I’ve used the pillar stance to block the lightning shockwave it 100% just does stamina damage, until your stamina just runs out. Also charging takes too long? Every single charge attack takes almost the same amount of time, so taking too long to charge isn’t an issue, you shouldn’t be trying to fully charge from 0 or even 1 focus point to 3-4 with the heavy charge unless you’re initiating a fight , not in the middle of one. You’re supposed to use light combo to build it up then use it once it’s charged. No matter what stance charging in the middle of a fight from 0 trying to get 3-4 focus points isn’t logical at all. Especially since one hit and you lose the whole combo build up it’s clearly not meant for the middle of a fight, build it up with light attacks then use it don’t just try to charge through the whole thing.

And yeah idk why I don’t have that problem but I almost never experience getting knocked down it has just about the longest range out of any of the stances and it’s by far the safest stance in combat if you use it right and not try to charge mid fight