Best Champions To Get For Slots 1 & 9? (& Patron Question)

Hi all, pretty new to the game, joined with Epic games. With the welcome package, the festival of fools, the free characters in the recent chest, I now have 2 or more heroes in all my slots to work towards Split the Party which seems to be important based on what I've read. So who should I get in Bruenor and Makos' slots?

Who should I look for? My additional champions are:
Grimm (S2), Spurt (S3), Artemis (S3), Karlach (S4), Kalix (S5), Kas (S6), Catti-brie (S7), Hitch (S8), Beadle (S8), Rosie (S10), Astarion (S10), Dark Urge (S11), Vi (S12)

I think Astarion, Dark Urge, and Artemis seem to be carrying me DPS and Gold wise currently, and Catti-brie and Kalix have seemed like valuable supports. I seem to have sort of an Evil synergy available so should I pursue more Evil-aligned characters?

Sub-question: I have not gotten a patron yet because I'm really close to getting the second one, the Dragon Heist lady. Is getting a Patron something I should spend time pieces on before pursuing Split the Party? And if so, should I get the first guy or finish the last few quests and start with the Dragon Heist patron instead?