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Hey all, I'm thinking about picking up a squad of Dark Reapers for my 'aspect-heavy' army. Just wanted to ask how well have they performed for you in the past and what kind of wargear (if any) that you would give the Exarch.

Thanks in advance guy

Dark Reapers look nice on paper, but so far they've been disappointing for me in 5th and 6th edition.

The main downsides:
* stationary
* need unobstructed line of sight otherwise their AP3 is a bit wasted
* expensive point-wise
* small squad, dies easily

I usually went with a plain exarch to save points or took a missile launcher with fast shot to snipe at transports/tanks.

Lately I've been also using it that way with an icarus lascannon and aegis defense line in bigger battles.

It depends on what your army needs.

Want more anti infantry? Get an exarch with crack shot+tempest launcher and the squad will vaporize anything but TEQ.

Anti tank? Exarch w/EML+fast shot means death to armor.

Either way, Reapers cost through the nose on points, and live and die by their deployment. If you can, take them in the same list as eldrad to ensure re deployment if you need.

I was thinking to take 2 squads, at either end of the deployment zone.
With 6th's Focused Fire, anyone who gets left out of cover gets taken out.

But, they are just too expensive.
Maybe put them in a Falcon with a Farseer or a jumppack Autarch, and snap fire the turn they dissembark.

2 Squads could leave you short on AT and on points as the Eldar codex shows it's age with a limited degree of non-Heavy AT fire.

1 on the other hand holed up somewhere defensible can make 3+ save troops weep. The Exarch's Tempest Launcher is the beating heart of the squad and with Crack Shot they will be laying down blast templates that kill 75% of all MEQ's hit, cover be damned. Get them in a bastion, give them a fortune save or some other method of toughening them up and they are a bargain.

They are overkill against light infantry like Orks or Gaunts and don't have enough bite for TEQ's but they also have enough shots/strength to put some hurt on MC's as well as the various flavours of Power Armour.

Now, folks will no doubt say the Scatter Laser Warwalker squad is superior, and against most targets that is true. That said they are cool and marines are their natural prey so depending where you fall on the meta/comp vs. casual/list tailoring scales you may well get some milage out of them, i certainly have over the years.

Put them inside a Bastion.

The bastion costs less than the Wave Serpent, 14 AV, 3 Fire points from which 2 guys can shoot per fire points so the entire squad can fire.

Cannot be targeted back directly

Any glancing shot on the bastion results in an AP - wound which can be saved on a 3+ (not bad actually).

Yes AV 14 can be destroyed but most of the time it requires melta which assumes the troops are close by.

48" range with AP3 should keep infantry at bay.

I love my dark reapers. I would only have one squad of them, and like others have said it depends on what you are getting them for. My views of the Eldar codex and the aspect warriors is they each do something really well (this has changed in 6th with some of the rules) but we aren't going to delve down that path. But what I mean is they meant for one purpose. Dark Reapers are MEQ killers. You can throw a EML on them but that I think is dividing their purpose. Give the exarch his crazy blast template ap3 missile launcher (I think it is called the tempest launcher) and fast shot and crack shot, and have him and 4 of his buddies sit back and destroy MEQ.

I love em just for the f off meq factor. keep aem in the back and protected from assaulty stuff and just pick off power armor but yea if not fighting meq or necrons the ap3 you pay for is not really worth it

Dark reapers definetly aren't the best heavy support choise out there I can say that. But that doesen't deny the fact that they just are so badass with their reaper launchers and all that "death to everything in our way" attitude.
In my experience they have worked fairly decent in friendly games, especially against 'nids (killing a trygon on a single shooting phase with guide + doom combo).
If you like them, give them a go.

Bad math coming:

A 5 Man Reaper squad with NO upgrades shooting at MEQ in cover will kill on average 2.96, and will cost 160 if memory is correct.

3 War Walkers with Scatter Lasers will kill 3.333 for 180 points.

Of course the Reapers can get an Exarch with a different gun and Powers, and he will kill more models. But the cost of the unit goes up as well.

Now, when shooting at GEQ or worst, the Reapers kill the same amount of models in cover, but the War Walkers kills 6.666, so they double their kills. And will shooting TEQ, the War Walkers still deal double the number of wounds.

Also keep in mind that War Walkers have less range, but they have mobility, so the effect difference in range is only 6".

So if I know I will be facing MEQ with minimal cover, I would go with Reapers. In an all comers list I would choose War Walkers.