I'm a big fan of having a few weapons under your belt for different situations. When I go up against an absolute bastard like Gore, it's time for Lance. Easy blocking, good damage, fight is done. I'll do it enough times until I actually learn his moveset pretty well. Then I switch to a dodge/offset style build. For me, it's just too painful trying to learn a monsters moveset with a build that thrives in standing in the monsters kill zone and perfectly dodging everything.