In such cases, you can definitely find another "native" hero in the tavern, and near the Castle – a dwelling for free peasants. Ellaina is used to hire troops because she has the Troop Gathering, Supply, etc. ability. And the second one, hired in the tavern, fights.

Yeah, and your entire starting army will fall when trying to take a mine from the Fae. Ellaina is bought back later, and her Experienced Commander and Treasurer skills are leveled up; she is kept in the Castle with a bunch of peasants for money.

Regarding Lethos, you need to consider the skill slot spent on Dark Magic, and also his complete uselessness in fighting the undead, which are immune to his professional ability.

Dark Magic is not a wasted slot; we'll find someone else to fight the undead.

Regarding Erin and Iranna, they were wrong to refuse, very wrong...

There are reasons for this. Their specialists are not very good because you need to survive until you can use the Witch's ability, and the Furies are already strong when creeping, but they will fall immediately in the final. And Chaos units are difficult to obtain from them due to the extra branches.

Regarding Daedra: First, there is an error in the hero's description. In fact, her profile is improving the effect of the Banshee's scream as she levels up.

The duration increases, and with at least 2 artifacts from her native set, it's just amazing.

2Loken

Academy – neither Nazir, nor Maahir, nor Nur were even close to being "champions." Orc – yes, she is an excellent hero, possibly the best.

+1 initiative from the specialist at level 20 somehow pales in comparison to Nur's constant magic fire with infinite mana from the start and a horde of gremlins with machines from Hafiz. The main advantage of Orc is Wizardry and Archery. Although she has her own fans, in my opinion, she is still third.

Inferno – Deleb is by no means a leader. She was severely nerfed; total disrespect to the developers for this. Her ballista now just shoots... all these tricks with fireballs after level five – forget about it. NOW it's not worth it.

She was nerfed, but made stronger. Now, she is NOT banned, or she is banned with ALL machinists. And at higher levels, 3 shots with Fire Arrows are definitely better than the original specialist ability.

Daedra with an overpowered scream.

But on medium and small maps, Daedra is not taken because of the long time it takes to get the mark.
I basically agree about the Orcs and Gnomes, but let's not forget about Haggeesh. He is also quite good.