Summoning abilities, instant death abilities or very high damage/explosive abilities are characteristic of the black mage class. When properly used black mages have the potential to devastate an opponents army in very few moves. All Black Mages can only either move or use their abilities but they cannot use both, also all Black Mages have 2 hp. Due to their extremely low health and lack of armor and high point cost, it is generally in the players best interest to keep them out of harms reach.

Cost: 350

The Diabolist has the potential to be an extremely destructive force on the battlefield. His explode unit skill is devastating and he can change into a Demon which is one of the most power melee units available. The downside to this is that he requires souls to power his spells and demon form so one must be in a position to sacrifice their own units to allow their Diabolist to use their skills.

Cost: Diabolist Transformation

The Diabolist Demon is an extremely powerful offensive unit. With 4 actions it can cover more ground then any other melee unit. It can also kill organic units and take their soul. However it has several vulnerabilities. It consumes a soul each turn making it necessary to always be killing enemy units to survive. It also has low armor making it vulnerable to attacks.

Cost: 350

The Necromancer is a very versatile caster. It can summon, kill units instantly, and transform into a powerful lich. The Necromancer can summon and skeleton or zombie within a range of 3, or anywhere where an organic unit has died. When the Necromancer transforms, all of its summoned units explode and damage nearby units. The new lich gains life for all damage inflicted in these explosions.

Cost: Summoned

The Skeleton is primarily used offensively, since it has 3 actions it is more able to close distance and attack when compared to the necromancers other summon. Its power is unspectacular, it has no armor and its life is as low as it can be. On the plus side, you are able to summon 2 Skeletons in 1 turn, so they are as expendable as they come. Skeletons are great for threatening your opponents high cost pieces or simply for wearing your opponents units down.

Cost: Summoned

With 3 more health and 1 more power, the Zombie is a bit beefier than its cousin the Skeleton, yet like its cousin it lacks armor. It only has 2 actions, so it is much more difficult to get close to your opponents units without taking crippling losses. Due to this constraint, Zombies are better for acting as meat shields for other more important units or for simply playing defensively.

Cost: Necromancer Transformation

By turning the necromancer into the Lich, you are permanently sacrificing its ability to create summons, unless you have a way to send him back to your castle. The Lich's strength lies in becoming extremely powerful if allowed to attack and rack up damage, but it is hindered by its 1 action, and is vulnerable to stuns. The necromancer is rarely transformed into the Lich.

Cost: 350

The Summoner is as the name suggests, a summoning unit. It has no attack, however if an enemy unit comes within 2 squares of it, it has the ability to turn that unit into a demon ally, which effectively removes that enemy unit and creates an demon for your use. Be careful though if you do not have any available summons you cannot use this ability.

Cost: Summoned

The Imp is an extremely weak unit, its only strongpoint being its flight ability. What this means is that it can move 3 spaces, jump over units and its movement does not cost actions; the flight ability can only be used once per turn. The Imp is useful for wearing down an opponents units, or striking at or killing weaker units such as archers, riders and casters. The Imp is also great to turn into the more powerful demon when there are no enemies close enough to convert and you do are not willing to sacrifice your own units.

Cost: Summoned

The Demon is a straightforward offensive unit. It has above average health, and moderate armor and attack. Overall the Demon is a great tool to bolster your existing ground troops.

Cost: Summoned

The Archdemon is a powerful offensive unit which is created by upgrading an existing demon. It has above average health, and high armor and attack power. It can jump over other units and move up to 3 squares without using an action. This allows it to still attack twice with its powerful attack Overall the Archdemon is a great offensive tool and one of the most powerful summoned units.

Cost: 350

While the Warlock may not have the fancy summons that the other black mages have, it excels at what it does do: damage. The Warlock's range covers nearly half of the board upon deployment, making it a difficult unit to approach. Its explosive spell is great for devastating clumped up units and its linear damage skill gives it the long range capabilities of a ballista, but also couples that with the ability to strike at multiple targets at once.

Cost: 350

The Witch's skill set is great for weakening an opponents army, which allows your attacks to be much more effective than they otherwise would be. While the Witch does not have an attack, her ability to lower an opponents maximum life by 2 ensures that any unit that stays within her range for long will eventually be killed or permanently weakened unless your opponent has the ability to reset that units stats or send that unit back to the castle. The Witch can also turn enemies into toads.

Video Guide

Cost: Enemy Unit Transformation

The Witches ability to turn an enemy unit into a Toad is devastating. As you can see, the Toad is completely worthless, with the lowest possible stats in the game. If you have had one of your units turned into a Toad, the only way to restore it back to the unit it was before is to use the druids "reset units stats". Sending a Toad back to your castle with an assassin or the abjurer's spell will not turn it back into the unit it was before.