Top 10 Best Black Heroes in Artifact (Steam TCG)

Steam’s new trading card game, Artifact, is the new shiny thing in the trading card game world. The game is designed after Steam’s MOBA hit, DOTA 2. It shares lore with DOTA 2, among other similarities.

Much like in DOTA 2, the base of the game involves controlling heroes to attack your opponent’s towers. you have a lot of options when it comes to your heroes in Artifact. There are a lot of new cards to sift through, which is why Nerds and Scoundrels came up with our Top 10 Best Black Heroes in Artifact.

The Top 10 Best Black Heroes in Artifact

Ready to build a black Artifact deck? Here are our favorite heroes. And don’t forget to check out our Top 10 Best Black Spells or our Top 10 Best Items in Artifact.

10. Debbi the Cunning

The most basic of black heroes, Debbi the Cunning is a straight-forward card that isn’t that strong but compares favorably to other starter cards. While her Attack is technically 7, she has a continuous effect of +2 Attack against heroes and towers. In other words, her attack is effective 9 against everything but creeps. With 7 Attack being enough to deal with most creeps, she doesn’t feel underpowered offensively but with 5 Health and 0 Armor it’s tough to keep her alive. Her signature card is No Accident, which deals 3 damage to a unit of your choice.

9. Storm Spirit

Storm Spirit doesn’t look that strong on its face with four Attack, zero Armor, and six Health. However, its reactive ability Overload gives you some interesting options. Storm Spirit gets +2 Attack until the end of each turn each time you play a black card in any lane. That could add up to some pretty serious buffs if you have Storm Spirit in your right lane with an all black deck. Fairly situational, but it can still be a useful hero. Storm Spirit’s signature card is Ball Lightning, which can help you push damage across lanes quickly.

8. Necrophos

Necrophos is another black hero with lackluster stats. However, he moves into the 8th spot on our list due to slight stat advantage and a better ability and signature card than Debbie or Storm Spirit. His ability, Sadist, gives him +1 health each time an enemy neighbor dies. His signature card is Heartstopper Aura, modifies a friendly black hero with “Deal 2 piercing damage to this hero’s enemy neighbors before the action phase.”

7. Winter Wyvern

With 6 Attack and 6 Health, Winter Wyvern isn’t an overpowering hero on base stats alone. Where Winter Wyvern really shines is the Arctic Burn ability, which allows Wyvern to move to an empty combat position and gives it a +4 combat buff. This is quite powerful, as you can use the ability to move Winter Wyvern out of danger or drop it into a lane and deal 10 damage to the tower every other turn.

6. Tinker

With 7 Attack, Tinker has fairly decent offense that is offset by a weak 5 Health. His ability, Laser, deals 3 damage to a unit and disarms it that round. That ability is strong, as is Tinker’s signature card March of the Machines. This card has a built-in 6 damage to the enemy tower, as well as two damage to each enemy over the course of three rounds.

5. Sorla Khan

A strong option, Sorla Khan is arguably the best black aggro hero. In fact, it is possible to build an aggro deck around a Sorla Khan build. The 8 damage is strong, but the Warmonger continuous effect that gives her +4 Attack against towers can end a game quickly. Sorla Khan’s signature card is Assault Ladders, which gives all allies (including Sorla Khan) +2 damage when attacking a tower.

4. Sniper

Sniper is one of our favorite black heroes. The base 5/6 stats aren’t anything to write home about, but Sniper has a killer ability and one of the best signature cards in the game. Sniper’s ability, Headshot, deals 5 damage directly to a unit every 3 turns. This is enough to kill or severely weaken many enemies and can be used across lanes. What’s more, the signature card Assassinate does an incredible 10 piercing damage to any unit in any lane.

3. Bounty Hunter

Bounty Hunter starts out with a strong 7 Attack and 7 Health, but with the reactive ability Jinada it has a 50% chance to get a +4 Attack buff each round. This is a ton of damage for a black card, and it also comes with the signature card Track that gives a +10 Bounty for any hero until it dies.

2. Phantom Assassin

Phantom Assassin is the black hero killing machine. 6 damage isn’t a ton, but the Efficient Killer ability bumps the Attack up to 10 when attacking other heroes. What’s more, Phantom Assassin’s signature card Coup de Grace allows you to condemn a hero by discarding a random card. Giving up a card may seem like a lot, but blapping a hero of your choice for only 6 mana is a bargain.

1. Lich

By this point you’ve probably figured out our pick for Artifact’s best black hero is Lich. With 9 health, it is the beefiest of black heroes. It makes for a great black control deck, as the ability Sacrifice lets you draw a card by condeming an ally, and drawing an additional card if that ally had 6 or more attack. Lich’s signature card is Chain Frost, which is also great for control decks.

Nerds and Scoundrels

And that is our rundown on the Artifact best black heroes. Agree with our list? let us know by leaving a comment. And don’t forget to check out the rest of our Artifact content at Nerds and Scoundrels.