[The Panther]

The valkyrie is a pretty good national troop. Lots of nations would love to have a sacred and strong flying troop like that. Only Mictlan (that I can recall off the top of my head) has a sacred flying troop. But vans are SO strong that they are generally built instead. It is not really a fair comparison since the van is perhaps the single best national troop in the game for the unit cost.

As stated above, valkyries are best used as support troops on hold and attack rear. With a W9 or F9 bless, they wreak massive havok in enemy ranks and sometimes even fly right over the nasty advancing infantry. Also, most bodyguards don't stand much of a chance against a bunch of valkyries.