Shieldmaiden
Shieldmaiden is a Human, Ascendant hero and thus can lead Knights, Knight Templars, Crusaders, Paladins, Preachers, High Priests and give them an efficiency bonus. She has a melee attack and is fairly expensive to maintain. She is very popular as a defensive hero.
Be careful since the Shieldmaiden will lead those low/barracks white troops that you have sufficient numbers that they won't be stackwiped and she is killed. Especially worrisome if you are gaining preachers from Love and Peace.
Shieldmaiden is valuable for her Rally ability which she gets at 9th lvl. It grants +3% +1%/lvl health to all your troops. So a 17th lvl Shieldmaiden would give a +12% bonus to your units' health.
At 14th lvl she gains the Healing ability, which heals a VERY small amount of health after each battle. This can realistically bring back a handful of complex units or double digits of simple.
She is an excellent hero for any color and especially works well with defensive-minded whites.
