Starting Nioh 2, coming from Sekiro/Bloodborne

Dodging is actually pretty useful in Nioh. A lot of attacks can be avoided by just dodging left and right. Stances can make a big difference for enemies as well.

I've only really used the Odachi, and sword weapons. These imo are the easiest weapons to use as their attacks are fairly straightforward. You can change weapons anytime, the only difference is how your stats will affect your weapon damage. Try out a few different weapons to get a feel of them, maybe you will like something better than axes and whatever else you've been using. Some stances like high stance can hit weak spots on enemies easier like demon horns. Low stance is good for fast attacks, and against enemies that stay close to the ground.

Magic buffs are really strong in this game especially vs bosses. Ones that slow enemies, lower attack, and raise defense, are all great to use before a boss fight. I havent used Ninjutsu much, but it doesnt seem nearly as useful, though adds other interesting ways to play.

Eventually you will start to get soul cores, these are special yokai attacks, do some experimenting for what you find good. I found for myself the best one is the Serpent Boss, it does a lot of damage and often completely depletes the bar of yokai.

Try to get Life gained on Amrita gained, you can join a clan with this bonus. It helps a ton for sustainability, I think its OP, it's the only one I use. Later on you can even get a magic buff that makes you gain amrita on hit, meaning you will gain life every time you hit an enemy. Generally this ability doesnt do much for bosses because you get amirite when things die or when you loot things, but with the buff it'll work with bosses as well.

When you do get a ranged weapon always aim for the head of enemies, the reticle should be red with a red dot in the center. The center dot indicates a headshot and the red circle will indicate a 1 hit kill, if its yellow it will damage but not kill. A lot of regular enemies will often die with 1 ranged shot to the head, if the enemy is wearing a helmet the first shot will knock off their helmet and draw their attention to you doing no damage. Its easy to forget to use your bow, but it makes it really easy to clear out some enemies since a lot of them die in 1 hit to the head.