I'm replaying the base game (waiting on a sale for the dlc) and I couldn't agree more. I was fighting a bell bearing hunter and they have massive combos they can mix up in the middle and do more hits and when you get the timing PERFECTLY you go do 1 charge attack and you get punished because they already started another combo,you get 1 hit and that's it.

People answering you talk about summons but for these guys you can't even summon your ashes, for some stupid reason the devs decided to limit that feature.

Before anyone tells me to git gud, I already beat the entire game before including a bugged Melania that healed even on missed attacks (she was bugged for some time). I can beat anything in the game but like you said, it's mega boring and slow.

You don't even need to get good most of the time if you just spend more time learning the game by playing it's mostly a knowledge check. Fully upgraded weapon (way more important than leveling dmg stats passed min req), npc and PC summons, get vigor up in the 40-50 range, mark your map and come back later, etc. You could play it like a fighting game training against bosses to learn their moves or just go somewhere else to grind levels or equipment to come back later for an easier fight.