I beat it after 5 tries.
I really lost count. Probably should have practiced with the older games before jumping in. I was rusty...
The jankiness of this boss is bull. It was in front of me, i was behind a wall and it was shooting me from behind. Then i was on top of it hitting it with melee and it flew out of the arena knocking me off. It has also taken me from 75% to dead more then once. From Software swore this was not going to be Dark Souls in armor. I say LIARS!
Little did you know, Dark Souls was always AC without armour! Getting flashbacks of getting chain staggered by cannons, missiles and rockets.
I recall previous chapters being difficult, but not unfun levels of difficult. The intro goes from 0-11 without warning, I took almost no damage the entire first part of the mission, then a boss that does 75% hits. At least give us difficulty settings. I am in my 40s and have limited play time. I spent my entire morning trying to beat the first boss. I know get good, whatever. I really did not enjoy playing.
This is the first game I am actively seeking a refund
The stagger lock on your AC really only happens if you spend too much time on the ground. Try and stay in the air and use the double slash to stagger the boss faster. You need to be aggressive with the build they gave you. Hiding behind the buildings when you've run out of energy or are reloading is important too. missiles also generate a lot of stagger. Everything about this fight revolves around stagger.
This boss is less about being mechanically taxing and more about figuring out the tricks to beat it easy. I've also seen people talk about assualt boosting to get close to the boss to use the laser sword as a strat.