Sparhawk has the right idea. The main use of Dragon Slash is as an engine to power other adrenal skills, such as Galrath and/or Silverwing or Gash comboes (Sever Artery if you use a stance, Barbarous Slice if you don't). If you're just using Dragon Slash without lots of other adrenal skills, you might as well use Quivering Blade. (Dragon Slash at a high Swordsmanship level effectively requires 5 adrenaline per use (unless you visit a Balthazar shrine), while Quivering only needs 4 and doesn't need to build up first).
I'd probably be inclined to use Galrath and Silverwing over a Gash combo, as Gash and your Bleeding skill generally don't need to be continually reused and it means you don't have redundant skills if your teammates inflict the same conditions*, but that's just my personal preference - and if you're finding you're only getting the chain off once before the enemy dies anyway, that doesn't really matter.
Personally, I think Sun And Moon is a little overrated as a means of gaining adrenaline - without FGJ, it only gives you a net (2-1) 1 adrenaline, the same as a regular swing. With FGJ it gives (2x1.5-1) 2 net adrenaline, compared to the (1x1.5) 1.5 adrenaline for a regular swing.
For self-healing, I'd be inclined to go towards Lion's Comfort - you should be getting enough Adrenaline to be able to use it regularly if you need to unless you hit a critter with adrenaline hate. It also has the benefit of being linked to Strength rather than Tactics if you're planning to put more points into the former... although it is worth noting that Lion's Comfort does still benefit more from Tactics than Strength.
*Maybe I've just grown cynical, but in my experience, few PUGgers are willing to bother discussing skill selection and avoiding redundancies before jumping in, although the ability to call your skillbar does make it a little more common.
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