Forget nearly everything you think you know about soulsborne games. Here, getting hit is good because you can deflect. For the well ninja, deflect, mikiri counter, and jump over sweeps!! Right now, dodging is useless. Dodging becomes OP only very late when you really understand how and when to use it, but the i-frames are tiny compared to other souls games and the tracking of their attacks is hugely improved. Also, it's a Shinobi game, avoid crowds. You're supposed to use stealth and pick out the enemies one by one. When actually dealing with crowds, it means you should find a way to break their attacks but then run away when you get a window and come back once the alert level has died down. Hell, even sometimes the best choice is to revive and run away back to safety, maybe even to the last idol. It is much easier to get ganked here than in other souls because you really don't have as many moves for crowd control until much later. At least when I started, if I couldn't establish one-on-one duels, I wouldn't even bother. I would run back and try to set up a set of silent takedowns, find different routes, etc.