help please with pretender SC's for early expansion

[Boron]

what do i need to do to have a good pretender for early expansion from turn 3-5 on ?
at indeps 6+

i read much about sc's here on the forums
and many ppl say they have early expanding pretenders which kill alone one indi province / turn after turn 3-5 .

all my tries so far were in vain
what are good pretenders for this ?
the wyrm ?

but my problem is even if there is no heavy cavalry/knights but e.g. heavy infantry my pretender is surrounded quick and killed quick

but if you start conquering at turn 3-5 you can normally only research 1 path to lvl 2 or 2-3 to lvl 1 .
i tried a fire shield on a wyrm and it worked not too bad but he still got killed in the 3rd province after he conquered 2 very narrow .

exept the cyclops all other pretenders have very low starting protection . most don't have recuperation so if not playing arco an early bad battle affliction hurts really too .

perhaps i should try the vq but the most useful nation for her is ihmo ermor because she needs a lot of points but ermor may not use her anymore .
i'll maybe give her a try with abysia .

so please enlighten me humble beeing in how to build an early sc pretender