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Dark Eldar (DE) Strategy Guide

The following article will cover all the uses of the units/abilities covered in the DE codex released November 6th. I feel we did our best in this article so that it's not a rules spoiler, but rather a in depth look at each subject of the book. So if you’re looking for a word for word description on what‘s in the codex, then please look else where. Another big part to this is that you will HAVE to have the DE codex in hand to understand what a lot of the points mean. It should also be noted that these opinions may not be exact truths to some people, but rather a stance on things from DeviantApostile and myself. So with that being said, take it all with a grain of salt and enjoy the read!

(Also feel free to comment on if you see another use, tactic, or conflict with anything mentioned below as this is a living document and will change as we go)

Special thanks to Chris_, Tratchenberg, Souleater, Saldiven, squeekenator, Blaqkheart, Krayd, Kalishnikov-47, refyougee, hungry hungry hormagaunt, Rabid Bunny 666, Archibald_TK, teleologica, and Cosmic_girl for input.

The first area we’ll cover is the Army Wide Special rules of the DE.

Acute senses USR- This allows you to re roll your spotting distance for any shots occurring during night fight. While this may seem like a lack luster ability, I can see it being a game breaker in scenarios like Dawn of War. The more shots that DE can throw into the enemy before the can respond, the better.

A good way to use this to your advantage during dawn of war is to hang your Raiders back around 24" the first turn and fire at the enemy tanks. This will mean that you will need a roll of a 8 in order to see any opposition but with the re roll you should be good to go. The main purpose of staying 24”away is due to the fact that the range will be high enough that a lot of the enemy’s return fire will fall short. Remember that barrage weapons may ALWAYS fire regardless if they see you or not (albeit at a additional scatter dice if they “miss“) so don’t think for a second that you will be immune to all enemy fire.

Power From Pain- Most people think that this rule set will make the DE so unbalanced that they will be the next Blood Angels or Space Wolves. All I ask is that before you get all crazy and think that this is the end all be all please think of when and how this rule will come into effect. The primary way to gain tokens is to destroy a enemy unit (excluding tanks). This said most of your units are going to get chewed up before the greatness comes to them. The problem with the old DE codex was that when most DE units ran low on men/women they became almost useless, so I honestly feel this addition is a big help to counter that set back.

With that being said, it should be known that there are other ways to gain Pain tokens then just destroying units. These will be covered in the units details respectively.

Combat Drugs- Unlike before one roll is done at the start of the game and that’s what anyone with the rule gets. I like the change as it keeps things simple, but hate the change as it may hurt some units (example being the Archon and the +1 weapon skill, see below). I’ll cover each roll in the following entries.

1- 3d6 run= The least appealing of all the drugs but comes in a good all a rounder. Only real unit that loses out here is Reavers, but they should be zooming around the table anyway. This ability is great for getting across the table to get to an objective in the late game and also making that 17” charge when your paper airplane dies short of its goal.

2-+1 WS= This roll helps everyone to a great degree in CC except it really only hurts the Archon which really isn't that bad seeing a roll of 3 hurts all Agonizer wielding men/women. A good thing to note though is that while the roll really does nothing for the Archon it does wonders for the succubus. Making her weapon skill 9 will mean that most marines will hit her on 5's thus helping to overcome her fragility a little more.

3-+1 STR= This roll helps everyone to a great degree other then chrs with Agonizers, which lets face it, is a lot due to it being our CCW of choice. Other then that the boost helps big time with the Soul trap/Husk blade combo described later. The trade off is worth it to me as long as you have at least one squad of Wyches, Hellions, or Reavers (which plan on getting stuck in) in your army so don’t feel down when you see the roll. There is a obvious reason as to why this makes our unit’s a lot more effective in close combat. It should also be noted that this not only affects combats against infantry as it will make your troops strong enough to damage/destroy enemy transports, which is something Wyches lack to begin with.

4- Re roll to wound= Again another close combat buff but this one really doesn’t have a draw back unlike the former options. In some ways it could almost be considered better then a roll of 6 on the chart due to the shear CC greatness it invokes right away!

5- +1 Attack= For the last time, another ability that will help your men/women get the job done better in CC. No brainier here why it’s a good roll, but almost seems not as appealing as the +1 STR due to not being able to harm transports. Other then that though it helps everyone to a great extent.

6- 1 Pain Token= Great ability as it will make most of your army a lot harder to kill. If they already had a token then why not gain furious charge thus making them a lot more nasty in CC as well. Only problem I see with this result is that most of the list I build the units that I really want to live have a homunculus attached to them from the get go. It really doesn’t hurt to leave him there so they get the Furious charge but the best tactical option is to disengage him and put him some where else where they can gain the FnP as well. All and all though, the fact stands that it will make your army as a whole a lot more survivable, which is something we’re lacking compared to other army's troopers.



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Weapons

The DE have a vast a large array of weapons to use at their disposal due to the slaves working daily to appease their masters. Here is a break down of what these nasty toys can do. As a side note some weapons or gear will be addressed with the respective unit.

Blaster, Blast Pistol, & Dark Lance (DL)- Putting these guys in the same groups as they’re about the same thing. Great anti tank weapons all around that is in abundance to us and will be our main stay to kill enemy armor. These weapons are really the poster child for our book and always have been. If you ask some one what DE do game wise people will say STR8 AP2 Lance. The fear is justified as they things smash enemy tanks into dust.

Disintegrator Cannon- Massive anti marine weapon. In some ways makes you miss the old “plasma cannon” that we used to have but against smaller units it fairs much better. Best reason to have these is the Ap 2 on it. Due to the massive amount of FnP (feel no pain) all over the game now these guns make mince meat out of hard troops.

Splinter guns- While most players are going crazy that our whole army wounds on 4+ all the time tough 3 armies should be laughing at us. Our guns always wounded GEQs on 4s anyway but now our splinter cannons need 4s to down the little bastards, compared to the 3s we used to get. Still, for losing out against our weaker kin the fact that we can hurt MEQs a lot easier makes it a nice addition to the book.

Heat lance- Only usable with our Talos, Reavers, and Scourges. While it looks great on paper I feel that the units that can take them just don’t fit the bill. The Scourges are better at killing infantry, if the Reavers ever stop to shoot they'll die (for the most part), and the Talos is to slow to get there to use it. Now out of all the units that can take them, the one best suited is the Talos coming out of a web way portal. It’s twin linked on the big guy and the portal jump negates the slowness of him. It can also be used to okay effect on Reavers as well as the jet bike move can help you glide safely into cover and out of assault range, but the questions stand. Do you need the heat lance with all the dark lances and blasters all over? And is a blaster a "safer" bet for for Reavers as it's range allows them to get 24" away after they fire?

Haywire blaster- Very good at slowing tanks down. But all and all the things that can take it can take better anti tank then it. The only unit that can use it to good effect is the Talos and that being said I would only recommend it if he’s fielded without a web way, as his main purpose is going to be a bullet magnet.

Shredder- For the points it’s one of the best things in the book IMHO. Great at shooting a hordes and can do quite a bit of damage to most transports. DE have a good BS so don’t worry to much about the scatter. In most cases people will shun this though due to the fact that it’s either this or the Blaster but my look on it being two options 1) if the unit is meant to shoot tanks then blaster 2) if the unit is meant to kill infantry then shredder. Some people swear on mixing up their squads to deal with all approaches but I feel specializing is the best route possible. If you are shooting your squad of warriors at a tank then you are losing those 8-32 poisoned shots at infantry. Something to think about. Last note to say about it though it that if you shoot it while it's to close to ally squad then you could lose a lot of guys (double T so no FnP).

Stinger pistol- Bottom line is that with the low AP makes this thing a should be free piece of gear for homunculus. Not worth it’s weight in gold. Man I miss the old one. Exploding people was so much fun!

CCWs

Agonizer- I figured this gizmo would have to go first on the CCW list. Hands down the best weapon we have (CC wise) for the points. Only downfalls being that it is almost worse then a Power Weapon against guard, and the combat drug roll of 3 feels wasted when you have this equipped. Other then that, the fact that it can be double armed and it murders everyone on 4s makes it just crazy.

Husk Blade- If you roll the +1 STR, re roll to wound, or you have furious charge then this thing will destroydicate (so great it gets it’s own word) anything in your path. Most used combo in the game for it will be Husk Blade with Soul trap. Thus resulting the model getting STR 6 in no time if you go head hunting. Only real down fall is it's cost. If you need to trim points switch this out for the DDjin blade or the Elctrocorrosive whip.

Djinn blade- Cool if you have the points laying around but random and scary if you roll doubles. Most people will use this thing wrong thinking it's just a piece of war gear that gives you two Power Weapon attacks when in reality it is a power weapon that just throws in two extra STR 3 swings. I will say though that the fact that it's only 5 more points then a power weapon (PW) means that if you want a PW then just take this thing. Only downfall is if you roll a double then you have a chance to drop your shadow field before you're enemy gets to swing.

Venom blade- Won’t shine as bright as the Agonizer on most units but good if you need to trim some points. Will insure you force a lot of saves vs. anything and is really better then the Agonizer against horde type units. Only really recommended on Hammies and Sarges rather then Archon.

Electrocorrisive whip- The problem with this thing is that the Agonizer and the husk blade shine so much that they kind of put this in the dark. If you want a very hard to kill lord though then this weapon combined with a clone field is what you want. Don't forget that it's a power weapon as well so if your thinking about taking that to begin with you might as well spend the extra 5 pts.

Mindphase gauntlet- In the words of DA “The goal is to kill the opponent not slow him… so wtf is this in the book for?!" Only use I see for it is with a grotesque Sarge canceling out I 3/4 or less chrs (3 with out furious charge 4 with it). With that being said, the flesh gauntlet is a better choice even by those standards. Taking it on a Homunculus will allow you to make a better tar pit unit for Wyches but again it's very situational as it only really works on I4 or lower models (which includes power fist & thunder hammer wielding chrs like Lysander).

Flesh gauntlets- Great on the Grotesque Sarge and some may like it for homunculus. Main point to make here is it’s really the only way to go with the big fumbling idiots. Other then that I don't see why you would ever want to put it on a Archon or Homunculus as they have better options.


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Arcane War gear

Commonly known as the wacky and weird section of the book. The main thing to look at with these gadgets is the bang for the buck. I think the best way I can describe these is by categorizing them according to points value. So hold on to your seats as we take a in depth look at what these gizmos can really do!!!

Expensive toys:

Webway Portal- One of the most destructive things in out book. Throw a homunculus in a raider and zip in 12” first turn and drop this bad boy on the field. People will think twice about charging him as well seeing as the unit that comes out will almost always be enough to prove their demise. Best use for this thing is to get Talos, beast squads, 15 man/woman Wytch squads, Incubi, and Hellions into the fight ASAP! Last thing to look at is it counts as impassable terrain so you can get cover and block enemy movement with it as well.

Dark Gate and Orb of Despair: Sure they does a big boom but these facts remain. Dark gate has no AP, the Orb of Despair has short range, and the homunculus shoots as bad as a Space Marine (yeah I said it) makes these not worth it to me. If you deviate back then you could hit your own squad and with double your toughness or AP 1 you could be watching your FnP guys going to see the Dark Prince sooner then expected.

