As far as spears go, they are merely average. The gap is too small to matter against most units, but it does give them an edge in locking down supports and fairies, and in dealing with caster heroes. 4 HP less than humans, with an extra point in resistance, and equivalent damage. Union guard follow a similar trend, but fare much better. Given the sheer amount of ranged damage thrown around, especially in the early game, this helps close the gap up, but they are still slightly weaker than humans, and much weaker than orcs. They do, however, bring shields into battle, making them, on average, 2 hp more resistant to ranged attacks than human swordsmen. Barely more durable than a goblin, and certainly less durable, and less damaging than a human.

High elf tier 1 units trend towards being made of paper, with strong ranged attacks but lacking melee. Most of these downsides are offset by very strong, very cost effective units however. This is largely offset by the sheer ease of massing forests, but their morale is definately hamstrung through most of the game. They dislike underground, volcanic, blight, and tropical however, making them a VERY picky race. They are, however, weak to blight damage, which makes them a very squishy race. Their units benefit from, on average, increased magic resist, along with the ability to ignore movement penalties for forested terrain.

It's hardly a game changing benefit, especially on small maps, so don't place it as your reason for getting high elven cities. Once your empire begins to grow however, they will be able to sprint through research ahead of their opponents. This leads to them acquiring techs a turn sooner, though on its own, it has no effect in the early game whatsoever. Normally, science growth is entirely from structures, at a +10 for every science building. Every city they own gains a +3 bonus to science innately. High Elves are the game's research experts.

Age of wonders 3 high elf what class