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2026/03/10 16:03:22
Subject: Does GW even care about Dark Eldar/Drukhari?
I looked through the 3rd ed (v2) dex yesterday, and wow... was it different.
People say the Cult/ Kabal/ Coven divide was an 8th thing, but it in some ways, it was more pronounced in 3rd when the army debuted.
If your Warlord was an Archon, all Wyches were elites. If you used a Wych Lord (Succubus was the term used for squad leader in that edition), then Kabalites and Raider Kabalites were elites and Haemonculi and Talos could not be used at all!
Wracks and Grotesques did not exist. Beast packs were composed entirely of Warp Beasts. Asdrubael, Kruellah, Lilith, Urien and Decapitator were the named... Though Decapitator never had a model.
Reavers and Skyboards were equipment, so Archons and and Wych Lords could take them that way, but datasheets for mounted characters did not exist.
2026/03/10 21:14:36
Subject: Does GW even care about Dark Eldar/Drukhari?
Actually, grotesques DID exist in the 3rd edition codex, I have the models. What they were changed when DE got their 5th edition codex. What were "Grotesques" got renamed into Wracks, and Grotesques became the larger, Ogryn sized brutes. Frankly, I kind of liked the old school Grotesques, especially if they were the Uber Grotesques you could have attached to Urien.
2026/03/10 21:34:08
Subject: Does GW even care about Dark Eldar/Drukhari?
PenitentJake wrote: I looked through the 3rd ed (v2) dex yesterday, and wow... was it different.
People say the Cult/ Kabal/ Coven divide was an 8th thing, but it in some ways, it was more pronounced in 3rd when the army debuted.
If your Warlord was an Archon, all Wyches were elites. If you used a Wych Lord (Succubus was the term used for squad leader in that edition), then Kabalites and Raider Kabalites were elites and Haemonculi and Talos could not be used at all!
Wracks and Grotesques did not exist. Beast packs were composed entirely of Warp Beasts. Asdrubael, Kruellah, Lilith, Urien and Decapitator were the named... Though Decapitator never had a model.
Reavers and Skyboards were equipment, so Archons and and Wych Lords could take them that way, but datasheets for mounted characters did not exist.
I didn't remember Wych Lords removing coven stuff as options, but aside from that the kabal/cult distinction wasn't that huge. It mostly just let you avoid the kabalite troop tax in favor of more wyches. Or shifted your kabalite:wych ratio if you still wanted to use both. 3rd edition also still let you have haemonculi hanging out in squads of wyches or kabalites or reavers or whatever, so it wasn't that divided.
5th edition really did the divisions first and best. Mostly by just not making them all that pronounced to begin with. Your haemonculus could still hang out with wyches, but you could also do a kabal/cult/coven themed list with zero representation from the other two subfactions. You could give your archon some pet grotesques to quirkily lead into battle, but there was a certain amount of synergy to be had for sticking to more conventional combos.
7th kind of started forming the cracks with the coven splat and various formations. Then 8th was where we had to start really jumping through hoops if we wanted to have access to our whole codex.
ATTENTION. Psychic tests are unfluffy. Your longing for AV is understandable but misguided. Your chapter doesn't need a separate codex. Doctrines should go away. Being a "troop" means nothing. This has been a cranky service announcement. You may now resume your regularly scheduled arguing.
2026/03/11 08:08:11
Subject: Does GW even care about Dark Eldar/Drukhari?
Wrong Razorwing. They reused the name from a previous Forge World model. It looked like two Raven fighters joined in the middle. Two hulls, two cockpits, stub wing between them. Armed with two long barrel splinter canons, two dark Lances, and some kind of fear canon in the middle, mounted on the central stub wing.
2026/03/11 08:22:10
Subject: Does GW even care about Dark Eldar/Drukhari?
[DCM]
Chief Deputy Sub Assistant Trainee Squig Handling Intern
Just had a unit idea. Possibly subconsciously influenced by the flier above.
You may remember I advocate for medium artillery type weapons, mounted on the Venom Chassis?
How about a two platform kit. And between them is strung a web of mono-filament. Perhaps one has the caster, side mounted, and the other has some device to grab the strings.
They then go either side of enemy units. Slicey Dicey, Oncey Twicey. Mortal Wounds will kill you nicely.
Fed up of Scalpers? But still want your Exclusives? Why not join us?
Gamgee on Tau Players wrote:we all kill cats and sell our own families to the devil and eat live puppies.
Kanluwen wrote: This is, emphatically, why I will continue suggesting nuking Guard and starting over again. It's a legacy army that needs to be rebooted with a new focal point.
Confirmation of why no-one should listen to Kanluwen when it comes to the IG - he doesn't want the IG, he wants Kan's New Model Army...
tneva82 wrote: You aren't even trying ty pretend for honest arqument. Open bad faith trolling.
- No reason to keep this here, unless people want to use it for something...
