Am I doing something wrong with Simulacrum?

[Piggy]

Even though I'm maxed out, I can't figure out how to beat her. I can't ever reach the second form!

I swear, her sword is impossible to dodge and I always get hit at that phase at every turn.
The projectile attacks are easily deflected but it's very difficult to aim at her even though I'm using an analog controller! I always end up looking slightly to her left or right.
Also, I really don't understand why everyone at every guide seems to suggest that her explosion phase is my chance to hit her the most. She attacks too quickly and erratically to get close to her without getting damaged or hit her with projectiles from afar.

I try to just avoid her in her sword phase, then deflect her projectile attacks and hit her with the wand, and just planting a bomb or two at her explosion phase, but I get too much damage from her sword and not seem to be doing enough to her.

Is there a strategy I'm not seeing here?

[Cannonaire]

There is a timing to most of it. It's been a while, but here's what I can remember:

Sword - Hit your dodge button right as you know she's gonna attack. Like the very moment you expect to get hit. If you have the full chain and you're fast, you can even hit her before her next sword swing, but that's risky. The nice thing about full chain is you don't even need to be facing her.

Explosions - They take a second to explode. Dodge her landing, roll into the explosion and hit her, then roll out. The easiest part is hitting her during the big explosion. You can get multiple hits on her before you have to roll out of it. (IIRC, you have to walk a bit, then roll the rest of the way out.

Sounds like you're already doing it, but it does take a lot of practice. It's possible to avoid every single one of her attacks. (I always get hit a lot, though...)

[Cannonaire]

I just remembered! Place a lot of dynamite. If she happens to jump on it, she's gonna take a good amount of damage. Usually you can place it when you know she's about to jump on you and she'll get hit as you run away.

[moldorm]

Has anyone found a way to cheese this boss yet? Been on it for hours. So ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ annoying. It's not difficult, it's tedious. A full run of the boss with no mess ups or death is 7 minutes long. Like wth. HOW CAN I BEAT HER..