Crucible of Malediction- SO you hate Pskers… well do I have a treat for you! Against most armies this thing will do sub par but against Nids and Eldar (stacking Psykers that is), then it could mean game over. This combined with the Torment grenade launchers (TGL) can cause the enemy some big problems. The main problem with Pskers though is that they have a high leadership. To over come this zoom a Raider with a TGL in the middle of their army and watch even the most resolute casters fail some test. For best effect I would make sure you have at least two raiders with TGLs to make this thing more effective then once per game.

Medium toys:

Archangel of Pain- At first glance this may not appear that great. It has incredible ability to ruin even the hardest enemy troops once you hit their lines but the fact they have to make a leadership and random range is ehh. Use above tactic mentioned in the Crucible of Malediction with Raiders to get best effect.

Shatter Shard- For the points this thing really is pretty great. Good way to thin out a lot of tough opponent that are in high number even if they are T4. One shot of this could be the deciding factor when you shoot at a unit of nobs or Nid warriors and if you really have to you can use it to thin a horde VERY easily. Only issue with it is that it’s just one shot as to where the Liquifier gun can do it over and over again and is cheaper. Up to your play style really.

Hex Rifle- This thing is great for a homunculus that is going a shooting squad to make sure they don't fall back or die that easy. Aim it at a big guy and let it rip. Try to realize though that this gun wont be a show stopper or anything but it fun and for the points I don't see why not to if you have him sitting back anyway. On top of it all it's a Assault.


Cheap toys:

Scissorhand- Very cool weapon of dealing out sheer number of wounds. This coupled with the fact that it gives the low number of attack homunculus more swings is going to be the go spot for these guys.

Liquefier gun- Great weapon as it’s a flamer and it has a random AP. You have a 50% of getting AP 1-3 so bye bye MEQs. Bottom line is it’s cheap on the units that can take it and will help thin hordes if there are no heavily armored guys present.

Vexitor Mask- No real need for this thing, seeing as for the points it's not that effective. If you really don’t want your master of pain to go then throw this on him and it could just save his live! As said above to use it to best effect then I suggest that using a raider with a TGL to knock down the enemies leadership.

Soul trap- So if I take out some of their big dogs I end up as strong as a demolisher cannon? YES PLEASE! This is a must if you aren’t taking a Agonizer on your Archon or homunculus ancient. As said above take a Husk blade with this at all cost unless points don't permit. In which case look at the Electrocorrosive whip.

Casket of Cleansing- Some people will say this thing is garbage, but the bottom line is that it has it’s uses. If you’ve ever played orks and don’t mind the randomness of things at all this is where you want to go with DE. Your average results are going to be 7 shots with either STR 3 / 4 or 1 / 6 and AP 3 / 4 or 1 / 6. That may sound confusing but the bottom line is that for the cost why not take it. It could just kill a whole squad of anything in your way or be as effective as a cap gun, but either way it will be fun.

Animus Vitae- You can’t use anything other then your base STR (3/4 depending on furious charge or not) but if you do manage to kill a model or two the rewards are well worth the cost. I see this thing as the ultimate points filler in any army that has a homunculus with it.

War gear:

This section will really just cover all the junk missed that all squads can take and were missed in earlier sections.

Phantasm Grenade launcher (PGL)- A great upgrade for your Archon if you have a squad of Incubi and don’t want them to die because your armies best equipped squad doesn’t have grenades. Other then that it’s a okay upgrade for some squads and a waist for others, but far better then taking reg grenades on warriors. Only advantage to taking the reg grenades is that if the Sarge dies to torrent of fire then they all lose the ability. I would really recommend against taking both this and the reg grenades. Wyches to me scream waste because most people wont want to charge them at all, but rather shoot them do death.

Clone field- Makes you far more survivable but also doesn’t help you is one force weapon attack makes it though. I like the shadow field better, but this is a cheaper option for you lord.

Ghost plate- Great on your Archon if you take a clone field so he doesn't die to reg tac marines. If you have a shadow field though I feel that taking this is just over kill, but your choice really. Just remember what I said earlier in cost and effect. This cost a little more then another warrior and I think he will get more work done then just armor.

Shadow field- Time tested and mother approved. This thing will make your Archon unstoppable one game and a punk the next. Just try to limit the saves coming at him so he doesn’t lose it.

Vehicle Upgrades

DE vehicles seem to be as tough as a paper air plane, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be as decked out as Mr. T! The main thing to remember here bout Raiders and Venoms is that they are going to die fast once the enemy can see them so the cheaper the better. I think the best idea to consider these the most ultimate point fillers! The following section will cover DE vehicle upgrades and what you may want them for.

Night shields- Put this on here first because it will be the most used upgrade in the book hands down. It’s main purpose is not to take you out of range of anti tank but honestly out of bolter fire range. With this bad boy a marine unit can only rapid fire your transports if they are within 6”! The less shots the better as a glance will still kill it on a roll of a 6 due to it being open topped.

Best tactic with this is to stay around 19” away as this will keep you out of bolt gun range. If you wither the storm (best way to do so is by going at least 18” in your movement phase to get the 4++ cover save) then next turn go 12”,disembark, fleet, and charge.

Another good thing to note about this is that it with the two new flyers in out army makes for a deadly combination. As almost all the missiles are 48" so you can hang back there throwing one a turn with no return fire coming back.

Flicker fields- Another high use item, that I hope to see less often in the future. It’s a 5++ save. Yeah you get it in hand to hand and all but a boy scout throwing a rock at a raider might kill it so a crappy save wont help. To close on it, think of how many times your terminators make that invulnerable save…..yeah…..

Splinter racks- A great way to get your warriors rapid fire guns to mow some infantry. Other then that it’s an okay upgrade and you have to know that all your raiders will die by the end of the game so do you really want to put to much on any of them?

Retrofire Jets- Kind of cool but really starting on the table and going 24” in where it’s at. Save the points for elsewhere.

Envenom blades- A okay upgrade but again, it’s better to save the points for else where. Could be great against units with the Rage USR.

Rams- Kind of like the idea of this as tank shocking in a 24” line can catch people off guard and maybe break half their army off the table. Best used with the TGL upgrade.

TGL- Great for the said reasons listed above, but again can be a points sink.

Aethersails- I hate these things. Most people don’t use Star engines and for good reason. There are two real uses I see here. First being that you can make a uber tank shock raider with the TGL, Ram, and this. Second idea being to use this and Chain Snares and to go an average of 12" +2d6 more and hitting a lot of units with this. Problem again with this idea is if you get to many points into the transport then is it really worth it seeing that it's still a card board box?

Grisly trophies- Good if you have a stand and shoot army. Hide your raider with your counter assault unit behind a building and make sure your men don’t run. If your list isn’t really a stand and shoot list though I really recommend leaving this at home.

Chain snares- For the most part, if I wanted to do this I would take Reavers. It should be noted though that unlike their smaller biker cousins the snares hit EVERY unit in its path. On several raiders can make for a scary mess. It could be quite a few points but with a TGL, Ram, and this upgrade you could tank shock fear into a whole army of guard. Through and through though our Raiders are expensive enough, so I'd rather leave this at home.

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Now the Meat and potatoes, units! We well start with HQ’s and work our way down.

Archon: The Big man on campus is back in this codex with improved stats from before for about the same points. Gaining plus one attack and a lot of gear stock that you would have had to pay for before he is still one of the best CCW monsters in the game! Good builds being:


Husk blade or power weapon & soul trap, clone field & ghost plate or shadow field (users pref)

Idea here being you attack enemies Independent chrs or Monstrous creatures and get to STR 10 as fast as possible. Once you have the souls he will become a combat monster causing instant death to all in his path and laughing at tanks armor as he crushes them aside. If you need 10-20 points bad in your list then you can just take the power weapon instead of the husk blade. This makes him a lot less effective at killing enemies chrs but there always has to be the poor mans build.


Electrocorrosive whip & soul trap, clone field & ghost plate or shadow field (users pref)

Idea here being that you jump on the enemies chrs and kill them with them not having enough high str hits back for him to do any real damage to you. Once he dies the skies the limits for you as STR 6 will make you near unstoppable.


Agonizer & blast pistol, clone field & ghost plate or shadow field (users pref)

Throw him at the nearest squad and watch him rip them up for his own cheap cost. Would recommend the succubus more for this approach though as she's cheaper.

Important things to note: Combat drugs are a must on this guy as almost 88% of what you get will only make this guy better. Remember, Just say YES to drugs! If you plan on them escorting Incubi into the mix, then the Grenade launcher will make sure they kill all in their path before the blink of the eye. Even though the Archon can take a blaster it’s useless as he needs as many attacks as he can to tear things up. Only give him one if you REALLY need more anti tank (should also be said that a blast pistol is a good mix of the best of both worlds in this case).



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Succubus

Most people over look her as she can’t have all the whoop lah of the Archon but I think she is honestly the best poor man HQ we can get.

Important things to note: She comes with combat drugs and a 4++ save in CC base so that alone makes her cheaper then the Archon for what she does. With a weapon skill and initiative high enough to hit the Lord of Death on 3s and swinging before he can blink means she can almost take the big guy out by her self. As said above, if you roll the +1 weapon skill drug for your army with her in it it’s not really a waist as it makes her only able to be hit on 5’s by MEQ. Because you have to get rid of the Agonizer in order to get Wyche weapons they just don't hold wait with her, which is what may make Leilth more appealing if you you have both a PW and an impaler. Good build being:


Agonizer & haywire grenades


Cheap and able to kill large amounts of marines. If you have around 100 points laying around then she may be your girl!

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Homunculus/ Homunculus Ancient

The main reason why these guys are going to hit the field is that they start with a feel pain token. Yeah sure they don’t appear to be the combat beast that the other HQs are, but it should also be noted that they can do some scraping as well. With that thought in mind I feel that it is a huge waist of points to just take this guy for the token alone. Good builds being:

Agonizer & Webway portal

With 4 attacks on the charge he can drop enough MEQs to get his points back. While this may not seem appealing right off the bat you have to look at the big scope of things. If he joins a squad of Wyches or Warriors and they have another Agonizer in the unit then you are throwing 8 Agonizer attacks at the enemy and that can drop a lot of guys.

Hex rifle, venom blade

This is a great build for a homunculus as it allows him to join a squad that can sit back and rain some fire on the enemy and ensure they don’t die off like crazy while doing so. Main tactic I see for this build will be covered in the Mandrake entry. Only reason to take the venom blade is the said reason above. He’s not a show stopper in the CC department but 4 venom blade attacks are nothing to laugh at for the points it cost.

Husk blade & soul trap

I see this as the least common build and it should be said that it will only work best with the Ancient. Same idea here as the Archon Soul stealer build, but he’s a little less survivable then the boss man. I will say that I think it’s the best to do if you want a all themed homunculus army though.

Scissor hands & liquefier gun

The amount of wounds this guy can do can smash a Ork boy horde fast, just stay away from instant death while doing so. Could be the best way to go even against marines due to the shear saves forced.

Important notes: When covering the Pain Masters I didn’t get to into the arcane war gear, as I covered it all earlier in it’s own section. As I said before, most of them are just good point fillers, but some can be game breakers as well. This is another great thing about the homunculus, the fact that he can do SO much. I’ll be the first to warn you though by saying that you should try not to get to wrapped up in all the things he can take, as to much to quick will make you lose the valuable points you need to fill out your body count.

