Making my way through Hellblade 2's Dark Rot mode and a lot of the guides and playthroughs I've found seem to favour the strategy of holding block, dodging every attack, and getting in 1-2 hits before backing away. While this does help for a lot of encounters and gets past the anxieties of having at most 4 mistakes, it also takes way longer and makes beating the game 100x more of a slog.
So I wanted to throw up some tidbits about certain enemies I found super annoying and how I eventually found some good counters to killing them faster.
Nightmare Axe-Men
Found myself having a lot of trouble with these guys at the start of my runs namely because you need focus to kill them in the nightmare segments and following the strategy of dodging all attacks means you'll have to build up focus and use it 3 times. However, learning to parry the underarm swings not only makes focus gain way easier, but if you've built up focus and use it right after a parry you can kill these guys in one go. Keeping an eye trained on their right hip can help you not get caught out with it but they usually do it after a stomp attack, and plus side since its counted as a light attack you won't get staggered. The other one that can be parried is after the overarm cross slash from left to right and I found this one to be way easier to nail since you can see the full arc of the attack without Senua blocking it.
Nightmare Swordsman
Thankfully much easier than the Axe-Men as they don't require a parry to take down in focus mode. That said, their right swipe can be very quickly followed up by an unblockable left swipe that can catch you if you're not careful. Try to parry those left swipes but otherwise deal damage as you see fit.
Sword Draugr
Easy when you become a parry king, main thing to watch out for is the stab attack which can be dodged to the left or right or parry, and the one where he drags his blade across his throat and does a long quick series of attacks. Do not try to block this one, just hold block if you miss the parry and dodge once to the left or right once his sword glows red (mashing will get you punished).
Axe Thrower
Probably one of the easiest enemies in the game once you figure out their rhythm. The biggest fear with these guys is if you get hit by their axe throw its an instant death, bypassing your second wind, no way no how. That said, its very easy to abuse for extra damage. Once they step back to throw, sprint right at them, dodging the axe as it comes at you and throw a heavy (be ready to dodge if you see them starting an attack before you). Other than that, keep an eye out for his back hand which will need to be dodged, no parry for it for some reason.
Fire-Breather
Worst enemy in the game. Making the fire attacks it pulls out every 3 seconds an instant kill when you have 4 lives is a hate crime by the combat designers (but i can't help but still love em). Dodge this one just a little bit wrong (especially in the hiddenfolk encounter where you barely have space to move) it's instant death. Trick with these guys is, save focus for them in particular, spam dodge back if you're close and they start to drink, spam dodge right if you're far and they start to drink, 1-2 hits if you can't nail the parry timings before backing off, and keep your finger trained on that pause button incase you even suspect you'll get hit by a pixel of fire (if you're fine save scumming that is), if it goes to photomode, say goodnight. (and for their grenade attack in chapter 5, DODGE AND PRAY)
Hammer-Man
An enemy to respect, but once you do they're easy. Like the nightmare axe-men they have few attacks you can parry, but unlike them Hammer-Men don't need focus to take down, so they're very easily abused with the passive strat. Just watch out for their backhand as that can absolutely knock you down into second wind if you're not careful.
Ghouls
Ghouls are some of the most fun enemies in the game if you're good at parrying and dodging. Don't even have much to say about em but if you get the timing right and parry them its basically a one shot kill.
Spear Thrower
Essentially an upgraded Axe-Thrower with the same counter, they try to throw their spear? Run full pelt at em and dodge to avoid their spear before wailing on em. Key difference is their shield, if you weave in a few heavy attacks into your base combo, you may just catch them on guard and continue their stagger for even longer. They can also ignore damage to do a quick stab attack that'll stagger you very easily, best thing you can do for that is not to get too tunnel visiony and keep an eye on their right hip for an animation change and be ready to block/parry.
Real Axe-Man
Only at the end of the game and keeps the same moveset as the nightmare variation, aside from the new triple windmill move and that fuckass shoulder barge. Both can only be dodged, the windmill swipes one at a time, and be ready to dodge that shoulder charge at any given moment because he WILL fuck your day with it.
The Godi
I will let you know when I get to him...
