I would tell you not to let the weapon durability and frequent deaths get you down. That was everyone when they started. Thats not to say to not be careful and go barreling into each encounter, but just understand that while you’ve only got 3 or 4 hearts, a lot of encounters are going to kill you.

That being said, try to scope out each boko encampment before you attack. Are there any boulders that can be dropped from overhead? Is there anything you can make explode or catch fire? Try to get tactical. Sometimes solving the tactics of a certain encounter takes going in and dying a few times. And that’s ok dude. As you keep with it, you’ll get better at fighting. Then eventually, you’ll notice you’ve got 10 or 15 hearts and aren’t dying nearly as often.

So as a general strategy… focus on shrines. Stockpile those spirit orbs and get more hearts and stamina. Idk what the community’s rule is, but I focused on more hearts until I had 6 or 7 hearts, then exclusively dumped orbs into stamina until I filled out the second wheel.

Keep it up dude. You’ll get there

The game is beautiful, cant get over how good it looks and runs on the Switch.

I always grinded gathering stamina ingredients so I could eat stamina food before running out.

Don’t be afraid, dying isn’t a big deal with how often the game auto saves

Honestly? The great plateau is one of the most difficult parts of the game. Once you have some good clothes and regain some heart containers you'll feel a lot better. Don't be afraid to take things slow starting off and approach situations strategically, or even avoid combat if you can.

My one tip would be to try flurry rushing! You just have to dodge (side hop or backflip) with good timing and it will often do some good damage and knock that monster down at least.

You gotta learn to sneak. At least half the game, for the first half anyway, is learning to sneak around, run away, and who you're totally not ready to pick a fight with yet. Once you level up your hearts and equipment, you can start really ripping into monster hordes.

If fighting out in the open is not your cup of tea, you need to get to the shrines as soon as possible to unlock some very valuable tools. Remember that enemies can see and hear you, so if you want to sneak around encounters, keep an eye on that pink squiggly line for how much noise you are making. And above all else there is no right or wrong way to play this game.

First off, make sure you're not playing on Master Mode. That's fr peeps who've already besten the game once.

Have you already found out what Koroks are and what they do?
They are hidden throughout the world and are important, and help alleviate the stress a bit when a sword/shield breaks.
There is a character on the road to kakariko, between Twin Peak Stables and Kakariko. Keep an eye out for them.

To be fair, TOTK is profoundly harder than BOTW in early game. There's nothing wrong with you, it's just easy to break stuff and die until you're geared up.

You have to change your normal tactic to account for these new deficiencies. They were added to actually enhance playability by introducing a player handicap, which slows your progress at first and forces you to focus on perfecting your technique. Really focus on the skills taught in the shrine overlooking Kakariko Village; they will help you immensely.

This is a good start, thanks for the info

I wrote a little "new player advice" compilation a while ago, in case you're interested: https://lemmy.world/post/225523

The beatings will continue until morale improves.