Invuln or WP? EM or SS?

I ask these questions because it is a concept character (think mafioso enforcer type, the guy who strongarm's people). None of the other primaries besides these two make sense for a Natural Origin human besides Invulnerability and WP. It seems that it isn't quite clear cut which is better: IN has better DEF and taunt (Invincibility) but WP can handle PSI. Is this correct? (sorry this is my first tanker, and first new toon since not playing for 2 years)

Same goes for Secondary; needs to be "natural". SS is the only true natural seeming one, but I guess EM could fit. Nothing else though. Sounds like SS is the clear winning here (based on quality of the powerset).

Energy Mastery sounds like the only applicable APP. (just would not take Energy Torrent)

What do you think? Thanks!

-MT

Hmm. Sounds like a fun concept.

For a tank-
*WP/Mace (change mace in costume to something like a baseball bat). WP/Mace synergize
*Invuln/SS

I know you are not thinking scrapper but,
*Assault Rifle /EM for that Tommy Gun thug concept
EM gives you that hand to hand melee (as long as you change pom-pom color to something less distracting)

I agree with Oracle regarding WarMace as well.
You can make it a pipe-wrench, baseball bat, and I think there is another less magical/super-hero-ish choice. I just cannot think of it at the moment.

And Willpower is definitely a good "Natural" set.

So my vote would be Willpower/War Mace (for a Tanker)

Edit: Just looked into the game, and there are a couple wrench options, baseball bat, police batons, wooden club and even a sledgehammer (I like that one)

Hmm, so it sounds like either WP or INV is viable. Is either one particularly better as a whole? I realize that's kind of a tough question to answer.

As for secondaries, I wasn't even thinking of Mace in terms of the new costume options (like I said, have been away for quite some time). Not sure if I like the character concept of always having some kind of "beating device" (bat, wrench, etc) lol, but maybe if they don't "talk" right away it will necessary haha. I still kind of secretly favor SS only because there's nothing like an old fashioned beatdown!
-MT

I think they are roughly comparable (and pretty strong) as mature powersets. Willpower has an easier time early on because of its endurance-providing power. Invulnerability is (IMHO) slightly stronger when equally slotted with late-game IOs, but it's still close. In my experience, the "psi hole" of Inv is indeed overstated; I rarely have any difficulty with it on a heavily-IOed 50 who routinely does all sorts of tough endgame content.

From Paragon Wiki, WP flavour text (I think):

"You aren't Invulnerable. Bullets don't bounce off of you, and if you are cut, you bleed. You are, however, tough, grizzled and strong willed. It takes more than a little cut to keep you down! Willpower offers a strong balance of healing, damage resistance and defense. While you have no real vulnerabilities, you can't quite deal with 'alpha strikes' as well as some other protective powers. "

Last bolded part has me a bit worried. Is this true? Sorry for the questions and thanks much for the help. Trying to do the due dilligence now to be a great tank later on!
-MT

Before Willpower came along, I was happy with most defense sets and felt INV was the best overall for survivability (early and late game). But none of the sets really made me happy when I played them on scrappers, until Willpower.

Willpower is my favorite defense powerset for two main reasons;

1) Its overall tiered survival of Regen+Defense+Resist makes the road to 50 a smooth ride, even for scrappers. Its very good at what you want from a defense set: keeping you alive.

2) Willpower is a "set-and-forget" powerset. You turn on your toggles and then focus on clicking attacks only. I absolutely love that aspect, because thats how I like to play a melee oriented character.

That being said, there are two things that you need to watch out for; certain villains types will eat you alive, like anything that debuffs your regeneration. And secondly, you can be taken down by a heavy alpha strike. For the former, I recommend learning which Villains to take out first (which is something you will probably do with any character) and it is very helpful to have a power like a hold or knockdown to disrupt them while you beat em down. (My Tank has Air Superiority AND Char from Pyre Mastery)
As far as the alpha strike, having something like footstomp would help, but my approach is to focus on my Defense using IOs. Willpower is a little expensive to get to softcap on S/L/E/N but it can be done. You can get into the 30% defense range fairly easily by using the Smashing Haymaker IO set and getting a couple additional defense toggles like Combat Jumping and Weave.

I can share my experience have a few of each.

1. I would not think of wp as regen. I think of wolverine as regen. I cannot think of a comparitor for WP (maybe Rambo) but they are different. Aside from thematic difference, regen is button mashing at its finest and requires babsitting of heals and etc...WP is toggle and forget.

2. If you want SS, I think Invuln is a far better choice than WP. WP will work too but my personal preference after trying both is Mace. Stone melee would also work but not thematically.

3. For wp, resurgance is about the only primary power I dont take. For SOW, i normally put in 1-2 resist damage depending on the rest of the build and any setbonus I might need. Also, I do slot hasten and try to get my recharge up if I pick mace.

My Willpower characters all take the passives, all of them. They are excellent !

In fact, a third reason for liking WP is that there is not a single power in the set that I dont like. That cannot be said about 95% of the powersets out there. There is always at least one "eewww" power.

I have the first 7 powers ( I skipped the self rez and the tier 9), but not because I dont like them.

Yeah, I'd have to do some serious searching to find the quote, but someone summed it up well in a thread about proliferating Regeneration to tanks. It went something like:

"Well, since tanks are usually the first ones in the fight, it needs to be altered slightly to be able to perform its role. It should have a moderate mix of resists and defense, and the +HP from dull pain should probably be made passive, but less HP overall. Also, instant healing should be turned into a sort of toggle that provides regen proportional to the present threat. Regen doesn't have any particular hole to damage since all damage heals equally, so psi defense/resist should be there too. Then call the set something else... something perhaps... like... Willpower."