Yeah, I've been doing a Skill build for my first playthrough, and as long as you parry any bosses that can be parried, you'll be fine. I would just recommend, if you later swap to another weapon, hold on to your threaded cane as backup; sometimes you really need a weapon with a decent AoE, and most of the Skill weapons are more close-ranged.
In other news, I finally got the beast claws. The first Loran boss was a lot easier than I was expecting, considering the last Lower Pthumeru boss; then I just needed to run like a bitch past everything in the second floor side area, and now I've got it. Now I just need the burial blade, and I've got the "get all the weapons" achievement. And now I never need to touch the chalices again. Yay.