Other things to see about this guy that don’t catch the eye are that he has no fleet and also no access to plasma grenades. The first of these two problems can hurt some units as they rely on the normal 6” charge rather then insuring it with a fleet move (Wyches come to mind first as they need his pain token right off the bat so they survive better). The latter of the two problems can only be solved by taking a phantasm grenade launcher or just waiting to be charge instead (Hex Rifle build).

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The Court of the Archon

If you liked the wacky and random body guard units of the Witch/Daemon Hunter books then start slobbering as now we can a similar unit! The main thing you can see with ours compared to its founding father unit is that ours is indefinitely CC based. There are 4 different critters making up this rag tag band so lets starting probing at them.

Medusae- This brain sucker is addition as you should almost always want a flamer template dropped bro you charge to thin hordes a little. The fact that its abilities are a little random may make you want to look away but with the cost that it is I think you should weather the random storm and take a least one if you take the Court. I just noticed that these guys have LD9 so if your Archon leaves then they're needed to not break.

Ur-Ghuls- The only reason to take one of these ugly things is the fact that it allows you a good number of STR 4/5 (depending on charge or not) attacks and can take the hit if needed so you don’t lose the big combat dealers in the squad as fast. They also have a great INT so they can drag down some men before they knew what hit them.

Lhamaeans- Her ability is near useless as the Archon shouldn’t be toting around a poisoned weapon, and the fact that she has a low number of attacks may put her on the back burner. Good side is she’s the cheapest thing in the unit and can pull off 1-2 wounds consistently in CC with near anything. The bottom line for her though is that she is easy to kill and with to many T3 models in the unit it will take away from the units survivability as a whole so I say leave her at home. I did just noticed that these guys also have LD9 so if your Archon leaves then they're needed to not break.

Sslyths- Here are the main reason to take this unit. These pleasure indulged snake men really know how to get it done. A min of three will be needed in every squad as to really deal out the hurt though. With a high T and FnP to boot they will defiantly make some players read your codex in a hurry. Good build being:


1 Medusaes
1 Ur-ghuls
1 Lahamaean
(total above number never going higher then 3 men/women so the T of the unit is counted at 5 for the unit in CC, but sadly will be counted at T3 to shooting so you’ll have to kill one of the above if you take a wound from the raider blowing up)
3 Sslyths
1 archon (any gear of your choice but NEEDS the Phantasm grenade launcher)
1 raider

Important notes: This unit is pretty tough and will be both cool and fun to see on the table. Only real issue is that you can get a unit of Incubi for cheaper that will kill MEQs a lot better then them. Another bad thing about this unit is that they don’t have the Power from Pain army wide rule on the combat masters. This is combated by the unit having FnP and Furious charge on most of the units. The only way this can be good is if you kill three units with them with your Archon is still up, just move the big guy to a new squad and he will take all his tokens with him and the squad will still have FnP. I think this unit is the other end of the spectrum for body guards to the Archon. If you are sick of hordes, then these guys will do better at killing them then Incubi will, but if you go against a lot of MEQs then leave these guys at home and call your local Incubi temple for assistance. Another thing pointed out by others that I didn't notice right off the bat was that you are REQUIRED to have at least one of each type in the squad.


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Incubi

Almost seems fitting that they are next as they are most commonly used as the Archons best friends other then the Court. This unit is one of the few things in the book that I see most players losing their minds over and spending WAY to many points on them, so I think it’s fair to say they need more on them then “just point and click”.

Klavex- Something to think about is that he's almost the same cost as another Incubi. Murderous assault doesn't really seem that good to me as you won't be fighting to many ICs with these guys as they are a hammer unit. If you do decide to take a Klavex then it's a must that you give him the onslaught ability. Although it may cost as much as another Incubi, I think on average it will do far more then 3 attacks (really depending on the squad size). The Demi klaves are also to many points to me. You can get another guy for 2 more points. The blood stone on the other hand is great as it can allow you to drop a decent amount of guys before you go in (as we lost our splinter pistols on them now). It doesn't say one shot only for it so you can do it every time you go in. Another great thing about it is that it can kill enough Marines to allow you a dual charge as the original target will require far less attacks to kill them then before. All this for less then half a Incubi? Yes please.

Squad size- The biggest thing to talk bout here with these guys is squad size. At first glance most people are going to want to go Archon, 8 Incubi, 1 Klavex, with both powers. WRONG! The only reason you would want a unit like that is if you know the Emperor is going to be on the field and because that never happens then lets see what else we can do with them. Good builds being:

1 Archon (NEEDS the Phantasm grenade launcher)
5 Incubi
1 Raider

Or

6 Incubi
1 Klavex (murderous onslaught)
1 Raider

These units will kill most things in the game with a single charge and isn’t a crazy point sink to boot. Yes, sometimes what you charge wont die like lemmings pointed towards a cliff but if you but to many points into these guys will fail you big time. In Ork tongue we call this being "to killy". If you don’t trust me then ask Khorne players what it feels like when they kill everything on the charge and are staring at every gun barrel the enemy has to offer.


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Grotesques

So GW thought the old ones just weren’t transformed enough so why not redo them completely! While this was a cool thought, I don’t know if they really hit it on the head when they tried. For all intents they are fast Ogryn with out grenades and when you take into account that you have to have a IC in the unit at all times to baby sit so they don’t kill themselves that only leaves room for 4 of them in a raider. On top of all that if the IC isn’t a Archon with Phantasm grenade launcher then the unit will lose out on that fast INT they had to begin with. Being some resilient to start with is a and the fact that they can have a liquefier and a Sarg with a flesh gauntlet is nice though. Good builds being:

10 Grotesques, liquefier, aberration w/ flesh gauntlet
1 Archon (any gear of your choice but NEEDS the Phantasm grenade launcher)

(out of a Webway portal)

Or

1 Raider
4 Grotesques, liquefier, aberration w/ flesh gauntlet
1 Archon (any gear of your choice but NEEDS the Phantasm grenade launcher)


Important notes:
As said before these guys just didn’t get as good as what I feel they could have been. With no power weapons they fail to really be horrifying and the fact that they don’t have fleet in a fast army really brings them down. If you do take a weapon on the Sarge it will make him double armed as it is not a "upgrade" of any weapon but rather GAINING it. This said I feel they suffer like flash gitz in the Ork book, being to over priced for what they do in a under cost book.

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Wracks

Maybe after GW got done with the last entry they decided that people would be mad they couldn’t use their old models that they had for grotesques. So what better to do then make them a new CC monster unit! Good builds being:

8 wracks, 1 liquifier gun, 1 Acothlyst with Agonizer
1 homunculus (any CC layout)
1 Raider
Only reason that you want the Pain Master in the unit is to give them FC so that they can re roll to wound against MEQs. Problem being they have no grenades. That being said a Archon with a Phantasm grenade launcher sounds good with them so you can get the token real fast!

Important note: As said above they have no grenades so that can be a major set back. They fact that you can have 2 liquefiers and a Agonizer in the unit is incredible. Add that to the fact that you can take them as troops with the Pain Master in there and I don’t see why a unit of these wouldn’t be fielded!

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Mandrakes

All I hear is people going on and on about these guys and how sad they are that they weren’t as good as what they wanted. The sad part is that they are, but just not in the sense that you would think. Looking at stats, if appears very obvious that these guys are CC gurus. The fact the Serge can’t take a cool weapon and they don’t have rending makes you want to turn your head…. DON’T! This units main function is, believe it or not, to shoot. Infiltrate them around 13” ahead of your battle line and have a Homunculus near by in a raider. First turn drive him up and join the unit. When the shooting phase comes around laugh as you throw 20 STR 4 pinning rounds at the enemy and if your really lucky they will be useless next turn. The fact that these things (being neither a DE or a monster really) have BS 4 further proves the point. On top of it all when they get shot back they have a 3++ save to shooting AND FnP from the Hammie. After you let all those shots out you can drop a Webway Portal with the Hammie and you are in great position to watch all the rest of your army come screaming on to the table. Once they get charged you will see where the CC greatness comes in for them. 20 STR4 INT5 attacks will knock most MEQs off their high horse. Another great thing to say about them is with 2 Pain Tokens they can destroy a transport in no time. Good build being:

10 Mandrakes
1 homunculus, hex rifle, Webway portal

Important note: With no grenades this unit can’t really do anything in the charging department. Remember That not only charging into but through cover makes you swing last unless you have grenades. Again if you take a Archon with the Phantasm grenade launcher if you want to make them charge happy, but then you lose out on that nice shooting attack right off the bat. Another thing to be said about the Sarge is the fact that he has LD 9 which can make the unit better at holding it's ground.

True born

So being grown in a tank isn’t good enough for all DE, and that’s where these guys come into play. Another way to think of them is a poor mans stern guard. With another attack then the average warrior and access to many different weapons. I see two major builds (and 1 build I will see a lot) being used by people. Good builds being:


10 Trueborn with shard carbines
1 Raider

Very good harass unit that can really lay some fire into anything that has a wound profile. Kind of the poor mans Scourges.

5 Trueborn, 4 blasters
1 venom, 2 splinter cannons

These guys will destroy most tanks in one volley. No need to get into to much with these guys.


10 Trueborn, 4 shredders
1 raider, splinter racks

I just love the idea of dropping 4 STR 6 blast on people and watching them fail ha ha. I will say that my unit can do a lot or a little depending on how I do with the scatter, but hey it’s fun.

5 Trueborn, 2 splinter cannons & 3 shredders
1 Venom, night shields, 2 splinter cannons

Great at killing people in mass as well, really just a different approach to my squad but I like it none the less.

Important notes: While these guys are the “stern guard” of the DE they don’t have the staying power that their father unit does. Be warned that if this squads transport goes down the enemy will kill them FAST. I’m not a huge fan of the suicide units but I know people love them for some reason so I made sure to include them. Another quick thing to say is that the Duke can make the first of these builds incredibly horrifying with the number of wounds it will deal out to anything. A fact that makes them better then scourges in that sense.

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Harlequins

The jokesters of the laughing God have finally come to our book. Bad part of these guys is that to be effective they have to have a shadow seer and the kiss upgrade. This makes them dead on the same points as a Incubi and can’t take a transport. On the up side they are hard to shoot and if they make it there they can do the same if not better to hordes that Incubi do. Really not a OMG unit but not bad either. Good build being:


9 Harlequins, 9 kisses
1 shadow seer

A lot of attacks and praying in cover to get you when you get close.

Important note: This units not really new to the game and has been discussed else where. Best tactic I see is as a screening unit for your foot units, thus giving then a 4++ save. Need help here as I’ve never really used them ha ha.


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Hekatrix Blood brides

Really our “vanguard vets” these girls are just Wyches with +1 attack. I wont get into these girls to much as I will cover Wyches in the next entry but it appears that these girls are made to ride in Raiders more so then the other Wyches. The units main ability is to the fact that they can take a Wyche weapon per every three men/women. Good builds being:


8 blood brides 3 hydra gauntlets
1 Syren, Agonizer
1 Raider

Important notes: The fact that they are Wyches that can't hold objectives hurts them pretty bad. It should be said that if you take 9 Wyches that it won't hurt the number of weapons the squad can take, thus making them a great IC delivery squad.

