well, PoD's only problems are afflictions he cannot be healed as undead so he needs always the chalice or gift of health. Risking him in big battles is......well too risky
I tend to rather use hordes of undead troops and the pretender cast rituals and search for magic sites, SC is not really needed with ermor, you win by numbers and you can create enough thugs by summoning wraith lords and maybe even using the Tartarian Gate, if the map is big. Try make a Tatarian Monstra your prophet, it starts with flying and 300hp! if its dead its not that bad you lost 10 death gems. Your God on the other site better should be protected as he can do quite a lot each turn with high magic paths.
While Lich Queen is a good choice i am not fully convienced she is the best choice as i do not see why fighting with Pretender is the best solution when you have thousands of other units doing exactly that, certainly not a no brainer... if we would talk about dom2 i would agree, not here though as things on Master Lich have changed quite a lot.
And as said before, if Ermor LA would start with a Dusk Elder it would allow for much more Pretender customization, it would not be very effective, but players would have a choice, that would not totally cripple them. Anyways, i try now some impossible AI's with imprisoned Ermor Pretender
Fair enough against the AI.
Just weird, that only Ermor really requires an awake Pretender with death magic path of at least 2, why force it?