Which faction is best to play against humans?

Padme made a good point... I was wrong :)) We're playing on the Dark Forest map... unfortunately, there's no mentor there... And if playing as Elves, what's the best way to level up the hero and what skills should I focus on? The opponent will definitely choose Dark Magic... I've tried playing as Orcs, and I only win when the opponent chooses Light Magic, but with Dark Magic, it's a problem... resistance doesn't work, even with Dampening, and I end up hurting myself... :)) Rift, I'm leveling up the Orc roughly as you described... only I'm taking Garuna and instead of Leadership, I'm taking Dampening... I'm thinking of replacing it with Education... although now I'm also considering Leadership :))