[Kref]

I think that stream of life and charm should be taken in account when fighting against elite troops, thugs and SC's, also I definetly should try minotaur lords equipped like Baalz said.
Pan is an N4 mage, N5 with strength of gaia, N6 if we were able to afford nature staff for him.
If we were able to get an S1 mage, pan also can be equipped with spell focus and an eye of the void (spell eagle eyes can compensate the loss of precission). So, if we are going to face small quantities of elites or SC, we can order some chaff (30-60) to guard 1-3 pans, and order them strength of gaia - maybe eagle eyes - multiple streams of life or charm, with good penetration bonuses.

I also wonder about ways to use Pans as melee fighters. They can get regeneration with strength of gaia, many can get reinvigoration with summon earthpower, have good magic resistance. Maybe it's possible to use tangle wines or polimorf once or two times before finally ordering equipped pan to attack (being surrounded by swines he may have time to reinvigorate because swines probabably won't do much harm to animal-awe Pan).