If it's not too much trouble, help a newbie.
If you absolutely don't want to play as Shakti (thereby reducing her offensive power), then try Gunnarr (he has overpowered logistics in SoD) or Arlasha (his offensive power increases dramatically with advanced artillery).
Your army will consist of around 70+ Trogols, a few Harpies, and if you're lucky, an Eye. Build the Eye on the first day. With such an army, breaking through will be easy. The task for the first week is to build Minotaurs with a castle (if you have a lot of resources, also build Catapults with a castle). Don't touch the dwellings at the beginning, just scout. If you find 5-7 dwellings, that's luck – you need to capture them and build a portal. But if it's very difficult to break through, for example, you can immediately capture an Eye dwelling and build a portal with them in the first few days, getting 20+ Eyes, which will significantly improve your tactics. As soon as you start building strong units (Minotaurs, Catapults), you need to immediately bring them to your main hero during the first week. For Gunnarr, in the beginning, only take skills that increase logistics. And Earth or Air magic at level 3-4 (you don't need Fire). Most likely, you'll get Earth.
Then look for Slow. And at the beginning of the second week, having, for example, 9 Minotaurs (if there are no dwellings), with magic (build a Mana Vortex), you can already take on something more serious. If there is no Earth expert, then Blindness will be very helpful; build a second tower, and with doubled mana, there will be plenty of it. If there is no clear plan for priorities, then look for gold and sulfur, build Dragons. Destroy Naga Temples and Medusa Lairs.
You asked about Harpies. Well, you need to upgrade them on the second week at the beginning to give them to the Scouts for speed and to accelerate Gunnarr. They don't have much combat value in small numbers (unless Lorelei comes at the start and Harpies are built, then you can upgrade them to 1-1-1).
You need to use Gunnarr's advantages – a very large movement range. That is, visit all the objects for parameters, etc. Try it :)
