What's good in Dark Eldar

I know.. I haven't posted in forever.  If you worked as much as me you'd understand, but thank god most people don't have to.  Anyways, I finally managed to drag my ass into my LGS and check out the Dark Eldar codex in person.  I have to say; I'm impressed.

First, I have some notes I want to share with you.  Like most of you already know, my brain only works one way:  I go through a codex and point out what I consider to be the best, top tier, the most cost effective yata yata and discard the rest.  Well, I didn't get too much time with the book since there was a good number of people in there, but I do have what I consider to be the "gist" of it.  In short, the entire army is fast -- much faster than Blood Angels.  That's perfectly fine, I mean for god's sakes they're elves.  I can't imagine my High Elves being slower than Empire, hell no.


First, a list of things I like to call a unit bucket.  Then I'll express why I feel these units belong in a competitive Dark Eldar list.

Archon
Duke Sliscus the Serpent
Lelith Hesperax
Asdrubal Vect
Warriors
Wyches
Kabalite Trueborn
Hekatrix Bloodbrides
Harlequins vs. Incubi
Ravagers
Voidraven Bombers
Raiders

OK, let's start with the HQs.  First of all, the Archon is pretty damn cheap at 60 points.  He comes with WS7 BS7 I7 4 attacks, 5 if you include his off-hand pistol and some pretty handy upgrades.  For 35 points, you can give him a Huskblade that causes ID on any wound.  For some points cheaper (20), you can just give him an Agonizer for a power weapon on a 4+.  I would probably do that plus a Shadow Field for an amazing 2+ invulnerable until you you lose it.  That comes out to something like 110 points for Agnoizer and Shadow Field for a really good combat monster that other ICs should be afraid of.

Another guy that I want to look at is this Duke person.  He's 150 points and comes with some good rules.  He can make all your Raiders and Venoms come in as DS, but since Venoms suck and Raiders are better, the choice for that unit is quite clear.  He also makes one of your units that have Splinterifles or use splinter type weapons inflict poison on a 3+ instead of the regular 4+.  I find that to be extremely awesome considering his tendency to run with Trueborn or just normal Warriors.  For 150 points, I think he's really cost effective for what he do.  In close combat, he always wounds on a 2+ and on a 5+, he ignores armor saves with his rolls to wound.  That's pretty awesome too.  Another thing that he can do is grant combat drugs on 2 dice and you pick which to apply to the unit.  I'm pretty sure this is what I read but its been a couple of hours and I was speed reading.  Not to mention this guy comes with Shadow Field for a 2++ invulnerable.

Lelith Hesperax is actually 175 points.  That puts her at the same points as Pedro Kantor and Vulkan He'stan.  At that point cost, it means that she's a pretty affordable option.  Now, she has a invulnerable save of 4++ normal and 3++ in close combat, so that means the best place to put her is in someone else's face.  She's WS9 and has 5 attacks base (+CC weapons).  Vs. someone thats WS5, she will get +4 more attacks for a total of 9 attacks at WS9 I9.  Most targets are going to feel the pain really quick although she's only S3, but she does get Strength Through Pain.  I would recommend putting her in a unit of Wyches and through them in a Raider.  Drive it up to the enemy after you've popped some vehicles and go to town on them.

Lastly, I want to talk about Vect.  The guy's 240 points, the same points as Ragnar but he offers a ton for your army.  The first thing you want to note is that he seizes the initiative on a 4+.  That means your entire army gets to shoot first again any unlucky bastard who deployed and that most of your shit already turbo-boosted in front of his face.  This ultra-omega alpha strike opening is what Dark Eldar players are going to crave.  Going first with this army is so game-changing that I think Vect will see a good amount of play.  As if that isn't enough, the guy is WS8 BS8 I8 with 5 attacks (6 with CC) and 4 wounds.  He comes with Shadow Field and a Power Weapon that always wounds on 3+.  He counts as a Archon and thus benefits from the Court of the Archon rules and has it pretty good vs. Eldar/Dark Eldar since he gets to re-roll wounds vs. them.  For +200 more points, he gets to take a AV13/13/13 Raider which is pretty cool, but then again, its going to cost 440 points for him and the Raider alone.  Personally, I would just take something cheap (like one of the Archons listed above).

