I have 5 hearts and 9 defense from my armor. My strongest weapon has 20 damage. I noticed I’m too unequipped for most stuff. I get 1 shot by any miniboss and boss bokos.
I don’t have much of the map. Only the first tower and a tiny bit of depths. Any advice? Where can I get decent early-mid game loot?
Most enemies in camps go to sleep at night (Bokoblins and Moblins, but not Lizals) which gives you the opportunity to sneak into the camp, take their weapons and just leave. No fighting required. You can also steal stuff from a Hinoxes’ necklace if you manage to land on his chest without waking him up.
If you’re adamant about killing them still, crouch down and sneak up to a still sleeping enemy until a button prompt appears onscreen that reads “sneakstrike”. Sneakstrikes deal eight times as much damage as normal hits but still only consume one point of durability, which can make it easy to take out an entire camp without even fighting.
Did you find some elemental items already? Shock fruit, Chuchu Jelly, the like? Use them. You can fuse them to arrows or just toss them at enemies manually, and each has some neat extra effects that deal extra damage, stun your foes, or can even OHKO monsters of the opposing element (fire/frost). Be careful with shock-type items tho because it’s easy to get yourself zapped.
I’ve found horses to be a good way to take out Boss Boko groups. A sprinting horse tramples your enemies which deals damage and can knock them down / make them drop their equipment, and melee weapons deal double damage if the horse is at least cantering. It’s also harder for them to hit you while you’re on horseback.
Use the environment to your advantage. Rolling or dropping heavy boulders on foes, shoving / luring Bokoblins and Moblins into water to drown them (they can’t swim) or tossing them off cliffs might be easier than just fighting them head-on, especially if you’re dealing with a group.
… but like others have said already, there is absolutely no shame in avoiding fights altogether until you’re better prepared, have better equipment and stronger armor and more skill. There is plenty of other stuff to do, a whole lot of shrines, puzzles, sidequests, minigames and general exploration that doesn’t require you to fight anything, but will still make you stronger in the long run.