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Hey everyone. Like a lot of people, I've been left fairly underwhelmed by the new Dark Eldar codex: it seems like a rush job with no new units whatsoever, and while the occasional points drops are nice, the loss of things like Wych haywires, decent combat drugs, Raider flickerfields, and half of our special characters is just downright infuriating. Even so, I've decided to take a go at the new codex, just to see if I can salvage some kind of list out of the whole mess. And before you ask, no, I'm not using Allies or Formations: I am trying to see how well Dark Eldar can work in a pure, Combined Arms detachment.

Archon- blast pistol, agonizer, shadow field, haywire grenades, webway portal- 180
Haemonculus- liquefier gun, flesh gauntlet, webway portal- 130
5 Kabalite Warriors- blaster- 55
-Venom- extra splinter cannon- 65
5 Kabalite Warriors- blaster- 55
-Venom- extra splinter cannon- 65
8 Kabalite Trueborn- 4 blasters- 148
-Raider- dark lance- 60
5 Grotesques- liquefier guns- 50
5 Scourges- 4 haywire blasters- 130
Razorwing Jetfighters- splinter cannon, 2 dark lances, night shield- 165
Ravager- 3 dark lances- 125
Ravager- 3 dark lances- 125


Total: 1450

Thoughts: Archon joins Trueborn, Haemonculous joins Grotesques, and both units come down where they can do the most damage. Kabalites are just there to fulfill minimum core/hide behind terrain and then grab objectives, Ravagers are Ravagers, and the Scourges and Razorwing are there as more dedicated fire support (I am especially keen on testing the Scourges, though I realize they will be useless against Tyranids or Daemons). I realize that the Archon isn't the decent choice that he used to be, but the Shadow Field at least makes him okay at tanking wounds.

Any thoughts on this list?

Okay....

Don't worry about the scourge being 'useless' - at worst case they're still a unit with jump packs and 24" range S4 guns, so not entirely without merit against a mass of light infantry. And they are one of the best antitank units in any codex.


Good things - the Haemonculus with the Grotesques will make a mess. Deep striking a unit entirely armed with liquifier guns without scatter should make a right mess of an enemy infantry unit.

The Archon is good, just not at the same things. An agoniser is still decent when facing anyone who doesn't have a 2+ save, and the blast pistol pairs him with the trueborn nicely. Again, a WWP drop makes that raider very nice indeed. That said, I question the value of dropping a blaster unit: blasters don't need to get side armour shots and don't get any more effective the closer they are to the enemy - a blaster salvo from 18" away is just as effective (barring the archon's pistol shot, of course). Heat lances, shredders and liquifier guns, yes. But frankly you can get any blaster shot you're going to want just by manouvring the raider normally.

The ravagers give you an impressive back line of dark lance fire, which should make a mess of most armour fairly quickly.

I've got that list coming in at 1543. 5 grots all with liquifiers is 250, scourges are 120.

I'd give the Archon a Blaster instead of Blast Pistol, drop some of the Trueborn without Blasters, drop one Grot and replace with a Raider for that unit, drop the Agoniser if you need to, and drop the Splinter Cannon from the Razorwing. If you have the points get some of the S7 Shred missiles for the Razorwing (I've not actually used one, I'm just thinking they will be better).

Blaster archon with blasterborn, I don't think needs the webway.

I would drop one grotesque, make another Aberration, and stick them with the hemi in a nightshielded Raider
Now that's something scary with webway.
If you drop them on foot, you won't utilize the liquifer on the hemi (shooting through a grot), but that's not a problem from a transport.

If you bring 2 Ravager, I would leave one of them with 3 disintegrators, anti-MEQ, anti-TEQ.

As I see, your list is pretty much against MEQ in mech.
The Razorwing is good against hordes, but I would use the trueborns with 2 splinter cannons, 7 rifles, and the archon in a raider with nightshield, splinter racks and disintegrator.