I couldn't get it to do much damage to the others. Maybe I wasn't holding it long enough? But I struggle with coordinating the mouse to move dynamically like that. I thought the tutorial was great, so it definitely wasn't a lack of understanding really, just a lack of my ability to accurately get it spinning enough and aimed well enough to hit and damage the enemy before they knocked me out.
Maybe I need "little sibling" mode with target assist to help me "lock on" even when I should miss so I can focus more on spinning up power XD