Dragon Arrows can be very useful against some enemies. they also always poison the target for some reason.

Hey, that's my basic strategy! :)

I am still having fun though after a few hundred battles.

True! But when you're a soothsayer that hasnt had the good fortune to get any summon spells, or the sick AoEs or buffs that are mentioned here for strategies, you need something to carry your weak behind until you can get into more shops.
That being said, 1st turn sniper kills makes those "mop up" weak and very weak battles easier to manage until i can buy some of those previously mentioned spells.

If you aren't a Viking/Warrior, I can see where this is true. But archers have the highest init in the game for Viking/Warrior (quickdraw skill).

Regarding resurrecting, you are right, but there are breakpoints. After a certain point, you do so much damage in round one and two that there isn't much to resurrect because the enemy can't do anything anymore.

Level 5s do a LOT less damage once you start getting >60 attack over the enemy defense and tend to not have great +crit items.

And since Level 5s are hard to resurrect whereas <level5 can be mass resurrected with a paladin, I made that thread about why I felt Level 5s were sort of obsoleted.

Without the old Rune Mage which could resurrect nearly every level 5 (even black dragons), unless I'm a Soothsayer, I'd be hard pressed to consider level 5 units at all.

we'll see
as viking i would love a all in dragon army
just a simple stone skin and some firebreath to rape the enemies :D
and i think u can correct me if i'm wrong but if your level 4 troops got side effects(burning/poising/icing) you get a HUGE amount of damage

since your level 4 units have a higher total HP than level5's

and you would lose more than the 5's

but all in all it's about how much damage or make the enemy immobile of doing anything on the first 3turns

Viking/Warrior has "shield of rage" which has a chance to purify the effect at the beginning of every round. Some bosses and dragons can be problematic and require a bit more care for precisely what you described! :)

You can always dispel too. :)

But, 5s are harder to resurrect... and you can't resurrect them en-masse like level 4s.

Problem is, you aren't going to wreck the enemy as fast with level 5s all things being equal. :) Horsemen with Driller, Rangers with Siege Crossbow...

My current build is more flexible than my old fashioned 100% critical shooter build. Only 68% critical for the Rangers (Elf), but hey, if I get a lucky "Berseker Double Damage" roll along with Critical hit, that's about 48K dmg and I only have 180 of them.

What makes me sad is, I can get Jarls up to 99% critical but... they are too slow, so Horsemen are my best bet still.

I have the Ogre set too but... eh, who needs Trolls?