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So I was playing a game tonight against both new marine book and chaos marine book. Everything the Dark Eldar were before is now done better by these new books. I had an idea while driving home and I have to get it written down somewhere before it goes away. The Dark Eldar used to be primarily a fast army. But what does that mean anymore? We need a new identity and I think I may have found it!

Stat manipulating

We could be the most annoying army to face as we would be able to change the outcome of the battle by altering stats throughout the game. For instance, my first thoughts went to the Cronos and Talos. The parasite engine sure doesn't do what the name implies. So I thought of a great way to make it a solid support option. Ignoring points and stats for now and focusing on abilities.

Cronos - Whenever the Cronos kills a model with the spirit siphon or vortex, decrease the Toughness of that unit by 1 for 1 round, this can happen in consecutive turns. For every model slain, increase the Toughness of the Cronos by 1 to a maximum of 10.

It becomes difficult to kill, and weakened those around it. I would field these in a heartbeat!

Talos - Whenever the Talos kills a model in CC, decrease the units Strength by 1 for 1 round. This can happen in consecutive turns. For ever model killed in CC increase the Strength by 1 to a maximum of 10.

The Talos now becomes our strongest unit strength-wise. It becomes scary and can threaten everything on the board.

Reavers - Cluster Caltrops now happen during the movement phase. Any unit that is flown over by Reavers with caltrops have their Movement reduced by 2 for 1 round. On a roll of a 4+ also deal 1 mortal wound per caltrop in the squad.

Grav talon - when a reaver with this item charges, deal 1 mortal wound for each grav talon in the squad.

Reavers are now very threatening in close combat on the charge and when they fly over. This gives them a purpose to harass.

Hellions - Using the hooks on their hellglaives, Hellions are able to make sharp turns slingshotting them through combat by hooking onto nearby objects. Add 3 inches to the pile in move on a successful charge. If an enemy unit is the object they hooked onto, deal 1 mortal wound. If the Helliarch is armed with a stun claw, deal an additional mortal wound.

Not so much stat manipulation of the enemy, but the additional movement helps position better in combat.

Succubus - Champion of the arena (aura) enemy units within 3 inches of a Succubus or Wych Cult unit within 3 inches of the Succubus subtract 1 from their Attacks stat to a minimum of 1.

This will help the staying power of wyches by reducing the return strikes in combat.

Haemonculus - +1 Toughness aura is good, I like this as is.

Archon - Master Tactician, Enemy stratagems cost an additional point when an enemy HQ is within 6 inches of an Archon. All successful morale tests made by an enemy unit within 12 inches must be rerolled at -1 leadership.

Husk Blade - +1S AP-3 d3 damage. Deal an additional mortal wound if a 6 is rolled to wound.

Manipulating their command points feels like it could be huge! You want to interrupt my charge? You're gonna pay for it. And the huskblade feels more powerful.

Drazhar - Increase friendly Incubus model attacks by 1. If Drazhar kills at lease 1 model in the fight phase, he may pile in and attack again and gains an additional d3 attacks.

He feels more threatening this way.

Lelith - Arena Goddess, always putting on a show and inspiring all wych cult units around her, Lelith grants all friendly wych cult units +1 attack. For every character killed by Lelith, increase her attack value by 1 to a maximum of 10. Bloodbride units gain half of the attacks of Lelith as they seek to imitate the her if they are within 6 inches of her. Lelith always wounds on a 3+ in all combats against non-vehicle units

Makes her a powerful leader and not shabby in combat.

I've been thinking of other things as well, but not as cohesively yet. I want everyone who wants to, to pitch in with this. If nothing else it's a good time passer.

I could see this working if you track it like Tau markerlights. Every time a Dark Eldar unit causes an unsaved wound, put a Pain & Suffering token on the affected unit.

The DE units then have a bespoke rule for what they can do by spending the tokens.
For example, a Cronos can spend a token when attacking the unit to lower its Toughness by -1, or when defending against attacks by the unit, spend a token to add +1 to its Toughness (probably want to limit it to +1 or -1, or it'd get silly).

Lelith, for example, might spend a token to cause a Mortal wound to the enemy unit, or spend a token to give Wych cult units in 6" an extra attack.

 Stormonu wrote:
I could see this working if you track it like Tau markerlights. Every time a Dark Eldar unit causes an unsaved wound, put a Pain & Suffering token on the affected unit.

The DE units then have a bespoke rule for what they can do by spending the tokens.
For example, a Cronos can spend a token when attacking the unit to lower its Toughness by -1, or when defending against attacks by the unit, spend a token to add +1 to its Toughness (probably want to limit it to +1 or -1, or it'd get silly).

Lelith, for example, might spend a token to cause a Mortal wound to the enemy unit, or spend a token to give Wych cult units in 6" an extra attack.

That's a really cool idea. It reminds me of the 5th edition PFP rules without the inconvenience of losing all your tokens when your opponent focus fires on your most pained-up unit. Maybe give it a generic chart instead of a unit specific one to keep it simple? Something like...

1 Token = +3" on charge rolls against that unit. You may charge this unit even if you're more than 12" away.
2 Tokens = The unit's injuries and suffering make it hard to aim a shot or swing a blade. -1 to all to-hit rolls until the start of the next drukhari turn.
3 Tokens = The drukhari are hyped up on your suffering. Non-vehicle drukhari within 7" of this unit gain +2 to their FNP (whatever our 1st turn PFP thing is called) until the start of the next drukhari turn.

