I agree that we don't wanna level anyone without a specific place they are going to go, and definitely don't want to spend soul coins on them.
I would consider the Heiress and Warpriest as foodable to get your Apothecary to 60. Warpriest is bad and Heiress is farmable. I guess I would keep Galek for FW, but he'd almost be on the chopping block were it my account. lol
At least Basher is a very strong champion and he's now your main Arena lockdown champ., I'd say. I used him religiously for a year+ until I recently pulled Yumeko.
Getting Apothecary and Frozen to 60 will let you frm Dragon 20, and many other places. And that team of Kunoichi, UDK, Kael, Apothecary and FB will be your initial CB team for a while too. There is a strong argument for bringing up Gravechill and replacing Kael with her, especially in CB.... but that is a question for later, when we see who you've got after Apo and FB. :)
As far as Chonaru, I wouldn't be building her either right now. Let Kael do your 12-3 farming. Even in a full on Arena build, your starter should be a fine farmer until you've got Dragon 20 on lockdown. I used my Arena build Athel for perhaps TOO long myself, until I was finally convinced to build a Bellower. :)