Notable Passives:

This Tree doesn't exactly benefit Mininons in any way, so you should prioritize Fearless to boost your Vitality and defenses, and max Iron Clad which grants a solid damage multiplier versus nearby enemies. You still need at least 7 Points allocated in this Tree so allocating those into Juggernaut for extra Strength and Resistances is recommended

Void Skill Tree (# Points)

Notable Passives:

You don't exactly need any Points here unless you want to use Volatile Reveral for its' damage multiplier against enemies affected by Void Rifts via Harbinger of Dust node. However, Abyssal Endurance increases your Health and Resistances, so you can allocate any excess Points here regardless

Notable Passives:

Paladin's Tree offers tons of Attunement bonuses via Defiance and Dedication nodes which increase the damage of your Minions but also boost your Maximum Mana, making it much easier to maintain all the buffs and resummon Forged Weapons via Forge Strike. You should also max out Valor and Holy Icon - those two boost your Maximum Health and Healing Effectiveness, which are your core defensive layers

Notable Passives:

While this Tree is your primary one, it isn't exactly packed with goodies. You only need the 10 Points in Folded Steel, which is the most important node in this entire build. Other than that, just take Iron Attunement for extra Attunement and bonus Armor for you and your Minions. You can also take 3 Points in Shield Crafter - the shields on their own aren't that great without extra Passives from the corresponding tree, but the bonuses to Minion Health and Armor will surely increase their durability. Might and Guardian are also worth picking up for the extra Strength and Health bonuses they offer. 

As you can see, none of the Sentinel's Trees are particularly eager to boost the Minion playstyle, so it's the best solution to simply stack Attunement and your own survivability. This allows you to prioritize Minion affixes on your gear, making this build much easier to set up on lower levels. 

Forge Strike - Forge Guard's exclusive skill that is used to create Forge Weapons to fight for you. All of the allocated Passives are meant to maximize the Minion DPS and allow you to conveniently resummon them

You want to have your maximum Forge Weapons active at all times so it's best to pick up the Beneath Solarum to remove the cooldown, and Well Forged Weapons to increase their duration. This combination will increase the Skill's mana cost, so if you are struggling with that, you might as well pick Mass Production on lower levels instead. Forged by Fire, Heavystrike, and Forgemaster are used to maximize the DPS of your Forged Weapons. All extra points should be allocated in Engines of War to increase your AoE damage and clear speed.

Manifest Armor - summons a single but powerful Minion to fight for you. In this particular setup, it is used to gain as much extra stats from your equipment and weapon, making it a real monster if you have fully optimized gear. 

Titan Sword is the most important Passive, as the Manifested Armor will inherit extra stats from your equipped weapon. You should also put 3-4 Points into Redistributed Steel for the massive damage multiplier. Steel Greaves, Iron Grasp, Great Helm, and Platemail increase the effectiveness of stats it inherits from your Boots, Gloves, Helmet, and Chest Armor, so you should allocate points in each according to your currently equipped gear. Dash Boots and Whirlwind are also highly recommended, as they both add extra abilities to your Manifested Armor

Void Cleave - an AoE attack that is a very important part of this build. In this case, it is used to hit your own Minions to grant them tons of extra added Fire Damage 

Molten Blades is the most important node here, as it increases the damage added this way. It's also recommended to pick up Scorching Path which increases the effect of this buff by 150% but you will have to hit your own Minions for the buffs to apply to them. That's why increasing the radius of this Skill via Into the Depths node is mandatory. Buffs applied by Void Cleave can stack, so another important thing is to reduce the Skills' cooldown via Dark Pathway, and if your Mana Regeneration is fully set up, you should consider taking Nether Charge as well.

Javelin - Javelin, just like Void Cleave, is mainly used for the powerful buffs it offers. In this setup it will create Banners to boost the stats of nearby allies stats, as well as, it may work as a movement skill with its' Dash function

Battle Standard is the core node in this Tree which will create a Banner at the target location. The Banner boosts the damage and survivability of nearby allies including yourself. In this particular setup, you will also be able to quickly dash into battle by using Surprise Initiative passive. Other than that, pick up Banner of Restoration for extra healing, and Divine Intervention which will cause the Banner to cast Smite at nearby enemies, granting you additional healing. Righteous Descend can increase the frequency of Smite casts

Sigils of Hope - Sigils offer tons of extra healing and additional damage for you and your allies. You should aim to have all 4 summoned at all times, which may require you to manually do so against Bosses

Decree of Flames is the most important node here, at least when it comes to your DPS output. You should also use Last Wish, which will cause the Sigils to get summoned automatically when you kill enemies, this may not be as effective during Boss fights though. It is also critical to take all 5 Points in Enduring Hope to maximize their duration and Tetragram for 1 additional Sigil

Stat priority:

When it comes to the defenses, you have an abundance of Passives from the Sentinel's Tree, so on your equipment, you want to prioritize Minion Damage and Attunement (which is also used to scale the damage of your Minions). One of the best ways to scale your DPS is via a powerful two-hander, with Obsidian Axe being the best base for it. It can grant you over 100% Minion Physical Damage from its' implicit. Obviously, you want all your Resistances capped, which shouldn't be hard with all the Elemental Resistances getting capped with Passives alone.  