2026/03/19 15:31:35
Subject: Does GW even care about Dark Eldar/Drukhari?
[DCM]
Chief Deputy Sub Assistant Trainee Squig Handling Intern
No. But I’m gonna now! And yes. Exactly that sort of thing.
Dunno how well it fits modern 40K rule, but could even peg its effectiveness to how fast they’re moving. And have it apply to enemy units moving between them. Give a modicum of board control should the opponent fail to deal with them.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2026/03/19 20:03:20
Fed up of Scalpers? But still want your Exclusives? Why not join us?
It doesn't even need to be a Net Of Monofilament Slicey Doom - Drukhari are slavers / vivisectionists, right? Some sort of swoopy netted slave-catching vehicle seems to be perfectly on-brand.
2026/03/20 15:16:28
Subject: Does GW even care about Dark Eldar/Drukhari?
Crispy78 wrote: It doesn't even need to be a Net Of Monofilament Slicey Doom - Drukhari are slavers / vivisectionists, right? Some sort of swoopy netted slave-catching vehicle seems to be perfectly on-brand.
It used to be (even as recently as 9th) that most/all of our vehicles could be given Chain Snares as an upgraded that either improved our melee performance or did a fly-over attack depending on edition. They're literally animated chains with hooks on the end that would lash out and impale living creatures as they went, meathooking them to take them as slaves for later.
ATTENTION. Psychic tests are unfluffy. Your longing for AV is understandable but misguided. Your chapter doesn't need a separate codex. Doctrines should go away. Being a "troop" means nothing. This has been a cranky service announcement. You may now resume your regularly scheduled arguing.
2026/03/20 15:52:22
Subject: Does GW even care about Dark Eldar/Drukhari?
[DCM]
Chief Deputy Sub Assistant Trainee Squig Handling Intern
I think that properly, purposefully weaponised and specialised would be a suitably Dark Eldar Weapon, monofilament or not. Heck, why not a “well save you for later” high vyotlage stun net.
Could make it deal MW to infantry only, and none at all if the imaginary line also cross a Tank or Dreadnought etc. That could encourage them to be used with suitable precision? Again dunno if that’s terribly Modern 40K in terms of rule application.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2026/03/20 15:55:49
Fed up of Scalpers? But still want your Exclusives? Why not join us?
[DCM]
Chief Deputy Sub Assistant Trainee Squig Handling Intern
Going back to the moaning, and to give this a bump. Because it came up in a background thread.
I previously broke down the number of units Dark Eldar had release, then counted up all the units they gained from their major refresh. Next, I looked at the current range, and saw they’d only retained three new units since 1998.
What I didn’t do is make the point they lost more units that they retained. So to recap?
In their second proper Codex (not the second edition of the original), Dark Eldar gained…
1. Trueborn 2. Blood Brides. 3. Grotesques (the big lad version, Wracks taking their original role more or less) 4. Court of the Archon 5. Two new beast types (Clawed Fiend and Deth Burds) 6. Razorwing. 7. Cronos 8. Voidraven 9. Venom.
Of those? Only Cronos, Voidraven, Razorwing and Venom remain.
So they’ve lost more units (not counting special characters and character options, which only makes things worse) than they gained. All. Of. Which. Had. Models.
Yes, their range is now *double checks in case of face/egg interface* fully plastic, which is nothing to be sniffed at. Spesh after Finecast, doubly so for such delicate sculpts with dinky details.
But…everyone has had that. Very, very few non-plastic kits left if any (no I cannot be arsed to review the entire 40K range, sod off). And got lots of new things. Which they were allowed to keep.
Dark Eldar players? I salute you. You’ve maintained your dedication despite not only being given the poopy end of the stick since 1998*, but for having been relentlessly beaten with it, barring a brief respite around 2010, when it looked like a new dawn, but in fact GW were just refreshing the poopy end with some fresh tod before renewing the beating.
*Trust me. They sucked at launch. Including the dubious honour of being in the big box, but unfortunately hopelessly outmatched by the Marines and their Land Speeder you could barely tickle.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2026/03/30 18:22:04
Fed up of Scalpers? But still want your Exclusives? Why not join us?
Just to summarize what I said in the Background thread (hopefully with fewer typos):
I agree that losing all the stuff we have really stinks. If you just gave us back the units that we've lost over the years, I actually think we'd be in a pretty solid place in terms of options and support.
Between the court and the beasts alone, the drukhari book feels more diverse and evocative than any given chapter of marines in terms of lore, and even in our current state we have most major roles pretty well covered.
To me, a big part of the faction's appeal has always been that it feels both full of exotic curiosities and welcoming to your own creative custom novelties. The lack of customization (especially of characters) over the years has severely diminished the latter. Taking away our lab experiments (grotesques), our alien/drukhari subculture medley (the court), and our semi-magical animal zoo (the beast packs) all diminish the former.
