Upgrade or alternative upgrade?

Combined with the "Ready" ability, combat griffins become incredibly ferocious. Attacking them is pointless (unless there's no other option). I recently confirmed this myself. Unfortunately, the "Ready" ability only works once, meaning that in the first attack, the griffins counterattack twice, before and after the attack, and the second time, they counterattack once, after the attack. Nevertheless, I managed to eliminate 11 spectral dragons with 35 griffins using this method, losing only 3 griffins. I also noticed something else. Daughters of Earth have an ability that allows them to attack all slowed creatures without retaliation. So, they attack without retaliation even those who are defending with the "Ready" ability.