after all this time (age 4), should I buy attila?

Nope, upgrade skills, I would recommend a mixed cav-archer team with an emphasis on Archer. Get Blucher and, primarily, Nelson once you get to Gunpowder.

If you're going to get Attila then buy him now, and upgrade him to 4* asap and replace Barbarossa with him. Presumably you'll be getting at least one archer commander too at some point.

Mystletainn is the reward for the Nordic Decisive Battle, Aegis is from the Temple and Thunder is from the third Greek Trial. 

If you are a f2p player, I do not really recommend going back and buying him, there are many other good cavalry generals you can buy who join in later in the game. Also since Attila will be your own cavalry, you do not really need his cavalry commander ability either.

I use a generalist (2 of everyone in my main 8 lineup) / inf-arch com lineup (16 gen) featuring Atilla and Saladin as my main cav gens in both lineups.
They are very compatible and good as they can more or less break through the enemy relatively quickly because of his atk aura.
Atilla is also relatively straightforward in his use as an anti-inf or anti-any major threat roles because of his Brave skill.


Picking the more defensive oriented Blücher may improve your entire lineup's survivability which is desirable, especially for your softer archcom lineup. This is especially so if Yi Sun-sin is not on your list of desired archers. I don't use him, but I believe he should be as similarly easy to use as Atilla in this manner.
His Rumour is a tricky one to use because cav gens are supposed to mow down enemy troops rather than fight them indefinitely. Plus, this game's Rumour is not very good in terms of its trigger rate and overall activation method.
However, it is nonetheless a good skill to have for a defensive gen like Blücher.


Atilla and another tough cav gen can be independently employed as a separate army group for accomplishing various tasks in both Campaign, Legend and Conquest, with minimally or some support.
I'm not sure on whether Blücher can perform just as well in this case when comparing projected offensive output because of his differing aura.


For Atilla, who I really do like and support, he is a great buy even if you've set a budget and cross it. However, it's best if he has partner already prepared.
For Blücher, who I have not used before and do not have a relatively high opinion of, he's mainly bought for his aura which may not cause you to invest too much. He can also perform as a solo cav gen, if you want. However, you may consider upgrading his Rumour so that he can perform better as a defensive gen, which may cause you to spend too much as well.



All in all, it's still up to you, depending on your needs.