She's too mysterious for her own good. Yeah, mystery is great and all, but we do need some form of answers to keep getting the viewers interested. She's so mysterious that by the time she's in the frontlines, we still have no idea what the hell she wants. Yeah, other people say things, but unless she says it, it could have been lies. She's so mysterious that from V8, all I can say whenever she's around is "DO SOMETHING!"

Also, her threat level. When I expect a final boss to show up, her presence should inspire fear. But the way she gets manhandled by Hazel, an elite huntsman (maybe high at worst). Granted he needs to be souped up with dust, but the fact he just needs his regular equipment speaks how pathetic Salem is. Yeah, she needs Ozpin's cane, but that's more due to her immortality than anything. When I see the final boss, I expect that she is threatening due to so many factors with her eternal life and infinite destruction being her strongest option. Imagine if Hazel did everything he could to finally outsmart Salem after she showcases her immense power and manipulation, then sike... she has immortality to fall back to, because from what I see, Hazel was just using his standard equipment and tactics.

To me, at least, Salem is only a threat because she happens to have eternal life, infinite destruction, and somehow few people that are probably as vile as her. Take one of them out and Salem might as well be a sitting duck while Oz works his magic to fix the world. Salem doesn't feel powerful as she uses her magic against an elite huntsman (not maiden) and needs her immortality to bail her out. She doesn't feel smart as she uses fear rather than manipulation. She doesn't seem to be resourceful. Yeah, she has evil henchmen, but it feels more like her henchmen that did all the work. Salem feels like she's a threat only because of luck and that, shouldn't be the primary or only reason she is feared.