Which creatures from the alternative upgrade options do you choose?

Regarding the Orcs:
1. At the beginning of the game, Trappers are useful because they help with clearing out creeps by stopping enemies and allowing the Centaurs to attack again. In a large battle, this is unlikely to be useful due to the unpredictability and variety of the opponent's moves, so at the end of the game, Shamans are better, as they can inflict a curse on the hero.
2. Combat Orcs are better because they are more durable, and there is no penalty in melee combat, meaning the Nomad's maneuver deals half damage to anyone, while the Combat Orc deals full damage to the enemy.
3. These are two complete opposites. In principle, the choice of which to take is also decided for Tier 5, i.e., Executioners-Warlords, Chieftains-Combat Orcs. Warlords are practically invincible under the effect of Blood Fury (due to +unlimited retaliation and a solid + to defense), while Combat Orcs crush everything. I don't think it makes sense to take Executioners-Combat Orcs because of the risk of these stacks being destroyed in the first few turns of the battle by some powerful units. Also, I don't see the point in taking slow Warlords and Chieftains without a second attack, hopelessly stuck in the attack.
4. As mentioned in a post above, early game - Earth, then Air.
5. Chieftains provide good support while dealing almost no damage (due to Blood Fury), which helps attack, for example, Cyclops. And Executioners are 100% stack-splitting units. When to take which, see point 3.
6. Paoka are clearly superior due to their electric breath, which helps attack the weakest stack while also damaging the strong one (for example, attacking archers + the Ents guarding them). In addition, the ability to consume corpses will pleasantly surprise the enemy in large battles. And they have more health. The poison of Dark Wyverns and slightly higher attack are not strong enough arguments to outweigh the advantages of Paoka.
7. Free Cyclops with a reserve of Fury are generally awesome, crushing absolutely everything, and also in an area. The penalty to luck for Blood Cyclops is simply
nothing due to the damage, which is even less than that of un-upgraded Cyclops. A Blood Cyclops reduces luck, while a Free Cyclops stands on a mountain of corpses. =)

Added 18 minutes ago

6) I think I mentioned this somewhere before, but there is almost no difference, and the abilities of both are useless. So, I usually take the new one just because of its appearance. Anyway, the scream deals a funny, childish amount of damage.

The damage from the scream = 10 - the target's morale for each Banshee (if at close range, as it is halved through one cell and quartered through two), i.e., if the opponent has low morale, as I wrote above, say -5, then the damage will be 15. The Banshee deals 22-27 damage, which is more, but this is not critical, considering that there is no retaliation to the scream, and there is also a chance of hitting several stacks, this is a very good ability. And Messengers are actually the only real dispel ability for Necromancers, and they will also be useful for clearing out small stacks of level 7 units when clearing out creeps. So, the abilities of Tier 6 Necromancers are normal