Every time I had an army that relied on lancers or cataphracts, presence of elephants really messes up my plans! It kind of forces you to fight a battle with light troops first before dealing with the elephants, or trying to find some way around them, instead of an easy head-on attack. The problem with sending them into an infantry fight is they're super vulnerable in melee (if your impact doesn't disrupt the opponent then even thureophoroi don't do too bad against them) and can get flanked unless you win quickly. Against cavalry though they can surround you and flank you all they want and it won't do anything.
Every time I had an army that relied on lancers or cataphracts, presence of elephants really messes up my plans! It kind of forces you to fight a battle with light troops first before dealing with the elephants, or trying to find some way around them, instead of an easy head-on attack.
The problem with sending them into an infantry fight is they're super vulnerable in melee (if your impact doesn't disrupt the opponent then even thureophoroi don't do too bad against them) and can get flanked unless you win quickly. Against cavalry though they can surround you and flank you all they want and it won't do anything.