Which Haven heroes do you prefer?

I'll write about the least popular hero, according to the poll, Elaine. Many people say it's better to take her as a second hero and use her to eliminate peasants. But then, who will the main hero fight with? Especially on the Hero difficulty level. With Elaine as the main hero, we have hordes of militia at the start, paying double taxes and boosted by the hero's special ability. Now let's look at the starting skills: leadership + recruitment. This means the fastest way to get enthusiasm is at level 3 or 4! And then empathy is right there! Archers with high morale from leadership and constantly boosted by the hero will deal much more damage than Dugal. So, Elaine is one of the best heroes for a quick start, and the best (in my opinion) for the Hero difficulty level. Now, a question to avoid derailing the topic. When playing as Mephala, I didn't notice any bonus to Haste. At least, in the spellbook, it was still 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% in the description. Is there a bonus or not? Maybe someone can explain this.