How to make slow weapons viable?

I literally have no poise and no option to increase my poise. I'm fairly early on in the game and is progressing through the zone where zombies are first introduced. Every enemy is capable of disrupting my attack, and my only option is to outpace them while loading up my regular R1 (pipe wrench).

Will this change later in the game? I'm on the edge of restarting my playthrough with a new class because slow weapons seem too punishing for so little reward - I've equipped the heaviest everything that the game has provided me so far, yet I can't trade hits as a slow melee?? This is even more discouraging knowing that getting crit's after breaking an enemy's stance (charged R2) is also punished for slower weapons, despite that being exactly what a tank should be favored in. It's simply not "clicking" for me.

I suspected that slow weapons would be weaker since the game favors aggressive gameplay, but my experience thus far tells me that it's gone too far. Aside from more damage per hit, what else does it bring? R1's rarely stun locks enemies, and R2's aren't even guaranteed after the Puppet String L2.