We're no longer a highly customizable faction of exotic novelties. Instead we have some of the fewest options of HQs and HQ wargear choices of any faction in the game, and we're pretty much down to only actual space elves as unit choices.
ATTENTION. Psychic tests are unfluffy. Your longing for AV is understandable but misguided. Your chapter doesn't need a separate codex. Doctrines should go away. Being a "troop" means nothing. This has been a cranky service announcement. You may now resume your regularly scheduled arguing.
2026/03/30 19:45:06
Subject: Does GW even care about Dark Eldar/Drukhari?
[DCM]
Chief Deputy Sub Assistant Trainee Squig Handling Intern
Beastmasters could cover a number of sins.
With the right mix of Exotic Beasties, they can potentially cover different gaps in a given army.
Clawed Fiends for instance for mauling and tying up heavy infantry, Warp Beasts/Khymerae* for General Purpose Biting, and those Deth Burds I Can’t Recall The Name Of for bothering light infantry.
And why not A Really Big Beast for Dreadnought Tipping? Because it’s funny watching their legs wiggle about when they’ve been knocked over. Probably.
*Pretty sure that’s what they were called?
Automatically Appended Next Post: Hey, maybe a Barghesi? We now know what an ickle Barghesi looks like. How about a big ‘un? Really let the Beastmaster show off his mastery of lesser beings?
Oooohhhhhhh….why not a Character Level Beastmaster for a geet big beasty? Just as a Wych can rise to Succubus (and the lower level, the name of which escapes me), why not Beastmasters?
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2026/03/30 19:47:11
Fed up of Scalpers? But still want your Exclusives? Why not join us?
Just to summarize what I said in the Background thread (hopefully with fewer typos):
I agree that losing all the stuff we have really stinks. If you just gave us back the units that we've lost over the years, I actually think we'd be in a pretty solid place in terms of options and support.
Between the court and the beasts alone, the drukhari book feels more diverse and evocative than any given chapter of marines in terms of lore, and even in our current state we have most major roles pretty well covered.
To me, a big part of the faction's appeal has always been that it feels both full of exotic curiosities and welcoming to your own creative custom novelties. The lack of customization (especially of characters) over the years has severely diminished the latter. Taking away our lab experiments (grotesques), our alien/drukhari subculture medley (the court), and our semi-magical animal zoo (the beast packs) all diminish the former.
We're no longer a highly customizable faction of exotic novelties. Instead we have some of the fewest options of HQs and HQ wargear choices of any faction in the game, and we're pretty much down to only actual space elves as unit choices.
God don't even make me think about the new corsair stuff GW released. I keep thinking "You know this would've been cool if this was more dark eldar models." I feel like archons now try to feel pain themselves just to remember they're still alive. Seriously the dark eldar leaders are probably on suicide watch (can i still make mild jokes about that these days in regards to fictional characters?). There's a reason i wasn't excited for 10th ed even with lady malys. Also why did we need another archon refresh. We had one in 5th, 7th and the current one now. Same with incubi getting a refresh. They could've refreshed the butt ugly grotesques at least that hadn't gotten a model since 5th. Instead they axed it instead. Honestly they could've re-done incubi with those helmet mounted guns or more melee options or given grotesques different melee options. Seeing GW fold up dark eldar into the Aeldari store page sub-section of the Warhammer online store says it all. They're either gonna fade into obscurity or just become a Aeldari super-friends list or something.
I suppose what i find most insulting is GW builds all these half armies or part armies and then they never flesh them out. Then they fail to add to some other factions that really need it like dark eldar and some other older factions. Genestealer cults have a few options but if you don't go for gsc guardsmen units it's basically like 5-6 characters or more and probably as many units. At least admech got combined into one and has a sufficient amount of units. Harlequins, Knights, corsairs and maybe even custodes aren't even real armies. They have like 5 units each and without Forge World they can't really qualify as armies. GW seems to want to do all these armies but then not flesh them out like it's throwing crap at a wall and seeing what sticks.
---------
Even looking up the GW online store dark eldar have: 24 items for sale (this includes battleforces, kill teams and the codex), Imperial Guard have: 65 Items for sale, Tau have 45 Items for sale, Tyranids 54 Items for sale, Orks 59 Items for sale, Necrons 46 Items for sale, Aeldari 68 Items for sale (if you take out dark eldar it's like 44 items), Chaos Marines 56 Items for sale, Sisters of Battle 35 Items for sale, Chaos Daemons 48 Items for sale and Admech 31 Items for sale.
With the exception of Sisters of Battle who were neglected the worst for years we have about half the items for sale of any other main faction on the website. We also have the lowest amount of items of any of the main factions to have existed since maybe 3rd edition. I'm not sure where chaos daemons are with this but i think they were only a separate faction since 5th. Point is this is HORRIBLE! I can't take this faction seriously. Just i'm sorry there's a reason i left before the latest codex dropped. You can't make me care when GW doesn't.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2026/03/30 23:58:03
Daemons have 48 items. But they're really four factions in one Index with some cross-compatibility.
