Living weapons build

Good day,

I’d really like a help on a build I’ve always wanted to try out. It seems like I’m just not able to use/build it correctly.
The build I’m talking about is a Bladefall/Blade Vortex/Animate Weapon build. I tried it out twice in my play life, and both times ended bad (first time I created a Shadow, meant to be an Assassin but never got there : I couldn’t pass Daresso on Normal difficulty, and never got ascended; the second time I tried out a Slayer Duelist that seemed to work out, just to be unable to pass through Cruel difficulty’s Dominus).

And so here I am. I don’t know what went wrong in my builds, but the reality is they didn’t work . So I’d like to ask veteran players for help, and I have a couple of questions as well :

1. Which character (and ascendancy) is better, between Shadow and Duelist, for such a build, and why?
2. Is this a viable build at all? If not, is there a way to make it work?
3. Which Items and parameters should I focus on, for such a build?
4. Is there both a cheap and an expensive Equipment build for these Skills?
5. Are there mandatory/suggested Uniques for the build?

Thanks in advance!