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Im struggling to make a list I like, purely because I think every model they have is fething awesome. I am almost spoilt for choice.

I mean other than man drakes are there any other units the codex which is pretty meh?

Parasite Engine is mostly useless I hear, but some people swear they're best when paired with a Talos (the other unit people feel meh about last I heard).

Hellions aren't so good in a meta that specializes in removing cover saves and some people feel that Scourges are just too pricy for what they bring.

Grotesques can be hit or miss, depending if you stick an Archon with them (grenades mostly, but they're a good tough unit to protect him too). Though some prefer Incubi with their Archons instead.

Lastly Bloodbrides are pretty much a no-go I hear, while 5 Wyches in a Venom with Haywire is a great anti-tank unit.

Or, you can be that guy and go BEAST MODE!

5 Beastpack Masters Dudes Guys with the Chains and Things
20 Khymera
2 Razorwing
Baron

And ally in a Farseer or two. Aim for fortune. Proceed to faceroll.

Note: This army will not make friends.

To be honest, mandrakes are about the only poor unit in the book.

Everything else has a use to some degree.
All depends what you want from the army though as some options will benefit you alot more than others.

Venoms, Raiders, Ravagers, and Razorwing Jetfighters.

Mix them up as you see fit and enjoy. That's also a very popular list and it plays well to the background of the Dark Eldar. If anyone is supposed to be the kings of alpha striking, it's DE with their innate hit and run tactics.

Just know that a war of attrition means you're getting slaughtered.

 TheKbob wrote:
Or, you can be that guy and go BEAST MODE!

5 Beastpack Masters Dudes Guys with the Chains and Things
20 Khymera
2 Razorwing
Baron

And ally in a Farseer or two. Aim for fortune. Proceed to faceroll.

Note: This army will not make friends.

That looks really fun. I enjoy the odd faceroll every now and then.

Are beast packs a kind of must at higher level?

Also would using a squad of 4 incubi with a archon be a bad use of points?

edit - ok, this got a lil large and wall o' texty quite fast, but stick with it, I've been playing DE since 2001, so I like to think it'll help. xD

OK, as a general rule:
Mandrakes are bad.
As awesome as they look, they're a shooting unit that needs to kill an entire unit in CC -or- not infiltrate and hang back with a Haemonculi, to be able to shoot.
Sadly, what it takes to make them 'ok', is just not worth it.

Cronos Parasite Engines, ironicly, are effectively completely useless in a Coven list better of taking another Talos.
Does alright in standard armies, and slightly better in Wych Cult lists.
But at the end of the day, it's more reliable to bring Haemonculi, or just murder things for the points they are vs what they actually do.

Court of the Archon is fun, but very expensive for what it does. (And obscenely expensive to buy irl)
Though the ability to give them a Tantalus as a Dedicated Transport is hilarious.

Otherwise, everything is pretty decent.

The Baron, Archons, Haemonculi, Trueborn, Wracks, Warriors, Wyches, Beastmasters, Hellions, Reavers, Ravagers, Razorwings, Voidravens, Venoms and Raiders are the most commonly used and 'best' units.

Honourable mention to Harlequins for their use in some crazy Eldar + Dark Eldar combo lists, but it keeps changing as to which codex you take the Harlequins from (Eldar, or Dark)

But otherwise, everything else (apart from the above Mandrakes, Cronos Engines and Court of the Archon) are definately very usable and will hold their own nicely).


Generally, for DE it's a case of, if you want to take one of it, you want to take 2+ of it.
MSU and redundancy is key.

Howenver DO NOT load up on gear.
i.e. - your Haemonculi should not cost more than 65pts.
Your Raiders shouldn't be more than 80.
Venoms are 65pts (Venoms + extra cannon).
Ravagers should be no more than 115.
Razorwings: no more than 1 upgrade (usually flickerfield).
and so on.

Normally there's only 1-2 upgrades, if any worth taking on a unit, that the points wouldn't be worth more just putting more models on the ground.

Never take a Power Weapon, it's not worth it.
If your taking a Huskblade, seriously reconsider. For 5pts a Venom Blade will almost always net you more wounds. And that bonus 30pts will net you half a vehicle, 3-4 more infantry, 1/3 a Heavy Support option, etc.
If you must take an upgrade that isn't the Venom Blade (and why wouldn't you - 2+ to wound, often rerolling 1's), I recomend an Agoniser.

Darklances and Blasters are good, but so are Disintegrator Cannons. Having 2-3 in the army is generally well worth the sacrifice of those Lances.


We epitomise Glass Cannon, and so hit hard but can't take any punishment and will basically fold to anything.
You need to be driven and push hard.
Don't be reckless, but we can't afford to be cautious or play the long game.


And lastly:
Basically every unit CAN be good at everything.
But don't TRY to make it good at everything.
Give it a role, and stick to it.

i.e. - this squad is Anti Tank.
This squad is Anti-Infantry.
This squad is Elite Infantry (termis and such) Killers.
This squad is Marine Killers.

This will make them cheap.
And for the cost of 1 kitted-out-to-be-good-at-everything or overloaded unit, you get 2 minimalist focused ones.

Hope this helps.

Urien (if you're taking him so you can buff Grotesques) can buff Mandrakes, but that is a rather specialized kind of build there.

Urien can only grant tokens to Wracks or Grotesques.

And even if he could, it ties into the cost to make them perform OK isn't worth it.
Those tokens would be FAR more useful somewhere else, such as Wyches, Wracks, Grotesques, Talos, Bikes~
And I think it has to happen before infiltrating, so the Mandrakes would have to deploy normally too....

 Ovion wrote:
Urien can only grant tokens to Wracks or Grotesques.

Teach me to rely on tacticas to learn the codex. They had said "units" not "Wracks and Grotesques".