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Grrrrrrrrreetings!

So, I've been browsing through my Dark Eldar codex, and I've gotten reached the point where I'm messing around with Heavy Support options, outside of just having three Ravagers. Looking into the two fliers, they actually seem quite interesting, though I can't see myself fielding more than one. Specifically, the Voidraven Bomber caught my eye first: the sexy Void Lances in particular. However, I'm caught between which of the two fliers to really delve into.

Razorwings only have two Dark Lances and 10 armour all around, but come equipped with four Monoscythe missiles base, and can be upgraded with a twin-linked Splinter Cannon (not that that this really interests me, but it's something).

Voidravens make up for only two lance weapons by having those sexy Void Lances (Strength 9 AP2 Lance weapons), have 11 front and side armour, comes equipped with a void mine from the get go, and has exclusive access to Implosion Missiles. However, they need to purchase any missiles they may want to field as they don't come with any base missiles, and I'm not entirely clear on how effective the Void Mine would be due to the percieved unreliability of D6 scatter (with no BS subtraction).

Missile options also affect this decision. While the Voidraven has a total of four missile choices compared to the Razorwing's three (including the missile type the Razorwing automatically comes with), the Razorwing can upgrade its missiles for half the cost of the Voidraven's missile purchases. In other words, I can equip the Razorwing (or more specifically, replace it's four monosythe missiles) with four Necrotoxin missiles for the same cost to equip the Voidraven with two Necrotoxin missiles. At the same time, I'm uncertain how much of an upgrade Monoscythe to Necrotoxin would be. It's effectively moving from wounding a lot of stuff on 3+ and others on 2+, to wounding everything on 2+. Does this justify the cost? The stats for Implosion missiles are great, though I'm put off by the smaller blast template, plus the hefty price for a single-use item. (Just to extrapolate, I'm coming into Dark Eldar from Orks, so my perception of single small blast templates is admittedly skewed )

Both vehicles cost the same, and I'd be naturally inclined to give both of them Nightfields and Flickerfields. The price difference falls down to missile choices.

SO! I'm curious as to the communities perceptions and experiences with either of these vehicles of war, both the positive and negative!

Importantly, though, I'm specifically investigating the comparison between these two vehicles - I'm fully aware that either choice competes with Ravagers for Heavy Support choices, and I know many players would be quite emphatic that I should just use Ravagers and ignore the fliers (or any other Heavy Support choice) - but I'm not interested! This is purely about the Razorwing versus the Voidraven!

I'm also not really bothered by cold and callous competitive environments. Though I'm just as interested to hear viewpoints of those who work towards such army builds, I'm quite happy just to hear general thoughts and experiences of casual players, anyone who's tried it out, or (for those who've not played with/fought against these vehicles) what people think based on the vehicle stats or what I've said above.

Equipping the Voidraven turns it into a huge point sink which will rarely make up its points before it is destroyed. Remember it is only AV11, ergo it will probs die soon, if your opponent has any sense of target priority, and seeing 200+ points of Bomber crash first turn is not a pretty thing. I would recommend the Razorwing all the way.

As discussed in the DE Tactica - I'm a big proponent of the Razorwing and not a big fan of the Voidraven.

I would consider...what do I want this vehicle to do? Destroy elite infantry targets? Then take the Razorwing swap out for the dissentegrators, maybe upgrade 2 missiles and throw a flickerfield on there and leave it at that 165 max. Take out vehicles? Then I take the Voidraven and just add a flickerfield. Keep it cheap. I would not buy missiles for a Voidraven. I have tried them all, even the implosion (horrible failure except the time I hit those Khorne champ temis with claws that just deep striked) and I found myself either shooting a vehicle and hoping I could use my missles next turn. Or shooting infantry, and leaving a potetial transport or tank unharmed.
Personally if you have several squads with lances (Scourges, Trueborn, Warriors) then take the Razorwing and mop up hoards or elite (high sv, wound, or toughness) infantry.
If you need lances go with the Voidraven as anything not called a BT LR Crusader with Blessed Hull or a Monolith will be taken care of pretty easily.

I would go with the Voidraven since it can help you crack open that AV14 like a LR as you have a 50/50 shot at penetrating and a 67% shot of doing something! The remainder of your force can take down infantry (Venoms with 2 Cannons here!)

there is almost no benefit in upgrading monoscythe to necrotoxin.

against toughness 4 or lower which will be the vast majority of anti infantry targets you are still wounding on a 2+ with monoscythe missiles. You pretty much just gain pinning, and the ability to wound toughness 5+ easier. In a tournament setting you are really just gaining pinning on units most of the time. That said if you were say a razorwing i would mix monoscythe and necrotoxin so you can force a pinning test.

TBH I think the voidraven does fill a role, but its an odd one. Its an elite tank hunter, im talking monoliths, and silly LR variants. Haywire grenades sadly can usually do just as good or better but they have to get close. Considering its more anti tank than even a ravager IMHO I either take no missiles or the shatterfield ones, since they are str 7. yes they are ap - but I like getting rolls on a chart better than not getting rolls and a few decent rolls at -1 are better than less rolls at no penalty from say a str 6 monoscythe. I usually only do this if I expect a lot of transports in the meta game

Implosion missiles for myself have only been worthwhile in large points games due to the appearance of bloated deathstar units, and the increased saturation of models on the board turns scattering into not being so bad.