I lied, really quickly, I want to touch upon the 1-3 Haemonculi per HQ slot.  Each comes with a free Pain Token which you can distribute across the units in your army so I can immediately see FNP Wyches running around on the field.  The Ancient Haemonculus also gets to take some crazy artifacts from a long list of artifacts that I didn't really get a chance to read.  I know that one of them is a flame template that does S4 AP D6 and one of them causes all enemies within 3d6" to make a Ld. test or get their WS reduced to 1.

So enough about HQs, what about units?  Let's start with troops first.  Dark Eldar Warriors are freakin' 9 points.  Did you see that right?  Yes, for 9 points, you get WS4 BS4 troops that rapid fires poison rounds.  When you have 5 guys, you can give them a Blaster which is a 18" S8 AP2 Lance Assault 1 weapon or a Shredder which is a 12" S6 AP- Blast template.  I mean seriously, a S8 AP2 Lance from 18" is going to threaten Land Raiders from massive range.  At 10 guys, you can give them a Dark Lance or one of those poison Splinter Cannons.  Splinter Cannons shooting out Assault 4 Poisoned or Heavy 6 shots is pretty tasty. If you think that's awesome, their elite version known as Trueborn are truly ridiculous.  For a mere 12ppm, aside from having an extra attack in melee, 4 of these guys can carry Blasters.  Yes, for a squad that's 5-10, 4 of them can carry S8 AP2 Lance weapons that can move and shoot at targets 18" away.  How ridiculous is that?  They're like a moving Devastator squad.  As if that isn't enough, in addition to the 4 Blasters (or Shredders) they can take, they can also take 2 more Dark Lances or Splinter Cannons.  Absolutely ridiculous for the price.  The best thing about Warriors and Trueborn is that they can both upgrade up to Agonizers on their champs, or even take Phantasm Grenade Launchers which makes the unit count as having offensive and defensive grenades.  For +20 points, I think these are great on Trueborn since you're already spending the points.  I'd hold off on upgrading Warriors to be super hardcore since they're supposed to be cheap and cost effective anyway.

Wyches are dirt cheap at 10 ppm.  They still have their lovely Plasma Grenades and Combat Drugs.. it's just that you can take so many of them for such a cheap price.  At 5 of these girls, you can take a Shardnet and Impaler, Hydra Gauntlets or Razorflails (I think that's the name).  Personally, I would take Razorflails any day of the week because it makes the Wych re-roll all hits and wounds.  That's much better than Hydra Gauntlets at +D6 attacks since I like to roll 1s all the time.  The elite version for these girls get +1 attack and can take special weapons for every 3.  They only go up to 10 so you can pack 3 special weapons in one pack.  The cost for them is 13ppm.. which is still affordable for Dark Eldar.

So I came to a special section in the book that compared two elite assault units:  The Harlequins and the Incubii.  Harlequins need no introduction since everyone and their mother knows what it's like to be on the sucking end of a Harlequin's Kiss.  Incubii are like a mix between Striking Scorpions and Banshees.  They have WS5, S3, I5 and 2 attacks a piece.  The great thing about them is that they have 3+ armor saves and have Exarch powers such as Onslaught and Murderous Assault.  Onslaught is the only one you should care about because for every wound roll of a 6, you get an extra attack.  This can tally up quite quick once you reach combat with S4 Power Weapons (+1S on their Klaives).  Since the entire army has Fleet, getting these guys into combat shouldn't be too hard considering how everything is open-topped and your ships go vroom vroom.

OK, so what exactly am I complaining about here?  They're both elite choices, they're both 22 ppm (Harlequin + Kiss), and they're both dedicated heavy assault units.  The plus about the Harlequins is that they virtually ignore terrain and can do a pretty good job footslogging across the field whereas the Incubii need a dedicated transport.  I mean it will certainly help that Harlequins have a dedicated transport as well, but with a Shadowseer doing Veil of Tears, I think they have it OK.  Either way, both units are extremely good at counter-charging the enemy and both units can tear up MEQ like nobodies' business.  I bet some super nerd will eventually figure out which unit does more wounds vs. MEQ and GEQ, but for the purposes of this demo, I can assure you that both are very different units but have the same functionality.

