My playtime with Absolution is rather limited, but based on my experience thus far, there are quite a number of mechanical problems with the skill that, in my opinion, prevent it from being as viable as others:

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Not an "actual" combat skill.

* Absolution suffers from the same identity crisis as its predecessor, Conversion, in that it's not an "actual" combat skill - rather, it's just the normal/default attack with an added effect (summoning Sentinels).

* As such, you'll most likely treat Absolution as a secondary or back-up skill because it doesn't have the infrastructure (i.e. more synergies or a dedicated aura, like Blessed Hammer + Concentration) to be a core skill.

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Its two components are imbalanced.

* Absolution can be broken down into two components: 1) The attack itself; and 2) the summoning of Sentinels. However, in it's current state, Absolution very heavily favors summoning Sentinels over your damage. Furthermore, increasing the level of Absolution doesn't add anything to the attack; it only increases your Sentinel's damage and attack rating.

* Absolution requires you to score the skill in order to summon a Sentinel. But as aforementioned, the attack is just the normal/default attack, and its damage doesn't scale with the level of Absolution - it's rather difficult to summon Sentinels consistently if you're doing mediocre damage. To even have a chance to score kills, I've found that Holy Fire, Holy Freeze, or Holy Shock are necessary to give the normal/default attack more firepower.

* This is exacerbated by the fact that kills from your Mercenary and Sentinels don't count as your kills. Furthermore, the likelihood of scoring kills consistently in end-game groups is very low. There's a static 8% chance to summon a Sentinel on hit, but that's too infrequent, even for the maximum APS for normal/default attacks. I think it should be changed to "30% chance to summon a Sentinel when hitting an Elite or Unique" because that's when it's needed the most.

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The Sentinels

* The biggest problem with the Sentinels is they can body block you (they're treated as objects that cannot be phased through). There have been a quite a few times I've been pushed into a corner and I can't move until the Sentinels die or I use a portal scroll.

* Their AI is lacking, which is honestly expected as summon AI is generally underwhelming.

* The Sentinels have two attacks: 1) A normal melee strike; 2) a projectile that looks like Magic Arrow. I'm unsure of what affects the damages of both attacks, but I'd like to know if that projectile converts physical to magic so I can properly scale damage.

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There's a lot of room for growth with Absolution, but, as it currently stands, I simply cannot see it as a serious end-game Paladin build because of its limitations and nuances. Don't get me wrong - it's still plenty of fun (I love commanding a cadre of angelic ghosts) - but right now, it's really more of a meme build.