Mid-game crisis :<

[Vulture]

Hi folks,

I am pretty new to the game and am still learning strategies but nevertheless I am used to these kinds of games like HoMM/LoM and I've been reading this forum for hours and hours gathering every information my brain can take but yet I can't seem to make proper use of all of them.

This is my first playthrough and I chose Paladin on normal diff.
Lvl 19
12,5k Leadership
8 Attack (only 1 + atk to choose @ lvlup so far :< )
24 Defense
11 Intellect

I learned to use all the tricks posted in here about sacrifice/time back so I can bring back slain lvl 5ers, extend buffs or save/multiply troops that are rare. I float around to grab free goodies and search shops.
In my (pretty lucky tbh) game at the moment I can get every troop execpt for:
Arch-Demons, Blackies, Reds and I have found every powerful spell except for Armageddon (which as a paladin is not usefull anyway). But I explored only up through Ellinia and Demonis so far. So I'm confident that at least 1 out of these 3 will appear later on in the Lotd and the labby.
As a paladin of course my spell power sucks big time but yet I have Order and Disto @ 3 and chaos @ 2 (only for sacrifice) and of course the 1 cast/turn rule makes me a rather helpless wannabe warrior/mage.

I have been reading for hours about troop setups and tried a lot on my own but it seems like I am stuck. Having Anga's Ruby and the elven crown I came to the conclusion that my current setup:
Dryads
Lake Fairies
Demonesses
Emeralds
Demon
might be a good idea considering the morale bonus on the she-fighters and the fact that it makes up for the demon penalty. I am trying to use the greenies as tanks with timeback and as mana gain machines combined with their skill and magic spring or on easier fights the demons for the massive slaughter presented by their 'furious' and pentagram abilities. But I am totally unhappy with the elf chicks. They do practically no damage. 1,5k to 2k normals without frenzy is a PITA especially when facing high defense mobs. Plus it's even more a PITA that they just get destroyed by troops that ignore the 'Target' spell or are lvl 5 and so do not obey to it. The Demonesses do fairly good and I love the swap ability and their charm on humanoids (priceless against big stacks of hunters that would just carve the dragons in half).

So basically what my problem is: so many people on this forum say that lake fairies and all those she-elves are ultimate damage machines combined with Anga's Ruby and I've seen that one signature displaying a 54k sprite crit . But it just doesn't work out for me, the damage just sucks. What am I not considering ? I chose every good might talent possible incl frenzy, onslaught and nighttime operations. I went for 3/3 into that rune exchange talent of course to get the runes needed. And I've maxed concentration and as said before 3 Order, 3 Disto, 2 Chaos and 3/3 Healer.

Ok, that's very much for one posting ^^ I hope somebody can figure out a strategic advise for me because actually fighting is very frustrating because the enemy just lives too long and the 'target' ignoring creatures just crack my girls.

Thx in advance !

P.S: having 3/3 Bowmen Commander and that bow with +3 atk to rangers and +15% physical range dmg bonus I tried Hunter/Elf/Bowman triple range setup with greenies as tanks and Inquisitors as ress machine/rage machine with time back but yet again the damage is not even mediocre and only has a few shining moments when using double-shot.