Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

hi all, now I'm a keen and undefeated dark eldar player I've been playing for 6 years now and the new codex is now here and I thought I'd share my take on a few things I've picked up and hope it helps some of you that may be struggling to win or to find a nice medium to play by.

here goes.......

1. the kabalite truebomb, named rightly so, a 20 man unit of kabalite true borne is 220 points, give this unit either, 4 blasters, 2 lances or 4 shredders and 2 cannons.

rules for this unit is simple, stick a combat beast of an archon in, there. I use 2, 1 with agonised blaster, 1 with husk blade blast pistol, both with shadow field. give 1 armour of misery, and 1 the casket of flensing. finally give either 1 a webway portal.

this allows the unit to deepsteike without scattering....... how awesome, why? because so many shots and blasts will destroy a bunkered in unit from behind, forcing your opponent to turn their guns to their own lines, against a combat army it will force your opponent to run backwards.

why trueborn over warriors? the extra points are worth it when you consider that have +1 LD +1A and the extra 2 special weapons make this unit hugely successful on entry

this is a personal favourite unit of mine and with 2 hqs in there you have some serious fight against combat units, also the trueborn are I5, with 2 attacks, not too shabby if I'm honest, I have taken out assault marines and berserkers with just the attacks from the unit.

2. Scourges, these guys are my life line, first off you don't want a jump infantry unit lugging heavy weapons about so lances are a no go. there are 2 options I always use, the first being a 5 man unit with 4 haywire blasters, this is a nice cheep answer to anything with wheels....... or mechanical legs. The second being a 10 man unit carrying 4 splinter cannons, this is the perfect support unit as the weight of shots can down marines very quickly.

the only other weapons I would consider is if you are running unbound, pack a 5 man unit out with heat lances and stick an archon in there with a portal, drop in behind something big and let rip.

3. Kabalite warriors, only 2 ways I see fit to use these guys, 1 is 5 man unit in a venom, take a blaster for a mobile tank buster. 2, a 10 man unit carrying a splinter csannon, stick them on a raider with splinter racks and night shields, this unit is good sitting at the back getting better as your enemy gets closer, best deployed behind cover so you don't need to jink.

you could run a cheaper bomb unit if you don't want to use trueborn, but I will refer you to the benefits of using so many trueborn over warriors.

4. Incubi, 1 unit of 5 in a venom is all I have ever needed and things are just the same now, just with a different purpose.

Here's my tactic, at the beginning of your game you have already chosen what is the biggest threat and picked out where you want you combat to happen, deploy incubi in the centre of your area, choose where you're truebomb is going to come in, send the incubi in the opposite direction , I,e if you plan on dropping your bomb slightly to the left side of the field, start moving your incubi to the right, the psychological effect results in your opponent chasing them down. thus opening up some space to drop in. after the trueborn have entered start moving the incubi toward them, I have played this vs works and khorne berserker lists, the incubi become the counter attack that fights their way to your has and destroys your opponents combat unit in the process. usually this does end up in the complete destruction of the trueborn, I think its points well sacrificed to deep strike behind an enemy unit fire everything and killing said unit then facing off vs a strong combat unit long enough for you own heavy hitters to come in.

5. this won't really apply to anyone who doesn't use FW stuff but I feel a reaper is a must have, its mid range is a bit of a downer but its nothing to laugh at. its S7 solid shot deals D3 haywire hits so fire away, you can deal 4 HP damage with this one shot.

the reaper also has a secondary fire option which is S5 AP4 large blast, need I say more this also has the haywire rule...... again with the examples but its all true. I've fired this thing at a 6 strong unitnof kills cans, hitting all 6 glanced 1 down with the initial hit then got 6 haywire hits on the unit, that killed another 3 kans, how awesome is that? 1 large blast getting 2 rounds of hits and killing 4 walkers.

6. Ravagers, now back in the day I wouldn't dare take these without lances but as the years go by in see more people turn to terminator armour and mass infantry, so here's the simple answer. the 2 of these guys with disintegrators and night shields, its nothing flashy but its a solid round of shooting that can wipe out what they shoot at, more shots means more carnage.

7. Venoms, never leave home without them, always take the extra cannon its there to use, its cheap and it doubles the damage output. now that these are fast attack choices you can take a massive amount of them in a game its amazing how many shots you can get for spending less than 1k points.