I'll insert my standard "Daemons should get more options, especially ranged options," here... While also acknowledging that Dark Eldar have been immensely shafted over the years.
Clocks for the clockmaker! Cogs for the cog throne!
2026/03/31 00:35:11
Subject: Does GW even care about Dark Eldar/Drukhari?
Honestly with GW shifting demons from 1 to 4 armies I have hope that we'll see actual new demons.
Even more so that they are clearly drawing lines between brands too so eventually we'll have separate scifi and fantasy demon models. The only risk, esp in 40K, is that they fill the roster with mortals (space marines)
God don't even make me think about the new corsair stuff GW released. I keep thinking "You know this would've been cool if this was more dark eldar models." I feel like archons now try to feel pain themselves just to remember they're still alive. Seriously the dark eldar leaders are probably on suicide watch (can i still make mild jokes about that these days in regards to fictional characters?). There's a reason i wasn't excited for 10th ed even with lady malys. Also why did we need another archon refresh. We had one in 5th, 7th and the current one now. Same with incubi getting a refresh. They could've refreshed the butt ugly grotesques at least that hadn't gotten a model since 5th. Instead they axed it instead. Honestly they could've re-done incubi with those helmet mounted guns or more melee options or given grotesques different melee options. Seeing GW fold up dark eldar into the Aeldari store page sub-section of the Warhammer online store says it all. They're either gonna fade into obscurity or just become a Aeldari super-friends list or something.
I suppose what i find most insulting is GW builds all these half armies or part armies and then they never flesh them out. Then they fail to add to some other factions that really need it like dark eldar and some other older factions. Genestealer cults have a few options but if you don't go for gsc guardsmen units it's basically like 5-6 characters or more and probably as many units. At least admech got combined into one and has a sufficient amount of units. Harlequins, Knights, corsairs and maybe even custodes aren't even real armies. They have like 5 units each and without Forge World they can't really qualify as armies. GW seems to want to do all these armies but then not flesh them out like it's throwing crap at a wall and seeing what sticks.
Ironically and showing my age, I though the inverse when dark eldar appeared in 3rd ed - what's with all these new evil eldar when they are could have been eldar pirate units? I was eagerly waiting for pirates since they appeared in the 2nd ed ed codex and then they went with 'I can't believe they're not slanneshi' Eldar instead... :p
Eldar Pirates have been in since Rogue Trader. Eldritch Raiders were one of the named units, and Prince Yriel is a named character from Chapter Approved.
The Skyreavers are practically straight out of one of the illustrations.
F - is the Fire that rains from the skies.
U - for Uranium Bomb!
N - is for No Survivors...
2026/03/31 02:10:16
Subject: Does GW even care about Dark Eldar/Drukhari?
SgtEeveell wrote: Eldar Pirates have been in since Rogue Trader. Eldritch Raiders were one of the named units, and Prince Yriel is a named character from Chapter Approved.
The Skyreavers are practically straight out of one of the illustrations.
Rogue Trader was 1987.
Dark Eldar were 1998.
It’s been 11 years without, and the more recent 28 with.
Clocks for the clockmaker! Cogs for the cog throne!
2026/03/31 03:44:20
Subject: Does GW even care about Dark Eldar/Drukhari?
Just to summarize what I said in the Background thread (hopefully with fewer typos):
I agree that losing all the stuff we have really stinks. If you just gave us back the units that we've lost over the years, I actually think we'd be in a pretty solid place in terms of options and support.
Between the court and the beasts alone, the drukhari book feels more diverse and evocative than any given chapter of marines in terms of lore, and even in our current state we have most major roles pretty well covered.
To me, a big part of the faction's appeal has always been that it feels both full of exotic curiosities and welcoming to your own creative custom novelties. The lack of customization (especially of characters) over the years has severely diminished the latter. Taking away our lab experiments (grotesques), our alien/drukhari subculture medley (the court), and our semi-magical animal zoo (the beast packs) all diminish the former.
We're no longer a highly customizable faction of exotic novelties. Instead we have some of the fewest options of HQs and HQ wargear choices of any faction in the game, and we're pretty much down to only actual space elves as unit choices.
God don't even make me think about the new corsair stuff GW released. I keep thinking "You know this would've been cool if this was more dark eldar models." I feel like archons now try to feel pain themselves just to remember they're still alive. Seriously the dark eldar leaders are probably on suicide watch (can i still make mild jokes about that these days in regards to fictional characters?). There's a reason i wasn't excited for 10th ed even with lady malys. Also why did we need another archon refresh. We had one in 5th, 7th and the current one now. Same with incubi getting a refresh. They could've refreshed the butt ugly grotesques at least that hadn't gotten a model since 5th. Instead they axed it instead. Honestly they could've re-done incubi with those helmet mounted guns or more melee options or given grotesques different melee options. Seeing GW fold up dark eldar into the Aeldari store page sub-section of the Warhammer online store says it all. They're either gonna fade into obscurity or just become a Aeldari super-friends list or something.
