Lava Flats rescue missions too hard?

[Gemzo]

I've been trying to rescue NPCs from the Lava Flats but not a single attempt has yielded success. I'm playing on the master hero difficulty and it just ends in a raptor or two running in and killing the NPC in 2-3 hits almost instantly. I've tried tanking them for the NPC but then he just flies inside me and gets hit while I'm killing the raptor. I've tried barricading the NPC in with crates and clearing out the entire mission, but then he just mysteriously died (Can't go too far from them?). The only remaining idea I have is to use a character with crazy damage to instantly kill raptors before they can even come onscreen, but it's not like I have many characters to work with on this continent (Hence why I want to pass this mission). I know it's intended that some characters will be better for certain missions but this seems pretty much impossible with any other build. Input?

Edit: I just completed one of these missions by getting lucky. Only one raptor spawned, but I had to tank it to save the NPC. Even then the NPC was one hit from death since it decided to fly inside me and die, but the raptor died first.

[Quaix]

I'm also playing on Hero difficulty and was having similar problems there. Raptors are too fast and have too many hit points. If only one of them spawns at a time I can back up while shooting it and kill it before it reaches the NPC, which is slower than the raptor. However if  two raptors spawn even if I kill one of them, the second one reaches the NPC and kills him in 3-4 hits.

One strategy I've been trying that seems to work fast so far is keeping the NPC about one or two screens behind me, which means not stopping to kill the monster nests. If you run into a few monsters you usually have time to kill them before the NPC catches up. Douse Nest spell might be a good idea here as well -- haven't had a chance to try it yet.

[nanostrike]

I have similar problems with Sea Worms on Ocean rescue missions (Yes, they exist).  A lot of times there is simply no way you can kill these things before they hit and kill the NPC.