Bosses are not the issue

There's nothing wrong with Elden Ring boss/enemy design. They are relentless, can rollcatch better than ever and bait players who rely on memory alone and not reactions, and that's a good thing for what is an action oriented RPG.
The issue of Elden Ring is the control scheme/gameplay systems, that are stuck to the Souls games and artificially limit players

Elden Ring brought back the weapon arts as tools the player can use instead of basic attacks. This time they are equippable, but players can use it ONLY if they happen to have it equipped at the right time, meaning the core gameplay is (usually) still basic attacks.
The reason a better and more versatile implementation that makes Ashes more relevant is necessary is that basic "Souls" defensive and attack movesets will force the player to be entirely on the defensive against increasingly aggressive enemies.

Take Stamp for a STR build. This Ash makes the player brace with increase poise and damage resistance, lower his hitbox and come up with an attack.
Take Bloodhound Fang for a DEX build, this move quickly attacks while dodging, and then closes in with a strong attack.
These two are great tools in the right situations, but you may not have them equipped when you need them.
You can't parry AND shield bash, and you have to put that shield away to use the ash/skill for your right hand. You can't have quickstep either

Having to choose only 1 between all the possible skills and ashes is very limiting. On top of that certain Ashes break the game by being so powerful. Not only your DEX Tarnished can do a Spinning Slash OR a Raptor of the Mist, but both are poor choices while ashes like Hoarfrost Stomp are broken and dominate gameplay, making combat worse instead of expanding it

Spells are also still using slots and it's absurd that From didn't merge Ashes of War and Spells, keeping an arbitrary distinction instead. Aren't spells "Ashes of War" for their catalyst? Why are they attuned by the character but not ashes?

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skill issue

YES Exactly!
The issue is that there's not enough equippable skills

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Dragon's Dogma did it right, even archery
From should have done more

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play nioh 2
youre whalecume

But Nioh has shit level design and art direction

nioh commits to prioritizing gameplay and isnt even afriad of showing it

Imagine if you could use at the same time the teleport sidestep and one of the bullshit ashes like frost stomp
At least this way you have to choose between them

OP is correct. Nothing is wrong with the bosses in Elden Ring; It’s a player skill issue.

I have no comment on the deeper intricacies of the ashes of war system, but it’s obviously not perfectly ideal.

Nioh has 20000 mechanics suited for PVE only gameplay
I just want to use Parry, Kick, Square off and Bloodhound step at the same time, thus the Dragon's Dogma comparison