Dude and the melee are similar and IMO not worth having both.  They are both very clean, smooth and predictable.  From our testing they both take to surface change very well and the melee actually rolled better for us with some surface.  The misfit line will all be more flippy than the dude and melee and will allow for more angle to the pocket on drier lanes. To go with the nightmare and terror tho, I have to say the dude.  It'll be a great benchmark piece for u and is a great step down from the terror.

My son throws a Dude, while I use the Melee. As far as I can tell they are very close.
Misfit will tend to be more angular late.

I assume the misfit is dv8s dry lane ball? The only thing they have made thats weaker is the zombie spare correct? What would be a comparable ball in the brunswick line?

Also the older misfits are much more ball than youd expect.  As I said before. I have a yellow/pink pin up that If I sand to 2000 will handle the heaviest of oil and at 3000 is a hook monster on most conditions. 

Same layout: My Misfit at 3000 is almost = to Ruckus at OOB

Tattooer, Yes, the Red/Orange Misfit is a weaker overall ball compared to the other 3 misfits. The Red/Orange Misfit will get down the lane farther and is made for drier lanes. If you are looking for a good 1-2 punch of pin down and pin up, then I would suggest drilling a dude with a pin down and a diva pearl with a pin up. The diva pearl would give you that skid through the front part of the lane with more hook in the back end and allow you to moved deeper and throw it to the friction. I think that a pin up dude might be too smooth for what you are looking to do to create an arsenal.

To the original topic, The Dude and Melee have similar smooth reactions. The only difference that I have seen is that the Dude is slightly more angular. Both can handle medium oil to light oil conditions and don't over react when reaching friction. The Red/Orange Misfit was made for when the lanes are burning up and you need a weaker reacting ball to get through the front part of the lane but still has enough energy to get through the pins.