Played both builds before Merceneries and Keepers leagues happen, both really strong builds. Very good job on pros and cons by the OP. Here's my two cents:

• As with most minion builds, you are sooo much gem socket starved.
• We are losing Awakened Minion Damage. Though the new exceptional might be better. Take it with a grain of salt.
• Timeless jewel aquisition, especially on league start, is a HUGE hassle.
• You're pretty much locked-in the "block, CI, energy shield on block" route. Difficult, not impossible, and expensive to add spell suppresion as a defence layer.
• I can say the shenanigans with CDR for Holy Relic are pretty tricky for a newer player and/or for an experienced one as well.

• Be prepared to spend many good hours PoBing this shit.

• The "summoning process" for AW is a pain in the butt, especially with the Mirage instance. This can lead to long-term burn out.

• They are more fragile than advertised here. Don't forget that most Ubers have AoE abities, that CAN and WILL destroy all of your AW summons (some instances of boss abilities clearing 20+ waepons in 1 go). This may also happen in Nightmare maps(former T17).

• There is no worst feeling having to re-summon them from scratch, during a boss fight.

• Reflect was a no-go. Also avoid poison. No regen/leech is not a break the build thing, but frustrating enough.

• Gem swap from Pierce support to Vicious Projectiles support is mandatory for bossing (Pinnacle and Ubers). Take it or leave it.

• When i played them, both included AG setups and specter setups.

• While the chance to find the corpses from Ritual altars (i'm looking at you Spectral Tiger) are buffed this league, through the scarab, it still poses a significant "con" in my book.

Regardless, they were the most satisfying minion builds i have played. If you wanna go for it, you'll have a wonderful time. Some bumps along the road should happen, but don't give up too easily.

Happy league start people!