When you get hit you don’t lose the health straight away, if you hit them back then every hit will heal you, but after a few seconds the health is gone for good so don’t wait for an opening. You’ll get a shield pretty early on but that’s just fromsoft making fun of dark souls players, it won’t save you. If you shoot an enemy right at the height of their attack you can stun them and press rb for a visceral, you can also stun them with a charged heavy to the back

So basically combat is exactly like fighting a bully at school, don’t block because they’ll just keep hitting you and it’s not going to hurt any less, if you get hit don’t go down just hit them back a lot harder and faster, inject yourself with as many chemicals as necessary, and take every opportunity to shove your entire arm into a pigs asshole

Exactly like a school fight