Defenders definitely got their place in that list. 9.7 seconds of pure glory and tanky AF.
I reckon with the correct equipment (HP and/or AS ancient insig accessories), skill defense / crit reduct. tali and WA mace - they truly hit like a train-wreck.

That aside, +10ing is mandatory and some could argue that AS > WA (personally I feel AS is cheap enough to obtain via IM compared to WA, which is not).
I'm not quite sure how crit reduction is calculated though, if you consider that you can get 40+% per anient armour piece ... 100% crit reduct + decent skill defense is "easily" obtained. Already got half my set done.