Read it!
For quick games, there are no words to describe it... but if we play on large maps, it's a different story. It's better to build high-level creatures as soon as possible: ents, together with nymphs, can take down many melee units or, at worst, cover the archers. And if the hero has regeneration, clearing neutral creatures is a piece of cake...
Also, a lot depends on the richness of the map. If there are plenty of resources, I think there will be enough for dragons and ents!
And by the way, it's not in vain to take experience in all chests, especially when quickly building ents and simultaneously upgrading the castle, you need to take money without hesitation!
I'm not sure about the secondary hero and meat... I managed without it anyway)))
And here's another thing: there are heroes like Gilraen, so you don't even need to upgrade archers -> we go for ents, and we have wood anyway)))
By the way, what difficulty level are you playing on? I only play elves on veteran; I don't see any prospects on hero difficulty, and there's no wood!