a lot of guessing? yeah, that or figuring out logically what will happen when a bomb goes off, which bombs that will activate etc etc. It's called thinking and it's sorta the point.
challenge 4 is retardly difficult, if your sword is closer than your shield, it gets shot at, if your shield is too close to the dragon, well, inside minimum range, sword gets shot at. and since you can't shoot the dragon you being in range too, and you can't really control the distance kept between dragon and shield, it's all rather irritating.