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Kabalite Warriors

So our main stay murderers are back and better then ever (by some standards). The ups and downs of warriors are covered a lot in the Splinter weapons section. A more though look at these guys though you can see that they are really one of the best bang for the bucks troopers in the game, especially once they gain a pain token. Good builds being:

10 warriors, blaster & Dark lance

I see these guys taking the place of our former double dark lance toting squads. Great anti tank squads that can also do some damage to infantry if need be. Other then knocking out tanks they will also be huge in holding objectives for us as they are cheap and a troop choice.

10 warriors, splinter cannon & blaster or Shredder
1 raider, Splinter racks & night shields

This squad will be great for either being the best of both worlds or just specializing in knocking out enemy troops. To me Raiders are better suited with getting CC troops into the mix but I have sen them used to good effect.

20 warriors, 2 splinter cannons, 2 shredders, Sybrite, Agonizer
1 homunculus (any CC build)

I used these horde squads all the time in the last book and it appears that it's gotten even better now that we have FnP with the Homunculus. Once you get to get charged you will have a lot of I 5 attacks and the Agonizer makes quick work of marines.

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Wyches

Everyone needs entertainment, and it seems the DE don't like TVs so this is where these girls/boys come into play. When they were a elite slot they were okay, but now that they can hold objectives I see them reentering the spot light.

The biggest thing to cover with these guys is the special weapons that they can field. The Impaler is okay to tie people up, but as I'll say earlier I enjoy killing more then stalling. The other two weapons allow for more blood letting in CC. I honestly feel the Hydra gauntlets take the cake though because your average roll for attacks is going to be a 3 or 4, thus resulting in basically having another Wyche present. Is some one wants to do the math hammer on the wither the hydra is better or worse then the razor flails then your more then welcome, just remember that the either weapon will be heavily affected by the combat drug roll. Good builds being:


9 Wyches, 2 Shardnet and Impalers
1 Hekatrix, agonizer
1 raider, night shields

This will be peoples "tie up unit". I've never been a fan of using Wyches to hold people up as my goal has always been to kill them ha ha. I have seen people use them to good effect though, holding up elite squads until something nasty can come and end the stalemate.


9 Wyches, 2 hydra gauntlets
1 Hekatrix, Agonizer
1 Raider, night shield

I use this unit the most as I feel they can give out a crazy amount of wound 3/4s of the time with the drug roll. Shimmy them up field and when the time is right jump out fleet and charge.


14 Wyches, 3 hydra gauntlets
1 Hekatrix, Agonizer
1 Homunculus (any CC build)
(All coming out of a Webway portal)

This squad will coming running and screaming out of the portal ready to kill anything in their way. With FnP they don't have to worry about getting shot to much if they don't get the charge (the Hammie doesn't have fleet).


Important notes: With ++ saves in CC they can be quite hard to kill when up close. Problem is that once they are out of CC they seem to die FAST to bolter fire. Make sure you hug cover if your card board box gets wrecked and pray that you don't have to cross 24" with out a hammie on board!

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Hellions

The old fluff apparently wasn't good enough so now we have these SLC punks riding "skate boards" in our armies. These guys are pretty impressive, and this is with out taking into account what the Barron does for them. IMO these guys are the best Webway unit in the book. Here's my reasoning why. If some one surrounds a Webway portal then you may not pull a squad out as they have to stay out of 1" of a enemy unit. Hellions being jump infantry ignore that fact by flying over the squad and then charging them. With the jump packs in mind they come screaming out of the Webway almost guaranteeing they charge where they want. The last fact being that they are so fragile that with out a Webway they would get shot to death in no time. Some people think they are also a great screening unit for raiders as they are such large models that they will almost always give raiders a cover save so you won't need flicker fields. Good build being:

9 or 14 Hellions
1 Hellarch, agonizer & PGL (PGL is a must as they don't come with Plasma Grenades)
(usually best with a Webway)

Important notes: As said above if these guys/girls are caught out in the open, then consider them dead. Another good idea for them is to fly them right next to cove and then run into it so you won't have to roll dangerous terrain. Another thing I forgot to say before is about the Stun Claw. While this thing is a fun gizmo I don't really see it in competitive builds. The Agonizer will kill people (or the IC in question) so it's not really that impressive. The only time I see it being a big help is if you have two units in CC with blood angels and one of them grabs the priest and pulls him far enough out of the way that he can't give the squad the FnP. Again though, one Agonizer attack and he's gone period but it's what ever.

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Scourges

Our former flying DE are turning themselves into bird men now. You would think the fact that their bones are getting hollowed to fly easier should make them easier to kill then before but instead they have a 4+ save! I guess this only makes sense as they have the most money out of all out units, so Ghost armor is cheap to them. This unit reminds me of a mix combination of Dark Reapers and swooping hawks. Main thing to notice there is that both units are meant to kill infantry. I know they have options to get anti tank but in all reality it seems to me that they will only really be good at mowing infantry down. There is MAYBE one exception to this though. Good builds being:

10 scourges

Yeah that's it for one for them. Cheap, throwing out 30 shots a turn, and the fact that a splinter cannon cost almost half a guy makes them almost not taking for these guys.

10 scourges, 4 splinter cannons

Main reason it do this so to hope that when you do get into position that you will be able to shoot all guns at once. If you are just 24" away and shooting just the splinter cannons as heavy then it's only 24 shots, where if you just had all carbine and moved forward 6" you would shoot 30. This build is better then the first one though when you think of causality wise. If you lose 5 guys from this unit, who cares, but 5 from the other squads drops it's shooting effectiveness by a lot.

10 scourges, 2 splinter cannons & 2 Dark lances

Multitask unit that I have been tossing around but I really think that making something okay at one thing really hurts you in the long run as they could have been great at just one thing.

10 scourges, 4 Dark lances

It can't be ignored that these guys get DLs really cheap, so if you make a list with the first build in it a switch to this could help if you're really hurting on anti tank. That being said DE are one of the few armies that rarely have that problem but it is a okay choice so I thought I would list it.

Important notes: I know some of you are thinking where is the Heat lances but the fact stands that after you shoot them to do what you want, you're squad will be dead. Only way it could be usable is in a Alpha strike force but still, I hate the idea of losing almost a 300 point unit to kill a Land raider. Another thing I failed to mention that other keep talking about is what about 5 scourges with 2 heat lances? I feel this unit won't reliable kill a tank and get there cost back. Best case senerio they come out of a Webway and wound a Land Raider (knock a gun off of immobilize it and then they get destroyed. My views on suicide units are why not just take a unit that can do the job and NOT die so you don't have a one trick pony that's a gamble.

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Beastmasters

Very Ironic to me that the unit is called Beastmaster when really they don't really do anything compared to the beast. A name like beast pack would have been better, but that's getting off track. This unit squeezes into the number two slot of best Webway units because only because they can't take grenades. Worse then that, adding a Archon in there to give them a PGL will help in the short game attack but they will lose out on their 12" charge. Other then that a great unit, with really only one build I can think of that will go the distance. Good build being:

2 beast master
1 beast master Venom blade or Agonizer (both are good but with only one attack base with the master is he really going to get his points back? That's why I like the Venom blade as it's cheap and it will make sure his 3 attacks force some saves for sure, especially if he gets Furious charge)
10 Khymare
2 Razorwing Flocks
(out of Webway Portal)

This unit will throw a CRAZY number of attacks at the enemy and has a great 4++ save to back it up. Out of a Webway portal deployed only 15" up (due to 12" raider move and disembark) these guys will really make some of your opponents worry.

Important notes: Only real issues I have with them is that they have LD 8 max with out a IC attached and the Clawed Fiend is near useless. In most cases you should be winning most combats so who cares about that. The latter of the two problems is a shame as well considering that it's cool to have a big monster hanging out in your army. The main thing he's good at is taking wounds to get more STR 5 attacks but in most cases the Razorwing Flocks are better at that as well. At first glance you would think his toughness is there to make the unit harder to wound but in reality I feel it's there to soak up power fist wounds as he can't be instant killed by them. On top of it all he only seems to gain from the fact that they swung on him to begin with. The only other thing I see them good for is anti horde, as STR 5 will kill more Orks then rending any day and also have a better time in taking out tanks as well. I still feel that he's to many points for what he does though. Another fact to note is that Razorwing Flocks have 5 wounds. This is great for taking bolter saves on them if they are in cover. This will save one of your warp beast lives and you can do it 4 times before some one really has to die (in sets of two of course).

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Reavers

Some times DE don't want to slow down to cut peoples heads off. When this thought becomes a constant in a DEs mind, they go and buy a Jet bike a the fun begins. This unit got a LOT better in this book mainly to the fact that they did a great job integrating the fluff to game rules, which is really hard to do some times. The main use for these guys so to zoom all over the table and cause massive amounts of saves without ever losing that 3+ cover save granted by turbo boosting, Good builds being:

9 Reavers, 2 Cluster Cantrops, 1 Grav-talon

Zoom past infantry and cause 6 d 3+1 STR 4 hits, 1 d 3+1 pinning hits, and 2 d 6 STR 6 hits! This could wreck most infantry squads and with some luck (added my the TGL on raiders) could pin them to!

9 Reavers, 3 Heat lances or 3 Blasters

Both are great at anti tank and both can use that jet bike save to get into cover so they don't get chewed up. And don't get to worried about dieing to dangerous terrain as they guys have skilled rider! I see the blaster being more effective here because at 24" away after they shoot can allow them to get out of a lot of enemy fire.

Important note: While people are going crazy over the heat lances and the fact that these guys/girls get a 3+ cover save all game I haven't heard a lot of people mention that a flamer kills these guys faster then raid in a roach hole. Another to be said about these guys is that they really don't gain to much from combat drugs as they will either be zooming around or trying to be Tau crises suits. Still though, they are a fun and competitive unit that, as I said before, Phil did a great job with this time

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Raiders

If Dark Lances aren't our poster child then this thing is. I have yet to see at least one list with out a Raider showing it's card board face at least once. It's major advantages are really covered in the Vehicle upgrade section. I won't even get into the mass amounts of builds you can do with this thing as it would take me around 30 more pages and as said above just look in the Upgrade section.

Important notes: Being a cardboard box is not only this things greatest weakness, but also its biggest strength. It allows for a consistent 24" charge due to fleet and disembark and to boot has a DL to kill any armor after words. It also has the option of taking Disentigrator instead of the DL but that's really up to you. I only recommend switching if you have your anti tank locked down with the rest of your list. Another great thing about this being opened top is that when the crew are firing out of it you measure from the tip of the tank for ALL shots. This allows for more fire being able to get laid out at a unit dead on 12" away with little to no fire back in return due to night shields.

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Venom

A mini raider and no model in sight. Best thing to do now is take a Eldar Vyper and convert it if you really want this 5 man transport. It's strengths lie in the fact that its good for Incubi or Trueborn squads but it should be noted that it comes with Flicker Fields. This isn't a big deal to me as I think it's a crap upgrade due to the point cost, but for free why not! The main difference to it and the Raider though is the fact that it can have two splinter cannons. Being on a tank they will always fire with the heavy profile and sense they have no strength they can both be fired after moving 12".

Important notes: Other uses are covered in Vehicle War gear section and the Raider entry.

