What to run in RotA to transition into Minion Pact BV?

I didn't play the OP thing in the main league and I'm getting FOMO so I think I want to play it in mirage. I've seen Zizaran has a guide for Ancestral commander slams -> BV and crouching tuna has one out for herald hoag -> Bog Shaman BV. I feel like the Shaman has to be the better of the two because of the giga duration + aoe node.

Firstly, are there any other builds/transitions that you would suggest over those two? Otherwise, which of those seems better? I really do not understand Ziz going for the ancestral commander because as far as I can tell there's no damage or qol on it for him it's pure defence. I guess that's good for HC but for SC I'd at least like some Qol.

Finally I never played tota so I'd like to give it a full go in this event. I've read about wanting an evasion and/or block-based character for the mechanic because it scales to the point that any hit will kill you and there's this channelling thing that you need to do and any hit knocks you out of it. Neither of these builds seem like they can get block or evasion easily. Maybe you can invest heavily and get block and then roll a tattoo for gladiator lucky block but that sounds like a (for me) end of week 1 option at least and idk how fast tota scales but maybe I'd like to be comfortable farming tota with less investment than that.