It depends on how much shooting is in your meta. Elves are back with a vengeance and Def 4 (and indeed, a lot of defense 5) units are prime targets for them.
On one hand I’d suggest to stick with the melee guardians for being tougher and more hitty but if you think you’d prefer the Archers, take two hordes and give them elite and vicious. They outrange elves and have height 3 but we pay far more for our good shooters than elves do so I would scope out your meta and see what is being played first.