Why is Hank able to go toe to toe with his fully transformed Incarnate brethren without transforming himself? Because he can only activate his Incarnate form, Werewolf, at night. Since most battles in the war (outside the odd covert mission) were fought during the day, Hank had to become a superbly skilled warrior in his human body as well, simply in order to be able to lead his platoon effectively.
When Schaal is shot by Cain's bullet at the mansion in Whitechurch, she mentions in episode 7 that she survived because she was wearing a dress made from Arachne's spider-silk. Scientists have been trying to create synthetic spider-silk for years, thanks to it's many incredible properties. Spider silk is not only amazingly strong and elastic - which would stop the bullet from going too deep into Schaal's body and causing irrepairable internal damage - it has also been used to make bandages for centuries, as it is not only an ideal scaffolding for new skin to grow, it helps greatly with tissue regeneration, including blood vessels and neurons. It even has bactericide properties, depending on the spider, which is also important, as one of the biggest dangers from gunshot wounds is infection from pieces of clothing getting stuck in the wound.
Unless he already had issues before becoming an Incarnate, Cain descending into madness and becoming villainous long before most Sacred Beasts lost their humanity could very well be because, since he retained a human appearance even when transformed, he likely spent much more time in Incarnate form than anyone else in the battalion, which nobody would notice; after all, it's strongly implied that Hank keeping his humanity and sanity for so long is due to his much less frequent time being in monster form due to said form's limitations.
