You skipped icemist's dungeon initiated by
The Sewer of Horrors quest, which is in my opinion harder than ark. There you can get 5 skill points and 7 trait points for free. Additionally, recovery is a waste of skill points and cleave is not as useful as whirlwind-charge combo, especially because you can still use this combo on a single target and get great results, while cleave is just useless in 1v1. I still didnt enter ark with this char, I have been hunting liches for past 5-6 levels but i aint getting lucky with Unlife Ring, so i am forced to use Ilmaran Signet Ring. This is what i have so far:
For ark you need personality 5 (thats if you want to have a perfectly good win (a bit secretish), 6 if you wanna join forsaken (also secretish win)) (bishop ring will help you here if you picked it instead of extra skill point, i went for an extra skill point) and intellect 3 (crown of galad gives u +2 int) or other way around (per 3, int 5) (I have invested 1 point too much into intellect by an accident, so ignore that pls, i will respec once i get enough money, i am trying to save 250 000 for last altar vision to get +1 skill point), awareness 5 (helm drop in ark gives u +2, alternatively amulet of dark whispers gives you +2). You will also need to pass 4 str or 4 int check along with 50 000 for +3 str belt (force belt), but that shouldnt be a problem. I find that flurry and battle rage have high synergy and would advise u to max both and use them at the same time. During my flurry, battle rage and fury i deal over 150 dps for 6 secs, which should cause around 1000 damage. If i didnt need to use trait points to levels traits needed story wise my dps would probably be around 200, and during those 6 seconds i would be able to do around 1200 damage. My goal till endgame (lvl 25) would be maxing body development, maxing whirlwind and getting lvl 1 bash or lvl 1 resilience in that order.
Expected changes to current gear:
Ashen Helm -> Goggled Helmet
Ashen Chestplate -> Laminated Vest
Ashen Gauntlets -> Automated Gloves
Flame Pendant -> Magister Pendant
Axe of the Minotaur King -> Pneumatic Mallet (only in boss fight(s)? Since it has 8 speed it should scale worse than axe, so i am not sure which weapon has bigger dps during my 6 seconds of frenzy, or even all the time)
The Abot's Ring -> Ring of Unlife
Ilmaran Signet Ring -> The Abot's Ring (for last boss fight only)
Volator's Hide Mantle -> Iron Will Mantle (for last boss fight only)
Girdle of the Warrior -> Force Belt
I hope that answers all your questions