Is Hiravias or Durance better for melee fight?

[Krajzen]

I am planning the future of my dream team. And no, I am not going to use my customized companions, I want only original ones.

 

So far my team build looks like that:

 

*my main heroine, DPS monk girl

*Eder, tank with shield focus

*Sagani with ranged combat focus

*Grieving Mother with secondary ranged combat focus

*Hiravias

*Durance

 

The problem is, I want to make either Hiravias or Durance more into frontline warrior (to have 3 melee and 3 ranged people, or in the emergency 4 melee and 2 ranged).

 

Both Hiravias and Durance have exact same Might and Constitution, they have very similar statistics. Hiravias has better Reflex and Interruption while Durance has better Will and Concentration. Additional factor is, this one of them who will end on the frontline should remain able to cast spells decently. So... Should I put Durance or Hiravias in melee fight? Is my overall team build decent?

[View619]

Pretty sure Druids have higher deflection than Priests, plus you have Shape Shifting and cone-shaped spells that are difficult to use from the back-row. Hiravias is a better bet for the front-line, imo.

[Krajzen]

Pretty sure Druids have higher deflection than Priests, plus you have Shape Shifting and cone-shaped spells that are difficult to use from the back-row. Hiravias is a better bet for the front-line, imo.

 

Yeah but on the other hand Durance has very high Concentration which means he can cast his spells more uninterrupted and he is more resistant (Will) on frontline mental attacks like Frightened.

 

Also I felt Priests have spells with lower range...

 

I have totally no idea who should I choose :/

[Luckmann]

Might and Constitution doesn't matter for a frontline fighter, Perception and Resolve does.

And if you absolutely have to choose... Durance. Hiravias has Spiritshift, but it doesn't make up for it by a long shot.

My suggestion would be to not do it at all, not necessarily because these are overall terrible frontliners, but because three frontliners is a hell of many frontliners. You'll usually not want more than two, and even that is pushing it.

If you do put Durance there though, make sure he keeps using Reach-weapons. That'll at least give you the option of keeping him out of the fire, and there's no actual penalty for when they do start smacking him over the head, anyway.

 

Edit: For reference, Druids have 5 points higher Deflection than Priests, but Durance has a Perception of 9 and a Resolve of 19. Hiravias has a Perception of 13 and a Resolve of 10. This is no contest.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Luckmann

[rnarchlord]

I use Durance with a poleaxe as backup melee when he runs out of spells that I frequently use.  With exceptional armor and a recovery under -40% he does a good job as both spellcaster and backup melee.

[qweqwe]

In my opinion, both classes don't belong in the frontlines. They are better at dumping spells from the backrow with the occasional ranged shot from a high damage weapon. That being said, I would say that Hiravias is the better frontliner because he actually has AoE cone spells that benefit from repositioning to near your enemies.

Edited May 20, 2015 by qweqwe

[GuyNice]

I use Durance as a frontliner with weapon and shield style and inspired flame (+10 sword/arquebus accuracy). My party consists of PC Monk tank/dps (dual wield), Pallegina as a tank with Outworn Buckler (+5 all defenses party wide), Durance, custom made Rogue (quickswitching between arquebus/arbalest volleys and pike thrusting), Hiravias (ranged) and Grieving Mother (ranged).

 

I'm playing on PotD and there are many situations where there are so many mobs that they spill over 2 tanks. That's when it comes in handy to have a durable 3rd frontliner (durance). When fighting in tight areas I switch his weapon to an arquebus.

 

I really like using him with sword and shield, not only does he look badass, but he's wielding "Shame of Glory" which has the Marking attribute (+10 accuracy for allies against the target). He's the only member of the party that I could find a reason to use swords on since I don't like that weapon focus group, but Inspired Flame is perfect for it.

 

I should also mention hes wearing Plate armor, and has 78 deflection currently with an exceptional large shield (level 7).