Best way to deal damage while not taking damage is Tempo attack. It has low footing cost and high chance to parry enemy attack while dealing damage. The higher the agility the better.anyone else a little confused with the combat with so many different options like 3-4 on the ground and wish it was a little more simplified, seems most if not all dont do much except make you win or lose the battle then a sex scene
maybe if you actually saw things happening like your character pinned on the ground etc, but of course thats a lot of extra drawing
If you want to play a round with no cheats, I suggest you first get the achievements so you can have extra stats and perks.
In Stat selection tab, Invest 4 in charisma, 3 magic, 4 perception, then max out other 3.
In perks you put 2 in surveyor for map awareness, one in charisma for a total of 5 for dryad so you don't starve to death, 1 in magic so you get max benefits in spider den. After that go full offensive.
You get used to this enough and you can take on ettin with only 3 damage received, or 10 damage for demon king. All normal stats and no cheats.