[Taqwus]

Regarding Celestial Soldiers, I found them rather nice -- high hp, strong, decent prot (for a Tien Chi unit...), HEAVY weapon (glaive -- something like 10 dam, -1/-1 att/def, length 4), enough skills to be able to use the glaive well. Makes 'em good at opening up high-prot units. They've pretty good morale as well, IIRC, and don't eat.

On the other hand, the glaive is 2-handed leaving no room for a shield, and with 15 prot and no etherealness or intrinsic air shield crossbows could be a big problem. They're sacred, 'tho, and you do have access to air mages even if you don't go for blessings.