Actually that depends on what you're looking for.
If you want pets with jaw dropping resistance pick up Zombies and prepare to slot Soul Extraction with pet bonuses.
They also have amazing crowd control and do great ST damage.
Ninjas, well, at least they won't die....as much....but Pain does allow them to safetly chug out a Metric F-ton of ST damage.
Thugs are all around good with Pain, especially with pet bonuses. They may die more than zombies, but they do better AoE. Still debatable who has better DPS against a single target.
Mercs will ALWAYS be in your suppression aura. They will sit back and blast until their heads explode. Mercs don't always deal the best damage, but when paired up with Pain they'll do an adaquate amount. (Plus they won't be as expendable).
Bots...basically the next best thing tanker wise since Bots/FF, with the exception of much higher damage. Not only that, but you can Painbringer the Assbot!
What is the advantage of Painbringer on any pet anymore? No more recharge bonuses. The end recovery is of miniscule help generally. So we are looking at the minor +damage. Not a good reason to justify the set.
I however went Thugs/Pain. It was the absolute easiest MM I have ever made. I steamrolled everything on the hardest difficulty starting in my teens. There was so very little to do or worry about. It is my recommended combo for beginners to the AT.
Wassabi Grav/Kin 50 (before badges/accolades were in game) Pinnacle
Miss Command Bots/Traps 50 Justice
*others left off due to space issues
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What is the advantage of Painbringer on any pet anymore? No more recharge bonuses.
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I don't believe Painbringer ever did any recharge.
Man made a Merc/pain but i hit the MM boredom of the early lvls 
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What is the advantage of Painbringer on any pet anymore? No more recharge bonuses. The end recovery is of miniscule help generally. So we are looking at the minor +damage. Not a good reason to justify the set.
I however went Thugs/Pain. It was the absolute easiest MM I have ever made. I steamrolled everything on the hardest difficulty starting in my teens. There was so very little to do or worry about. It is my recommended combo for beginners to the AT.
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Are you blind? The thing gives an AMAZING amount of regen when slotted correctly, and that damage bonus is very nice and stacks VERY well.
Look closely at it again
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What is the advantage of Painbringer on any pet anymore? No more recharge bonuses. The end recovery is of miniscule help generally. So we are looking at the minor +damage. Not a good reason to justify the set.
I however went Thugs/Pain. It was the absolute easiest MM I have ever made. I steamrolled everything on the hardest difficulty starting in my teens. There was so very little to do or worry about. It is my recommended combo for beginners to the AT.
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Are you blind? The thing gives an AMAZING amount of regen when slotted correctly, and that damage bonus is very nice and stacks VERY well.
Look closely at it again
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Regen has never been a problem on my Assbot. And the damage seems somewhat negligible on minions. However, I play my bots/pain as a support toon in PvP and a Tanker Support on mission teams. Painbringer is sugar coated fudge filled Yesness all around. Oh, Painbringer on heavies is Insta-WTFOMGARGHHH! . <_<
Painbringer is technically a waste on a heavy since its damage caps at 60%.
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What is the advantage of Painbringer on any pet anymore? No more recharge bonuses. The end recovery is of miniscule help generally. So we are looking at the minor +damage. Not a good reason to justify the set.
I however went Thugs/Pain. It was the absolute easiest MM I have ever made. I steamrolled everything on the hardest difficulty starting in my teens. There was so very little to do or worry about. It is my recommended combo for beginners to the AT.
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Are you blind? The thing gives an AMAZING amount of regen when slotted correctly, and that damage bonus is very nice and stacks VERY well.
Look closely at it again
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Yes, I am framilliar with what it does. Sure it does great regen and recovery, but honestly BOTH go to waste on assbot. Lemme explain. The recovery in negligable as my assbot rarely gets drained of end. And the regen, nice, but as it is, IM A PAIN DOMINATION MM. He's standing in my AE with every other pet. He's fully healed. So again, what am I doing right to keep my pets up and solo the hell outta crap without having to PB my top tier pet that you're not?
Or are you theorycrafting about PB off of the numbers you see that it can do to targets.
Wassabi Grav/Kin 50 (before badges/accolades were in game) Pinnacle
Miss Command Bots/Traps 50 Justice
*others left off due to space issues
Well, if you want to get "technical" it's better on any other AT than any NPC. 
If you want a solo build, you can risk not taking Pain Bringer, Enforced Moral and Conduit of Pain. If you are going to team, at least take Pain Bringer. Enforced Moral has such a short lifespan it's almost worth not taking at all.
Ok, just because your have Pain Bringer, doesn't mean you're ALWAYS gonna use it on a Henchman. If you're on a team and have .. say a /SD brute, I never seen one that didn't have endurance issues. One dose of PAIN, you make him VERY happy. Dom and Corrupters can always use the boost. Allies aside, The Commando, Bruiser, and from what I've read, the Oni all burn end pretty fast. I have had the first 2 (Tried Ninjas 3 times, just couldn't stand em.) all run out of ammo on me. The Assault Bot is an oddity, its attacks simply don't burn endurance fast enough to run dry. (believe me, I've TRIED!) The fastest end burner I seen personally, is the Enforcer, All his attacks are rapid-fire, he fires .. and just never stops. The Pro-Bot and the Arsonist are almost as bad.
