - gold will always be useful so don't worry about picking it.
  
• Find a dice room - Your first trait will be random, so its important to find an obsidian dice to reroll it if its useless for you.
  
• Find a better weapon - Your starting weapon will be horrible since it will start with a negative enchantment. You are guaranteed an armoury on floor 2, but its possible to get a weapon even earlier. An uncommon or rare weapon will boost your damage dramatically.
  
• Use spare bombs for damage - If you have a lot of bombs, use them to kill bosses faster to avoid taking damage!

• DO NOT USE 30 SOULS TO UPGRADE HEALTH AT BONFIRES - Please, do NOT waste your souls for this. Instead of using 30 souls for ONE health, you can use Soul Scarf to turn those 30 souls into AT LEAST 6 SOUL HEARTS!!! Never upgrade health/stamina/mana at bonfires.
  
• Always enter Arcades - Arcades are one of the most broken rooms IMO, can give you a stupid amount of keys/bombs/random items for very cheap. Even if you have low gold when you enter, use it all and then bomb the machine for some extra loot.
  
• Don't prioritise stat food - Unless you have to take stat food, don't. You will level up to level 6 eventually, and there are more important rooms to focus on. Focus on always having some keys and bombs, focus on event rooms, equipment rooms, taverns, blacksmiths, pawn shops, armories, etc. Stat food can be good if you have obsidian dice, but since your first trait will always be random, its not worth to beeline towards it imo.
  
• Don't worry too much about your build - You can beat the game with a pretty garbage build, just take stuff that is generally good - any generic damage multipliers and armour is really good. Don't worry about having bad traits. You can fix those with obsidian dice. Your weapon is probably the most important part of your character.
  
• Don't hyperfocus on a specific build - Unless you find an OP legendary weapon, don't hyperfocus on one specific thing, because it can bite you in the ass later on. Always make sure you can switch if necessary, always take generic damage multipliers and additive damage over buffs to specific damage.
  
• Kill the drones in the boss arena - Unless you have crazy dps and can kill the boss very quickly, always try to kill the drones. They aren't that tanky and it will definitely save you from getting hit a few times, since boss fights get pretty chaotic with 2 enchantments.
  
• Bleed and Lightning are very strong - In my experience, these seem pretty op, so go for them if you can.
  
• Careful for Black Hole enchantment - This is one of the more deadly enchantments since it can prevent you from moving away from danger.
  
• Remember you can use bombs to do damage - In a pinch, bombs can be quite useful to kill a lot of mobs or damage a boss. Use them if you have spare.

This is how I personally play on C16, and have found success. If you have some tips to add, or think something I've said is wrong, please leave a comment below!