Lastly, I want to touch upon the armor I see from Dark Eldar.  There are 3 ships that stand out to me and for good reason.  First, the 60 point Raider and the fact that it can transport 10 troops across the map at a really fast rate and with plenty of firepower to boot.  Each one comes with a Dark Lance, and if it has Warriors inside, can shoot out more weaponry on the move.  It can be upgraded with Night Shields that decrease the range of all weapons shooting at it by 6" and it can be given Flickerfields which gives it a 5++ invulnerable save.  These are going to be the bread and butter of most lists as the limited carrying capacity of the Venom leaves it far behind my list of needs/wants.  Oh, and yes, another amazing thing about them is a 5 point upgrade called Aethersails or something like that.  It gives your ship the ability to move +2D6" when it flies with the downside that units can't fire from and out of it (disembarking) next round.  Well, who the F cares when your sole purpose is to unload angry Wyches in your face.

For Heavy slots, you have something like 4-5 options but I'm only going to talk about 2.  The Ravager is the Raider variant with AV11/11/10 and comes with 3x Dark Lances that it can shoot on a 12" move.  Now imagine it's 105 points (because it is) and put three of them in your list with Vect.  You go first.  You also have 9 Dark Lances shooting out in first turn from these guys alone.  Good times ahead, yes?  The answer is Yes and I can definitely see Ravagers as pretty good buys in the DE book.  So what is this other unit I'm looking at?  It's none other than the Voidraven Bomber.  First, it's priced at a ridiculous 145.  It has two Void Lances (not Dark) and it fires at S9 AP2 Lance.  It also comes with a Void Mine that it can drop anywhere within 6"after moving with the Bomber and it blows up for S9 AP2 Lance 3" blast.  To make things even sexier, it can be upgraded with Night Shields and Clonefields and can carry some seriously dangerous missiles.  The one missile that really stood out for me is the Shatter-something missile (I forgot the name, but it said Shatter something).  I read the fluff a little bit and it basically said the missile hits first, sucks all the heat out of the area before exploding it with fire.  That's why it's a S7 AP- Large Blast with re-rolls to wound.  Why is this extra sexy compared to say.. the Necrotoxin Large Blast 2+ Poison missile?  Because S7 is a strength value and it can damage vehicles, instant-gib Farseers and you're most likely going to be wounding on 2s anyway.  I would probably give these guys 2x Shattercombo missiles and call it a day.  They cost 10 each for every missile except for the Implosion missile.. which is 30 points and is a major waste of money.  You only get 4 missiles and I don't think anyone should be spending 30 points on one.. especially if it has a small blast template.  I guess it depends on your metagame, how dumb your opponents must be to group things together, and how much you like to noobstomp with fluff lists.

Oh, and before I forget, I would take the Bomber over the figher anyday.  Yes, they both cost the same, and yes the Figher comes with 4 missiles already installed, but you still have to upgrade to missiles to be worth a damn.  That and the fact that S9 Lances are so much better than S8 Lances.  The difference is you penning that Land Raider on a 4+ instead of a 5+.  When you stretch it out over the course of a game, this is very important and will save you a lot of headache.  Besides, if your Bomber is in danger and is going to die anyway, just suicide bomb it into something for a S9 AP2 3" blast of I-Love-You.

Right, so there you have it.  I looked at the other HQs and they either sucked ass or aren't good enough for my standards.  The Succubi is cool in theory, but the Archon can do pretty much what she can do plus be a lot more survivable because of Shadow Field.  Warriors are dirt cheap and should be given a Champ with Agonizer and that's it.  Take a Blaster and Dark Lance so you can shoot from your Raiders and be done with it.  Wyches are affordable and good and you can run them in squads up to 20.  The Elites are pretty good as I already outlined and the best of the heavies are already there.  Keep in mind that this is just my opinion and I didn't have too much exposure to the book.  I have a feeling those Reaver Jetbikes are going to be pretty scary because of the Heatlances and the Cronos might be good with infantry-buff-heavy lists.  There's too much theory on those units so I stuck to the ones I know will preform admirably.  Comments, questions, concerns, please post them here.  Keep in mind that I can only absorb so much in such limited time!