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Ravager

As I said in the Distergrator entry this thing can murder FnP units and 2+ save units in no time. It's main goal though is going to be a 3 DL wielding tank murder. Only real upgrade wroth taking to me is a again night shields. With that up grade you would be out of heavy bolter range as well when you are destroying the Devy squad with 9 STR5 AP 2 shots.

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Talos

Some times you have to maim and torture some one so bad the only thing you can do with them is to put them in a robotic body and watch them go mad with rage, slaughtering all in it's path. The Talos has become insane as it has Power from Pain now and with chain flails you almost insure that you will kill at least 3 marines a turn without much return damage. Like other walkers he needs to have support in CC in order to be really efficient.

Talos, haywire launcher

Good bullet magnet that will slow down enemy tanks, if not blow them up. Real goal of this guy is just to take shots so your Raiders have a chance.

Talos, Heat lance, chain flails
(out of Webway portal)

Can crack open a tank and eat the goodness inside. Best use for the heat lance IMO.

Talos, Twin linked liquifier and extra close combat weapon
(out of Webway portal)

If you roll a 3 or lower on the AP the re roll to wound it will kill a lot of guys and make the charge that much easier.

Important notes: This guy is slow, so as said above he needs to go through a Webway portal. If not he will catch a LOT of fire, which in all honesty, isn't always a bad thing. When all is said and done he is a great Heavy to the book, only real problem being all our heavies are really nice!

Cronos Parasite Engine

This guy is like a baby Talos but his only real draw back is that he doesn't have as many CC attacks compared to his big brother. Good part about him though is he's just as tough to kill and also has power from pain. The cool part about this guy is that every time he kills something he may give a Pain Token to any squad within 12" of him. Yeah that sounds cool and all, but his real strength lies in the fact that he has a gun called Spirt Vortex. This thing will rack up the kills and also let you throw Pain tokens ALL over the place. Good builds being:

Cronos, Spirit vortex

He just walks up field throwing out covering fire and making his buddies better.

Cronos, Spirit probe, Spirit Vortex
(Out of Webway portal)

A great way to get a 3 (if not 4 ) of Pain Tokens in one turn and can hold up units until help gets there.

Important Notes: Gaining a Token from just one "set" of wounds my not seem that prominent, but you have to remember that the Cronos can take BOTH of the guns so they can gain up to 3 tokens a turn (four if it kills the squad, but that last token ONLY goes to him)


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Razorwing Jetfighters

The other new craze in 5th edition is flyers so of course we got two of them! It really fits our army though as the DE are all about lightning fast raids and Alpha strikes. The first of the two aircraft is very good at dealing with enemy infantry. Replace the 2 DLs with splinter cannons and move in first turn and let the missiles fly. Good build:

Razorwing jetfighter, 4 Necroscythe missiles, two splinter cannons

On this plane I like the Necrotrix missiles. They cause pinning, are poisoned, and a large blast so what not to like. Once you Alpha strike some one with this thing it's really largely useless of then throwing out 12 poisoned shots a turn. I wouldn't really worry about deep striking it either as it really one of the best regular reserve units in the game.


Important notes: It's really fragile so don't expect it to live long once it drops it's payload. The only reason I really see taking the other missiles is to be able to damage tanks but then again why would you want to do that when you can wreck infantry's world!


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Voidraven Bomber

This bigger, more armored of the two flyers this thing can do the best of both worlds for our army. The great thing about it is the fact that you can come in first turn and shoot all your missiles to kill a large formation of infantry, to then next turn bomb a tank and call it quits. Only real issue here is that for being a bomber it only has one bomb and after that you are just shooting void lances at tanks.

Voidraven bomber, 4 Necroscythe missiles, 2 void lances, 1 void mine

The great thing about this is fact that you can come in first turn and shoot all your missiles to kill a large formation of infantry, to then next turn bomb a tank and call it quits.

Important notes: I don't see why you wouldn't take a Ravager for this role as it's cheaper and we already have a million of them ha ha. But yeah, if you like to alpha strike people I think this is the better of the two flyers for you. It's also important to not that due to aerial assault it can move 12" and fire all guns, thus increasing it's mobile killing power.


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And now a word from our sponsors:

Special Characters

Asdrubal Vect

The big cheese himself comes in two flavours: Brie and Gouda. The only reason not to run Vect is his point cost. If you run him in Brie configuration without his pimped out ride, he still needs an escort but at the cost of a Land Raider you’re going to want to think twice. Of course, he can kill Mephiston in a single round of combat so you’re getting value for what you pay and he makes a great addition to any squad you care to take.

Now, if you like fielding Deathstars and you don’t care how many points you’re loading into on unit, you’re going to want to field him in Gouda configuration with his pimped out Dais of Destruction that combines the Raider’s transport capacity with the Ravager’s firepower and close to a Land Raider’s armour value.

Even so, at this point you’re really going to want to alpha strike with everything you have, the point cost of just Vect in his Dais without the compulsory passengers makes him a huge flying target. Buying this unit basically means you’re committing yourself to wrecking the enemy’s face before you get wrecked first. To this end, I’d recommend filling the Dais up with Incubi with a Klavex and simply crushing one enemy unit per round, with or without a transport.

While he can kill anything with his beat stick of doom (he WILL hit, he WILL wound, probably with all of his attacks… hope you have an invulnerable save!) special mention has to go to the absurdity of the Obsidian Orb, a blast weapon that WILL wound and WILL hit thanks to Vect’s godly ballistic skill. Oh, and it heals him. Others have also made a good point that as a tank killer, the Obsidian Orb is amazing... but as has also been pointed out this is WRONG! The Orb doesn't work on anything without a Ld value, sorry for the confusion.

In short, he’s expensive but worth every point. Just be smart and avoid line of sight to heavy weapons and strike like a thunderbolt out of nowhere.

Special mention has to go with running Vect with Baron Sathonyx, if you REALLY feel you must have the first turn. And if you're running Vect, you obviously want first turn.


Duke Sliscus

So, you’re thinking of doing a combined Wych/Warrior army and you want a HQ that buffs both into the upper atmosphere of bad ass. Of course, he himself has to be a bad ass as well. But then, he also has to be cheap because between squads of 10 and Raiders, you’re running out of points. On top of that, you’d like some deployment shenanigans. In short, you want Duke Sliscus.

The downside here is that Sliscus is nasty in combat but he’s not at the top of the combat totem pole. That being said, what he does have with his sort-of-but-not-rending attacks is really sweet.

Where he is at is the buffs to your army. You’re pretty much going to slip him in with a unit of Splinter spam Trueborn all the time, probably in a Raider with Splinter Racks. This is a unit that will cut down a horde of Ork Boyz , ‘gants or MCs at range. If you need to save points, Warriors will serve and be scoring.

Then, you’re going to want to take things with combat drugs with this guy. Hellions, Wyches, Bloodbrides and Reavers love it. In fact, if you want a second string HQ with Sliscus, consider a Succubus or Baron Sathonyx, even though you’ll lose out on Haemonculi. Scoring Hellions with the right combat drug can bring the pain and screen more valuable Raiders and a Succubus with the right equipment can shred a unit of marines or most ICs for cheap.

He’s also your go-to guy if you want to run a Way of Saimm Hainn/Fritz style null deployment army where you start everything in reserve. If this is the case, you might pair him up with Lady Malys for ultimate deployment shenanigans at the expense of hitting power. With this set-up, you want everything in Raiders or Venoms, so you’ll be going troop heavy with Warriors, Wyches, Trueborn and and maybe Bloodbrides or Incubi supported by Ravagers which is a nice core force that can take second turn and just pounce on the objectives in the endgame for the win.

Don’t look past this guy if you’re doing an old codex style walking list, however. He’s cheap, his enhancement is even better on large units and he adds some close combat power to your front line.


Drazhar

Everyone’s favorite Phoenix Lord is back and he brings with him a choice selection of torments for your opposition. That is if your selection was a constant stream of power weapon attacks that will pretty much always hit and wound, in which case Drazhar is your banquet.

Basically, Drazhar is an assassin. You point him at an enemy independent character with a bodyguard of Incubi to soak up wounds and he goes and kills them. It’s that simple. Drazhar is the point and click seeking missile of the codex, he and his squad will rack up Pain Tokens like a nine year old with a credit card in a candy store.

To that end, the only tactical thought Drazhar might require is having a Haemonculus or other IC join his unit to bleed off some of those pain tokens and give them to other squads.

Drazhar’s expensive and he won’t be dueling Mephiston and winning unless he’s lucky, so don’t start thinking he’s the new black. AP2 weapons will ruin his day, so the usual caveat of being sneaky with DE also applies to this guy.

Edit: As as been pointed out, Drazhar's ability to move around in combat effectively makes him immune to power fists and other high strength or power weapons (or both). Fortunately you don't have to worry about Instant Death.

Also, another big downside to Drazhar, the limitation of what units he can join really hurts him once his bodyguard is gone. Multiple squads is an option but hurts your point total and limits elite choices.


Lelith Hespherax

Where Drazhar is the character assassin, Lelith assassinates whole units. Of marines. In one turn.

It’s not immediately obvious exactly how hard she is to kill in close combat, her WS makes her that much harder to hit for most units unless they’re elite or characters. Other than that, she’s cheaper than Drazhar and about as kill crazy, just remember to be sneaky and avoid getting shot as much as possible.

Edit in response to Trachenberg: Your math hammer is correct. 3 things, however. First of all, Lelith gives you an opportunity to do much more than that average, if you get lucky. There is an element of risk vs. reward to the DE army and a few things in it give math hammer the finger. Second thing is, chances are, Lelith isn't going to take a wound back between her WS and her dodge save, so you start forcing morale checks. This is a big deal because of her initiative to most squads and a bigger deal if the enemy is fearless or has ATSKNF as they start taking more casualties (read ATSKNF, they hit the No Retreat! rule!). Lastly, Lelith will kill ICs in an enemy unit much like Drazhar does.

I'm sorry, I did gloss over Lelith a little after doing Drazhar. Really, they're the same type of character. Like Drazhar and Incubi, I'd put her is in a unit of Bloodbrides to maximize the number of Wych weapons her unit can field. Her shardnet can reduce the number of power fist attacks coming her way as well, you'll have to be unlucky to get her punked by instant death.

I should have said she can assassinate a unit of marines in one turn rather than make the blanket statement. She is about as expensive as my Soulstealer Archon build (see Bigbear's post above) which I'd much prefer to field but Lelith is far from a bad choice for a similar point cost.

Edit edit: Apparently I also need to point out that Lelith gets much better with 2 pain tokens and gets FNP and FC. I'll reiterate, hoevever, that you're quite likely to win combat with Lelith and win on the sweeping advance.


Lady Malys

The deployment shenanigans character, Malys is probably beast paired with an IC that can deliver the pain where she can’t. She cannot face up against tough enemies and expect to prevail, her only real weapon goes away and isn’t that great to begin with.

However, if you REALLY want to kill Mephiston and you don’t mind how many points you spend to do it, adding her to a unit with a tooled up Archon, Drazhar or Vect will help. Even then, Mephy will sill wreck you.

