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.

Coming back to the game and building my army again, I've normally always had reapers 2 5 man's that have always pulled their points. Now they are cheaper (even ith krak upgrade) and better than what I've been used to. but I don't see them in many lists. What's up? Is is personal choice or are they just not as scary in practice?

You don't see them because they are not as mobile as the rest of the list but if you put them in a decent location or bunker they will screw someone's day up.

I think the thing with the Eldar army is that there's so much other good stuff in it, that even great units like Dark Reapers get overlooked in favour of Jetseer Councils, Warp Spiders, Scatbikes etc. And, linking in to what Erik said, the even better units tend to be the super-fast ones, so Dark Reapers therefore don't synergise with the rest of the army that well.

They're good, but they're not scatbikes, Wraithknights, Wraithguard, Farseers, Warlock Councils or Warp Spiders, so they don't make the cut for cutthroat competitive lists.

Of course, if you're not doing that, they're still solid. Honestly, I use mine a lot, and they tend to draw much hate and discontent. They're not reliable against heavy tanks, but they can put the hurt on most other things pretty effectively, and if you toss an EML on the Exarch (always take the Exarch), they even provide some air defense.

 Erik_Morkai wrote:
You don't see them because they are not as mobile as the rest of the list but if you put them in a decent location or bunker they will screw someone's day up.

I cant agree more with above, in the right scenario dark reapers can cause a lot of damage but they need to be placed in a good vantage point, sit back, and enjoy the view of explosions!

Relentless heavy weapons? Pretty cool.

Well you have to look at both sides of the story.

Dark reapers are T3 with a 3+ save fielding S5 ap3 long range weapons (can be upgraded to s8)

The immediate issues are:

They are not that mobile

They are easy to kill

They are expensive in comparison to everything else

They are not AP2


If I wanted Anti tank - I'd pick either haywire or bright lances
If I wanted Anti infantry - I'd get bikers/wave serpents/ anything with a high rate of fire

In short there is nothing they do that another unit can do better with more versatility, even without power gaming it's very easy to see these guys as obsolete. In fact, I often bring my Dark Reapers out to tone my lists down (saying that, they did help considerably against a warhound titan yesterday)

It's a sad state of affairs but they are a generalist unit in a slot that usually requires a specified purpose (Tank/MC/GMC/SHV removal)

Dark reapers are essentially anti bike and light skimmer units. They ignore jink. They are good options to take down fliers if you guide them too. Take them in 3 man units in aspect host. They get BS5 and will just murder bikes.

Stick 8 DRs in a bunker and want for them to come calling.

They are ML Devestators, who excel at bike/skimmer hunting.

Little better firepower for a bit worse survivability.

They compared about right, until their points were slashed hard.

I disagree on them not being very mobile. They still have SaP.

Dark reapers are also able to take the Tempest Launcher which i personally find to be an awesome bonus.

Are you taking a aegis or other fortification with a gun? does that gun have skyfire? if so heck yea, the reapers will wreck flyers... if your meta has few flyers then they are much less competitive but still a viable option. I find myself almost always taking at least 1 squad of 5 with upgraded ammo outside of tournament play

 Xenomancers wrote:
Dark reapers are essentially anti bike and light skimmer units. They ignore jink. They are good options to take down fliers if you guide them too. Take them in 3 man units in aspect host. They get BS5 and will just murder bikes.

No need to Guide them for taking out Fliers, they auto-reroll to hits against them.

Reapers for the win.

They just are not mobile enough in an army that can't afford to stand still.

If someone wants Dark Reapers dead, there's nothing you can do about it, since they don't get to leave their immediate vicinity like nearly everything else you'll have in your army can.

Compounding that issue, your opponent will be looking for something easy to pin down and kill since everything else can flee, and will target the Dark Reapers first because they can't get away.

They are not tough enough, nor dangerous enough for their cost to be the first thing in your army to die every game.

 DarknessEternal wrote:


They are not tough enough, nor dangerous enough for their cost to be the first thing in your army to die every game.

Are you high? Reapers are crazy good against the bikes, FMC's, and 3+ MC's floating around. The damage an 8 man unit can put out is ridiculous. Do the math on them shooting at a flier/FMC, I think you'll be a little suprised. Compared to a Crimson Hunter Exarch, they do more damage to an Av12 flier that elected to jink. Significantly more expensive, but much more versatile.

Depending on what else fills out the list, the provide a good, relatively cheap source of Str 8 shooting. I have fielded 8 man w/ Exarch and EML in a bunker several times recently. Give the bunker a good vantage point at the back of your lines, use their 48'' range, and enjoy 2-3 turns of shooting before the bunker goes pop.

Alternatively, stick them in an allied DE Venom/Raider.

8 in a squad is too many. I'd think 6 dudes (or 5 dudes and an Exarch) would be better.

A way to keep them alive is powers.
Keep a Farseer near them or with them, and get armour re-rolls or shrouding or something.
That, and use other units to block LOS around them.

Well, if they are shooting your 3+ dark Reapers in cover, they aren't shooting your scat bikes, hornets, hawks, warp hunters etc

If they had flat out ignore cover then I would take them any day of the week but even without that they are a fun niche unit

I used dark reapers as a less competitive choice in a competitive list (bikes knights spiders etc) cause I wanted to give them a shot. What happened is that they got completely ignored for the whole game since my opponent had many more high priority targets to shoot at. To be exact my opponents didn't even new what the units is and what the models are....
I found my self a nice piece of elevated terrain and with their reach extending almost everywhere I shot the bells out of everything I could see.

Anyway I think that they are a nice anti Eldar, anti bike option but they can be easily removed if targeted cause they are too fragile. Mobility isn't necessarily an issue but deepstriking units are. I remember many editions ago I was making a firebase with reapers, guardians with platforms and a long range baby sitting wraithlord, watching out for deepstrikers and assault units .

They're pretty good. I use two squads in DE transports with the S8 missiles as part of an Aspect Host. I usually run small squads of 3 or 4 as I think it's really the Exarch's Fast Shot which makes them points efficient.

They're excellent vs bikes be it jetbikes, space marine bikes, tomb blades, screamers, etc. The Tempest launcher is a great option vs Warp Spiders. They are good at chipping wounds off of WKs. They are good vs FMCs such as Flyrants as they nearly always force a grounding check. They are good vs AV10 flyers but not so reliable against AV12. They are easy pickings for Heldrakes unless you're playing H&A deployment.

 Torus wrote:
Well, if they are shooting your 3+ dark Reapers in cover, they aren't shooting your scat bikes, hornets, hawks, warp hunters etc

Well, that's the thing. Reapers are what they'll be shooting at, because they will die. Whereas those other things may not, due to jinking, flicker jump, etc. The Reapers just have to stand and take it. Nor can they run away from a threat coming down their throat, just have to hope it doesn't reach them in time.

Hope is the last thing a person does before they are defeated.

Not so sure they would prefer Reapers as targets...