Chaos magic is essential for elves, especially on maps with dragon utopias and places where powerful artifacts are found, because the probability of finding a Chaos tome is very high. I picked it up three times in the last week, which I can't say about other tomes (Summoning never dropped for me), on the road, and twice in utopias. If I'm playing on a map without these places, I don't take it, because I practically never find good Chaos spells in the guild.

I didn't manage to get Light magic in the first two missions of the campaign. So, in the 3rd mission, when I was offered Chaos, I decided that it's better to have Chaos in hand than Light in the sky. In the guilds of two castles, all high-level Chaos spells were found, except for Armageddon. Yes, it's not very useful for an elf (IMHO).

A volley of three arrows, charged with Magic Bolt or Shocking Bolt, deals significant damage at the beginning of the battle, even with weak spellcasting. The only problem is that the number of sworn enemies in battle runs out quickly.