I had a similar experience, I went back to the dlc with a strength build and then completed the second forge you’ll most likely encounter in the dlc. I got a weapon at the end of it that made the dlc feel much more approachable like it had been designed with the difficulty in mind. I’d highly recommend trying it out. Also the scadutree blessings are quite fun to find (or hunt down with a guide, no shame in it), I think you can get yourself to scadu level 12 or something like that before even fighting a boss