The most effective starting strategy for the Inferno faction.

The new demons (level 2) aren't as powerful as people say. Their defense is minimal, and they die quickly. The minimum and maximum damage differ by a factor of 4, which makes each attack a kind of lottery: you might get lucky, or you might not.

But this ability is still much more useful than the explosion, and even though it's a lottery, the damage is decent even in case of failure. They take a beating, but the damage they deal is significant, especially since you yourself said how easy it is to retaliate.