Which faction poses the greatest challenge for the Dwarves?

I think that Dwarves in the late game are very weak. Their attack is poor (even artifacts don't help much). They make bad Mages because their spellcasting is far from that of a Warlock or Necromancer. The Chaos and Arcomage build is only possible if you get lucky in the Mage Guild (and if not, what then?) – is all that leveling for nothing? And how do you know if Arcomage is available? At the beginning, choosing the guild is a waste (and if you're going for a Strength/Magic build with Light, the options are: Image/Leadership/Attack/Defense/Luck – you have to sacrifice something for Light). And so on. In general, I tried hard to learn how to play them, but it's not very successful. Even Orcs look better. And any race from the original game easily beats Dwarves. My favorite races to play are Mages, Necromancers, and Elves – they tear everything apart. Maybe I just haven't encountered good players (I want to play against a skilled Dwarf player to see the real strength of these bearded guys, but without Chaos, just a Light build – I know the Chaos build is an option, but it's random). The map is large (Ascension to Power).