I suppose what i find most insulting is GW builds all these half armies or part armies and then they never flesh them out. Then they fail to add to some other factions that really need it like dark eldar and some other older factions. Genestealer cults have a few options but if you don't go for gsc guardsmen units it's basically like 5-6 characters or more and probably as many units. At least admech got combined into one and has a sufficient amount of units. Harlequins, Knights, corsairs and maybe even custodes aren't even real armies. They have like 5 units each and without Forge World they can't really qualify as armies. GW seems to want to do all these armies but then not flesh them out like it's throwing crap at a wall and seeing what sticks.
---------
Even looking up the GW online store dark eldar have: 24 items for sale (this includes battleforces, kill teams and the codex), Imperial Guard have: 65 Items for sale, Tau have 45 Items for sale, Tyranids 54 Items for sale, Orks 59 Items for sale, Necrons 46 Items for sale, Aeldari 68 Items for sale (if you take out dark eldar it's like 44 items), Chaos Marines 56 Items for sale, Sisters of Battle 35 Items for sale, Chaos Daemons 48 Items for sale and Admech 31 Items for sale.
With the exception of Sisters of Battle who were neglected the worst for years we have about half the items for sale of any other main faction on the website. We also have the lowest amount of items of any of the main factions to have existed since maybe 3rd edition. I'm not sure where chaos daemons are with this but i think they were only a separate faction since 5th. Point is this is HORRIBLE! I can't take this faction seriously. Just i'm sorry there's a reason i left before the latest codex dropped. You can't make me care when GW doesn't.
For someone who doesn't care you sure type alot about it....
2026/03/31 07:59:14
Subject: Does GW even care about Dark Eldar/Drukhari?
[DCM]
Chief Deputy Sub Assistant Trainee Squig Handling Intern
You can be beyond caring due to poor treatment, and still be bitter that you’ve been forced to no longer care.
Anyways. With 11th Ed just around the corner, dare 40K players as a whole hope the Dark Eldar finally get their moment in the sun?
GW has genuinely turned over a new leaf on supporting Xenos armies in recent years. And that as covered has been a mix of mass resculpt in plastic and shiny new never before seen kits and even characters. This should be applauded.
And yes, despite GW’s size resources remain finite. So one way or another someone was gonna be last out the gate. That again is entirely unavoidable.
But even so? With their toys being taken away at a time everyone else got New And More Toys? Dark Eldar fans have every right to feel bitter. Because for edition after edition they’ve had so little.
So your army has never evolved. If you bought in big for the big 5th Ed refresh (relying on others for the edition!)? Exactly what encouragement have you had to expand your army since?
OK, certain kits moving from Metal/Finecast to Plastic is some incentive. And it may have seen some take the initial plunge. But enough to really drive Dark Eldar sales? OK we’ll never know for sure, but I personally doubt it. Certainly I’m skeptical that a long term Dark Eldar player, if they had Wracks, Incubi and Mandrakes already would’ve bought more Just Because They’re Plastic Now.
It’s an army strangled in its crib. Well, maybe not quite that dramatic but my words am not good today it seems, so please insert a less hyperbolic wording if you see fit.
If it’s a low seller? GW only have themselves to blame. From a wonky launch in 3rd Ed, with only a brief moment of glory before a rug pull in the next edition? What encouragement have they given Dark Eldar?
So…yeah. If you’ve been beaten with the poopy stick for 28 years now? I get why you no longer care, and why you’re pissed off you no longer care.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Thinking again about potential new units and toys.
I think sneaky, underhanded ways to stack the deck seem quite background accurate for Dark Eldar. And we’ve seen various incarnations of that sort of thing in other armies in other editions. For instance, radiation shenanigans from Skitarii Vanguard which lowered an enemy unit’s toughness, or Barbgaunts reducing enemy movement just from shooting.
Dark Eldar could definitely work with things like that. And, done correctly? It could seriously reward cunning plays by softening up enemies, allowing Stock units like Wyches a chance to punch above their weight.
I’m not sure inflicting permanent debuffs would work, for instance an acid vapour bomb reducing the target’s save by -1. But for a turn? Doesn’t seem like too much to keep track of. But even so, and not being at all familiar with how modern 40K actually plays in terms of who buffs what and for how long? An army which can strategically degrade your units to make them easier pickings could be a lot of fun to play. And for Dark Eldar could really help offset their own fragility.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Another suggestion is reimagining the classic Phantasm Grenade. Lean into the hallucination angle. Perhaps a unit hit with one has to re-roll successful to-hit rolls in its next turn, both shooting and close combat, representing them picking the wrong target.
