Investigating a Dark Melee / Willpower build

I haven't seen this mentioned in any forum, and I'm curious as to why (with the popularity of DM/Regen)?

I started up on this build and, at early levels, it seems like a pretty good fit. This is my build plan while leveling:

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.962

http://www.cohplanner.com/

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Level 50 Magic Scrapper

Primary Power Set: Dark Melee

Secondary Power Set: Willpower

Power Pool: Flight

Power Pool: Fighting

Power Pool: Speed

Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Villain Profile:

Level 1: Shadow Punch

• (A) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage
  
• (23) Superior Critical Strikes - Damage/RechargeTime
  
• (23) Superior Critical Strikes - RechargeTime/+50% Crit Proc
  

Level 1: High Pain Tolerance

• (A) Aegis - Resistance
  
• (3) Aegis - Psionic/Status Resistance
  
• (3) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance
  
• (46) Numina's Convalesence - Heal
  
• (48) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
  

Level 2: Smite

• (A) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage
  
• (9) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance
  
• (13) Crushing Impact - Damage/Recharge
  
• (37) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
  
• (42) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  

Level 4: Fast Healing

• (A) Numina's Convalesence - Heal
  
• (5) Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Endurance
  
• (5) Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Recharge
  

Level 6: Mind Over Body

• (A) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance
  
• (7) Aegis - Resistance
  
• (7) Aegis - Resistance/Recharge
  

Level 8: Shadow Maul

• (A) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage
  
• (9) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Endurance
  
• (15) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge
  
• (15) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (45) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
  

Level 10: Indomitable Will

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  
• (11) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
  
• (11) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
  
• (39) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 12: Hover

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  
• (13) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
  

Level 14: Fly

• (A) Freebird - FlySpeed
  
• (43) Freebird - +Stealth
  

Level 16: Rise to the Challenge

• (A) Dark Watcher's Despair - Chance for Recharge Slow
  
• (17) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff
  
• (17) Numina's Convalesence - Heal
  
• (40) Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Endurance
  
• (40) Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Recharge
  
• (40) Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 18: Siphon Life

• (A) Theft of Essence - Healing
  
• (19) Theft of Essence - Healing/Recharge
  
• (19) Cloud Senses - ToHit Debuff
  
• (25) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/ToHitDebuff
  
• (25) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (48) Cloud Senses - ToHit Debuff/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 20: Quick Recovery

• (A) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod
  
• (21) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Recharge
  
• (21) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy
  

Level 22: Dark Consumption

• (A) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage
  
• (34) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge
  
• (45) Energy Manipulator - EndMod
  
• (45) Energy Manipulator - EndMod/Recharge
  
• (46) Energy Manipulator - Chance to Stun
  

Level 24: Boxing

• (A) Empty
  
• (43) Empty
  
• (43) Empty
  

Level 26: Soul Drain

• (A) Armageddon - Damage
  
• (27) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge
  
• (27) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  
• (34) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (39) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance
  

Level 28: Heightened Senses

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  
• (29) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
  
• (29) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Recharge
  
• (46) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
  

Level 30: Tough

• (A) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance
  
• (31) Aegis - Resistance/Recharge
  
• (31) Aegis - Resistance
  
• (31) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 32: Midnight Grasp

• (A) Hecatomb - Damage
  
• (33) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge
  
• (33) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  
• (33) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (34) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance
  
• (50) Accuracy IO
  

Level 35: Weave

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  
• (36) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
  
• (36) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
  
• (36) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 38: Hasten

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
  
• (39) Recharge Reduction IO
  
• (50) Recharge Reduction IO
  

Level 41: Focused Accuracy

• (A) Encouraged Accuracy - To Hit Buff
  
• (42) Encouraged Accuracy - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance
  
• (42) Encouraged Accuracy - To Hit Buff/Recharge
  

Level 44: Afterburner

• (A) Kismet - Accuracy +6%
  

Level 47: Strength of Will

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
  

Level 49: Resurgence

• (A) Energy Manipulator - Chance to Stun
  

Level 1: Brawl

• (A) Empty
  

Level 1: Critical Hit

Level 1: Prestige Power Dash

• (A) Empty
  

Level 1: Prestige Power Slide

• (A) Empty
  

Level 1: Prestige Power Quick

• (A) Empty
  

Level 1: Prestige Power Rush

• (A) Empty
  

Level 1: Prestige Power Surge

• (A) Empty
  

Level 1: Sprint

• (A) Empty
  

Level 2: Rest

• (A) Empty
  

Level 4: Ninja Run

Level 2: Swift

• (A) Empty
  

Level 2: Health

• (A) Preventive Medicine - Heal
  
• (37) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb
  
• (50) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Endurance
  

Level 2: Hurdle

• (A) Empty
  

Level 2: Stamina

• (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End
  
• (37) Performance Shifter - EndMod
  
• (48) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Recharge
  

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Having played DM plenty, I know what it brings to the table. However I have never played WP. What does it offer that you can't get elsewhere?

Having played DM plenty, I know what it brings to the table. However I have never played WP. What does it offer that you can't get elsewhere?

1/4 Res, 1/4 Def, and 1/2 Regen. It's a mixed bag, really.

Decent exotic defenses, decent S/L resists, and one of the highest passive regen rates once you get Rise To The Challenge. They also get Quick Recovery, so end isn't as much of an issue as it is with other secondaries.

Having played DM plenty, I know what it brings to the table. However I have never played WP. What does it offer that you can't get elsewhere?

"Old" (pre-i6) Regen was sort of "set it and forget it". With perma-hasten and perma-Dull Pain, it was good to go. WP seems to follow along these lines: All toggles, only one activatable power.

I found current regen too "finicky" for my tastes (after getting a DM/Regen to 50), so I'm exploring Willpower as an alternative.

DM/WP was so OP that back in the day, I got bored on how easy everything was and deleted mine at lvl 41 and re-rolled him as DM/Inv

Unless it is just for the set bonus, focused accuracy is a bit overkill.  With Kismet and 2 purple sets you will be at 95% chance to hit +3 mobs which is the highest they would be after you get your alpha slotted.  For those times you get debuffed or face high defense targets you can pop yellows.  You also have 3 slots in boxing unused so you could put those 4 slots elsewhere or have another attack with 5 slots if you reallocate those.

Gotcha. I've not gotten that far with the build yet, so I'm not entirely sure where to go with it.

The problem with this build isn't slots or powers, it's that it has too many (once the basics are slotted up). I can just take random powers like stealth or invis, but it's not really cohesive, for sure.