1. Minion Damage
2. Attunement 
3. Health
4. Resistances
5. Mana Regeneration Rate
6. Endurance/Endurance Threshold
7. Healing Effectiveness

Recommended Unique Items: 

+101 Melee Damage (75% to 110%) increased Physical Damage (75% to 110%) increased Minion Physical Damage +(90 to 120) Melee Void Damage +100% Chance to apply Doom on Hit (20% to 50%) Increased Doom Duration (20% to 50%) Void Penetration with Doom (50% to 100%) increased Melee Damage (50% to 100%) Increased Leech Rate

Apathy's Maw - a Unique Obsidian Axe, which we already mentioned to be the best possible weapon for this build. A Legendary one with extra bonuses to Melee Damage/Minion damage will grant your Manifested Armor some absurd level of power. This is truly the best in slot weapon here

+80 Armor +(30% to 45%) Void Resistance +(5% to 40%) Cold Resistance +(5% to 40%) Lightning Resistance +(3 to 10) Spell Damage Stats on this item also apply to your minions

Julra's Obsession - this pair, when turned into a Legendary, is the single best piece of equipment for literally any Minion build. Not only you can get the defensive stats for yourself, but all the bonuses will also apply to your Minions. If you are going to attempt to turn it into a Legendary, try getting stats like Melee Attack Speed, Crit Chance, or just the generic Minion Damage

+50 Armor +125 Armor +40 Mana +(9 to 15) Strength +(10% to 20%) Lightning Resistance 1% increased mana regeneration per 3% uncapped Lightning Resistance

Urzil's Pride - this low-level Body Armour can solve your Mana issues entirely. With high Attunement, overlapping Lightning Resistances will be very easy, and since this is a very common Chest Armor, it should be relatively easy to turn it into a powerful Legendary with extra affixes

+(13% to 40%) Physical Resistance +(13% to 40%) Necrotic Resistance +(50 to 75) Health +(10 to 16) Melee Physical Damage for Minions Your minions cannot be stunned You can Summon Wolves up to your Maximum Number of Companions

The Fang - this Amulet grants a lot of Melee Physical Damage for your Minions, and makes them immune to Stun. A Legendary, with all the generic affixes you would on your Amulet can be the best possible item for this slot

+(28% to 45%) Fire Resistance (28% to 45%) increased Fire Damage (7% to 10%) increased Health (2% to 4%) of Minion Melee Damage Leeched as Health on Hit (20% to 40%) Minion Increased Leech Rate +(4 to 7) Melee Physical Damage for Minions Your Minions cannot be Crit

Ribbons of Blood - a very good endgame Ring that increases the damage and survivability of your Minions. It also grants high bonus Life and Fire Resistance making it the best possible Ring base for a Legendary

Idols:

There aren't many particularly interesting Idols you can grab for this build. You can grab Throne of Ambition unique Idol, as it's very powerful even if you will benefit only from the Armor bonus. Other than that, just fix all your missing Resistances and possibly boost your Health - stats like Max Health and Vitality will both work here. 

Recommended Blessings:

• The Black Sun: from this Timeline, you should pick either Health or Void Resistances. You won't really benefit from anything else here
• The Age of Winter: you can get many great defensive Blessings here, most notably the % increased Armor or Endurance Threshold ones
• Spirits of Fire: Minion Damage is obviously the best choice here, but Armor, Endurance, and the Chance to Shred Fire Resistance will also work if you haven't unlocked that one yet
• Reign of Dragons: Chance to Slow on Hit or Minion All Resistances are the best options in this Timeline
• Ending the Storm: Maximum Mana taken here might be the best option for smooth gameplay, if you are using Urzil's Armor, Lightning Resistance will also have a similar effect. Other than that, you can also take increased Health Regeneration

END NOTE

This is the initial version of our Forge Guard Minion Summoner Build. We are still looking into variants that can incorporate the Forged Weapons detonation effects, but as it is right now, it doesn't seem viable, yet. We hope to have more gear and skill options added in the future, so make sure to check this Guide regularly as we will try to update it to all upcoming Patches!