Hm, thinking it over more, potentially I found the nailsmith but not any pale ore? I just know that after getting the bad/default ending I looked some stuff up and the damage boost from getting a few nail upgrades felt absurd lol. I also barely used spells. And I skipped City of Tears as long as possible so I didn't get the dream nail until after doing practically everything possible without it. My original playthrough was charmed in many ways
I did use the Quick Slash charm so that obviously helped my DPS a little but Watcher Knights were still a huge wall without being able to focus fire them down quickly.
"You're childish. What are you getting? Are you getting strawberry? Ha! That's such a childish flavor, only children eat strawberry."