Never really cheesed anything beyond trolls in the early game. There's very little need to do so. If anything kills you "so fast", it is usually an indication that you're not prepared for the given enemy with an appropriate equipment and/or lack the combat discipline - knowing when to parry and counter, when to dodge, and when to disengage. Different enemies have different behaviors to evaluate and different vulnerabilities to exploit, so sometimes you may want to use a different weapon or a tower shield, and you should always have some consumables that you have not felt needed previously.

Either way, all biomes are balanced to be difficult becoming more and more trivial with the acquisition of the associated gear, and bosses are balanced to be a marginal challenge with the full kit and appropriate combat technique. Given that, you're lacking in either of those two aspects if you're having a problem dealing with the game solo.