Sorcery vs. Orcs only works for Deidra; otherwise, what's the point? The exception is if you have many Castles and a Mentor; then, use Lucy and hordes of Princes, but even that is just an option.
Added 2 minutes ago
1. Dragons aren't a pity; before version 3.1, they weren't even built in the late game due to financial considerations. It's easier to buy 6th-level units from other Castles.
2. Will they be lost? The counterattack is negated by ghosts with a 50% chance, without any consequences. There will be no counterattack with a probability of approximately 70+%, if the Dragons' turn is after the Princes'. They will have similar initiative and will move in succession. In the worst case, there are almost certainly blocked Liches at that point, which means they are useless.
3. Dragons are not protected; their task is to quickly eliminate all key stacks.
4. And we shouldn't forget that Banshees deal 30 damage each to every stack against the bitten neighbors, without a counterattack, right?
Added 3 minutes ago
-5 Luck/Morale on key Orc stacks in the early stages of the battle = victory for any faction. Cyclops move rarely, hit weakly, and Fury wears off quickly.
Added 8 minutes ago
This is not always the case. I'll use your battle as an example: the Chieftains moved before the hero, but the Goblins had to be brought up. This is a standard scenario: the Chieftains have more initiative than the hero, and the Goblins have comparable initiative. (The Staff clearly reduced the initiative bonuses of artifacts). Please read the logic carefully, and you'll understand what I mean.
At the time of the Necropolis hero's turn, it is already known whether the Chieftains and Goblins have been demoralized. Let's consider the options.
1. No one was demoralized.
Then, the hero can cast Mass Haste and move BEFORE even the Chieftains, casting Subjugation on them. There is an even better option: if the initiative on the Chieftains is displayed as 11-12 (or less), you can cast Shout, Mass Haste, and Subjugation before their turn and the Goblins' turn, of course. As a result, Subjugation will take effect in the first round.
2. Morale on the Chieftains, no morale on the Goblins.
Immediately cast Shout. The hero's and Chieftains' initiative will be approximately equal, but the Chieftains will almost certainly move next, due to the previous accumulated difference. There is no point in bringing up the Goblins; the spell is still active. Either accept the situation as in the previous point or press the Wait button and hope that you will move before the hero again; fractional initiative values are not displayed, and this is not well known. However, this will only delay Subjugation for a short time, because
there will be no positive morale.
As a result: Subjugation will take effect either in the first or second round.
3. No morale on the Chieftains, morale on the Goblins.
This is the most difficult option to calculate. The first thing will be Shout, but I can't say how many rounds it will take for Subjugation to take effect. It may be in the first round if the Goblins move before the hero after morale. Or it may be much later. However, the probability of this scenario is 1 in 4, and the probability of a very bad outcome within it is approximately 1 in 2-4. As a result: about 10% of problems with Subjugation.
4. Morale on the Chieftains, morale on the Goblins. After Shout, the task is reduced to point 1, but with a shift of 0.5 rounds.
What can ruin all these arguments? The intervention of a Barbarian hero, because he can also speed things up. The degrees of freedom increase, and it becomes difficult to calculate, so I'm too lazy. A rough forecast is that it will be difficult for the hero to cast the spell, and therefore it will take a long time.
But another question immediately arises: what will the Cyclops do without the hero and Chieftains speeding them up, with their miserable initiative, speed of 4, and morale/luck of -5? That's right, they will walk for a long time and die quickly.
Added 1 minute ago
Here's what we've been discussing for a long time, a pro will figure it out in a couple of seconds and do it.
Added 1 minute ago
And it's great that we figured it out. But you understand that the damage that your Orc received through Fury needs to be multiplied by (0.35/0.2) = 1.75. This could have been a significant correction to the outcome, or it might not have been.
Added 4 minutes ago
If you have a Dragon set, then you place 2 stacks of Shamans, 4 Chieftains of 60 each. The hero gets tactics, speed aura, etc. Cyclops tear everyone apart, regardless of the faction and the level of players on both sides. Fans of the mentioned "frenzy" tactic are delighted.
And there is only one question left: why play a map where the outcome is known in advance and does not depend on the level of play? All factions can be initially sorted by the strength of level 7 and not worry.
This rework in the undead should also be limited, a limit should be imposed, like, for example, with preparation in humans, because sometimes it turns out to be completely absurd.