Tor by itself?

Ive always wondered if you can use TOR alone or if I could take some extra steps to be protected besides TOR alone?

You can use TOR alone, pretty useless to use VPN for it since TOR covers you itself. Just to feel safe, you could use VPNs. Also, do not maximise the TOR browser, your device screen size will be recorded/detected and so you can be easier to be identified which you don't want since TOR is for anonymity (and freedom).