You want someone to be able to cast counter spell after act 1. That helps just so much.
Then who should I drop in favor of either Wyll or a wizard ?
I kinda wanted to romance shadowheart and I felt that a rogue would be nice for scouting.
I've chose to keep Lae'zel simply to add another meatshield. Felt like having only a 2h paladin up front with a rogue in melee would be weak but maybe cleric can get tough enough to tank ?
If you want a cleric to tank, you need a build that can stack up radiant orbs. That's a side effect of some items. It debuffs enemies' hit chance.
Clerics can serve in melee as well as a fighter -- and a fighter can be a purely ranged combatant. It depends entirely on how they're build.
Storm clerics deal massive AoE and are right in the thick of combat. Light clerics are the "wizard, but cleric" option. Warding flare is pretty neat, though. Clerics do not get counter spell. They get silence. A (melee) cleric, paladin, rogue and offensive caster is an entirely alright build.
It's generally recommended for an assassin rogue to take some levels of gloom stalker. Light clerics are more of a pure class, storm clerics can profit from multiclassing. It's not a must, but it's how you get the most out of them. Paladins similarly are a bit stronger as a Sorcadin or Bardadin -- using either the sorcerer's meta magic or sword's bard's flourishes to cast more smites. If you eventually ever feel too weak, multiclassing is a fair option.