Where she’s really at is the deployment shenanigans she borrowed off Eldrad and supercharged. That’s what you’re really paying for here. It’s nice in Dawn of War because you can slip one unit up close to force the enemy back as far as possible then take advantage of nightshields and deploy as far back as possible. You can also deploy a unit of Incubi out in the open to make them a tempting target, then redeploy them anywhere, leaving the enemy out in the cold if they reacted to you. The trick is to offer the enemy something they simply can’t refuse.


Urien Rakarth

There are some units that are a pleasure to field because they do their job at bargain basement point costs. Special Characters are usually designed to fit into this area of unit design. Urien Rakath is not one of these units.

For his point cost, you could buy 3 ordinary Haemonculi and get more use out them than you will Urien because of the number of pain tokens they dish out. The only benefit to fielding Urien is that he’s harder to kill and goes well with Grotesques.

It’s not like you’ll go home after fielding Urien and cry into your pillow, however. He’s a solid choice for a coven themed list if you don’t want to go 6 Haemonculi. If I fielded him myself, I’d go with a 10 strong Grotesque unit coming out of a Webway Portal.


The Decapitator

Speaking of overpriced… sometimes you wonder what games designers are thinking. Decrappytator is supposed to be a character assassin and yet he has gigantic sumbling blocks in doing his job for his insane point cost. I thought after Sgt. Telion and the Guard codex, we were over this kind of thing but I was wrong.

You might think he’s meant to join a unit of Mandrakes, yet he cannot. He appears out of nowhere then stands around waiting to be shot for a turn. If he appears in cover, he will strike last if he charges. If his enemy is in cover, he will strike last if he charges. This would be fine if his weapon was better than a gimpy Huskblade, please note that the Archon with the soulstealer build can be cheaper than this guy. Heck, if you want to kill something, take a Succubus, she’s cheaper and killier. That he takes up a HQ slot is criminal.

This guy has one use that might be worth considering if he wasn’t so point heavy. You deploy him on an empty objective in terrain in your opponent’s deployment zone and he contests the objective. That’s it. Go to ground, sit there and just deny the objective. You want to be charged, you cannot charge yourself. If you get shot, you have a godly cover save and a few wounds. You get a nice shooting attack that might pin someone if you manage to do a wound, which is annoying. Of course, if anything serious assaults you, he’s still dead and you’ve blown a crapton of points.

Decrappytator is the ‘Rudy’ of the Dark Eldar codex. He is the Dark Eldar victory cigar. Basically if you take this guy, you’re saying ‘look, you’re so crap I beat you with a point handicap while giving you a free kill point’.

His fluff, however, is awesome.


Baron Sathonyx

This guy is the sleeper hit of the codex. No, he doesn’t have Vect’s solid gold cheese or Drazhar and Lelith’s sheer kill power. Heck, he’s not even as great in combat as a bog standard Archon or Succubus, though he remains competent. What he does do is turn Hellions into a powerhouse.

Without Sathonyx, I’m not as impressed with Hellions as a fast attack choice compared to the other stuff you can get out of that. With Sathonyx, my only concern is fitting in all my troop choices into the list.

Sliding and assaulting into cover, holding an objective, putting this guy at the head of 20 Hellions will ensure that that objective will he held against almost anything. They are shooty, they are assaulty, they are fast and they are tough as long as you utilize cover. Most of all, Sathonyx is cheap as chips and you still get to mess with your opponent’s deployment. What more can you ask?

The only downside is that you might not want to use a HQ slot on him. If you’re not planning on fielding Hellions at all, then naturally you won’t go to this guy. If you do, however, he’s worth considering.

As mentioned above, running this guy with Vect gives you close to a lock on first turn. If you're running an Alpha Strike, these guys are your HQs.

(this entry was made by my partner DA)

So it's all done now... I am going to have someone edit it all and then I will make it in PDF format. Been great working on this for and with you all.

Next one I'm doing is Orks... so get ready!

Also Darkeldar.blogspot.com thought this article was so good that they want it on their site, so again ty to everyone else input.

Vehicle Upgrades

DE vehicles seem to be as tough as a paper air plane, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be as decked out as Mr. T! The main thing to remember here bout raiders and venoms is that they are going to die fast once the enemy can see them so the cheaper the better. I think the best idea to consider these the most ultimate point fillers! The following section will cover DE vehicle upgrades and what you may want them for.

Night shields- Put this on here first because it will be the most used upgrade in the book hands down. It’s main purpose is not to take you out of range of anti tank but honestly out of bolter fire range. With this bad boy a marine unit can only rapid fire your transports if they are within 6”! The less shots the better as a glance will still kill it on a roll of a 6 due to it being open topped.

Best tactic with this is to stay around 19” away as this will keep you out of bolt gun range. If you wither the storm (best way to do so is by going at least 18” in your movement phase to get the 4++ cover save) then next turn go 12”,disembark, fleet, and charge.

Flicker fields- Another high use item, that I hope to see less often in the future. It’s a 5++ save. Yeah you get it in hand to hand and all but a boy scout throwing a rock at a raider might kill it so a crappy save wont help. To close on it, think of how many times your terminators make that invulnerable save…..yeah…..

Splinter racks- A great way to get your warriors rapid fire guns to mow some infantry. Other then that it’s an okay upgrade and you have to know that all your raiders will die by the end of the game so do you really want to put to much on any of them?

Retrofire Jets- Kind of cool but really starting on the table and going 24” in where it’s at. Save the points for elsewhere.

Envenom blades- A okay upgrade but again, it’s better to save the points for else where. Could be great against units with the Rage USR.

Rams- Kind of like the idea of this as tank shocking in a 24” line can catch people off guard and maybe break half their army off the table. Best used with the TGL upgrade.

TGL- Great for the said reasons listed above, but again can be a points sink.

Aethersails- I hate these things. Most people don’t use Star engines and for good reason. Save the points.

Grisly trophies- Good if you have a stand and shoot army. Hide your raider with your counter assault unit behind a building and make sure your men don’t run. If your list isn’t really a stand and shoot list though I really recommend leaving this at home.

Chain snares- For the most part, if I wanted to do this I would take Reavers. It should be noted though that unlike their smaller biker cousins the snares hit EVERY unit in its path. On several raiders can make for a scary mess. It could be quite a few points but with a TGL, Ram, and this upgrade you could tank shock fear into a whole army of guard. Through and through though our Raiders are expensive enough, so I'd rather leave this at home.

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Now the Meat and potatoes, units! We well start with HQ’s and work our way down.

Archon: The Big man on campus is back in this codex with improved stats from before for about the same points. Gaining plus one attack and a lot of gear stock that you would have had to pay for before he is still one of the best CCW monsters in the game! Build wise there are three options:

Soul stealer= Husk blade or power weapon & soul trap, clone field & ghost plate or shadow field (users pref)
Idea here being you attack enemies Independent chrs or Monstrous creatures and get to STR 10 as fast as possible. Once you have the souls he will become a combat monster causing instant death to all in his path and laughing at tanks armor as he crushes them aside. If you need 10-20 points bad in your list then you can just take the power weapon instead of the husk blade. This makes him a lot less effective at killing enemies chrs but there always has to be the poor mans build.

Shielded one= Electrocorrosive whip & soul trap, clone field & ghost plate or shadow field (users pref)
Idea here being that you jump on the enemies chrs and kill them with them not having enough high str hits back for him to do any real damage to you. Once he dies the skies the limits for you as STR 6 will make you near unstoppable.

Infantry hunter= Agonizer & blast pistol, clone field & ghost plate or shadow field (users pref)
Throw him at the nearest squad and watch him rip them up for his own cheap cost. Would recommend the succubus more for this approach though as she's cheaper.

Important things to note: Combat drugs are a must on this guy as almost 88% of what you get will only make this guy better. Remember, Just say YES to drugs! If you plan on them escorting Incubi into the mix, then the Grenade launcher will make sure they kill all in their path before the blink of the eye. Even though the Archon can take a blaster it’s useless as he needs as many attacks as he can to tear things up. Only give him one if you REALLY need more anti tank (should also be said that a blast pistol is a good mix of the best of both worlds in this case).



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Succubus

Most people over look her as she can’t have all the whoop lah of the Archon but I think she is honestly the best poor man HQ we can get.

Important things to note: She comes with combat drugs and a 4++ save in CC base so that alone makes her cheaper then the Archon for what she does. With a weapon skill and initiative high enough to hit the Lord of Death on 3s and swinging before he can blink means she can almost take the big guy out by her self. As said above, if you roll the +1 weapon skill drug for your army with her in it it’s not really a waist as it makes her only able to be hit on 5’s by MEQ. Because you have to get rid of the Agonizer in order to get Wyche weapons they just don't hold wait with her, which is what may make Leilth more appealing if you you have both a PW and an impaler. Common build.

Pit leader= Agonizer & haywire grenades

Cheap and able to kill large amounts of marines. If you have around 100 points laying around then she may be your girl!

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Homunculus/ Homunculus Ancient

The main reason why these guys are going to hit the field is that they start with a feel pain token. Yeah sure they don’t appear to be the combat beast that the other HQs are, but it should also be noted that they can do some scraping as well. With that thought in mind I feel that it is a huge waist of points to just take this guy for the token alone. This allows for four basic builds.

MEQ killer= Agonizer

With 4 attacks on the charge he can drop enough MEQs to get his points back. While this may not seem appealing right off the bat you have to look at the big scope of things. If he joins a squad of Wyches or Warriors and they have another Agonizer in the unit then you are throwing 8 Agonizer attacks at the enemy and that can drop a lot of guys.

Sniper man-= Hex rifle, venom blade

This is a great build for a homunculus as it allows him to join a squad that can sit back and rain some fire on the enemy and ensure they don’t die off like crazy while doing so. Main tactic I see for this build will be covered in the Mandrake entry. Only reason to take the venom blade is the said reason above. He’s not a show stopper in the CC department but 4 venom blade attacks are nothing to laugh at for the points it cost.

Main HQ= Husk blade & soul trap

I see this as the least common build and it should be said that it will only work best with the Ancient. Same idea here as the Archon Soul stealer build, but he’s a little less survivable then the boss man. I will say that I think it’s the best to do if you want a all themed homunculus army though.

Horde stopper= scissor hands & liquefier gun

The amount of wounds this guy can do can smash a Ork boy horde fast, just stay away from instant death while doing so. Could be the best way to go even against marines due to the shear saves forced.

Important notes: When covering the Pain Masters I didn’t get to into the arcane war gear, as I covered it all earlier in it’s own section. As I said before, most of them are just good point fillers, but some can be game breakers as well. This is another great thing about the homunculus, the fact that he can do SO much. I’ll be the first to warn you though by saying that you should try not to get to wrapped up in all the things he can take, as to much to quick will make you lose the valuable points you need to fill out your body count.

Other things to see about this guy that don’t catch the eye are that he has no fleet and also no access to plasma grenades. The first of these two problems can hurt some units as they rely on the normal 6” charge rather then insuring it with a fleet move (Wyches come to mind first as they need his pain token right off the bat so they survive better). The latter of the two problems can only be solved by taking a phantasm grenade launcher or just waiting to be charge instead (Sniper man build).

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The Court of the Archon

If you liked the wacky and random body guard units of the Witch/Daemon Hunter books then start slobbering as now we can a similar unit! The main thing you can see with ours compared to its founding father unit is that ours is indefinitely CC based. There are 4 different critters making up this rag tag band so lets starting probing at them.

