.com.unity Forums - Tips for Yomi, Oni Kings

You can gamble, and go without an awake SC pretender in exchange for excellent scales (you certainly don't need much of a bless, or much help with magic paths).

In this case, Kuro-Oni can make excellent early expansion troops, in conjunction with other forces. Very expensive, yes (hence the need for good scales), but they have MR 15, comparable to other elite recruitables, and thus wont be bothered much by indy priests. They've got ranged fire and poison attacks (both magic attacks, by the way), an Attack score of 14 (with their awesome weapon), Strength 16 and a weapon that does 8 damage (awesome again), and 24 HP - in their first life (their 2nd life is ethereal)! Meaning, they've got staying power, despite their meager 6 Protection and lack of shield, plus the offensive power to hack through the heaviest armor similar to giants.

Yes, they're very vulnerable to missile weapons, so use decoys. Anything will do, but indy infantry with shields are best (meaning, they'll last longest). Place them front and center, with 'hold' orders. Put the Oni on the flank - they'll throw fire and poison as the enemy advances, and then close. Back them up with a pack of cheap bakemono archers to suppress enemy archers. Works against most indy types, and you can mix it around for outliers like barbarians and cavalry.

One downside? You can't lead them with an indy commander, you'll need a Demon General, hurting your early research. But you can make up for it later with your ability to forge all research boosters, and hopefully with building other castles quickly.

Another downside, depending on your foe, is that you may have trouble with an early war (I said it was a gamble). But with luck and good diplomacy, you can still expand fairly rapidly in the early game, and have the good scales to power you into the mid and late game.