I mean I can kite half the entire village of 15 mobs and kill 1 or 2 at a time fairly easily.

Don't use a tower shield as it slows you down to much. But even with 20% movement penalty from weapon/shield and armor it's super easy to kite everything except the deathsquitos which you can 1 shot if you just time it right without ever getting attacked.

Basically play the game and you get use to what you need to do and it's super easy even without best gear.

I switch to 2 stamina foods and 1 health food as I am confident that I am not going to take more than 1 hit from anything at a time. A deathsquito might get a single hit in but it's not going to kill me and you can medium health potion while kiting.

The combat is not ment to be like God of War or something where you just stand and fight everything like a viking. Strangely the combat is more of a ranger playstyle even if your only using melee weapons which is good honestly. If you could just stand and fight everything easily it would be even easier without having to move around.