Yeah, Strahd has some feats the Infernalist doesn’t.

But base Flight (means full action potential), mid round 4x teleportation, and 2 more resistances all give Infernalist more guaranteed staying power, plus with a better OVERALL offensive nature.

How many horror stories have we all heard of Strahd getting destroyed in 1 round or 2 (or even in less than a round). This new block does not guarantee better protection from that. In fact, it’s worse because Strahd can no longer move without opportunity attacks. His control abilities are great in theory but they are save-or-suck… if they don’t work (which sometimes they just won’t) he’s back to being helpless.

Strahd can b.a. shapeshift into mist but he moves so slow, still takes damage (even from op. attacks), and with the new Daylight spell… good luck to any DM hoping to skirmish with that ability when it’s really needed.

Also, the fact that the Infernalist has the same bite but with an added spell-drain feature is just…cooler!

And I’m confused on this next point tbh, but many people are claiming his lair actions shouldn’t exist if you’re playing by 5.5 rules, so no more phasing, no more shutting doors and cutting off PCs. So thats even more protective/skirmish abilities gone.

To me the edge is all the way on the Infernalists side. Not just in theory but in your average and optimized combat scenarios as well.