Advice for new Paladin

[Elwin]

After finisging my mage i kinda think about starting paladin i think on hard maybe on iimpossible and so i come up with questions:

What are strenghts of paladin ? how should I build him to use him best ( currently not talking about troop selections)?
Since its class between warrior and mage it could use some offensive spell but on the other hand he will never reach mage power so if i focus on offensive it gonna end on weak mage and will be weak. On the other hand if do not use offensive spell it will be warrior but with less leadership and lesser rage gain, Am i right?Or just use crowd controll and buff spells but since his runic stone it will be faster to get them than warrior , and maybe have a bit more mana?
Thats how i think just looking in theory would like to know what expierenced players think, especialy those who played all classes