It has a bit more depth to it than it seems at first, and it is very nontraditional. They say the combat overhaul is the next major feature so hopefully it will be a bit more approachable in the future.
To answer your question though, it depends on the attack type. Some cards hit multiple squares, some have movement before they hit, some are bum rushes that can be easily sidestepped. It might also be a bit buggy from time to time 
At the beginning, I found the best way to deal with the difficult attacks was to use the special move that lets you remove it from their turn pool. If they roll really well you are still screwed, but you can choose which damage types/directions to prevent.
Long term, the best strategy in this game's combat (at the moment) is getting multiple attacks per turn and ordering them to do the most debuffs. It's a bit down the perk tree, but the main character has a quick attack that does damage, but multiple main attacks that cause debuffs. Most of the characters have something similar and it outclasses everything else.