I know Energy Melee is not loved, but given that SS was kicked off the list it needs to be mentioned. It pairs really well with WP. The hit you take for making the Extreme attack just doesnt matter with WP. It has nice animations, and feels super. I have run a Energy/Will Brute and enjoyed it. Big single target numbers.
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SPEAKING of which, (I forget if it was brought up before, 2:30 AM here) Titan Weapons and Willpower work well together. TW is end heavy, so pairing it with Willpower makes sense. It also has a LOT of Knockdown in it's attacks, a -res/-def power, PLUS a +Def power for you. Sure, only Melee and Smashing defense, but in the early levels this will help.|
Originally Posted by Tater Todd
Both sets make you feel Godly. I think that's why I like TW so much...it has that same OOMF! Feel to it
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TW is also AoE heavy and can knock crowds down in little time, but you need to practice aiming your cones for this. It also has three ST attacks, which should help taking down hard targets.
Electric
SM vs WM: I used to love SM - it's smashtastic... but there's no denying that it's very AoE-light, whereas WM gets crowd control, whirling mace, and shatter to a lesser extent.
As to the OP, WP is a pretty braindead set that thrives on crowds, so any primary with decent AoE for those crowds will suffice.
This is just my personal subjective opinions, but I've tried WP with lots of different combinations and it's worked pretty well for all of them. I've played most of the attack sets also, though not necessarily with WP.
The best WP toon I've played is Super Strength; it's just a great combo assuming you don't gimp yourself by slotting for kb, which aside from pissingoff teammates also knocks things out of RttC and gimps your regen. Taunt, Footstomp, throw big attacks on the mob boss(s), and repeat; works great. I have a 50 WP/SS tank who is a lot of fun, and though tough enough to tank most content without problem he is a little too squishy to tank some of the top end content without a little support, even maxed out with Kinetic Melee and Oblits. You said no SS though, so moving on.
War Mace is an amazing set. Personally, I like WM with shield, but I wouldn't hesitate to make a WM / WP character. You get a lot of tools, and the set is very dynamic. Great animations, good variety, good weapon costume options. It's just a great set IMO.
Stone Melee is pretty similar to Super Strength. I've never played a SM / WP, but I wouldn't hesitate to pair them. It seems like it would work out similarly though not as awesome as SS / WP. I have access to a SM/Inv 50 who is very tough, very damaging; I honestly don't think a SM/WP mirror would be quite as good, but on the other hand getting to 50 required a lot of END tweakage, and END problems didnt totally go away until Cardiac; the WP version would obviously not be challenged in the same way.
Broad Sword and WP work pretty well together, assuming you spam Parry. I have access to a BS/WP 50 brute, and he's very survivable. Damage feels a bit sub-par however, even slotted heavily for damage and using Musculature.
I have a Street Justice / WP 50 brute, and it was a lot of fun and easy to level. All in all, a very solid combination. However, I don't feel like I'm getting all that much mitigation from the primary; the best mitigation the character has is just smashing things fast. Spinning Strike is good, but it's strange targeting makes it a little bit unreliable when surrounded by mobs; you often wont get the ones that are "behind" you. I didn't have any problems getting to 50, and actually only got defeated a few times total, but once I hit 50 and started doing the higher end content, I have to be very careful to keep some purples and / or greens for when I get overloaded with damage. Rebirth helps with this, giving me a very needed click heal. I slotted Spiritual, so maybe Cardiac or perhaps the newer +RES one would be better, but Spiritual seemed to offer the best synergy to WP to me so that's what I went with. Anyway, you could do worse than to pair WP with Street Justice; its a good set with great animations.
I would hesitate to pair Axe with Willpower; I think Axe works better with a sturdier set like Invul or maybe Electric Armor, or a pure DEF set. The KD is consistent with Axe, but Axe doesn't get AoE until the later tiers and it seems to me that Axe / WP could be frustrating until mid to late game. And just about anything Axe can do, Mace can do as good or slightly better. I have a Inv/Axe 50 tank who is remarkably tough, but very limited; most of his attacks are only distinguishable by how much damage they do. Pretty boring set, honestly; its just an endless repetition of CHOP, CHOP, CHOP, SPINNY-CHOP, CHOP... I keep hoping that Axe will get a little love to make it competitive again, but I'm not holding my breath.
I made a TW/ WP brute when the set was released, and speed leveled him up to the teens, but TW just didn't click for me, and I have felt no desire to return to the character. It' seems like a good combo initially, but the teens is too soon to really tell. Many people like this pairing though, and I wouldn't have any concerns about it if I were you.
I have a Dual Blades / WP scrapper, mid 40's. He's a buzzsaw of destruction, but he can get rapidly overwhelmed and face plants more often than I like. The character is either effortlessly mowing through mobs (90% of the time, say), or he's totally fine then suddenly drops into the red and then to 0 in the middle of 1000 cuts or the PBAoE animation (once or twice every few missions). It's an ok combo, and if I gave the character any love it would probably be a lot better, but I personally got to where I don't like Dual Blades combo system; if feels like it is handcuffing me. I wont be making another Dual Blades character and if I ever get around to bumping this toon to 50 it will only be in a fit of boredom.
I'm not a fan of Electric Melee, and have never managed to get an ElMel higher than mid 30s, but my feeling is that there isn't any particular advantage to pairing it with Willpower. There doesn't seem to be any particular synergy there. Maybe there is, but...meh.
I don't think I would want to try KinMelee / WP. Burst is good knockdown, but otherwise, I just don't think it would offer enough mitigation, and using the slow T9 would make me nervous in chaotic situations. I have a KinM/EA 50 Brute and he's really tough, but if I could pick a different primary I would. I'm hoping for an alternate animation set for KinM, or at least for the t9...I often don't use it even when I should because I don't like the animation that much.
I'm not sure how well Claws / WP would work out. I'm not in any hurry to find out either. Claws is a great set, but I like it with more active secondaries for some reason.
Energy Melee aggravates me in its current state. At this point I wouldn't take Energy Melee for any character, period. Even a concept character. In fact, the KinM/EA brute was originally rolled as a EnM/EA, but I promptly deleted and remade when KinM came out.
I honestly find my SM/WP brute to be one of the toughest characters I have. Easily one of the most fun characters I have.
Warmace is also a good primary.