Upgrade or alternative upgrade?

By the way, I recently realized that if a late-game Gnome fails to find decent artifacts with initiative, taking Earls might be questionable, as the initiative difference, though small, could cost him his life! (The problem is that this is one of our attacking units that needs to be used to its full potential.)
But in the late game, there are usually artifacts with initiative, so then you should think about whether to get runes if there are no battles. If not, the upgrades are equal!