Yeodan:
1. I play generals 99.9% of the time so i don't know.
2. well the obvious ones: Banded, nimoth, hauberk, groffling (i like to use these 4 for my oak builds)
then there's unbreakable, godplate. Bloodstone & Narmoths (the rings are only good if you have high autoattack speeds)
There there's: Girdle of the giants, bulwark & all fathers ring.
3. Vlemish is better up front (usually) becuase it provides regen whereas the plenor doesn't provide much regen at all unless you already have vlemish.
One thing to point out though is that on Leviathon, the dynamics change since there is a +mana regen flag on the map. This means that Plenor is the best one to get first. For some demi's just getting plenor is enough for this map.