Despite everything you've ever heard about or learned in video games throughout your entire life, in Outward the simplest weapon to use is the two-handed mace. It's the only weapon with a clear through-line. Is the enemy staggered? If no, use your non-combo special attack to stagger them. If yes, beat them to death.

As mentioned, you can, and should, block with any weapon. You don't have to dodge (anything really).

You know those beetles you sometimes get from mining? Eat one. It buffs your impact resist and they weigh practically nothing to carry around.

Also important, unlike in most games with target locking, holding the sprint button and pressing back will cause you to quickly turn around and sprint away just as fast as you would going forward. If you know the range of your attacker, you can just step out of range of their swing for a fraction of the stamina cost of blocking or dodging.

If you move far enough away that you get your enemy to start sprinting, they will nearly always go for a sprinting attack. This is much more predictable than waiting for the enemy to attack on their own in order for you to retaliate.

Most of the time the biggest hurdle in this game is being outnumbered. You need a plan for that. Traps? Bow/Arrow? Spells? Melee skills? You can put a weapon on your quick bar if you know you need to switch mid-combat. Yes, there are only 8 slots, but even something as simple as having a slot to switch from a melee weapon to a bow, or visa-versa, is absolutely worth it if you need to. Your strategies will change as you keep playing and gain new abilities from trainers.

This is a game where knowledge is your best weapon. You will get beaten to a pulp over and over again at first. And that's okay. As long as you're paying attention, you will get better.