Best overall lineup?

[Vertibird]

What is the best overall lineup that performs well against any challenge? I currently use 2handers front , throwers back. I use 2h hammers on front corners.
Are swordlances better instead of throwers?

[turtle225]

Do you mean the best 12 man squad for handling the broadest amount of situations? Or do you mean the best full roster for handling the broadest amount of situations?

Aside from Lone Wolf and Gladiator origin, there's not much reason to limit yourself to 12 bros, and having a bench allows one to be a lot more flexible with team building.

The answer to your question kind of depends on that context.

[Vertibird]

Originally posted by turtle225:

Do you mean the best 12 man squad for handling the broadest amount of situations? Or do you mean the best full roster for handling the broadest amount of situations?

Aside from Lone Wolf and Gladiator origin, there's not much reason to limit yourself to 12 bros, and having a bench allows one to be a lot more flexible with team building.

The answer to your question kind of depends on that context.

Thanks I mean having lineup for LW and gladiator origins

[Wandering Flare]

If you're looking for a solid lineup for Lone Wolf specifically, I couldn't recommend Fearsome Foursome guide enough. Even with one ranged bro replaced with a swordmaster and one cleaver bro replaced with a front-and-center greatsword-only bro (the LW), I've had no issues facing everything except the legendary locations, which were still beaten eventually with a bit of extra leveling and specialized gear.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2929410997

[Heron]

I would say that the absolute best is 11 frontline worthy 2h bros with quick hands and 1 hybrid. It's also very boring and suitable recruits are hard to come by.

[A5G_Reaper]

The frontline you can do whatever 2h or duelist based on the famed item you get. It's the backline that's more of an issue. Options are:
-One banner, that is basically build mostly like a standard swordlance user except he also takes resolve. Generally playstyle is quickhand - reap - swap back to banner, unless a rally is needed.
-Up to four hybrid backline. I'm partial to the battleforged kind to offset the inevitable lack of durability due to having to put stats in melee and ranged skill. Either the fearsome 2h axe + handgonne or the thrower build with a pocket 1h to take advantage of duelist and starts out with a handgonne for a free shot (no mastery, they fire once per battle and that's it). Maybe two of each.

[Windoze]

12 2H Hammer Bros w/ 90+ Matk, 40+ Mdef, 80+ HP, and as much fatigue as you can manage in heavy BF Armor with AFP.

Throw in a 2H Mace or two if you must.

[MMMMK]

I think Reaper made some good points. I usually run my banner as a defensive build with quickhands (nets, potions) and rotation to rescue any bros that get into trouble. You can substitute rotation for bags and belts and carry some smoke bombs instead, although I find that rotation is a bit more reliable for this role. If you're running a 12 man team, you'll want at least one backliner with rotation, IMO.

For your frontline, it pays to have at least one dedicated tank. Iron Lungs is amazing on a tank, you can shield wall forever if you use a fatigue potion. if you find an Iron Lungs bro then consider slotting him into this role, even at the expense of mdef. If you're planning on running Monolith, then Lone Wolf can be very handy here, but is of limited use outside of that specific battle. I prefer to take taunt on my tanks, otherwise.

Somewhat controversial, but I always take a spear duelist in a 12 man team. Spear Wall is very powerful against Chosen swarms and late game orc camps, and duelist spear stomps on low armor, high defense enemies like goblins and nomads. Keep a shield in the pocket for when things get dicey, swap to mace against ancient undead. Drunk and Huge bros excel in this role. Fearsome is nice too, if you have enough perk space.

Backline needs to be versatile, and be capable of swapping into one non-pierce type weapon. Bows are very nice to have in 80% of the fights you take, but complete garbage against ancient undead (and not great against Chosen, honestly). I always take two crossbowmen (great against goblins and most human enemies), built as cleaver hybrids with Head Hunter (quickhands to whip for disarm) or with shields in the pocket and rotation. Bow/Thrower hybrids are very viable too.

[Melkolf]

I tend to use Dodging Nimble QH B&B handgonne throwers with a decent melee skill rather than Xbows (greater AoE and devastating with Overwhelm with their high Ini for debuffing all attackers), with one dedicated CS archer to hit the ranged squishies like hexen and set up victims for the frontline Executioneers to finish off. 3 max as well so my flankers can peel back to protect them when getting flanked themselves by far greater numbers.

The banner hardly ever gets displayed as I find the swordlance more effective with the sarge (being the 4th backliner) tending to rotate in and out of front line to reap enemy backline at critical times. If the frontline is well built and equipped rescuing them is rare and I find I tend to rotate along the line more often so one particular danger is dealt with by more bros in a single turn.

Other than those personal flavour tweaks, Reaper and MMMMK make excellent points: although I've never tried a spear duellist. Perhaps it's time I did. Must admit I'm getting somewhat bored with the occasional fencing duellist on one flank to spice up combat...