I also agree with all that. That takes more work though.

Bullet sponges are usually companies who can't be bothered, so I focused on the low cost options. But IMO you should be building for high difficulty, then simplifying by inverting the things I suggested and your removing moves/exposing themselves more, actually slowing movement speed and animations, etc, to make encounters more forgiving at lower levels.

I think even after cutting down, easier difficulties can tell the game is better crafted that way.