Benefits dark eldar that get in close to the suffering, but shooty units let you generate P&S tokens in your shooting phase by peppering the units you want to go after.

@reevesshady: You have some really cool ideas here, but I feel some of them might be a bit more complicated/book-keepy than is necessary. Let's see...

Cronos: This is neat, but lowering the toughness of an enemy matters for relatively few of our units. Anything poisonous doesn't really care about toughness, and our darklight weapons already wound most infantry on 2s and most vehicles on 3s. So you'd only really see the benefits of this where Strength and Toughness 5 and 6 are concerned. Also, it's worth mentioning that the Cronos has historically been less about making itself durable and more about supporting other units. Not to get into the weeds, but I kind of like the idea of the cronos granting units near it a sort of non-Ynnari soul burst as they glut themselves on soul energy.

Talos: While I can see a spirit vortex fatiguing the squadmates of those it kills, I'm not sure how the talos would weaken a marine's punching arm by murderizing his brother. Also, no index in front of me, but can we still take taloi in squads? If so, keeping track of which talos killed how many models could be a pain.I get that it's the mechanical opposite of what you're proposing for the cronos, but what's the fluff here?

Reavers: Making cluster caltrops a drive-bye attack again would synergize well with their other rules this edition. Keeping track of a 2" movement debuff seems fiddly, and I'd probably just not bother to remember it most of the time. Your improvements to grav talons would be appreciated, though I'm not sure 1 mortal wound per 3 bikes really brings them back to where they need to be. Getting a ton of strength 6 attacks that may or may not ignore armor made them feel like a wheat thresher in 7th edition. Now, the mortal wounds make them kind of want to go after heavily armored targets, but their normal attacks completely fall down at that job. Going after mobs of squishy targets is kind of a waste for the mortal wounds, but your normal attacks are more likely to matter. Reavers are in a weird place. I'd almost prefer that grav talons be blade vanes that make extra attacks or something.

Hellions: The only thing that I'm not on board with about these suggestions is that it makes hellions a very complicated unit for not a ton of extra payoff. They already have Hit & Run, combat drugs, and the rules for PFP to keep track of. You're proposing adding on what amounts to 2 or 3 additional special rules. And the mortal wounds feel odd to me for similar reasons to the reavers. I actually don't hate where hellions are at this edition. Wait until turn 2, deepstrike them in, then lock down a bunch of enemy units in the backfield. They actually do the harassment thing reasonably well this edition, in my experience. They're weirdly okay tank hunters too.

Succubus: Cool rule, but she's already got a snazzy aura going for her. Personally, I like the idea of giving blood brides and succubae extra benefits for using wych weapons and having Attack reduction be the benefit for taking shardnets, but that's just me.

Haemonculus: Agreed.

Archon: Stratagem manipulation is a cool concept, but I'm feeling a fluff/crunch disparity with your name and rules. A 6" aura means he basically wants to be in melee to benefit from this rule, but being a master tactician doesn't seem like it should make the other guy a worse tactician when you're stabbing him. I think this would be a cool rule to give to a new mandrake HQ like a "Shadow King" or Kheradruakh. How about letting archons use stratagems multiple times in a given phase? Has a very, "Mwahaha! Just as planned!" sort of quality to it, helps darklight weapons alpha strike, and helps other units countercharge. Although maybe that would make more sense as a Poisoned Tongue faction rule...

Huskblade: Sure.

Drazhar: I wouldn't mind replacing his +1 to hit aura with the +1 Attack aura considering the former becomes redundant for us on turn 3. Drazhar is already pretty killy for his points, so I feel that basically giving him a second fight phase AND giving him extra attacks is giving him an unnecessary killing power boost. Honestly, I think he's pretty okay this edition as-is. He's already our most lethal HQ.

Lelith: Bonus attacks for killing characters is flavorful and cool, and I will almost definitely forget it every game. I feel that bloodbrides need their own buffs that aren't dependent on following Lelith around, which might make this particular buff too good in combination with whatever form the aforementioned blood bride buff ends up being. Also, this makes Lelith a support characters, which feels a bit out of "character" for her, no pun intended. I've always seen her as the type to stand heads and shoulders above her peers; not the type to (intentionally or unintentionally) bolster those around her. Making her wound on 3s would be a massive buff. I feel like you oughtn't give her this rule without also giving her a pretty major price hike. I also feel like I might not take her if she underwent a major price hike. This also makes her reroll-to-wound rolsl rule feel redundant. On turn 3, she'd have tons of attacks that ignore armor, hit on 2's rerolling, and wound on 3's (rerolling if the target is a character) and ignore the high toughness value that things like MCs are paying points for. It puts her dangerously close to, "Here's my special snowflake that always hits with his 500 attacks, ignores all saves, and only fails to wound if he fails a rerollable 2+ to-wound roll," territory.


Hope that wasn't too much of a downer. You have some neat concepts here. I think that "ability modification" could be a fun, in-character thing for dark eldar if you found a way to streamline it (something like that markerlight system) and maybe tied it into weapons that make sense being debuffs. We're an army full of slavers armed with poison weapons, after all! Where are our tranquilizer darts?

*Jots down ideas for "tranquilizer rifles."*