I suggest BA/FA instead. Once you get Fiery Embrace, your Axe will be doing Fire damage. And that's cool. Not to mention damage output will be superior to BA/WP (though squishier).
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My City of Heroes Blog Freedom Feature Article: "Going Rageless?"
If you only read one guide this year, make it this one.
Super Reflexes: the Golden Fox of power sets!
WARNING: I bold names.
BA has nice single target damage and great mitigation (a bucketload of knockdown), but its AoE is lacking. Thing is, War Mace eclipses it in every way except in mitigation - it has both better single target damage and better AoE.
The lethal resist issue post 40 remains but brutes can power through it like the legion of lethal damage dealing Scrappers do.
For lethal sets I would recommend Broadsword or Katana over Battle Ax. They do similar damage and have a great survival aiding tool in Parry/Divine Avalanche.
If you're considering sets you haven't played - Stone Melee/WP is my favorite brute combination in the game. What it lacks in aoe it makes up for in mitigation (but it does lack in AoE). Fault is awesome and the mag 3 hold in Seismic Smash really puts enemies that like to throw up annoying fields in their place.
Weight training: Because you'll never hear someone lament "If only I were weaker, I could have saved them."
The target caps on Axe's last two AoEs are the wrong way round, a narrow cone with a cap of 10 and a 180' sweep with a cap of 5; as opposed to Mace which has them the other way round. If that were corrected their AoE damage potentials would be a bit closer together.
Rolling a /Willpower Brute, but not sure on the primary. The last time I played Battle Axe was on a tank back around issue 6. I remember how bad the endurance was, and how poor the damage was after lvl 40. With IO's and willpower im sure endurance isn't an issue now, but is the damage any good? I already have a SS/, DM/, and an EleM/ Brute, so I was hoping to not repeat one of those sets. Thanks in advance.