8. Void raven, the big daddy of dark eldar aircraft, what do you want to do with this thing? have it hunt down enemy flyers? maybe but the razor wing can do that for much less points and it carries missiles. The void raven is a special craft and should be treat as such. While the idea of S9 lances are very appealing, think about this, you get 2 shots that you need a 3 to hit, there is still a chance you could miss the shots. for free you can switch the lances for a good old S8 lance weapon....... its a blast weapon!!!!, at BS4 when you place the marker over the centre of a vehicle, you will always hit the target unless you roll a double 6 off the side of your target. the void bomb is yet another great weapon for anti vehicle squadron attacks now that its a large blast.

9. Mandrakes, these guys lost their appeal in 5th ed after being changed so much from 3rd but now they are back!! now that they can take bale blast from the beginning they can infiltrate forward and start harassing the enemy from turn 1. what's more is now bale blast now has soul blaze so it can do extra damage. loosing their invun is a big hit but with some skill you can hop cover and shoot down a unit until the enemy is weak enough to charge.

I also use these to distract from incubi movements, its great seeing someone fire 50 bolters into a unit with fnp and a 2+ cover save and not do any damage.

10. last one I promise! haemonuculus and cronos, these guys progress your power from pain ability for the unit that they are in and buff fnp.

best thing to do here is take a unit if 3 cronos with syphons, 2 monks, 1 for the mandrakes 1 for the truebomb unit. moive the cronos so you can get both units within 12 inches of them, by the time the trueborn enter they will have full fnp. the cronos will then buff the fnp to a 4+, this gives the trueborn more survivability, and it gives the mandrakes the best possible saves I could ever imagine, providing they are in cover they will gat a 2+ cover save and 4+ fnp. These guys are purely for support, however you could spend a few more points on some scissor hands just to give the monks a bit more kick in combat.

I hope these helped some fellow dark eldar players, leave comments to share your own combos and tactics from the new codex.

thanks for reading

Ok tactical genius, but this thread probably belongs in Tactics

What about Grotesques and Reavers?

both grotesque and reavers are good, some people like the idea of the liquifiers on the grotesque but to me its soooo not worth it, liquifier used to be 10pts, now, for the grots, they are 15pts, already this doesnt look good but it gets a lot worst. then they lowered the str of the liquifier by 1, then they also make it cost the grots close combat weapon meaning they lose an attack.
The grotesques are close combat beasts, adding liquifiers, while nice as an idea have been rendered useless through making it too expensive for something that isnt that stong, and makes the grots considerably worst in their primary role.
I dont even think I would take it if the liquifiers were 10pts, I would consider it if they were 5pt, losing an attack sucks but its still a decent flamer if it was really cheap.

grots are good in a raider with night shields and enhanced aethersails. this is how I consider them.

reavers are really nice now too. fast and deadly, both in CC and in shooting (yay, cheap blasters)

I rather plan to use Grots with Archon and WWP, than in a Raider. Am I wrong?

Very cool, thanks a lot for taking the time to post this list, it certainly helped me gain more insight into our different units and how to use them.

From what I've gathered, your experience with the Voidraven hasn't been half as bad as I'd exepect after all I've read about it so far, mainly the steep point cost compared to the Razorwing and the AV10 hull?

chaos wulfen wrote:
hi all, now I'm a keen and undefeated dark eldar player I've been playing for 6 years now

Lost me with this right here. If you have been playing DE for 6 years and remain undefeated its because you aren't playing good enough people or attending competitive events.

Items 2, 3, and 7 are spot on

Wouldnt recommend 1 at all. Thats way to many points to lose as a simple distraction, particularly considering the # of CC threats that can run it down after 1 round of combat....

Not a fan of the Void Raven or Ravagers. Both are overcosted for what they do, and other parts of the codex (or eldar allies) do better or cheaper.

Mandrakes are great for holding down the fort while the rest of the army deep strikes, or for putting early pressure on. But 50 bolters is likely to cripple the unit at the very least if not wipe it out.

Haemonculi make for better support HQs then Archons....but thats about it and the cronos is still hot garbage outside of a Coven list....

On the fence about Incubi. The klaivex is amazing, but a smart opponent still has no trouble dropping a single venom and then killing 3-5 T3 models.....

