Sweep staff templar viable?

With critical strike. Sweep and blunt trauma give you knockback. 30-35% block is achievable. Other defensive nodes including lots of lifeleech and regen (may be zealots oath as well). And endurance charges. Survivability should be decent even with mediocre gear no?

You can make it survivable but the damage is garbage. Kind of a slow/annoying skill to use. Have you tried it in merciless? I think usually people use Leap Slam over Sweep, for that sort of playstyle.

Ah yes sweep is indeed bad.

What about heavy strike/double strike + melee splash + multistrike (+ crit damage + crit multipler + melee damage) for a physical staff build?

Look for the player 'Hegemoney', he uses 'Pillar of the Caged God' with a lot of crit and ias. It looks very fun and is definately viable.