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Generally, over several months of playing as Sanctuary, I have gradually developed certain models for tactics and hero progression (I play as Irina, who, due to my boundless recklessness, ended up on the path of Tears).
Regarding skills. Physical spectrum schools. “PERSONAL QUALITIES”. I always choose the skills “Defender I”, “Defender II”, “Aggressor I”, and “Aggressor II”, because Ira is a Tide Lord—meaning she is a mage—and she simply must somehow increase her catastrophically low physical attack and physical defense stats; otherwise, the Stronghold, for example, will just batter her at their leisure. Additionally, I always take “Charismatic Leader I”, “Charismatic Leader II”, “Chosen of Fate I”, and “Chosen of Fate II”—it's always nice to get an extra action or land a heavy blow on someone's head. Things worth considering: “Logistics”, “Stealing”, and “Pathfinding”. Increased mobility for any hero is never redundant. I skip the “MANAGEMENT” school, as I never teach its skills to the main hero, but for secondary heroes, it is desirable to research this section completely. In the “TACTICS” school, I always choose “Ambush”; it is very useful at the very beginning of the game. Irina knows the “Heroism” skill from “BATTLE CRIES” by default. To be honest, nothing else in the cries attracts me, so I move on to the “ART OF WAR” school, where I invariably check only “Counterattack I”. Previously, I didn't refuse “Archery I”, “Archery II”, and “Giant Slayer”, but then I decided that 6% damage from the first skill isn't that much, 3% for each subsequent shot (a chain that breaks on the second/third move) isn't great either, and 5% from the last one, considering the initial condition, is just laughable. “Counterattack II” is a worthwhile skill and should sometimes be learned. “Endurance I” and “Endurance II”, to be honest, didn't impress me much.
Now regarding magic. AIR. I don't know about others, but I'm simply compelled to take “Storm Arrows” when there are coral or pearl priestesses in the army. Now it would be very timely to remember again that Irina is a Tide Lord possessing the “Tsunami” ability, which makes all enemy units soaked for 2 turns and more vulnerable to air-natured damage. Here, both “Storm Arrows” with priestesses will be appropriate, as well as “Lightning” and “Chain Lightning”. The main thing is that these same lightnings aren't used in response, as Sanctuary creatures, by some stroke of luck, are also not particularly friendly with Air. EARTH. Here I prefer “Restoration” and “Restoration (Global)” for cases where my enemy is not from the Alliance of Light with their glows. In battles with them, it is preferable to use “Healing” and “Healing (Global)” of LIGHT, which provide instant aid. PRIMORDIAL MAGIC. My constant choice: “Ward of Secrets I”, “Ward of Secrets II”, “Ward of Secrets III”, “Keeper of the Secret I”, “Keeper of the Secret II”, “Keeper of the Secret III”, and “Time Stop”. I think comments regarding the last spell are unnecessary. I also consider improving magic defense an important point, as one often has to face the Alliance of Light, Necropolis, Inferno, and Sanctuary itself. And increasing magic attack is simply essential to significantly boost the attack power of priestesses, upgraded kappas, elite girls, and kirins. Sometimes I choose standard “Slow” so the enemy doesn't start acting at a moment unsuitable for me and doesn't reach my troops in one turn. In certain cases, it's worth considering “Dispel Magic”. And finally, the tastiest part—WATER. These are a must: “Water Magic I”, “Water Magic II”, “Water Magic III”, and “Eternal Winter”. This set of skills increases the effectiveness of the abilities “Waves of Renewal”, “Powerful Leap”, “Ice Shards”, “Ice Touch” / “Icy Caresses”, and “Hail Shroud”. I believe this is a rather impressive sphere of influence. Moreover, the presence of “Eternal Winter” makes it reasonable to study the spells “Blizzard” and “Ring of Frost”, and also affects the Sanctuary racial ability “Honor IV”, from whose “Frost Shield” the foe also freezes. Next, we need to deal with freezing. Of course, you can add the striking spell “Ice Block” to the hero's magic book, but there is an option that, in my opinion, is more profitable: study “Summon Water Elementals”, which effectively allows you not only to replenish your ranks but also to use that very freezing block (and that's how you save one experience point). The “Hail Shroud” of sacred kirins is a very useful ability in the matter at hand. Freezing again, and accompanied by significant damage. Combining the above, you realize that it would indeed be good to take “Icebreaker”, which automatically increases the luck level by 79 units when attacking a frozen enemy. In general, it sounds extremely tempting. I can't write anything special about the other tricks of the Water magic school. Although, probably, “Ice Armor” and “Ice Armor (Global)” would combine perfectly with the fourth rank of the naga racial ability...
To summarize, I'll say that the tactics of playing as Sanctuary are truly based on the skillful application of Water magic and the competent management of both types of kirins (according to the developers themselves). It was correctly noted that nagas specialize in limiting the opponent's mobility, relying on the magical use of their native element... and the oars of shark guards.
