Are tower shields just terrible?

I'm new to the game. I've only been playing about 2 weeks and I just beat BoneMass for the first time yesterday. overall and hopelessly addicted to the game, but I really have to ask the above question.

I've been playing with my friends And when I picked up the game, I decided to go with a full armor defense build and picked up tower shield because, frankly, I am pretty terrible at most games so relying on Perry and Dodge timing is kind of unfeasible for me personally. My goal was to be up front taking agro, while my friends flanked and used ranged to take bigger enemies out.

Unfortunately using my tower shield feels almost pointless? I die four times for every time my friends do, and they are using archery and Perry Shields respectively.

Even when I max out on health food and make sure I have my shield up I still take half my total health every time I get hit from every enemy That isn't trivial. My armor Is level 3 bronze and my blocking skill is 10. I can't seem to get it higher because I can't stop dying.

Is there something I can do to make This go better for myself or are tower shields just kind of The objective worst option?