Medusae- This brain sucker is addition as you should almost always want a flamer template dropped bro you charge to thin hordes a little. The fact that its abilities are a little random may make you want to look away but with the cost that it is I think you should weather the random storm and take a least one if you take the Court. I just noticed that these guys have LD9 so if your Archon leaves then they're needed to not break.

Ur-Ghuls- The only reason to take one of these ugly things is the fact that it allows you a good number of STR 4/5 (depending on charge or not) attacks and can take the hit if needed so you don’t lose the big combat dealers in the squad as fast. They also have a great INT so they can drag down some men before they knew what hit them.

Lhamaeans- Her ability is near useless as the Archon shouldn’t be toting around a poisoned weapon, and the fact that she has a low number of attacks may put her on the back burner. Good side is she’s the cheapest thing in the unit and can pull off 1-2 wounds consistently in CC with near anything. The bottom line for her though is that she is easy to kill and with to many T3 models in the unit it will take away from the units survivability as a whole so I say leave her at home. I did just noticed that these guys also have LD9 so if your Archon leaves then they're needed to not break.

Sslyths- Here are the main reason to take this unit. These pleasure indulged snake men really know how to get it done. A min of three will be needed in every squad as to really deal out the hurt though. With a high T and FnP to boot they will defiantly make some players read your codex in a hurry.

Common build for unit:
1 or 2 Medusaes
1 or 2 Ur-ghuls
(total above never going higher then 3 so the T of the unit is counted at 5 for the unit in CC, but sadly will be counted at T3 to shooting so you’ll have to kill one of the above if you take a wound from the raider blowing up)
3 Sslyths
1 archon (any gear of your choice but NEEDS the Phantasm grenade launcher)
1 raider

Important notes: This unit is pretty tough and will be both cool and fun to see on the table. Only real issue is that you can get a unit of Incubi for cheaper that will kill MEQs a lot better then them. Another bad thing about this unit is that they don’t have the Power from Pain army wide rule on the combat masters. This is combated by the unit having FnP and Furious charge on most of the units. The only way this can be good is if you kill three units with them with your Archon is still up, just move the big guy to a new squad and he will take all his tokens with him and the squad will still have FnP. I think this unit is the other end of the spectrum for body guards to the Archon. If you are sick of hordes, then these guys will do better at killing them then incubi will, but if you go against a lot of MEQs then leave these guys at home and call your local Incubi temple for assistance.


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Incubi

Almost seems fitting that they are next as they are most commonly used as the Archons best friends other then the Court. This unit is one of the few things in the book that I see most players losing their minds over and spending WAY to many points on them, so I think it’s fair to say they need more on them then “just point and click”.

Klavex- Something to think about is that he's almost the same cost as another Incubi. Murderous assault doesn't really seem that good to me as you won't be fighting to many ICs with these guys as they are a hammer unit. If you do decide to take a Klavex then it's a must that you give him the onslaught ability. Although it may cost as much as another Incubi, I think on average it will do far more then 3 attacks (really depending on the squad size). Also remember that like our weaker Eldar cousins Phoenix Lords the power is also granted to any ICs that join the squad so your Archon gets better with this power as well. Demi klaves are to many points to me as again another guy will do better then killing marines with 3s and if you roll 6s then you get more attacks anyway so who cares if you wound better with it. The blood stone on the other hand is great as it can allow you to drop a decent amount of guys before you go in (as we lost our splinter pistols on them now). It doesn't say one shot only for it so you can do it every time you go in. Another great thing about it is that it can kill enough Marines to allow you a dual charge as the original target will require far less attacks to kill them then before. All this for less then half a Incubi? Yes please.

Squad size- The biggest thing to talk bout here with these guys is squad size. At first glance most people are going to want to go Archon, 8 Incubi, 1 Klavex, with both powers. WRONG! The only reason you would want a unit like that is if you know the Emperor is going to be on the field and because that never happens then lets see what else we can do with them. Best builds will be as follows.

1 Archon (any gear of your choice but NEEDS the Phantasm grenade launcher)
5 Incubi
1 Raider

Or

6 Incubi
1 Klavex (murderous onslaught)
1 Homunculus (any CC gear)
1 Raider

These units will kill most things in the game with a single charge and isn’t a crazy point sink to boot. Only bad part about the latter of the two units is the fact they don’t have grenades but FnP should help you with that when the time comes to charge through cover. Yes, sometimes what you charge wont die like lemmings pointed towards a cliff but if you but to many points into these guys will fail you big time. In Ork tongue we call this being "to killy". If you don’t trust me then ask Khorne players what it feels like when they kill everything on the charge and are staring at every gun barrel the enemy has to offer.


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Grotesques

So GW thought the old ones just weren’t transformed enough so why not redo them completely! While this was a cool thought, I don’t know if they really hit it on the head when they tried. For all intents they are fast Ogryn with out grenades and when you take into account that you have to have a IC in the unit at all times to baby sit so they don’t kill themselves that only leaves room for 4 of them in a raider. On top of all that if the IC isn’t a Archon with Phantasm grenade launcher then the unit will lose out on that fast INT they had to begin with. Being some resilient to start with is a and the fact that they can have a liquefier and a Sarg with a flesh gauntlet is nice though. Here’s some common builds.

10 Grotesques, liquefier, aberration w/ flesh gauntlet
1 Archon (any gear of your choice but NEEDS the Phantasm grenade launcher)

(out of a Webaway portal)

Or

1 Raider
4 Grotesques, liquefier, aberration w/ flesh gauntlet
1 Archon (any gear of your choice but NEEDS the Phantasm grenade launcher)


Important notes:
As said before these guys just didn’t get as good as what I feel they could have been. With no power weapons they fail to really be horrifying and the fact that they don’t have fleet in a fast army really brings them down. To me they suffer like flash gitz in the Ork book, being to over priced for what they do in a under cost book.

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Wracks

Maybe after GW got done with the last entry I’m sure they decided that people would be mad they couldn’t use their old models that they had for grotesques. So what better to do then make them CC monsters! Common builds:

8 wracks, 1 liquidfier gun, 1 Acothlyst with Agonizer
1 homunculus (any CC layout)
1 Raider
Only reason that you want the Pain Master in the unit is to give them FC so that they can re roll to wound against MEQs. Problem being they have no grenades. That being said a Archon with a Phantasm grenade launcher sounds good with them so you can get the token real fast!

Important note: As said above they have no grenades so that can be a major set back. They fact that you can have 2 liquefiers and a Agonizer in the unit is incredible. Add that to the fact that you can take them as troops with the Pain Master in there and I don’t see why a unit of these wouldn’t be fielded!

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Mandrakes

All I hear is people going on and on about these guys and how sad they are that they weren’t as good as what they wanted. The sad part is that they are, but just not in the sense that you would think. Looking at stats, if appears very obvious that these guys are CC gurus. The fact the Serge can’t take a cool weapon and they don’t have rending makes you want to turn your head…. DON’T! This units main ability is to, believe it or not, be a shooting unit. Infiltrate them around 13” ahead of your battle line and have a Homunculus near by in a raider. First turn drive him up and join the unit. When the shooting phase comes around laugh as you throw 20 STR 4 pinning rounds at the enemy and if your really lucky they will be useless next turn. The fact that these things (being neither a DE or a monster really) have BS 4 further proves the point. On top of it all when they get shot back they have a 3++ save to shooting AND FnP from the Hammie. After you let all those shots out you can drop a Webway Portal with the Hammie and you are in great position to watch all the rest of your army come screaming on to the table. Once they get charged you will see where the CC greatness comes in for them. 20 STR4 INT5 attacks will knock most MEQs off their high horse. Typical unit:

10 Mandrakes
1 homunculus, hex rifle, Webway portal

Important note: With no grenades this unit can’t really do anything in the charging department. Remember That not only charging into but through cover makes you swing last unless you have grenades. Again if you take a Archon with the Phantasm grenade launcher if you want to make them charge happy, but then you lose out on that great shooting attack right off the bat.

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True born

So being grown in a tank isn’t good enough for all DE, and that’s where these guys come into play. Another way to think of them is a poor mans stern guard. With another attack then the average warrior and access to many different weapons. I see two major builds (and 1 build I will see a lot) being used by people. Builds being:

Rain makers=
10 trueborn with shard carbines
1 Raider, night shields

Very good harass unit that can really lay some fire into anything that has a wound profile.

Tank hunter=
5 trueborn, 4 blasters
1 venom, 2 splinter cannons

These guys will destroy most tanks in one volley. No need to get into to much with these guys.

Template Time=
10 trueborn, 4 shredders
1 raider, splinter racks

I just love the idea of dropping 4 STR 6 blast on people and watching them fail ha ha. I will say that my unit can do a lot or a little depending on how I do with the scatter, but hey it’s fun.


Important notes: While these guys are the “stern guard” of the DE they don’t have the staying power that their father unit does. Be warned that if this squads transport goes down the enemy will kill them FAST. I’m not a huge fan of the latter of the two units but I know people love their “suicide units” so I made sure to include them.


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Harlequins

The jokesters of the laughing God have finally come to our book. Bad part of these guys is that to be effective they have to have a shadow seer and the kiss upgrade. This makes them dead on the same points as a Incubi and can’t take a transport. On the up side they are hard to shoot and if they make it there they can do the same if not better to hordes that Incubi do. Really not a OMG unit but not bad either.

Reg troop=
9 Harlequins, 9 kisses
1 shadow seer

A lot of attacks and praying in cover to get you when you get close.

Important note: This units not really new to the game and has been discussed else where. Best tactic I see is as a screening unit for your foot units, thus giving then a 4++ save. Need help here as I’ve never really used them ha ha.

great work so far!

Your 'guide' is badly formatted and painful to read.
You make sweeping statments about what is a 'common' build and what is a best choice.
You make mention to many contributers, yet the whole article only mentions "I".
And what's more all this has been constructed for a codex that is not even released yet.

I do not like it to be honest.

Pretty good for a WIP - keep it coming! Def giving me some interesting ideas

ChrisCP wrote:Your 'guide' is badly formatted and painful to read.
You make sweeping statments about what is a 'common' build and what is a best choice.
You make mention to many contributers, yet the whole article only mentions "I".
And what's more all this has been constructed for a codex that is not even released yet.

I do not like it to be honest.

Honestly it's not bad at all.

The syntax is incredibly poor, but I don't expect everyone to be Charles Dickens on a forum. For what it is, I can comprehend 99% of what he's trying to say.

Also, the Codex is common knowledge at this point. Some people even know where to find a complete transcribed codex with all the rules. You don't need exact point values on everything to devise general strategies for wargear, etc. Heck, some people even *have* the real codex at home.

If I had any suggestions, I'd try and find a volunteer Editor to fix it up a bit, and maybe take out the jokes. I learned a lot while reading it, and I've been making lists based on the new Codex for the past week.

ChrisCP wrote:Your 'guide' is badly formatted and painful to read.
You make sweeping statments about what is a 'common' build and what is a best choice.
You make mention to many contributers, yet the whole article only mentions "I".
And what's more all this has been constructed for a codex that is not even released yet.

I do not like it to be honest.

My thoughts exactly.

@OP: You should make clear in your Archon section that, Clone field and Shadow field may not be fielded together. While I do commend you on your effort, but you don't really offer strategy, you offer builds for units which is ok and some of them even then aren't really that great, but you don't really mention how you would use this unit and that. I really hope you revise this in the future, maybe ask some of the old DE players such as Thor(66?).

