Remember, most of the Paths scale way below the Edo tenseis. And Manda(who is superior to Gamabunta, who Pain cannot use CST on unless he focuses all his power into the Deva Path) can basically beat any animal summon. Furthermore, even if you're absorbing Jutsu, that won't stop most of, say, Hashirama's techniques, because I don't think it can absorb physical matter, it would only stop the chakra from moving, leaving a bunch of wood that he can still control.
On top of all this, most of the Pains, as long as there's still more than 3 or 4 of them, get oneshotted by Kusanagi, or even regular attacks. And considering prior knowledge, he'd go after Deva first.