For example, Karl starts no worse, and in the final stage, Brand is completely useless. Against neutrals, I usually don't use anything other than the energy rune, and for this, you only need about 1 wood. Dwarves don't have any particular problems with this.
2. Ingvar - a worthy choice, most likely, all the advantages are described by Ingvar the Tall.
3. Inga - I rate her very highly, on par with Karl, because with her, there will probably be no problems with obtaining the necessary runes, which is very important. In addition, starting with education is always great, and increasing characteristics will help in the final stage, +rune cooldown reduction.
By the way, as I think, it's not worth pumping filler skills for the Orc, they are not very effective (they are effective, of course, but the cost is high, it's better to choose some other skill, besides, it's a lottery.)
Still, it would be nice to get a super ability, as in my opinion, this is the strongest thing in heroes - a super ability.