I have a bouner to 41/50Hu atm... and got the braver to 36atm.

How are people doing these counter strikes

vs the packs of mobs that are hitting you and differing and random intervals from all sides. and especially vs Bosses as i cant even see when they are going to atk? I can do these counter in the practice area easily, but vs real mission mobs-- i have trouble performing them.

and

Every enemy has tells, and it really is just about practicing and learning what they look like. Once you do have those down, you'll find that the counter window is a bit more forgiving than it initially seemed. In addition to that, you need to learn when it is more beneficial to dodge rather than trying to counter, like in situations where you are overly-mobbed.

also as a BRAVER-- if I dont charge up certain PAs-- will that impair me? or can i do well wihout all the charging of pas

@VI-Lycan-Lupgarou For the Braver Katana PAs that need charging, if you use them non-charged, they do significantly less damage, in addition to having less range and loss of secondary effects; for example, Thriving Bellflower un-charged only does 34% of the damage of the charged attack, so you have to use it 3 times in a row to get the same damage as timing its charge, meaning it is a waste of PP (60PP for uncharged x3 vs. 20PP for charged x1). This isn't even taking into account the damage bonus you get from charged PAs due to the Stance Charge skills.

For the mob situation, that's also due to positioning and mob manipulation. I've noticed a lot of Scion class players have absolutely horrid mob control, but they can get away with it due to a combination of iframes, AoE, and displacement during attacks. Most older classes don't have that luxury. Try to keep enemies roughly in front of you so you can easily dodge/parry and fire frontal AoE, or close around you so you can still see them while you use player-centered AoEs.