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Dark Eldar's best codex was 5th edition. That was when we had a lot of of special characters that added a lot of character and changed how the army worked.

Our most competitive builds centered around beast squads with a bunch of Independent Characters attached to give the unit buffs like Hit and Run.

It was still a finesse army, but had a lot more power than what we have now. Very much a Glass-Cannon that hit hard, but folded when you misplayed.

A.T. wrote:

 catbarf wrote:
Anyways, if you were to keep the 4E skimmer rules and damage table, how would you guys handle holofields to avoid the unkillable-Falcon issue?

Probably easier to use the 5e damage charts, make immobilised/weapon damaged a single category (attackers choice) and add +1 damage to immobilised vehicles.
The problem with fixing the 4e skimmer rules is that everything else is still a flaming coffin of death...

I'd also suggest turning holofields into something more like Titan holofields of the period, and give the Falcon a cover save based on how fast it's moving. No save if stationary, 5+ at combat speed, 4+ moving flat-out, something like that.

Our group does something similar using 5th ed core rules. while we let people use whatever codex they want from all compatible editions (3rd-7th) my top picks-

.dark angels-3rd ed mini dex
.black templar/salamanders -armageddon dex
.imperial guard-5th (you loose doctrines but you gain so much more)
.chaos-3.5 dex
.blood angels-5th
.space wolves-5th
.witch hunters-3rd
.grey knights-3rd
.tau-4th
.tyranids 4th
.orks-4th
.mechanicus/skiitari-7th
.knights-7th
.custodes-7th
.elysians-taros FW book cant remember if it was 4th or 5th
.i never played eldar(just against them) but i am guessing 4th
.space marines 4th or 5th ( prefer 5th for more unit options)
.dark eldar-no clue i think they finally got a second codex somewhere around 5th

.add in all the related FW units and you got it down.

I think that pretty much covers all the available factions before 8th ed changed the mechanics of the game.


P.S.
here is the topic where i list the house rules we put into 5th from other editions to make it a better game,

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/789567.page

 aphyon wrote:
Our group does something similar using 5th ed core rules. while we let people use whatever codex they want from all compatible editions (3rd-7th)

Do you re-point everything or just pre-balance games? The raw power gap between 3e and 5e GK for instance is insane, or 6e/7e eldar(tournament wreckers) vs 4e eldar(weakest of the edition).

Fisheyes wrote:
Dark Eldar's best codex was 5th edition. That was when we had a lot of of special characters that added a lot of character and changed how the army worked.

Our most competitive builds centered around beast squads with a bunch of Independent Characters attached to give the unit buffs like Hit and Run.

It was still a finesse army, but had a lot more power than what we have now. Very much a Glass-Cannon that hit hard, but folded when you misplayed.

"5th was our best codex" and "our best build was using units of non eldar with random special characters" aren't a little oxymoron?

 Galas wrote:
"5th was our best codex" and "our best build was using units of non eldar with random special characters" aren't a little oxymoron?

The build I remember 5e eldar best for was deliberately ramming enemy vehicles from the far side of the board, because there were no rules about declaring charges from the crater...

A.T. wrote:

 aphyon wrote:
Our group does something similar using 5th ed core rules. while we let people use whatever codex they want from all compatible editions (3rd-7th)

Do you re-point everything or just pre-balance games? The raw power gap between 3e and 5e GK for instance is insane, or 6e/7e eldar(tournament wreckers) vs 4e eldar(weakest of the edition).

Points are not really an issue using 5th as the core we do make a few minor adjustments. in previous editions to 5th it cost extra points for standard kit IE frag/krak grenades for marines or guard, photon grenades and bonding knife for tau etc...

5th changed that to be a built in load out so unless you want something extra like melta bombs, haywire grenades and the like that do cost extra, the old points costs for the standard kit in the old codex is ignored. just like rules that would have been covered in the 5th ed USRs would default to them. IE. since all movement and charge ranges are fixed in 5th the mechanicus "dune strider" rule is replaced with the 5th ed USR "move through cover" to represent the ability to cross difficult terrain.

Since this is casual play in a friendly environment we are not to worried about exact points cost parity as long as it is close even if you go over by a few points. nobody is looking to be a jerk running a lore breaking tourney list. one of the reasons we are doing this is to make the game fun again and fit the factions the way they should behave in the lore.

As for GKs specifically. the 3rd ed incarnation is best used fighting against chaos/demons (as the lore intended) and more than makes up for the new units in the 5th ed codex via the old relic, wargear and psyker powers. the points and unit disparity has not been apparent or game breaking to date. game before last we pitted a 3.5 chaos list against a 5th ed nid list because the nid player wanted to use specific big monsters not available in the earlier books, i actually think he would have performed better with the 4th ed dex instead. newer isn't always better as we all know.