The armor piercing abilities of the alchemy arrowheads were an important property. Those who were defending would be most afraid of the enemy's heavy armor swordsmen charging all together. If they did not have any mages, such a situation would be incredibly gruesome and difficult to stop.
A swordsman in magic heavy armor was like a magic beast. They could ignore any attacks from normal bows and any attacks from low-level spells had their effects reduced to a minimum.
Explosions were used to deal with flying puppets. When attacking a city, flying puppets were important to both parties. The attacking party would place a large amount of magic powder on them and light them up. Once the amount of magic powder reached a certain level, they would possess power equivalent to fire-type magic. These flying puppets would carry the magic powder with them to the castle gate, causing mass destruction.