Why Chronos over Talos? I can really see a list with a unit of 3 Talos, but I am probably missing something right?

 gardeth wrote:

Mandrakes are great for holding down the fort while the rest of the army deep strikes, or for putting early pressure on. But 50 bolters is likely to cripple the unit at the very least if not wipe it out.

You'd be surprised.
2/3rd hits, 2/3rd wound, 1/6 fail the 2+ cover, 2/3rds fail feel no pain.
50 bolter shots results in 2 to 3 wounds.
But a few marker lights, wave serpents or wyverns own them.
Still, 120 points for a full unit is pretty darn cheap for what they bring. It's like having stealth suits in an army that can't take riptides or crisis suits. They become good by default.

Mine rarely make it to the 3rd turn to get the 5+ feel no pain, but yeah I may have over-stated that abit...

I've been interested in a small, elite Dark Eldar army for a while. What would you recommend for the 500-750pt range?

 Otto Weston wrote:
I've been interested in a small, elite Dark Eldar army for a while. What would you recommend for the 500-750pt range?

B
Well from experience, you can fit in an Archon w/ Blaster and Venom w/ double cannons, two units of Warriors w/ Blaster and Venom w/ double cannons and five scourges with four haywire blasters for 500 points.

For 750, another unit of scourges might work, using the remaining 130 points for Reaver jetbikes, or cut the blasters off the warriors and have a void raven/razerwing.

Reavers. Reavers kick all sorts of ass in that point range. They are cheap, surprisingly durable (T4, 3+ Jink Sv + FnP) and hit like a tonne of bricks strapped to a rocket engine.

A unit of 6 with 2 Caltrops comes in at under 200pts, and is a good starting point.

Incubi do well in units of 2 + Klaivex (you have to see it to believe it), they come in 160pts. Take 2 units of these and throw them down his neck. If he ignores them, he will regret it, when they hit something on the charge with 10+D3 Ws 5 Str 4/5 AP 2 hits at I5. On a side note, the Klaivex is a Beast!

Elite troops are hard to do, 2x5 Warriors in Raiders would have to do.

In the end the list would look like this

Succubus w/ Webway Portal & Archite Glaive + Parasites Kiss. 135pts

6 Reavers. 2 Cluster Caltrops. 126pts

6 Reavers. 2 Cluster Caltrops. 126pts.

5 Warriors in DL Raider w/ Nightshields. 115pts

5 Warriors in DL Raider w/ Nightshields. 115pts

3 Grotesques w/ Aberration with Liquifier 130pts

Total: 747.

Very fast, very combaty, very fun. Reavers fly up and make a collosal nuicence until the Grots drop in with pinpoint accuracy to eat what the Reavers can't touch. Dinner for Everyone.

I like the idea of that Alex, but quick question --- would it be okay to have Venoms instead of Raiders?

I have a little OCD when it comes to transports, I can't have empty space in them

 Otto Weston wrote:
I like the idea of that Alex, but quick question --- would it be okay to have Venoms instead of Raiders?

I have a little OCD when it comes to transports, I can't have empty space in them

You really want the lances at this point value for a little more anti-tank.

 gardeth wrote:

chaos wulfen wrote:
hi all, now I'm a keen and undefeated dark eldar player I've been playing for 6 years now

Lost me with this right here. If you have been playing DE for 6 years and remain undefeated its because you aren't playing good enough people or attending competitive events.

Agreed.

Damn. I really, really can't leave the Raiders half empty though, so the warrior squads would have to go up to 10 man.

...Why?

Right, that is a mental issue we can't help you with, but if you insist on Venoms (Raiders are better, 3+ Jink Rocks!) then you could swap them out. You'd save 20pts per Venom as well, so 40pts to play with. Whatever you do with it, it won't change the dynamics of the army to hard, you will just struggle with Mech.

Ty Alex, and yes I know it is a problem

 Otto Weston wrote:
Ty Alex, and yes I know it is a problem

If you go venom, add a dracon with haywire grenades.
It'd give you 1 blaster and 1 haywire shot, to off set the loss of the dark lance.

The reason I ally in a Farseer is for either Inviz, or at least that 4++ power. Inviz is broken and, a 4++ is a huge jump in durability for DE. Mandrakes with either of those would be crazy good points value.