Anglacon over at Fantasy Battles Forums (www.fantasybattles.com) is a long
time player of the Dark Eldar as far back as 4th Edition when I
first met him locally in Florida .
He has had excellent success during tournaments with his Dark Eldar and has
been a huge fan of these fetish, kinky pale elves of the future. He had some
interesting words of wisdom posted up on his Forum that I asked to bring here
to share.
While many players scream doom and gloom, I know this as a
true fact as I have spoken with one player locally back and forth here on Army
of the Week and disappointed by what he had already collected and was ready to
sell off his Space Wolves and Dark Eldar in favor of a Chaos Army if possible.
I explained that they lost a few things, gained a few things and how they work
will change slightly. 6th is much like how 4th was,
weaker transports and mid range firefights are going to dominate the game plain
and simple.
Here is what Anglacon had to say:
After reading all the Doom
and Gloom on dark Eldar all over the internet, and how they are useless, toast,
and pretty much garbage now, I have to disagree. In many, many ways the Dark
kin have become more deadly.
As Dark Eldar, our biggest strength was that we were Fast, but a glass hammer. In other words, we got there fast, and hit hard, but when we were hit back, we died. Sadly, 6th edition gave our biggest strength, the speed our army had, to every other army out there.
6TH DID however, make our weakness even worse. Our vulnerability to small arms fire was magnified this edition with the advent of Overwatch and Snap Fire. Our Webway portals were nerfed into uselessness. Our flyers pale in comparison to the cookie cutter Guard and Marine versions, and going first just became SOOO important to the survival of our units.
But, What GW taketh away, gw giveth in other ways.
Dark Eldar are pretty much the only army in the game that ignores night fight. Its not that we are good at it, we just ignore it! Our nemesis, the ol dreadnaught is a joke to our wyches with haywires, as we hit them on 4's, and take hull points off of them on 2's! Guard parking lots, monoliths, Landraiders, all of them are free points to our armies. Units that never before were worth a damn can now be taken... hellions, jetbikes and mandrakes (yes, you read that right, MANDRAKES) can now be useful and scary.
So... on to the Dark Eldar units, the "Webs" perception, and the truth!
Asdrubael vect-
Web- thinks the guy is useless now that his scepter is only ap3.
Reality- Asdrubael did take a hit in the ol ap department, but he became SOO much more powerful in every other way! how you ask? well...
Preferred enemy now affects the entire unit in both hth and shooting. You reroll all 1's in combat. period. Fearless also confers to the unit, so throw him with bloodbrides, they are fearless, reroll all 1's to hit and wound in shooting and HTH, can take out any vehicle or walker with haywires, have a crap ton of attacks, and he still steals initiative on a 4+. With the new JINK rules, moving vehicles before they are shot is MANDATORY. against all marines, this guy is still a killer... just avoid terminators and you are fine! He went from overpriced to fairly priced, and after 6th is played a bit, expect almost all DE players to use him.
Lady malys-
Web- thinks she sucks ass.
Reality- She sucks ass. The only small benefits is that she and her unit ignore all psychic powers, and there are a lot more of them out there now, and she MAY (I say may) be able to cheese the reserve rule by placing D3 units into reserve that normally would not be able to due to 1/2 the army restriction. But, all in all, not worth it.
Baron Sathonyx
Web- better with the hammer of wrath rule (impact hits basically)
Reality- Better all around. His +1 to go first is huge if you have a lot of vehicles, (see vect for more info) and he comes with a grenade launcher, which grants both assault and defensive grenades. When being shot on overwatch, it gives the unit stealth (+1 cover saves). Pssst... don’t tell anyone, but he gave the unit stealth anyway! For his points, the fact he allows rerolls for both Initiative tests and distance for hit and run is huge.. and you want to hit and run to keep getting those impact hits. be careful of overwatch though!
Lelith Hesperax
Web- Who? Oh, not too bad now that she has one of the three dark eldar character HTH weapons that are ap2.
reality- Sorry, but still not great. Yes, she has a buttload of attacks, yes, she can take out terminators, but in reality, she is str 3, and only has a 3++, so those termies she charged will smack her in the face with a hammer and insta gib her. She is GREAT in running down units and in challenges though! Overall- leave her on the shelf.
Kheradruakh-
Web- HAHAHAHAHA what a loser!
Reality- Hmmm... now wait just 1 second. In certain instances, he is not bad. if you infiltrate a 10 man unit of mandrakes, you can deploy this guy 1" away from them, joining him to the unit, giving them a pain token (feel no pain) opening their shooting and making them a decent unit!
However, you cannot charge anything until turn 3 at best if you do this! but 22 str 4 pinning shots are pretty great! Unless you have a plan around him, though he is better, he is still not worth the points or effort.
