New to WP, what should be the goals of a WP build stat-wise?
By
Reptlbrain,
Posted on: 2010-06-11 05:33 in Brutes
hp and regen. build em up as much as you can. throw in tough/weave and cj for a nice base for some defense if you decide to IO.
If you do decide to IO the crap out em, well, going for that defense softcap is always nice. If you can get above 30% or so, you should be solid, as in the process you will be pushing up your HP and regen to a point as well. If you do have a set that will let you softcap, once you hit that softcap, back to hp and regen. There are other ways to go about things, but that is what I am doing on my Stone/WP, and is working out quite well.
Dark Armor is like that kid you knew in school that didn't know when to shut up, and no matter how bad he got beaten down, he got right back up again and kept on talking.
/WP depends on layered defenses for its strength--strong regeneration, extra hp, some resistance (mostly for smashing/lethal), some defense (mostly for other types).
The defense portion of WP is basically a different system than /Shield's. WP is strong toward most typed damage--Energy/Negative, Fire/Cold, and Psionic, rather than the positional melee/range/AoE that your other toon had. The defense toward Smashing/Lethal is almost negligible in Heightened Senses, but it's a good stat to aim for in IOs.
Goals for /WP should be capped Heal enhancements in Rise to the Challenge and High Pain Tolerance, (as well as eventually Fast Healing if you have the slots), capped Resistance in Mind Over Body, and capped Defense in Heightened Senses (which nets you about 15% defense in the "exotic" typed damages). For pools I would add (as mentioned above) Box/Tough/Weave, Combat Jumping, and--because it's a brute--Stamina. Box can replace, and is in fact superior to, Jab.
When IOing out, +recharge doesn't really benefit /WP at all, though you'd like Footstomp up as often as possible. Aiming for +def Smash/Lethal will make you very tough, though getting the most possible will be very expensive (4 Kinetic Combats in the ST attacks).
Some good advice from the above posters, I'll just add this though, capped S/L defense will make you godly! Coming off a em/sd as you say you'll likely a.) know the difference between 30% defense and being softcapped and b.) have a ton of spare inf. around as you have one of the best farmers in the game. So, you'll want to start investing in the Kinetic Combats, put a set in every attack and even a couple mules.
After I do that I go for +HP and +Recharge. +Regen isn't as big a deal to me as I believe RTTC, FH and Health should do you nicely enough, throw in a couple regen unique IO's and your golden. Thats how I built my Claws/Willpower brute and I absolutley love him. It's nice to be able to run into a full +3/X8 spawn or two, set spin on auto and then go fetch a sammich and a coke. Come back and find yourself jump spinning all around on a pile of corpses. I've found no other brute secondary that works like that. 
I have just come off a EM/SD scrapper and now want to build up a SS/WP Brute on redside. What are the goals that i am trying to reach on my new Brute. On my Scrapper I had to get his defenses capped to 45% on Melee/Ranged/AoE. I noticed on the WP its seems to be alot different. Any help or guidance or build examples would help greatly.