Hey, AB, welcome back to the game. A lot has changed in 6 years. The New Player’s Guide stickied in this forum breaks down our major builds, and this thread will help you sort out how builds rank when compared to each other.
Let me touch on something you mentioned:
Negative, ghost rider. Zodiac Rend (the 6 Wastes build you’re referring to) is much stronger than IK+Wastes for all content and at all levels of play. You can, of course, choose to use a hybrid build with IK, and if you find that to be more fun, more power to you–no one here will tell you how to have fun.
However, anything that a hybrid build can do, the core Zodiac Rend build can do better, faster, and with barely any more optimization required. Even if you’re only playing casually and don’t much care about fully optimizing your build, Zodiac Rend is much more efficient and powerful. The difference is much greater than 2-5 GR levels.
If the OP wants a build that uses 2-handed weapons, he can choose either Fire EQ or Vile Charge, or he can opt for IK/LOD HOTA and equip Gavel; it is, as was noted, weaker than the dual-wield (standard) build, but still quite powerful and fun.
Hope this helps. Let us know if you have more questions!