As part of an effort to decrease speculation and improve quality, I am locking discussion of the new DE here in 40k Tactics until day of release.

OP, you may PM me then and I will unlock your thread.

+++Thank you for your compliance. The Machine Spirit is appeased.+++

Excellent article !!

Updated it with new info... still in the process of Editing but it takes time as new info is added none stop!

theblessing8386 wrote:To over come this zoom a Raider with a TGL in the middle of their army and watch even the most resolute casters fail some test. For best effect I would make sure you have at least two raiders with TGLs to make this thing more effective then once per game.

Just a question. Spanish version doesn't allow to stack the -1Ld from several Torment Grenade Launchers. Is the same in the English version?
Thanks

Yeah, you can't stack with things like that. I think it also says it in the BRB some where but I could be wrong.

So we've been throwing around different builds and playtesting them at our FLGS, but cannot ever beat guard. I'm talking full-mech, cookie-cutter IG with a crap ton of vets in chimeras, hydras, couple vendettas, artillery, reserve hq, battle psykers, and sometimes a fat infantry blob surrounding his tanks, etc. In the hands of a good player.

A BOLS article seemed to reach the same conclusion: paper vehicles don't cut it in 5th.

Its just too much shooting at uber fragile units. Hell, if your close enough to charge, then the chimera can take down ur vehicle, while the crew shreds another, or rapid fires your crew... Sit back and lance doesn't work as they have way more damaging shots. Turbo forward in their face doesn't either, they still leaf-blower you off the board and battle psyker your scariest unit. We've tried mass lance, wyches, harlies, vect/baron lists, haemonculi lists, mass heat-lances, webway, etc. So what if you pop a few vehciles? The crew still kills you, and there is splenty more spam/redundency in the army.

Any ideas on how the ultimate glass cannon can hope to beat the Leaf-blower? Or even BA/SW Razor Spam for that matter. In fact BA razor spam can be worse, not only are your vehicles destroyed, but now you have to chase vehicles that are just as fast as yours (when shooting).

Are you taking Nightshields? It might give you a chance of surviving a longer range shootout, you won't dodge all the heavy weapon fire but you can avoid multi laser and disembarked squads return fire.

Razorspam would probably be easier to beat than Guard, there is less firepower on the table usually and the lower number of infantry actually make it easier to finish them off if you can open up the transports (the numbers of Guard can actually take longer to kill off).

Best way to beat guard would be to keep all the army in reserve and do as follows.

Hammie webway with a raider and 9 wracks

first turn go 12", get out with in 2" and drop portal.

Go to ground when shot and then use a lot of CC squads that can move with good speed (wyches with haywire, beast masters, hellions, reavers, and Talos).

Charge as much as you can to kill the tanks.

Other then that Mech guard is one of the best armies in the game, so not surprised that most DE armies have trouble with it. The above way is in NO way the best but it's the best I can think of as of now.


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Powerguy wrote:Are you taking Nightshields? It might give you a chance of surviving a longer range shootout, you won't dodge all the heavy weapon fire but you can avoid multi laser and disembarked squads return fire.

Razorspam would probably be easier to beat than Guard, there is less firepower on the table usually and the lower number of infantry actually make it easier to finish them off if you can open up the transports (the numbers of Guard can actually take longer to kill off).

Oh and I watched a BA Razor spam die before my eyes when this one guy played the other day. DE have SO many anti tank weapons. It really depends on the list brought to fight them though. Some people think 16 DLs are necessity, and while I don't, it does make short work out of all tank armies.

I cannot find a reliable way to beat em.

So you blow the vehicle up with haywires (best case) then the crew just rapid fires you to death.

Nightshields may lessen the fire a bit, but do nothing to lascannons/missle launchers. If I'm in range, he's well in range.

Also, I've noticed there is nothing in the codex that can beat a dread in hth.

The Talos will murder a dread any day.

Also, I've noticed there is nothing in the codex that can beat a dread in hth.

Wyches with shardnet and haywire could work in a pinch but isn't ideal.

Yes, and even then, they would need haywire grenades, and "beat" is a bit of a stretch. Archon high on soultrap may do it, especially with a clone field, but that means that he has to have killed a IC or two by then, no mean feat, even finding 2 MC or ICs in a list (not hard against BA, harr!)

When all the space marine players show up with their DE, and fail to comprehend what a 5+ save and 3 toughness means I will laugh.

DE look competitive, but people forget that if they get shot at with anything they die.

The best plan I've seen against guard is described here:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/324561.page

wych multicharging with some shooting support. What balance of wychs and shooting still have to be worked out...

Smitty0305 wrote:When all the space marine players show up with their DE, and fail to comprehend what a 5+ save and 3 toughness means I will laugh.

DE look competitive, but people forget that if they get shot at with anything they die.

agreed by far. People keep trying to play them like marines from what I'm seeing and they just get butchered lol, thus this guide was made.

Where Drazhar is the character assassin, Lelith assassinates whole units. Of marines. In one turn.

Lelith averages 2.3958 MEQ kills per turn :(

"Lelith Hespherax

Where Drazhar is the character assassin, Lelith assassinates whole units. Of marines. In one turn. "

Bad player is bad.

Don't quit your day job.

Best way to beat guard would be to keep all the army in reserve and do as follows.

Hammie webway with a raider and 9 wracks

first turn go 12", get out with in 2" and drop portal.

Go to ground when shot and then use a lot of CC squads that can move with good speed (wyches with haywire, beast masters, hellions, reavers, and Talos).

Charge as much as you can to kill the tanks.


Go to ground when shot and then use a lot of CC squads that can move with good speed (wyches with haywire, beast masters, hellions, reavers, and Talos).

Charge as much as you can to kill the tanks.

I think this is actually a fairly terrible idea, like ninja tau. So you have one transport on the table, with TLoS, against all the firepower a guard army can drop on you? What happens if you go 2nd? And now your army is in reserve, potentially arriving piecemeal (probably, since you have no reserve control mechanisms).

CurrentlyUnknown wrote:

Best way to beat guard would be to keep all the army in reserve and do as follows.

Hammie webway with a raider and 9 wracks

first turn go 12", get out with in 2" and drop portal.

Go to ground when shot and then use a lot of CC squads that can move with good speed (wyches with haywire, beast masters, hellions, reavers, and Talos).

Charge as much as you can to kill the tanks.


Go to ground when shot and then use a lot of CC squads that can move with good speed (wyches with haywire, beast masters, hellions, reavers, and Talos).

Charge as much as you can to kill the tanks.

I think this is actually a fairly terrible idea, like ninja tau. So you have one transport on the table, with TLoS, against all the firepower a guard army can drop on you? What happens if you go 2nd? And now your army is in reserve, potentially arriving piecemeal (probably, since you have no reserve control mechanisms).

won 4 games with it so........


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Defiler wrote:"Lelith Hespherax

Where Drazhar is the character assassin, Lelith assassinates whole units. Of marines. In one turn. "

Bad player is bad.

Don't quit your day job.

He went when she gains FC.

A few thoughts.

1. This is more of a unit appraisal guide than a strategy guide. A common theme for unit appraisal guides is to give them a rating: uncompetitive, poor, fair, good, competitive, which you article would benefit from.

2. I don't think you're being critical enough of quite a few things in the codex. If a unit doesnt' belong in a themed, competitive list....don't be afraid to say so.

3. I'm iin a hotel on business travel this week, and forgot to bring my codex with me for evening reading, but having read through it, I can say this: The codex revolves around the ability to show other armies how MSU armies can beat face. I ran a Wych cult all this year, went 32-1 on the tournament circuit, getting in my last hurrah last weekend in the 5th tournament of the Atlanta Circuit - took first, giving me three tournament wins out of 5 tournaments....won a golden ticket with my DE...the key to my success was two things:
A.) Proliferation of Units. I had 10 raiders on the field, 3 disintegrator ravagers, Lelith, units of 5 wyches as agonizer delivery systems with haywire grenades...a total 13 dark lances. Not anywhere near the 21-27 lances you see in kabal lists, but I was close combat oriented because my shooting is absolutely legendary for how badly I roll doing it.
B.) Duality of purpose. My wyches could tarpit anything they needed in close combat, and with multiple units eventually kill things from agonizer hits, but they also had haywire grenades for anti-tank duty. And two blasters to soften up the tank / unit they were planning to assault. Against some armies, I was able to boat my raiders around 6" per turn and drop out blaster shots without exposing my wyches to danger; all depending on how much anti-tank was on the field to threaten my wyches with an exploding raider.

4. Those principles have, if anything, been reinforced in the new codex. It seems like all the lists over in the army list section have vehicles with Nightshields and Flickerfields. Flickerfields are 15 points? I don't know how much Nightshields are in the new codex, but they were 15/20 for raiders/ravagers respectively in the old codex - every nightshield taken on a vehicle means less killing power. The same holds true for the new codex. Every extra ablative wound stacked onto a model; every defensive or extra piece of wargear on a vehicle mean to prolong its survivability is a mark against your killing potential. The phrase, "The best defense is a good offense" is best exemplified with the DE codex. The more you kill, the less the enemy can hurt you with. Would you rather have a 5+ invulnerable save on your raiders, or another raider full of units that probably means the enemy has one less tank to shoot you with?

5. For a strategy guide, you should focus on synegy, unit complementation, fusion, and theme. The wych cult I used and abused people with still exists if I want it to, albeit modified for a new codex. Will I run it? Probably not. Lelith was awesome for four reasons: She had a 2++, could choose her drugs, had an agonizer that reliably wounded on a 4+, and had a retinue - she couldn't be singled out in close combat. Now, she has no 2++, has no retinue, has no drugs, and has no agonizer. I don't trust my dice rolling enough to consistently look for 5+ to wound T4 models; I had a hard enough time getting in wounds with her needing a 4+, but she had the suvivability with her retinue and shadowfield to last through multiple rounds of combat to try getting statistical probability to even out. She has none of that now, and I'll probably never field her again. However, there are NEW synergies, and NEW themes possible in this codex, whereas the old codex allowed simply for wych cult or kabal.

As it stands, you've pretty much labeled almost everything in the codex as usable....but gathering an assortment of those units that you deem worthy together into a list is still a mish-mash of units waiting to get beaten up on. My ork strategy advice is always to pick a theme, and I've named the various potentials elsewhere. Kan-walls, battlewagon spam, Tonka-Time, Green Tide, Green Flanks, etc.

Why not do the same with Dark Eldar? Come up with your various thoughts on different army themes that would work well together. I know what I'll be running for DE this year, and its not something I'd care to face with any army that I play, even if I were to tool it up just to play them. I don't have a name for it yet though, and for what its worth, I haven't used it yet on the table, so I prefer to keep my thoughts to myself while I lack demonstrable experience (and wins) to platform my advice from.

Of course, Pepper has valid points.
Wyches lost their duality of purpose, at least a bit, but they can get haywires.
Every new incarnation of a codex shifts the mode of successful play into a different direction.

Wyches now kinda bad as MSU, because their weapons now come 1 for each five. But this is my imho)
ps. any one tested new DE with MSU on venoms instead of raiders and with VRB instead of ravagers?