WTF, I just spent two hours trying to beat the Alfheim Portal in Chapter 6 on Hard (kill 7 enemies with torture attacks and beat the rest under the time limit. Wave 1: Burning Affinity x4, Burning Ardor x1. Wave 2: Burning Ardor x1, Fairness x2. Wave 3: Joy x3.) just to get Umbran Tear #77 from the crow sitting on the left side of the path as you enter the arena. My favorite part is probably the time I had the last Joy down to half health and, at the exact moment I pressed Y+B to finish her off with a torture attack, she kicked me in the face and broke my last health orb. :lol
Every new attempt saw my strategy honed just a little more. To lower the first Ardor's health enough that he could be killed by a torture attack, I switched from my first setup, all Scarborough Fair, to Scarborough Fair and Durga (flame). Later I found it was faster to take him out with two torture attacks. I started using the butterfly shield accessory when I noticed how many hits I had been taking. While this kept me alive for longer, the need to periodically reactivate my shields and compensate for their cost in magic power made combat with fast enemies more difficult to manage. Pillow Talk came into play in the second and third wave, taking over for Kilgore as my main damage dealer. The stripper pole attack with enemy polearms dropped by wave 1's Affinities turned out to be the key to building up enough magic during wave 2 to pull off the last two torture attacks I needed. My tactics for Joy made a 180 degree shift in my later attempts, from strictly defensive actions to sustained bursts of aggressive melee combat. Finally, right after I decided, "Okay, no matter how badly this goes, this is my last try today," I won.
It was the biggest challenge Bayonetta has thrown my way so far, a situation that really highlighted the quality of the game's combat system and the vast array of options it offers. I feel like a better player now, and Bayonetta feels like a better game.