Shigeru Miyamoto "A delayed game will eventually be good, a bad game is bad forever."
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What is the advantage of Painbringer on any pet anymore? No more recharge bonuses. The end recovery is of miniscule help generally. So we are looking at the minor +damage. Not a good reason to justify the set.
I however went Thugs/Pain. It was the absolute easiest MM I have ever made. I steamrolled everything on the hardest difficulty starting in my teens. There was so very little to do or worry about. It is my recommended combo for beginners to the AT.
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Are you blind? The thing gives an AMAZING amount of regen when slotted correctly, and that damage bonus is very nice and stacks VERY well.
Look closely at it again
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Yes, I am framilliar with what it does. Sure it does great regen and recovery, but honestly BOTH go to waste on assbot. Lemme explain. The recovery in negligable as my assbot rarely gets drained of end. And the regen, nice, but as it is, IM A PAIN DOMINATION MM. He's standing in my AE with every other pet. He's fully healed. So again, what am I doing right to keep my pets up and solo the hell outta crap without having to PB my top tier pet that you're not?
Or are you theorycrafting about PB off of the numbers you see that it can do to targets.
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Once again you failed to realize the extra damage, so -1 for you.
Second I never said you had to freakin put it on your pets. Hell if you're on a team give it to the brute, I'm sure he'll love it. Oh, and by the way, no, I don't just look at what Painbringer can do since I have several levels of Pain Domination experience. I KNOW what it can do when slotted correctly.
Take it or don't that's up to you, but I find it's very useful.
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So what is the best primary to use with pain?
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I am gonna say ninjas for the following reasons.
Painbring is single target damage buff, ninjas have the best single target damage when kept alive long enough to use it. Add perma-smoke flash to the mix and you get alot of damage.
Aoe Debuff needs to be done in melee, ninjas are melee pets.
Aoe buffs are best used where all the pets will be in melee, might as well be there too and use the aoe debuff.
When slotted correctly and the resistance/defense IOs procs, and taking everything but the rez power you basically turn ninjas into wp scrapper/stalker hybrid
Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator
Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!
I still doubt that Ninjas are "the best" with Pain.
That's a very easy term to misuse and simply toss up in the air. Sure, Ninjas/Pain may be good for ST Melee, but other builds with Pain, such as bots, can deal a good amount of AoE damage. To simply say Ninjas/Pain is the best is going a little too far.
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What is the advantage of Painbringer on any pet anymore? No more recharge bonuses. The end recovery is of miniscule help generally. So we are looking at the minor +damage. Not a good reason to justify the set.
I however went Thugs/Pain. It was the absolute easiest MM I have ever made. I steamrolled everything on the hardest difficulty starting in my teens. There was so very little to do or worry about. It is my recommended combo for beginners to the AT.
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Are you blind? The thing gives an AMAZING amount of regen when slotted correctly, and that damage bonus is very nice and stacks VERY well.
Look closely at it again
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Yes, I am framilliar with what it does. Sure it does great regen and recovery, but honestly BOTH go to waste on assbot. Lemme explain. The recovery in negligable as my assbot rarely gets drained of end. And the regen, nice, but as it is, IM A PAIN DOMINATION MM. He's standing in my AE with every other pet. He's fully healed. So again, what am I doing right to keep my pets up and solo the hell outta crap without having to PB my top tier pet that you're not?
Or are you theorycrafting about PB off of the numbers you see that it can do to targets.
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Once again you failed to realize the extra damage, so -1 for you.
Second I never said you had to freakin put it on your pets. Hell if you're on a team give it to the brute, I'm sure he'll love it. Oh, and by the way, no, I don't just look at what Painbringer can do since I have several levels of Pain Domination experience. I KNOW what it can do when slotted correctly.
Take it or don't that's up to you, but I find it's very useful.
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world of pain+ painbringer will give your bot 49% extra damage. even if your dont need the +regen/recover id never wanna pass up that much extra damage on a AOE machine
No, I didn't fail to realize the extra damage, infact if you go back and READ my first post, I mentioned it.
Again, it's not the super uber power on a soloing MM, not as much as it would be for a teaming MM who used it on a teammate.
Fortunately, Pain is a hell of a set without it.
I have it, I have the rez, I have every power in the set. I also like to team.
Wassabi Grav/Kin 50 (before badges/accolades were in game) Pinnacle
Miss Command Bots/Traps 50 Justice
*others left off due to space issues
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What is the advantage of Painbringer on any pet anymore? No more recharge bonuses. The end recovery is of miniscule help generally. So we are looking at the minor +damage. Not a good reason to justify the set.
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Here, I quoted it for you, the part where I mentioned the damage part... the very minor part of the power that still affects pets... sure the end rec does too, but honestly how often do your pets suffer for end?
Wassabi Grav/Kin 50 (before badges/accolades were in game) Pinnacle
Miss Command Bots/Traps 50 Justice
*others left off due to space issues
I apologize for losing my cool. Been losing sleep lately because of Insomnia. Anyways you're right, other than the Regen and Damage the endurance boost does not matter on a Tier 3 pet.
BUT, there are cases where the endurance boost does help, especially when you IO out your Tier 3 Pet with the Soulbound set.
So what is the best primary to use with pain?