Or perhaps Phantasms switch off enemy Buffs instead? Pinpoint synergy breaking to maximise your own offensive.
Certainly I for one am quite entertained* by Dark Eldar having ways to make fights as one sided as possible, without necessarily making themselves harder. I feel that would keep some finesse to it, as you still need to pick your targets with care, and be in a position to really capitalise on it.
*OK that’s actually pretty easy. Have you seen the utter drivel I willingly watch and then waffle about in the movie thread? Wots standards, precious?
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2026/03/31 08:39:50
Fed up of Scalpers? But still want your Exclusives? Why not join us?
You know what might actually really help Dark Eldar? The faction-specific objectives that have been mentioned. What if DE just don't have to play the same game as everyone else? No more having to stand in the particular circles to win. At a basic level, how about raiding parties score VPs for capturing enemy models? Bonuses for capturing samples from each enemy unit on the table?
"Meh, you space marine monkeighs enjoy standing in your circles. Meanwhile we'll just borrow your Brother Lucian here and spend a decade ripping his skin off... Toodles!"
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2026/03/31 09:10:19
2026/03/31 09:27:32
Subject: Does GW even care about Dark Eldar/Drukhari?
With the right mix of Exotic Beasties, they can potentially cover different gaps in a given army.
Clawed Fiends for instance for mauling and tying up heavy infantry, Warp Beasts/Khymerae* for General Purpose Biting, and those Deth Burds I Can’t Recall The Name Of for bothering light infantry.
And why not A Really Big Beast for Dreadnought Tipping? Because it’s funny watching their legs wiggle about when they’ve been knocked over. Probably.
*Pretty sure that’s what they were called?
Automatically Appended Next Post: Hey, maybe a Barghesi? We now know what an ickle Barghesi looks like. How about a big ‘un? Really let the Beastmaster show off his mastery of lesser beings?
Oooohhhhhhh….why not a Character Level Beastmaster for a geet big beasty? Just as a Wych can rise to Succubus (and the lower level, the name of which escapes me), why not Beastmasters?
I'd love to see a Beastmaster character with their pet Ambul (potentially wearing some pieces of oversized Dark Eldar armor?)
Seriously though, there are three factions in the game where mercenaries/new species of some sort make any kind of sense. Chaos to a very limited extent. Tau for the relatively sane stuff. Dark Eldar for the really wacky stuff. It's just a shame that all that wacky stuff was taken away.
Another suggestion is reimagining the classic Phantasm Grenade. Lean into the hallucination angle. Perhaps a unit hit with one has to re-roll successful to-hit rolls in its next turn, both shooting and close combat, representing them picking the wrong target.
Or perhaps Phantasms switch off enemy Buffs instead? Pinpoint synergy breaking to maximise your own offensive.
Certainly I for one am quite entertained* by Dark Eldar having ways to make fights as one sided as possible, without necessarily making themselves harder. I feel that would keep some finesse to it, as you still need to pick your targets with care, and be in a position to really capitalise on it.
If we are leaning into Phantasms being hallucinogenic, what if critical misses (to hit, or to wound?) instead caused a hit on the attacker's unit? This would buff the damage output of the Dark Eldar without actually making them strong/spam attacks themselves.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2026/03/31 09:37:45
2026/03/31 09:49:09
Subject: Does GW even care about Dark Eldar/Drukhari?
[DCM]
Chief Deputy Sub Assistant Trainee Squig Handling Intern
Are critical misses currently a thing? And how easy are they to avoid with a bit of re-roll.
Open questions because I genuinely don’t know. 3rd Ed Heresy is super stingey on re-rolls (good thing!) but not sure if 40K has toned it down.
But, despite my affirmed ignorance? I do think breaking synergies for a more effective Unit Bullying feels quite DE. Get them weakened and disoriented, then into the Big Bag Of Stuff. Even just “eat Phantasm, no more re-rolls for that unit” might prove effective, a way to degrade overall effectiveness, but that still requires a Cunning Plan to maximise on.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Maybe it’s just You Can’t CP That Unit For Now.
Tormentor Helms. Originally just a weedy Splinter Pistol worn at a jaunty angle which I think allowed the two weapon bonus despite double handed weapons.
Are those doing something, anything again these days? If not, what should they be doing for you? I think perhaps something to increase Battleshock losses could be fun. Incubi deliver a heavenly kicking, Tormentor Helms exaggerate the mental impact, causing more to flee or be rendered catatonic and ready for collection? So, when combined with the other hypothetical shenanigans, even a modest squad of Incubi can overwhelm big units with greater ease.
Automatically Appended Next Post: And speaking of existing units which look great but are perhaps not very good?
Mandrakes. Love love love the models. They look the part, and I like the flaming bogies. But are they bringing anything really useful to the table? If DE did lean into isolating, debuffing and then annihilating a unit or two a turn, how should Mandrakes take part in that?