Duke Sliscus
Web- Slightly buffed, not bad
reality- Agreed. He has a blast pistol, and the only named character that has combat drugs! Though short on wounds, his 2++ is great, and rerolling the drug chart is the real reason to take this guy... He should be taken in wych cults only, because any other way is a waste of some sort. His deep striking MAY, and I say MAY come in handy depending on your opponent, his army, and field saturation.
Drazahar
Web- OMG!! the best ever! holy crap!
reality- meh. He did get better, and can take out termies easily. With his eternal warrior rule, he will ALWAYS be able to take his FNP roll, if he has a pain token. No doubt, he has a lot of great abilities and can dance around the combat, and is scary bad in challenges, but man, is he expensive! Overall, better but not THAT much better!
Urien Rakath
Web: His ichor gauntlet is great!
Reality: um, no it isn’t. His biggest buff is the fact that his clone field makes him a beast in challenges, but he won’t ever get through 2+ saves. His best benefits were the distribution of pain tokens to wracks and grots, but since webways died a horrible horrible death, shelve him.
Arcons-
Web: Nerfed beyond use!
Reality: well, I hate to agree with the masses, but there are better HQ's for less, and the Arcons just don’t cut it any more.
Court of the Arcon-
Web: haven’t heard much from the web on them
reality: Besides the majority toughness boost, they are useless.
Succubus-
Web: Too Weak
reality: A decent HQ choice. You can equip her with haywire grenades.. in fact let me say this now, NEVER take any wych without a haywire, EVER! Anyway, toss her a blaster and venom blade or agoniser, and you have a cheap, decent close combat character.
Haemonculus-
Web: Good for pain token shenanigans only.
reality: Not really. yes, the token shuffle is great, but the sniper rifle they can take is awesome. A roll of 6 to hit means YOU pick the target (bye bye melta gun!) and it causes instant death. How awesome is that?
Incubi-
Web: nerfed to death with their weapons being ap3
reality: yeah, that hurt bad, and they are a bit overpriced now, but the Klaivex is a mandatory investment, as is the demiklave. Don’t be fooled into thinking this unit is garbage, it is not AS good as of old, but it is a far cry from sucking!
Grots and wracks:
Web: Dead and useless
reality: Again, the toughness game in HTH and shooting means any succubus with them is toughness 5! Not too shabby! But it is a huge point cost death star unit that will be shot off the field before it is able to do anything. Damn webway nerf!
Mandrakes:
Web: useless
reality: overpriced and useless unless you use the scenario listed above under Kheradruakh
Harlequins-
web: Better all around! rending rocks and they are very hard to kill by shooting with the new rules.
reality: agreed, but frail, fragile and overpriced.
Trueborn/ warriors:
web: better due to the rapid fire rules.
Reality: agreed.
Bloodbrides/ Wyches
Web: useless and dead due to overwatch.
reality: Now the strongest unit in the Dark Eldar army, if used right!
People whining about overwatch need to use their heads! Say units of 9 wyches lead by homunculi are about to assault out of a raider on a unit of 10 marines.
first, the harem disembarks alone and moves 6" right at the enemy leaving the token with the wyches. Then, the wyches disembark and advance at the marines, staying more than 2" from the harem. Come charge time, you charge the harem FIRST. now the marines need to overwatch HIM, or he will get into BTB denying them the ability to overwatch the wyches! Even if they kill the harem, they can’t overwatch twice in the same turn! So, you’re FNP wyches charge in, and eat the marines for breakfast, or the dreadnaught, or whatever it is you throw them at.
Hellions:
web: better due to hammer of wrath. Also, you can drag an IC out of combat now!
reality: agreed, and hit and run is still huge. Avoid the stunclaw trap, as an agoniser is still vastly superior over dragging an IC out of combat!
Scourges:
Web: awesome with haywire blasters now!
reality: Still way overpriced for what you get. Who cares about impact hits when you never want them in combat! a unit with 4 haywire blasters costs 260 points! for 4 measly shots to hurt vehicles! for 260 you can get:
10 wyches with 2 hydra gauntlets, a raider with ether sails, a hekatrix with an agonizer, 10 haywire grenades and have 25 points left over! the wyches are more mobile, deadlier, better in hth, the raider has a dark lance, they are better in every way! don’t waste the points!
Beasts:
web: better due to ignoring terrain and cover!
reality: better due to ignoring terrain and cover, worse due to the new wound allocation rules, Mandatory to mix the units now though.. you need khymerae and razorwings!
