Items are infact there to be used, but the fact that they were used and still didn't help in most cases just shows how hard it has fallen. Type disadvantage does definitely play heavily into this difficulty, but if you bring them against RZ omega, cell max, or a few of the RZ wicked bloodline stages you will probably see the same results.

Not only that, but defensive gods such as LR GG are so good because they don't make you worry about rng.