Regarding skills. Physical spectrum schools. “PERSONAL QUALITIES”. I always choose the skills “Defender I”, “Defender II”, “Aggressor I”, and “Aggressor II”, because Ira is a Tide Lord—meaning she is a mage—and she simply must somehow increase her catastrophically low physical attack and physical defense stats; otherwise, the Stronghold, for example, will just batter her at their leisure. Additionally, I always take “Charismatic Leader I”, “Charismatic Leader II”, “Chosen of Fate I”, and “Chosen of Fate II”—it's always nice to get an extra action or land a heavy blow on someone's head. Things worth considering: “Logistics”, “Stealing”, and “Pathfinding”. Increased mobility for any hero is never redundant. I skip the “MANAGEMENT” school, as I never teach its skills to the main hero, but for secondary heroes, it is desirable to research this section completely. In the “TACTICS” school, I always choose “Ambush”; it is very useful at the very beginning of the game. Irina knows the “Heroism” skill from “BATTLE CRIES” by default. To be honest, nothing else in the cries attracts me, so I move on to the “ART OF WAR” school, where I invariably check only “Counterattack I”. Previously, I didn't refuse “Archery I”, “Archery II”, and “Giant Slayer”, but then I decided that 6% damage from the first skill isn't that much, 3% for each subsequent shot (a chain that breaks on the second/third move) isn't great either, and 5% from the last one, considering the initial condition, is just laughable. “Counterattack II” is a worthwhile skill and should sometimes be learned. “Endurance I” and “Endurance II”, to be honest, didn't impress me much.
Now regarding magic. AIR. I don't know about others, but I'm simply compelled to take “Storm Arrows” when there are coral or pearl priestesses in the army. Now it would be very timely to remember again that Irina is a Tide Lord possessing the “Tsunami” ability, which makes all enemy units soaked for 2 turns and more vulnerable to air-natured damage. Here, both “Storm Arrows” with priestesses will be appropriate, as well as “Lightning” and “Chain Lightning”. The main thing is that these same lightnings aren't used in response, as Sanctuary creatures, by some stroke of luck, are also not particularly friendly with Air. EARTH. Here I prefer “Restoration” and “Restoration (Global)” for cases where my enemy is not from the Alliance of Light with their glows. In battles with them, it is preferable to use “Healing” and “Healing (Global)” of LIGHT, which provide instant aid. PRIMORDIAL MAGIC. My constant choice: “Ward of Secrets I”, “Ward of Secrets II”, “Ward of Secrets III”, “Keeper of the Secret I”, “Keeper of the Secret II”, “Keeper of the Secret III”, and “Time Stop”. I think comments regarding the last spell are unnecessary. I also consider improving magic defense an important point, as one often has to face the Alliance of Light, Necropolis, Inferno, and Sanctuary itself. And increasing magic attack is simply essential to significantly boost the attack power of priestesses, upgraded kappas, elite girls, and kirins. Sometimes I choose standard “Slow” so the enemy doesn't start acting at a moment unsuitable for me and doesn't reach my troops in one turn. In certain cases, it's worth considering “Dispel Magic”. And finally, the tastiest part—WATER. These are a must: “Water Magic I”, “Water Magic II”, “Water Magic III”, and “Eternal Winter”. This set of skills increases the effectiveness of the abilities “Waves of Renewal”, “Powerful Leap”, “Ice Shards”, “Ice Touch” / “Icy Caresses”, and “Hail Shroud”. I believe this is a rather impressive sphere of influence. Moreover, the presence of “Eternal Winter” makes it reasonable to study the spells “Blizzard” and “Ring of Frost”, and also affects the Sanctuary racial ability “Honor IV”, from whose “Frost Shield” the foe also freezes. Next, we need to deal with freezing. Of course, you can add the striking spell “Ice Block” to the hero's magic book, but there is an option that, in my opinion, is more profitable: study “Summon Water Elementals”, which effectively allows you not only to replenish your ranks but also to use that very freezing block (and that's how you save one experience point). The “Hail Shroud” of sacred kirins is a very useful ability in the matter at hand. Freezing again, and accompanied by significant damage. Combining the above, you realize that it would indeed be good to take “Icebreaker”, which automatically increases the luck level by 79 units when attacking a frozen enemy. In general, it sounds extremely tempting. I can't write anything special about the other tricks of the Water magic school. Although, probably, “Ice Armor” and “Ice Armor (Global)” would combine perfectly with the fourth rank of the naga racial ability...
To summarize, I'll say that the tactics of playing as Sanctuary are truly based on the skillful application of Water magic and the competent management of both types of kirins (according to the developers themselves). It was correctly noted that nagas specialize in limiting the opponent's mobility, relying on the magical use of their native element... and the oars of shark guards.