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2026/03/31 10:26:44
Fed up of Scalpers? But still want your Exclusives? Why not join us?
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Mandrakes. Love love love the models. They look the part, and I like the flaming bogies. But are they bringing anything really useful to the table? If DE did lean into isolating, debuffing and then annihilating a unit or two a turn, how should Mandrakes take part in that?
Well they currently bring uppy-downy, which is pretty useful for the objective game. DE admittedly aren't exactly short on "good objective units" - but I think most competitive lists take a unit or two.
The problem with "isolating/debuffing/killing a unit a turn" is that other armies just skip to "kill 3 units a turn". No hassle. No faff.
"If by your strategic genius the stars align you do as well as someone just facerolling" rarely works out.
2026/03/31 14:18:48
Subject: Does GW even care about Dark Eldar/Drukhari?
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Are critical misses currently a thing? And how easy are they to avoid with a bit of re-roll.
The "better" way to implement something like that would be to do what the Cursed Blade subfaction did in 8th/9th and deal mortal wounds on a save of 6+. At least if we're talking about melee.
Open questions because I genuinely don’t know. 3rd Ed Heresy is super stingey on re-rolls (good thing!) but not sure if 40K has toned it down.
But, despite my affirmed ignorance? I do think breaking synergies for a more effective Unit Bullying feels quite DE. Get them weakened and disoriented, then into the Big Bag Of Stuff. Even just “eat Phantasm, no more re-rolls for that unit” might prove effective, a way to degrade overall effectiveness, but that still requires a Cunning Plan to maximise on.
Splinter weapons in general are also sort of meant to be our equivalent of a toughness debuff. We don't *actually* debuff T, but we bypass it meaning that our oppponents basically overpaid for any toughness beyond like 3. Another reason poison should really work on units other than infantry; letting it comfortably work against mounted units, beasts, etc. helped the faction as a whole feel like we were "cheating." Things like shardnets keeping enemies from falling back or haywires stun-locking enemy vehicles also did a lot to convey the feeling of drukhari being sadistic cheaters who paralyzed their food before they ate it.
Tormentor Helms. Originally just a weedy Splinter Pistol worn at a jaunty angle which I think allowed the two weapon bonus despite double handed weapons.
Are those doing something, anything again these days? If not, what should they be doing for you? I think perhaps something to increase Battleshock losses could be fun. Incubi deliver a heavenly kicking, Tormentor Helms exaggerate the mental impact, causing more to flee or be rendered catatonic and ready for collection? So, when combined with the other hypothetical shenanigans, even a modest squad of Incubi can overwhelm big units with greater ease.
Right now, they cause battleshock in the fight phase. Which not only potentially leaves a unit unable to be buffed by strats but also generates a pain token for the drukhari player. It's nice when it works and captures the idea of a unit being thrown off their game by a salvo of unexpected gun hat blasts, but battleshock in general is an unreliable mechanic.
Automatically Appended Next Post: And speaking of existing units which look great but are perhaps not very good?
Mandrakes. Love love love the models. They look the part, and I like the flaming bogies. But are they bringing anything really useful to the table? If DE did lean into isolating, debuffing and then annihilating a unit or two a turn, how should Mandrakes take part in that?
Mandrakes are pretty good as-is. They're our uppy-downy unit (although they have to pay a pain token to uppy at the moment), and they put out a respectable amount of offense both in shooting and melee. In a more thematic version of 40k with more customization, I'd love for them to get mechanics that give them buffs vs isolated enemies (possible rule for a "shadow king" unit?), but they're pretty useful as-is. That's the case with most of our units, really. Most of them have a decent use case; it's just that they aren't doing all the cool things you'd want/expect them to do.
Veering quickly into wishlisting/complaining:
Succubus <- Is in this weird place where she's good at picking on a bunch of guardsmen all at once. She has rules to make her hit harder into character units, but she's stuck at Damage 1 unless you take a specific enhancement in specific detachment. So what should be our most beatsticky generic HQ ends up having to bully mooks and non-beatstick characters rather than taking on real threats. Easily solveable if you get rid of NMNR and just let her have some wargear options. Give her a loadout that's decent into meq/meq characters, a loadout that lets her show off by going monster/vehicle hunting, etc. All stuff she had in the past.
Wyches <- Are doing a little bit better in the codex than in the index. I think I just miss the days of this unit being slightly more complicated, but that's not super friendly with 10th's approach to things. I miss being able to prevent fallbacks reliably with shardnets (instead of just doing mortal wounds when the unit falls back.) I miss being able to stun vehicles with haywire grenades, even if it's just a haywire grenade from the hekatrix. I miss being able to build the hekatrix as a mini-boss with a personal drug dispenser. It's kind of crazy how many special rules a unit of wyches lead by a succubus have, and how little flavor all those rules provide beyond "being fast." and making them baseline competent in melee. Sometimes.
