Tactics for playing as the Sylvan faction.

In my opinion, for Elves, the speed aura, forest commander, and retribution are much better than empathy.

This is if the first strike is guaranteed (like Wingael's speed tactic, where the hero doesn't even have time to cast spells). If there won't be a first strike, sometimes hiding in a "box" and protecting the archers is more beneficial. And it also depends on the enemy race, whether they have evasion, scatter, whether we have charm removal, antimagic, etc. The unicorn aura can also save the day. Will we go into chaos or light? So, as usual: it all depends on the situation.

About the "ideal" build for attack, I wrote about it above:

The ideal is to get "shooting" and "retribution" (and it's through "BB"). But then there won't be empathy.

It's a pity that retribution cannot be taken with empathy.