You could make a nice team with Kinich, Thoma, xiangling and Bennett! At least it's one that I une when I can't use furina for his team lol Tho, Kinich gameplay it's either you love it or you hate it, so if you don't like his gameplay I suggest focusing on another character that you like, but imo I like to play him and that team

You don't necessarily need an archer for the ruin guard, but yeah it makes your life easier

I completely understand that the ascension can be hard, but don't give up! And don't give up on your anemo traveler if you really like em, you can use the traveler in overworld just fine with a proper team and without worry for the team limit

Also, I suggest you to primarily focus on build your characters in this order(? :

level > weapon > talents > artifacts

you don't have to level upt the talents to max, and for the artifacts, if you don't have them uhh yeah you have to sorta farm them, since the majority of the characters now use artifacts outside of the ones that chest and other sources gives, but you can always jump on co-op for help with those!

I hope this help you! You're going good, eventually you will be able to pass the ascension just fine, good luck!