Any of the God Avatars are good.

Balthazar lets you tank with holy damage and 40+ armor.
Melandru gives you 200hp and immunity from conditions.
Lyssa Lets you strike a ton of damage for foes that are activating skills (That includes spells I believe)
Dwayna gives you uber vigorous spirit and removes a hex when you use a skill.
Grenth removes an enchant when you use a skill and deals a ton of cold damage.

Chilling Victory is also a nice skill to have.

I'd have to look think about a good derv hero build, but if you need elites quick for your heros and have points in Balth Faction you can unlock skills for your hers from them.  Just a tip incase you were unaware.

conviction          earth
vital boon           earth
zealous renewal   myst
heart of fury       myst
irresistible sweep scythe
lyssa's assault    scythe
pious assault      scythe
res

this should be pretty easy for AI heros to handle

put att points in Earth, Myst, Scythe, and tweak it to fit

This has pretty good energy managment, unless the hero is really dumb.  If more self heal is needed try subbing Balthazar's Rage for Zealous Renewal

let me know if it works, i havnt tried it yet, but it seems like a solid AI build