[Fantomen]

Garnet amazons?

Garnet amazons have 100% fire resistance, so you can spam fire evocations without risk of friendly fire, also *great* frontline chaff against fire nations. The Gryphons Are kind of niche, but not bad in the right situation. Garnet sorceress/priestess gets you into blood if you don´t have native access. A priceless find for earth based nations like Agartha (blood stones)

Barbarians may beat amazons, but amazons can handle archers well, and archers in turn routs barabarians...

To bless your Gryphons put them behind other troops on hold and attack rear/archers near a priest scripted to blessing. Since they are so expensive, try to buff them a bit too. For example with wooden/marble warriors.