Why are order giants such a popular late game strategy? I find that upgraded archers and speartons are more microable and easier mass without the need of a clumsy transition. Giants being immune to stun and less vulnerable to magikills is a plus, but speartons do fine while stunned and archers can be micro'd away from Magikill attacks. (This does, however, take them out of position and briefly reduce damage output, which is a minus.)

Quote from Artificer

Why are order giants such a popular late game strategy? I find that upgraded archers and speartons are more microable and easier mass without the need of a clumsy transition. Giants being immune to stun and less vulnerable to magikills is a plus, but speartons do fine while stunned and archers can be micro'd away from Magikill attacks. (This does, however, take them out of position and briefly reduce damage output, which is a minus.)

Giants are pretty much needed late game, they are amazing meat shields in comparison to speartons. In late game, you are better off with some giants than some speartons a majority of the time. 1 giant (fully upgraded) vs 3 speartons, you want the 1 fully upgraded giant, it can handle more hits, which is needed in 80 pop vs 80 pop situations.

Combining some spears with your giant can be very strong though. With merics of course.

Not to mention Giants can ignore armor.

They don't ignore armor, they just do bonus damage vs armor.