Is it truly not possible to do these builds without online gems?

I wanted to do either a whirligig arcane run or a holy moonlight sword run, but all the guides include grinding for gems in online chalices.

I found people asking for offline builds for these two weapons, but replies suggested grinding for gems in frc offline chalices. Which, allegedly, takes way more time.

Essentially, do I really have to grind to make these weapons viable? I don't find that entertaining at all, I just want to progress through the game normally

I only did a quality build before, and I stuck with offline gems for that one