Reavers <- Are actually in a decent spot right now. They're cheap enough to be scoring units. They can pack a decent gun for every 3 models. GW mostly fixed their fly-by attack by letting it work on more than just Normal moves. My small gripe with these guys is that they still just don't "feel" like the speed demons they used to be. Back in the day, when these guys turbo boosted to deliver their fly-by attack, you could feel them gripping the handlebars as the velocity threatened to rip them off of their bikes. Having the option to give up their shooting in order to move crazy fast and hti even harder with their fly-by attack would be nice.
Hellions <- Also actually in a good place, which is kind of rare for these guys. My big complaint is that they're mounted instead of infantry which can make it a little trickier than it should be to hide them behind a building and then pounce on the enemy. Just make them infantry instead of mounted so they can move through ruins. This would be inkeeping with how they're depicted in Gangs of Commorragh where they're slower but more agile than reavers. These guys should be comfortable stalking ruined towers, etc.
Warriors <- Could be worse. The mandatory 10-man squads with a million weapons just feels a bit cumbersome to me. I feel like there's a way to let these guys be 5-man squads with fewer weapon profiles without having to do wonky venom splitting stuff. I also miss being able to make the sybarite mildly scary.
Archon <- Is doing better post-codex, but I still miss all the esoteric gear. The soul trap is a good start, but give me clone fields, mounted options, maybe a webway awl that isn't just a strat in another detachment, etc. Also, I know the shadowfield is a classic, but I suspect most of us drukhari players would gladly trade in the 2++ for a 3++ if it just didn't go away as soon as you failed a save. Or if we can't have that, give us the 7th(?) edition version of the shadowfield where it didn't go away until the end of the phase that you failed a shadowfield save.
Haemonculus <- They made these guys assassin types, and it's weird. I feel like someone got the word "scalpel" in their head and just really liked the metaphor of a haemonculus using "scalpel strikes" to pluck out the character from the enemy squad, but it's a really odd interpretation of them. Or rather, the melee-enthusiast haemi would be *fine* if he were one of several options. Like, he'd be fine if we had marine levels of support where there are a half dozen different haemonculus datasheets to choose from. I want my haemis to have esoteric wargear ala 5th edition (powerful one-shot weapons, debuffing weapons like mindphase gauntlets, hex rifles for sniping), and/or I want my haemonculus to be my apothecary, patching up the wounded and generating pain tokens.
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And while I'm on a roll:
Grotesques <- Should be expensive, poorly armored, and meaty enough to be good despite that. Give them a ton of wounds and a ton of attacks at high enough strength and damage that your opponent can't ignore them. Thing something along the lines of GSC abominants, but less sneaky and more beefy. And our apothecary haemonculus should be joined to them and patching them up. My complciated approach to these guys if we really don't want haemonculi leading them is to give them the option to become permanently battleshocked and forced to charge something in the charge phase, but their stats get way better once they "go berzerk."
Beast Packs: No more mixed units. Let the beasts run around as separate datasheets that each have their own job. Khymarae are the meat and potatoes: decent number of bodies with decent offense and decent invuln saves. Also, they regain lost models when the enemy fails battleshock around them for lore reasons. Razorwings have lots of wounds but meh offense and bad defense. Their special rule makes the enemy bad at shooting other things while they have a swarm of birds nearby harassing them. Clawed fiends are "heavy hitters" for their price, and their price should be kept reasonably low; an efficient threat but not a one-beast army. And then the beast master should be able to join any of those squads and provide some sort of buff. Maybe even just make the beast master necessary to pull off each beast unit's special rules. So razorwings honly interrupt enemy shooting with the beast master nearby, khymarae either hit harder or make better use of their defense with the beastmaster nearby, clawed fiends get some kind of long-bomb charge when the beast master is nearby, etc.
The court: Break it up. Medusae are battlefield camera aliens capturing the action from multiple angles (joined to various squads) and contribute some extra shooting. Lhameans either become character who can buff poisoned weapons to their squad or to any transport they're embarked on, or else you make a whole squad of lhameans with whacky poison weapons and just let them be a squad that wounds anything organic reliably and tosses around cool debuffs with poisonous braziers, etc. Sslyth get fleshed out to show off cool snake alien culture and serve as a relatively beefy unit for a lhamean or archon to hang with. Ur-ghuls probably get added to the beast pack menagerie, tbh. Let them hang out with the beast master and deny deepstrike or provide reaction moves because they smelled danger coming.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2026/03/31 14:19:17
ATTENTION. Psychic tests are unfluffy. Your longing for AV is understandable but misguided. Your chapter doesn't need a separate codex. Doctrines should go away. Being a "troop" means nothing. This has been a cranky service announcement. You may now resume your regularly scheduled arguing.
