Non-Fleshy Monsters - how do I hit them HARD?

Well met!

I, too, refuse to be bullied into using a skill that "everyone" says is the most efficient with the skill set, attribute combo, armor set(s) and weapon rack that "everyone" says you "must" have. It is good to have some idea of the numbers and the potential synergies in a build. But, in actual play, I find that other, more intuitive, tactics are best for me. I don't carry conditional skills or distracting blow on my bar, because focussing on watching for their conditions or something to interrupt, respectively, and hovering my mouse pointer over them, distracts me from the "flow" of battle. Your description of how dragonslash feels to you is coincident with mine--wait...wait...unleash combo...repeat. That's why I like rage of the ntouka so much, because, with it, there is more of a constant flow, regardless of condition. All my skills are always useful. None sit on my bar, waiting for their moment. Even sever and gash, which "everyone" says you must carry, I often don't, because I don't like to wait and see if sever hit before hitting gash. However, I find that I don't mind waiting on final thrust, because it's condition, enemy at <50% health, is so often met (which says something positive about my style I think, lol). Thus I run the following:

16 sword, 13 strength, rest in tactics (for lion's comfort) or a secondary (conjure...open to suggestion)

RotN [E], flail, standing slash, sun & moon, power attack, final thrust, lion's comfort, [sig of whatever...open to suggestion, again, lol]

All I need to focus on, with respect to my bar, is not hitting flail too soon once it is up, make sure that, in spamming power attack, I have enough energy for RotN when it has recharged, and deciding when to use final thrust and/or lion's comfort. This leaves me free to focus on whom to attack/let go, and the effect I am having on my target's health. In the heat of battle, I often find myself in the "zone". Pick nearest and attack, kill quickly or, if too much resistance, choose next target, repeat until all dead, never loosing sight of the bigger picture, not overextending, aware of my teammates. That's the style of my Warrior of the Sword, Shihan Ki.

Please feel free to contact me in game!

I thought first not reply again because there is no point arguing about opinions on what is fun and how to play the game. But then I thought to clarify a few things before we end this.

First, you may have already realized this, but trying to be as efficient as possible is part of my fun. I do get sometimes urge to play less useful builds, but I'll get bored within a few minutes seeing how I'm then more or less deadweight to my team.

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