From what I had heard about the game, I thought all the attack boosting talismans would be best for PvE, but I ended up with Estus Ring, Cloranthy Ring, Havel's Ring and Leo Ring/flex slot again lol.
Do what every melee build does, crimson amber+3, bullgoat, shard of alexander, and either claw talisman or great jar arsenal if you dont do jumping attacks often
Tempted to do a "pretend its ds3" build with dagger talisman, radagon's scarseal, silvercat talisman for no reason, and erdtree's favor +3. parry caestus and a pocket flame dagger. it would suck so much! can't wait
Go to your Equipment page, look down at the Talisman's section (4th row down). You can equip talismans from there. You cannot actually "use" them; there's no active button or anything. Talismans give you passive buffs.