Light or Dark magic.

It's easier for a knight to take Vengeance, and yes, an elf spends a lot of stats on Knowledge. Heaven has a hero who is probably better than Wingael in general, hmm, Mive.

Why an elf? He has low attack stats. And his speed is easily countered.

Added 3 minutes later

Well, about two weeks ago, I was playing with humans, and Axel had about the same level, with 20 mana, 2 spells, 11 defense, and the rest went into attack, so Axel managed to cast mass haste and mass stone skin (he didn't have Divine Power), prayed, and activated Watchtower on the paladins. After that, I became interested in whether it is possible to make the hero's participation in combat more active, given that there are no Knowledge boosts on the map or very few.

Here, take this example, even if you spend the whole night with the Mentor, you'll find something!
There will be +Knowledge and + other stats, and + attraction. Also, find boosts and artifacts. An artifact for Knowledge is very useful, + because you can remove it before a battle and put on another one.
We still level up as a mage initially, then we develop the knight and transfer everything to him.

The Academy army needs a set of archers and swordsmen - with this and good defense + cooperation, you can hold out (you can apply all the mass buffs). And if you have resources, then only native units and mini-artifacts. But there is dispersion... ))