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The Duke is a Succubus and a Archon Mixed. Best of both worlds with extra icing on it for a reasonable price.

Sadly both the Succubus and the Archon aren't that good on wych cult fast incersion lists when you have Haemonculus to choose from.

The Duke get the Boot.

The Duke is a Succubus and a Archon Mixed. Best of both worlds with extra icing on it for a reasonable price.

Sadly both the Succubus and the Archon aren't that good on wych cult fast incersion lists when you have Haemonculus to choose from.

The Duke get the Boot.

I've used him a few times in the list I posted on page one. He seemed pretty good. Put him with a unit of normal Warriors in a Raider with splinter racks and average 10 wounds on anything from the splinter rifles alone. Not bad at all. The two combat drug rolls is undervalued.

1. 3d6 run is the worst drug roll. Not completely useless, but certainly not amazing.
2. +1 WS can be solid or very wasted. Against MEQs you have a decent bonus. Against hoards of Tyranids or Guardsmen, not so much.
3. +1 Strength is almost always good.
4. Re-roll wounds is arguably the best roll. I would take this every time.
5. +1 attack is always welcome.
6. +1 pain token is so-so. A good list starts a Haemonculus with Wytches. Even if they start with 2, the second the Haemonculus splits off, they have only one.

Overall, the best three are 3,4, and 5. Chances are that with two rolls, a player will have a choice of one of these.

Finally, the Duke is solid enough in close combat. He can split off the Warriors and attack a unit that has been wounded like a MC or IC if he gets the chance.

In a list packed with Combat Drugs (which, actually, wouldn't stray too far from Dash's template in the original post at 2k points since Wyches will undoubtedly make up the majority of the army), would you rather automatically have FNP on 3 of your units (150pts = 3 Haemonculi) or re-roll drugs for a bunch of abilities that are probably not as strong as FNP when it comes down to it (aside from rolling a "6" and getting a pain token for each CG unit)?

Powerguy wrote:Deep Striking is situational, but certainly not pointless. You obviously would never Deep Strike Ravagers, but stuff like Blaster Trueborn can make very effective use of it. Retrofire Jets are totally inferior to the Low Orbit Raid rule because they don't allow you to disembark (and therefore shoot) on the turn you arrive. Considering that DE will often have to make use of reserves if they want to have a chance against gunlines when going second, being able to turn up and blaster something almost anywhere on the table is imo definitely worthwhile. In similar situations it can even be worth Deep Striking assault units like Wyches (although I would never Deep Strike more than a couple in case you run out of room to land), if the enemy isn't going to come to you then dropping in his half of the table and firing can often be more helpful than moving flat out into his face and hoping for the best. Both get you within assault range for next turn and out of your opponents rapid fire range but one option means you get to shoot and then have a 5++, the other you don't shoot and get a 4+. Even if I ignore my Ravagers Low Orbit Raid gives me 45pts (slightly more considering its better than Retrofire Jets) of free upgrades, which even if I make limited use of them at the very least increase my tactical options.

Since the trueborn would have to disembark to fire....and they can range about 35" from their starting position, in what situations would it be advantageous to risk the deep-strike instead of moving, disembarking, and shooting? Its a rare occasion that doing so isn't sufficient for range.

In terms of deep-striking wyches, since you can't assault the turn you deep-strike, you're not only positioning yourself in close range to be shot to pieces, but also forgoing a 4+ cover save for moving flat out. Not only giving up the cover save, but also giving up a potential alpha-strike. What situations would deep-striking wyches prove beneficial?

Against gunline armies which have no incentive to move off their board edge (at least until you arrive) coming off your own board edge is unlikely to get you in range with Blasters. 12" move, 3" disembark + 18" range = 33", which isn't enough to threaten units in their deployment zone. However Deep Striking fairly conservatively in the middle of the board will get you that range if you need it, very helpful against Mech Guard, Razorspam and other firepower based lists which won't be pushing forward. Just to clarify I'm only suggesting this as a tactic if you are going second, if you are going first then you are 12' further up and easily in range on almost the entire board.

The situations where Deep Striking Wyches would be helpful are basically the same. You know yourself that assault units coming out of Raiders have a pretty massive threat range. 12" move, 2" pivot (Deep Strike in side on), 3' disembark, D6" run and 6" assault, so you have no reason to Deep Strike in close. As mentioned you lose the cover save, but instead get to shoot (and hopefully reduce incoming fire) and still have the Flickerfield save to fall back on. I fail to see how it is giving up a potential alpha strike, Wyches will almost never be assaulting the turn they arrive anyway and if anything your initial salvo is actually increased by Deep Striking because you can still shoot.

As you mention Dark Eldar are all about hitting hard before the enemy gets a chance to hit back, moving on and not being in range to hit something immediately means you are instantly handing most of the initiative back to your opponent.

Samus_aran115 wrote:The duke only has two wounds, a horrible armour save, no unique weapons (other than his 3+ poison), and ST3 essentially making him one of the weakest special characters in the game, IMO. As said before, his 3+ poisoned ability accounts for very little, and any unit can get things done without him hogging up all those points.

The option of deep striking is pointless, since everything you'd want to deep strike can take retrofire jets anyway (Why you'd want to deep strike ravagers is beyond me. Even raiders. It's just not worth the risk, or the hindered assault capability) or shoot from far enough away to not need deep striking.

The duke sucks. You'll get much more use out of another couple Haemmies.

I agree that most of the Unique characters are quite underwhelming. The baron is the only one that seems even slightly worth his points (he's the only thing that switches up the FOC in the whole codex besides haemmies). Vect is pretty neat, but he's a crapload of points, and even in a 3000 point game, I'd probably go with 6 Haemmies over him...

Lol. Ignore this. I wrote it while dancing around between writing an essay and reading a book. I should have known I'd be completely wrong and forget about the SF and GP, not to mention the venom blade (which is inferior to even the lowly power weapon...

The venom blade is awesome for units like Warriors and Reavers.

Neither of which should ever be in close combat, and which require a useless upgrade in order to take one...

Black Fiend wrote:The venom blade is awesome for units like Warriors and Reavers.

..........

I simply have nothing to say to that.

I have a question.

What if you roll the Pain Token Drug?

Do you bring your Haemonculus to tag along for Furious Charge os still keep him inside the Raider for future usage of Shattershard/Crucible?

With my wych cult....it would depend. It would depend on what my enemy is playing heavily and what terrain looks like midfield. Generally speaking, chances are *very* slim that my haemonculi would ever go into combat with wyches, even with another pain token on him. There are also three units of trueborn in this army; I would probably consider pairing the haemonculi with the trueborn if I already had pain tokens on my wyches.