[Ninjavenom]

Lancers are just stronger knights. They have great strength, but are not as strong as a monk, however, their defense is vastly superior. You want to use two-swords with the two strongest one-handed knight swords you can find.

Levelling up a lot will indeed fuck over your chance to get Ultima. The enemies level up with you, and the Ultima Demons start to get more powerful at an unfair rate, so if you try to make Ramza withstand it, he's not likely to live, unless you have a squad of healers casting every defensive spell in the book on him. They are also less likely to cast it at higher levels. If i were you i would just bite the bullet and try to get it from the demons surrounding Elmdor (after stealing all of his gear, natch) because that is the earliest point in the game you can get it with any practicality. Failing that, get it in the catacombs after you get Meliadoul in your party.