Attacks like Bane Fire or Fairy Fire, which deal damage in three channels by default, can easily shred the flanks of weaker units.

As damage penalties from long range, line of sight or armor/resistance cannot reduce incoming damage below 1, and each damage type is calculated separately, having even a slight amount of another element will raise an attack's minimum damage output. Unlike mind-control powers, disabling powers can be of a variety of different elements and there is no equivalent to the 'Immune to Mind Control' trait, so no enemy is completely immune to being disabled. Disabled foes cannot take actions or retaliate, and take full flanking damage from any attack, enabling even otherwise weak units to very quickly wear down almost any opponent.

In general, any unit which can disable an enemy, such as the Apprentice's stun bolts, the Druid's entangling touch, or the Ice Scaper's snowballs.

Others complain that the ability for any race to choose any class and alignment reduces the uniqueness of the races and allows for combinations that don't 'fit' thematically. Most fans of the game enjoy the amount of freedom it offers and find it to be a welcome break from tropes like Always Chaotic Evil and Always Lawful Good.

Broken Base: The fact that any race, class, and alignment combination is possible in the game is this.

Age of wonders 3 alignment penalty