Heroes of Might and Magic V [Game Discussion]

I remember seeing somewhere that on recruit difficulty, magic users don't use spells above level 3, or something like that. But why, then, when I summon elementals, are they immediately defeated in one hit, even though there are at least 50 of them? The same thing happens with the phantom creation process; for example, I remember creating 70 cave hydras, and they suffered the same fate.