Erudite sk 41 gear questions

[Vertiggo]

Ok so the title is my char, I find myself grouping alot more lately as a tank obviously so my questions are as follows- 1) should I get rid of dark forge pieces and replace with blood ember ? The added ac seems to help from what I've been hearing but having gear with no stats as an eru is rough. 2) I have a sash of the dragonborn, but do I really need it? I mean it's almost always disease cloud that's getting my aggro so wouldn't I benefit more from say a thick banded belt? 3) I use a noct blade and an ashenbone shield and that really seems to be the best set up for me, I tried using a gfg for fear kiting but found I did better just using my sword and board for that aswell, at what point is using a 2hander necessary (aside from epic) or can I just have some cheap stuff around to keep my skill up?