GloryBoy

Eh, I am not much of a backrow kind of tank But I do understand what you're getting at and agree it is a service one can provide.

It seems the consensus is that it is the intentional "achille's heel" and if that is the case, I am fine with that; I was simply curious as to the reason for the numbers. As everyone has mentioned and from my personal experience, it is possible to hold/out aggro other tankers (and scrappers) with WP and there are many methods and such to do so. I was just hoping for some clarification as to why the mag+duration were so low and although there was no Dev response you guys make it seem like its an intentional weakness to a great set (which makes sense) and that is a good enough answer for me, so thank you

And in response to Heraclea, you're right about not really having to worry about the scrappers with the taunt auras. I admit there is only a handful of scrappers I have been having issues where I really had to "work" for my aggro. Although, many times, is it necessary/do i need that aggro? No, those scrappers that can occasionally steal my aggro tend to be those that are decked out in the flashiest of IOs and already have survivable secondaries. My only real concern is when running a MoSTF/LGTF and they're being a bit too aggressive or incidents such as Ghost Widow, where my Gauntlet use is usually limited; even then still not majorly concerned as I have figured ways to deal with this (a la jousting). Usually leap frogging doesn't occur on any of my tanks, just because after 5 or so years I have simply developed a pace that keeps up with or trumps the almighty scrapper-lock :P

Heh, again, I know why/how to manage aggro (how it works for the most part) and do it fine; I was just hoping for an answer as to why the disparity between the mag i guess x.x

Heraclea,

I've read your guide recently today actually; it was my first time reading it and it is a nice little guide, but to be fair I think I had come to most of those conclusions already on my WP/Axe.

The only reason why I asked I guess was that I was noticing a few issues specifically running with scrappers that have a taunt aura, which is one of the issues you mention. It was more so an issue on my WP/DM who completely lacks the AoEs that this was mostly apparent (much more frequently then say my main WP/Axe whom only loses say AV aggro when the /shield or invul scrapper is wailing away and I havent dropped a taunt on him/her)

But again, maybe I missed it, but I didn't see in your guide as to why WP has such a lower mag. *shrug*

I guess I could kind of see that. But I always thought the true weakness to Willpower that it never excelled in one particular field, that it was more of a jack of all trades...like, a mix of regen/res/def as opposed to strictly one the other or a duo of the two. I mean, arguably it might have not been a major weakness as it is reliably survivable but just made it more fun in my opinion. If thats the case also, I wonder why the drop off in mag, I figure that at normal mag with the drop off in duration being at what it is would be more then substantial of a debuff in regards to tanking, no?

So, I have been playing my character for a while now; he is a WP/BA. I love the toon, he has become my main over the past two or so years despite being around since i2 or i3. Now, my question is why is it that Willpower has such a weak aggro aura? I haven't really ever seen an explanation to this and was simply curious. I do realize Willpower has a significantly high survivability and is pretty reliable in most incidents and blooms fairly early. I was just curious why the magnitude of taunt on WP's Rise to the Challenge is mag 3 as opposed to the usual mag 4, along with having a much lower taunt duration (1.25 as opposed to 10-15+seconds of most tanker taunt auras). I dont mind losing/having to fight for aggro when on a team with a tanker or even a brute, but my issue is when a /Shield or any other reliable/substantial taunt aura using scrapper tends to out aggro me. I admit, if I am throwing out my Taunt reliably and everytime it is up, then yeah, I have full aggro of the mob or that AV. However, if I say forget to toss taunt out on the AV then I am going to lose the aggro after a few swings by the scrapper.

Not so much complaining here either, to be fair, I have worked my main's playstyle around for the most part so the whole losing aggro thing rarely happens but yeah, have always wondered this and simply was really reminded of it when playing a wp/dm and how I was almost always losing aggro (lack of AoEs obviously hurts the gauntlet) anyways...I love my tanker... I was just curious why my taunt aura was inline with Scrappers and severely lower then other Tankers. (I was never a forum reader or anything when WP was released so I am sure I missed the reason for this at one point or another.)

Most people would probably argue or go as far to say that Super Strength as a powerset was created with one single power in mind; Rage. For the most part, Super Strength without Rage would be an underperforming set. It is strictly smashing damage, smashing damage is a highly resisted damage type. Furthermore, it has the lowest damage Tier 1 and in most cases an underperforming Tier 2. The powers that are really the gem of the powerset are Knockout Blow and Footstomp. Knockout Blow is a solid single target attack with hold+KU and is on par with such attacks as Seismic Smash and Total Focus. Footstomp is also a reliable large AoE KD power with above average damage.

Now, Super Strength's "strength" is Rage. The first 3 Tiers that prior to Rage were strictly underperforming compared to other sets, but are now going to be beyond those other sets when they are outside of their own Build Up powers. Now granted, a number of these powersets will be able to get to/beyond Super Strength's Rage numbers when they use their own BU, but the trade off is Rage provides a consistent amount of +Damage (outside of the crash period) that allows one to do more damage then before. If Rage were changed to a BU, then you're taking a powerset that has lower numbers and giving them a power that will buff for a shorter period of time and pretty near impossible to keep the buff perma, where Rage is at, would cause the set to have a real drop off from where it is. However, it is still a solid build in regards to the strength of Knockout Blow (and how early it is in the powerset) and Footstomp. Between the two, with a BU, you would have powers that out perform other sets, but in the cases of the 1st 3 (Which would get a lot of use out of BU) would def cause a drop off in overall damage; but to say its less then say /ice melee, is hard to say for sure.

So ran across this post and simply wanted to say, WP/Axe is one of my favorite builds. I have been playing this exact build on Justice since the release of WP. Furthermore, 1000% regen is a possibility, I personally sit around/over 1180% when saturated, reach over 1k @ 7 foes. If you're planning to play as a main tank, I would strongly suggest this as it isn't difficult to keep 7 foes around you let alone keep their attention (ala axe). My def is 20% sm/lth, 35% exotics, I went the tough route so I sit around 70+ sm/lth with a range of 17-22% for my exotics, with tox (25%) and psy 46%. I have run several MoSTFs successfully, too many normal STFs, soloed numerous ITF Hills (that really laggy map), lead tanked plenty of Rikti Raids, and other managed other Tfs. My damage output isn't scathed either as I have a solid attack chain (was able to focus a lil into +dmg and rech also). End isn't issue as I sit over 4.7 with 2 or 3 end procs going off. My build is pretty ridiculously expensive in this economy but it does a wonderful job and back before I was willing to invest in purps and pvps, I still had the 1000% regen, but end wasn't as solid, dmg/rech was on the downside, but I also had a bit higher def so it evened out pretty well.

I would strongly suggest it going towards this set up especially since you said you planned on duoing with a ill/rad. With an ill/rad, mobs should be debuffed meaning they'll be hitting for less damage, while hitting less frequently so this would just help you more so. Another thing people really tend to ignore is how effective axe is as a set. It can deal out some serious damage if used right and has some serious mitigation via all the kb. Also, most teams you'll be playing with, like for TFs, would consist of one form of buff or debuffer. In my experience, I do tend to run with an Emp, usually on STFs. Admittedly, this does help with my lower def (easily throwing me over softcap with a drop of Fort) Even without an Emp at my side, I tank with great success, whether its solo or teaming with my sg running other tfs with no emp (again sometimes with some support toon, usually 1 troller or fender, usually kin, maybe a rad).

And as much as I would like to show off my build, I am afraid I can not. Myself and my SG leader invested a lot of time in the whole min/max process and I have never been comfortable with handing out my "main's" build.