Base C'tis Sacred Serpent - Hints needed

[quantum_mechani]

Horst F. JENS said:
Hello Lizard Lovers,
i just now begin to understund how to play C'tis and seeking advice for a good Pretender/Blessing design. Especially concerning the Sacred Serpents because i "discovered" that i can recruit those beasts at every castle. I really would love to make them useful but as it is now, they deal good damage but dye too fast because of horrible low defense.
Does a Death 4 Blessing help them from ending as hoburg milita food ?
Does a Nature 9 blessing (regen, 50% resit Poison) stack with the Snakes Natural 50% Poison resist to 100% Poison immuntiy ?
Does a W9 blessing have other results (melee survival) than a E9 blessing ?
thanks in advance for your wisdom and experiance.

Base game they are really too expensive to use as anything besides morale boosters. Probably the best single bless to give them would be nature, but that doesn't mesh well with the other sacred options (tomb wyrms or serpent dancers). A rule of thumb as to which blesses increase survivability; high HP - nature, high defense - water, high armour - nature/earth, very low armour - air, none of the above - astral.

The most cost-effective C'tis bless I have found is 4f5a4w (manticore modded, or ghost king unmodded) with serpent dancers.