For Agro books, it has been:
R1: Death Ring + Archer
R2: Hauberk + Nullify
R3: Mort + Leather Gloves
From there it has been curses one round and creatures to following. About round 5, I drop Idol of Pestilence. Mort is quite good with the Plague Master ability....
For BM small swarms it would be IoP early with Mort to protect.
Flyers would cause the Mage Staff to come out.
I think as always the Wizards (in any form) would be hardest to defeat, though I would focus on any Dispel Wand or Mage Wand with Dispel on it and use curses to do direct damage to him.