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So a friend of mine thinks that the Tau codex is such a gift from god that DE are screwed trying to beat it. I'm going to prove him wrong. Because of the nature of this I think its fair that we tailor the list to fight the typical Tau army.

This is my 2k idea:

HQ

Haemononculus with Webway Portal (85)

Haemononculus (50)

Troops

5x Kabalite Warriors in a Venom with additional Splinter Cannon. (110)

5x Kabalite Warriors in a Venom with additional Splinter Cannon. (110)

5x Kabalite Warriors in a Venom with additional Splinter Cannon. (110)

5x Kabalite Warriors in a Venom with additional Splinter Cannon. (110)

Fast Attack

9x Reaver Jetbikes, 3x Cluster Caltrops, 2x Heatlance (282)

Scourges x6, 2x Splinter Cannon (152)

Scourges x6, 2x Splinter Cannon (152)

Heavy Support

Ravager with Dark Lances (105)

Ravager with Dark Lances (105)

Ravager with Dark Lances (105)

Razorwing Jet Fighter with mono-scythe missiles, dark lances (145)

Razorwing Jet Fighter with mono-scythe missiles, dark lances (145)

Razorwing Jet Fighter with mono-scythe missiles, dark lances (145)

Fortifications

Aegis Defense Line with Comms (75)

There's about 11 points left that I don't know how to spend.

Bearing in mind his ability to strip cover saves, all my skimmers are cheap so each loss isn't too painful. Scourges serve as Venom substitutes and bodyguards for the Haemies, who would otherwise get prioritized if they were in Venoms. In addition, they're harder to kill than Venoms and they can make use of the ADL, which will increase my chances of my reserves arriving when they need to.

The Reaver Jetbikes will enter from reserve, either by the Webway Portal or from the board edge, turboboosting on and using their bladevanes/caltrops to rip a unit to pieces, while messing up his target priority, forcing him to divide his firepower between shooty Venoms, Ravagers, Scourges and them. Razorwings will pieplate all of his Firewarriors and finish off any AT duties the Ravagers couldn't manage. The WP is also flexible in that it could serve to bring on my Ravagers so they have guaranteed chances of firing first.

I'll post a battle report once we've played.

I actually think that DEs are one of the few armies that can do some real damage to Taus... If you want to be effective, though, i strongly recomment Night Shields, you can severely hurt him reducing his weapons range by 6", this way you have superior mobility and superior range as well. They can cost a little, but vs Taus it's totally worth it. I would drop Scourges to find points for those, i don't see them as a good unitt vs Taus, too fragile.

Definitely get night shields and stay around 30" away from his Firewarriors. All those str5 guns are amazing at wrecking av10/11. I play Tau and love my pulse rifles...

Ouch thats a lot of Long Range weapons for a DE list. I'm not saying it couldn't beat Tau Lists but it will definately challenge them at the very least.

And I back up the night shields, Pulse Weapons are DE killers.

Before I even look at your list, think of facing tau as if you were playing orks. You need infiltrators or fast attack to really scare them in order to get the rest of your army up the field. Ork kommandos are great at this. Do the dark eldar have any choices like that? Deep striking?

If you exclusively play against tau, do this and get some distraction units. This strategy won't work against any other army apart from blob imperial guard. so if you don't actually play against Tau and this is hypothetical, dismiss everything I have said.

If you already have distrraction units and deep striking then grreat job, you are in the right mind zone.
Too many things for the tau to shoot at means that they will eventually make some mistake in who they target. Usually this mistake results in fear, so play psychological games.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Btw if you expect to have a firefight against tau then I am disappointed. Dark eldar excel at quick darting attacks against other armies to be a nuisance. Against Tau, this will simply destroy the poor fishies.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Actually looking on your list for the first time, you've done a good job dividing their fire. Also I back up the night shields. They allow you to have a firefight without completely getting tabled.

Scourges x6, 2x Splinter Cannon (152)

Why take those?
Take 2 more venom units instead and save 82 points in the process.
Failing that, throw 300 points into hellions.
I dont usually say that, but against tau they are pretty damn good.

Hellions suck against tau or at least mine and i'v seen my kroot walk through mandrake and wytch units like a wet paper bag. Keep your fire power focussed on units you really need to get rid of quickly then mop up the remains, thats what I do against tau. Just b carefull of our markerlights, no matter how fast a unit is if we pin 1 or more MLs on you you're gonna feel it.

Ork Marine wrote:
Before I even look at your list, think of facing tau as if you were playing orks. You need infiltrators or fast attack to really scare them in order to get the rest of your army up the field. Ork kommandos are great at this. Do the dark eldar have any choices like that? Deep striking?
Strongly disagree. "Scaring" your opponent is not a tactic that works. With nightshields your opponents pulse weapons will have nothing to shoot, so giving them a free turn one target is suicidal. Furthermore, dark eldar really don't need to worry about getting there, as all of those venoms and ravagers can just sit outside their range, and are quick enough anyway should you actually want to go somewhere.
If you exclusively play against tau, do this and get some distraction units. This strategy won't work against any other army apart from blob imperial guard. so if you don't actually play against Tau and this is hypothetical, dismiss everything I have said.
I would just dismiss it anyway
If you already have distrraction units and deep striking then grreat job, you are in the right mind zone.
Too many things for the tau to shoot at means that they will eventually make some mistake in who they target. Usually this mistake results in fear, so play psychological games.
"Psychological games" only work if your opponent is incredibly stupid or nine years old. You cannot rely on your opponent making mistakes in your strategy or list writing.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Btw if you expect to have a firefight against tau then I am disappointed. Dark eldar excel at quick darting attacks against other armies to be a nuisance. Against Tau, this will simply destroy the poor fishies.
Firefights work perfectly fine, just be sure to kill markerlights FIRST.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Actually looking on your list for the first time, you've done a good job dividing their fire. Also I back up the night shields. They allow you to have a firefight without completely getting tabled.

All in all, probably not the most helpful post I've seen, especially seeing as he posted most of it before actually reading the list.

Another alternative to scourges, MSU trueborn. 3 Trueborn w/ 2 S.C. Replacing one squad of scourges gets 3 of said squads. 36 shots, and if they got shot at no big deal really, a units shots are essentially wasted. I've been using them to great avail as of late, should be equally useful.

Splinter cannons on scourges just aren't worth it. You only get one extra shot if you move, haywire or heat lance would be best or don't take them at all and spend points on something else.
Night shields are great as has already been said.
You should always take flickerfields on the razorwings so you don't have to jink.
Instead of the scourges how about more warriors in raiders, giving you somewhere to put your heamonculus and gives you more poison and dl's