A Direwolf might get nothing to do with its second move if it gets unlucky with placement or its AI messes up. And yeah, the AI is less dumb than it was, but... It's still pretty dumb sometimes.
Dire Dolls hit like a ton of magical bricks, but they're also fairly slow and more frail than the other stuff in there. Snap Shot should make short work of them if they get in your range. Guard also halves magic damage as well, so if you need to brace yourself that's a good way to do it.
If you haven't already, you can sell your outdated items to get extra money.
