Hello there. As a devout Templar player I took it upon myself to make a "Me and the boys crusading through wraeclast" build.
This idea was thrown around a lot, but I really wanted to generically scale all minions equally. As such, no impale is used as that'd make the Absolution Minions kinda weird to use.
Higher budget: https://pastebin.com/7GifpLqr
Lesser budget: https://pastebin.com/W65teMxE
> Disclaimer: I use a lot of %-supports, so the actual DPS will be lower.
If I turn off 1 damage supporgem like Melee Damage/Minion damage and swap some gear to less pricey things, I still get a fairly realistic 2-3mil Combat DPS with very tanky minions. (Capped Ele+chaos Resists, almost block capped, 30k+ hp on domblow e.g) and consider that Absolutism doesn't exist yet. It'll prolly be a stronger minion than a Skeleton Mage!
The gear I used in the higher budget version will cost a handful of ex depending on the state of the league which is something I find achievable. Until you get uniques, you can absolutely ^hah just use whatever rares you find that have HP, resists, have the right colors and skip abyss jewels for lower gear levels.
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Shroud of the lightless is really nice, gives a bunch of DPS, tankyness ~~it also keeps me sane because screw 6 Linking things~~
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the Scourge is a solid claw that grants a lot of damage, but you could also go for a rare one, autocast desecrate + Flesh Offering, but I don't mind the more button intense gameplay personally.
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Victario's Charity's a 1Alch or Chaos Unique usually, so you can have fun with some silly corruptions for Auras etc.
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Darkness enthroned's also really cheap. Can also go for a good, rare Stygian Vise or if you enjoy rampage, can also go for Bisco's Leash! (Or HH if you're rich. Of course.)
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Other gear can just be random rares with HP and resists, except for the Helmet. That thing's gonna be pricey, as it needs the minion damage support and +2-3 to levels to minion gems. This will make sure our Domblow deals a TON more damage.
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I also made sure the abyss jewels all only have 29 hp and 1 minion damage mod to make them be in the "handful of chaos" range.
This should be a really strong, reliable leaguestarter that, according to the manifesto, won't be hit by the nerfs too much - with tons of room to grow, a very active playstyle thanks to many buttons being required and the use of 2 new skillgems which is always fun.
Any and all thoughts on similar paths are appreciated!