All heroes in Returners have a role to play regardless of when players obtain them. Even with many of the lower-rated heroes, they can be quite useful with the right strategy or equipment. However, there are some heroes that seldom see the light of battle; David and Goliath is one such hero.

David and Goliath is a tank hero - a ‘defense tank’ specifically. However, players who have used David and Goliath might find that the title of their class doesn’t really match up with their stats and skills. If you look at the hero info for David and Goliath, you’ll see that this hero has higher physical attack than most other tanks, and even comes with an ultimate skill that stuns enemies.

Even the explanation of the hero and its position is confusing. Exactly what kind of hero is David and Goliath supposed to be?

◈ A defense tank that gave up on survivability?

The default stats of David and Goliath are very peculiar; they have a fairly high physical attack for a tank, which is 485 when transcended to 7-Star and upgraded to 45 level. This means they have the 4th highest physical attack (after Terry Bogard has been added to the game). In an odd contrast though, their physical defense is only a little higher than that of King Arthur, who has the lowest. David and Goliath even have low magical defense and max HP, so their survivability is pretty lackluster.

They are more of a moderate assault hero than a defense hero, and this is further emphasized by their stats for critical rate and evade rate. The sum of the critical rate and evade rate for most tanks is 7-10%, although the balance between the stats varies. With Richard the Lionheart, both his critical rate and evade rate are 4%. On the other hand, David and Goliath have a 7% critical rate and a 1% evade rate, one of the biggest gaps among tank heroes.

If we must think of David and Goliath in the context of tanks though, his stats would make him more of an assault tank than a defense tank. You could make up for their stats with good gear or runes, or even equip David and Goliath with an aggressive gear set to have them play the role of an assault tank.

The problem is that if there’s any spot for assault tanks on a team, it’s usually taken by either Richard or Siegfried; David and Goliath isn't just as viable as those two. After all, the strength of assault tanks doesn’t just come down to their stats.

◈ No skills to protect allies - maybe they’re more of a disruptor tank.

Based on their stats, David and Goliath might work as an assault tank, but it’s usually a hero’s skill set that determines what role they’re best suited to. What kind of skill set does David and Goliath have?

David and Goliath may fundamentally be a defense tank, but their skill set doesn’t seem to match. Their skill set also isn’t suited for the assault tank role, no matter how suitable their basic stats are. Among all the tank roles, disruptor tank seems to be the one that David and Goliath’s skills match best.

They can interrupt enemy attacks with their CC skills, but other tanks can do the same (and often more effectively) so it is hard to say that this is their ideal role either. One other hindrance to their position as a disruptor tank is actually their assault tank-esque stats; there is a mismatch between the two.

Also, it is important to take a look at whether their skills can properly synergize with other heroes or not. Ultimate Strength, one of their normal skills, will push the targets far away from ally heroes, causing them to deal less damage by canceling their skills or temporarily stopping their attacks. This skill might increase ally survivability, but it also often puts the enemies out of attack range, lowering the overall damage dealt by ally heroes.

That skill alone makes David and Goliath incompatible with almost all fighters and tanks. Not only that, but it makes him unusable in wombo combo teams and inefficient with AoE heroes. Placing David and Goliath with Maid Victoria or Hong Gil Dong will just decrease the efficiency of their enemy-gathering ultimate skills, and putting them with heroes like Nikola Tesla, Dr. Jekyll, and Hartmaan will severely reduce the damage potential of the team.

▲ David and Goliath’s Ultimate Strength pushes enemies further away from ally heroes.

◈ No notable use or strength, meaning a change is needed.

Overall, David and Goliath seems like a tank without any special features. Their high physical attack, critical rate, and low survivability isn’t that bad, but their disruptor skill set doesn’t really offer much advantage over other heroes.

It is difficult for them to work well with the DPS characters that are currently popular, and even if you don’t care much about the team comp, he can be replaced with better tanks with better disruptor skills. Likewise, there are other tank heroes with higher survivability that make better assault tanks; the same goes for the Raids since CC skills are useless against the CC-immune bosses. In the end, there isn’t really any area where David and Goliath shines.

If David and Goliath is to be tweaked, it would best if they altered their stats or skills to match the defense tank title the character has.

If their default stats are to stay, then their skill set should be changed so that it is more aggressive; for example, adding a buff that increases attack speed since they have a high critical rate could be a way to increase their DPS. They could also have a buff that increases survivability or deals more damage so that David and Goliath can actually tank.

Alternatively, the hero’s attack stats could be lowered in exchange for more defensive stats like defense, max HP, and evade rate to increase sustainability. That way, David and Goliath will be able to keep enemies from attacking with their CC while staying alive longer.

Changing the skill set into something more appealing may be another option. David and Goliath would be more useful if they could pull enemies closer with their ultimate skill instead of stunning.