Observations on 2nd playthru with Int build vice Str

I'm on my 2nd playthrough, level 93 atm, not sure progression-wise, but I've cleared everything south of Altus and almost cleared all the underground zones.

With this playthrough I went with an Int build (academy staff + moon veil) where my first playthrough I was Str with some combination of 2H Great Stars and powerstancing them.

What I've noticed with this playthrough is that having spells has made a huge difference. Mostly because I have a ranged option, but even some of the melee options have made certain situations remarkably easier.

So with that said, did I play my str build wrong? I dabbled in faith (25 pts for golden vow), but it didn't see nearly as impactful. It seemed mostly useful for buffs. I used the fireball incantation a lot, and tried some of the others, but the damage was pretty lack luster. I did use Siluria's Tree for a time and def noticed it's ranged option was super useful.

Part of the reason I'm asking is that for my 3rd playthrough I was going to play a Faith build and assuming it'll play similar to Int, where my incantations will actually do some meaningful damage.

Thoughts?