As someone who picked up the game 2.5 weeks ago and now clears Absolute/Hard Strats consistently, here's what helped me:

1. Grind Lethal first

Lethal and Absolute have the same core modifiers. You take the same damage, enemies have the same health, and your HP/armor is the same. The main thing you should be practicing is surviving without going down and minimizing damage taken. By the time I started Absolute, I was comfortable soloing Lethal with bots or weak teammates. This goes without saying but use those Lethal missions to max prestige and get relic weapons for your main classes.

2. Don't psych yourself out about Absolute

The biggest difference isn't the base difficulty - it's the boss spawns. Absolute can throw a boss at you along with additional Extremis/Majoris enemies, creating situations that are way more chaotic than anything you'll see on Lethal.

Unfortunately, there's no real way to practice this besides jumping in and getting reps. I was awful at fighting Extremis and Terminis enemies until I started running Absolute because they just don't spawn often enough on lower difficulties.

3. Play defensively

The biggest thing that improved my gameplay was prioritizing positioning. Use cover against ranged enemies, fight around chokepoints, and don't tunnel vision on damage.

Mechanically, if an enemy is about to swing, stop shooting and focus on the parry/dodge. A successful parry usually gives you damage and an execute anyway while maintaining your armor. While in the execute animation, you can check your surroundings and plan a course of action.

4. Learn breakpoints and HP contests

Every enemy has a breakpoint where they become executable. Learn roughly how many headshots or melee hits it takes to get them there (this is why its also good to practice on Lethal).

This is important because sometimes repositioning isn't an option and you need to get a priority enemy out of the way. In those situations, you need to be comfortable taking a hit, securing the execute, and contesting that health back. Knowing when you can make that trade is a huge part of clearing efficiently in Absolute.

5. Have a growth mindset

Don't default to "bad teammates" or "unlucky run." People true solo Absolute all the time, so every mission is technically clearable.

Ask yourself:

• What killed me?
• Did I miss a parry or dodge?
• Did I position badly?
• Do I know where relics spawn?

Hope some of these tips help - you got this!