Am I doing something wrong with combat?

Just finished a new game play through of 2018, then moved on to ragnorok. Why does the combat feel so different? One hit from early game enemies would take 40 percent of my health. I can't seem to dodge consistently. I beat Sigrun and the rest of the fights in 2018, but now I'm getting wrecked by the beserkers. It's new game plus, so I'm level 10. Will take their health down, but then get hit mid dodge, and die. I can't upgrade anymore, other than being perfect, what am I supposed to do? This is my third play through off both games, have always liked ragnoroks game play more than 2018. But now I'm not even finding it fun at all, just frustrating

Also, besides the relic, how can I realm shift?