Well, magic resistance is only useful if the opponent is a mage. Otherwise, the levels will be wasted. It's also practically useless against a light mage. Although, on the other hand, reflecting some divine retribution is still a plus. But it's not guaranteed that it will be used. It's a pity that the chance of reflection will be small in any case. If I get shouts, I level them up depending on the situation (rarely, but sometimes leadership refuses to appear at all, while shouts do appear). I always level up education. I don't rely on it, but if it appears, I level it up. IMO, it's very useful for an orc; extra stats won't hurt him, and considering that they almost always go into attack and defense, it turns out to be something terrible and hits very hard. Also, the "Fury of the Fire" perk is good. In combination with the Amulet of Mastery, reaching the 2nd level of fury becomes very easy (although, such a combination is a stroke of luck). Regarding whether defense reduces the cost of fury points, I won't argue, as I haven't checked. I just thought it was the most logical. In that case, defense should at least reduce the damage that reaches the orc, regardless of fury. If defense doesn't work at all when fury is active, then IMO, it's a bug.