Reavers:
web: sooo much better, lightning fast!
reality:
this is the unit that improved the most! they are sooo much faster, tougher, and with the jink save combined with skilled rider, whenever you bladevane anyone, you have a 3+ cover. when you shoot someone, you have a 4+. You can always move in the assault phase.. they are the fastest thing in the game! They have the hammer of wrath rule, and can upgrade with a champ and power weapon or power spear (my choice). I would take in units of 7-10, and keep them in reserves. there is no reason not to unless you KNOW you are going first, because these guys can reach out and touch anyone on the board!
raiders/Venoms
web: worse due to hull point’s
reality: better due to hull points. I don’t know about you, but my raiders died to glancing hits ALL OF THE TIME! no more! Vehicles die easier this edition, but ours ALWAYS died this easy! In a way, we got buffed!
Talos/Cronos
web: useless without portals, and portals are garbage now.
reality: sadly, they are right.
Ravager
Web: Forget them and take flyers!
reality: take at LEAST 2, and arm them with triple disintegrators! What was that about not being able to take out terminators?
Razorwing/Voidraven
web: the only anti air we have, gotta take em
reality: I haven’t used them enough to make an informed decision, but I am running 2 triple dissie ravagers and 1 void raven for now.
So, as you can see, a lot of changes. Some good, some bad, but it is not the doom and gloom some people are crying about. I will post a 6th edition list in a bit to give you guys a sample.
As Dark Eldar, our biggest strength was that we were Fast, but a glass hammer. In other words, we got there fast, and hit hard, but when we were hit back, we died. Sadly, 6th edition gave our biggest strength, the speed our army had, to every other army out there.
6TH DID however, make our weakness even worse. Our vulnerability to small arms fire was magnified this edition with the advent of Overwatch and Snap Fire. Our Webway portals were nerfed into uselessness. Our flyers pale in comparison to the cookie cutter Guard and Marine versions, and going first just became SOOO important to the survival of our units.
But, What GW taketh away, gw giveth in other ways.
Dark Eldar are pretty much the only army in the game that ignores night fight. Its not that we are good at it, we just ignore it! Our nemesis, the ol dreadnaught is a joke to our wyches with haywires, as we hit them on 4's, and take hull points off of them on 2's! Guard parking lots, monoliths, Landraiders, all of them are free points to our armies. Units that never before were worth a damn can now be taken... hellions, jetbikes and mandrakes (yes, you read that right, MANDRAKES) can now be useful and scary.
So... on to the Dark Eldar units, the "Webs" perception, and the truth!
Asdrubael vect-
Web- thinks the guy is useless now that his scepter is only ap3.
Reality- Asdrubael did take a hit in the ol ap department, but he became SOO much more powerful in every other way! how you ask? well...
Preferred enemy now affects the entire unit in both hth and shooting. You reroll all 1's in combat. period. Fearless also confers to the unit, so throw him with bloodbrides, they are fearless, reroll all 1's to hit and wound in shooting and HTH, can take out any vehicle or walker with haywires, have a crap ton of attacks, and he still steals initiative on a 4+. With the new JINK rules, moving vehicles before they are shot is MANDATORY. against all marines, this guy is still a killer... just avoid terminators and you are fine! He went from overpriced to fairly priced, and after 6th is played a bit, expect almost all DE players to use him.
Lady malys-
Web- thinks she sucks ass.
Reality- She sucks ass. The only small benefits is that she and her unit ignore all psychic powers, and there are a lot more of them out there now, and she MAY (I say may) be able to cheese the reserve rule by placing D3 units into reserve that normally would not be able to due to 1/2 the army restriction. But, all in all, not worth it.
Baron Sathonyx
Web- better with the hammer of wrath rule (impact hits basically)
Reality- Better all around. His +1 to go first is huge if you have a lot of vehicles, (see vect for more info) and he comes with a grenade launcher, which grants both assault and defensive grenades. When being shot on overwatch, it gives the unit stealth (+1 cover saves). Pssst... don’t tell anyone, but he gave the unit stealth anyway! For his points, the fact he allows rerolls for both Initiative tests and distance for hit and run is huge.. and you want to hit and run to keep getting those impact hits. be careful of overwatch though!
Lelith Hesperax
Web- Who? Oh, not too bad now that she has one of the three dark eldar character HTH weapons that are ap2.
reality- Sorry, but still not great. Yes, she has a buttload of attacks, yes, she can take out terminators, but in reality, she is str 3, and only has a 3++, so those termies she charged will smack her in the face with a hammer and insta gib her. She is GREAT in running down units and in challenges though! Overall- leave her on the shelf.
Kheradruakh-
Web- HAHAHAHAHA what a loser!
Reality- Hmmm... now wait just 1 second. In certain instances, he is not bad. if you infiltrate a 10 man unit of mandrakes, you can deploy this guy 1" away from them, joining him to the unit, giving them a pain token (feel no pain) opening their shooting and making them a decent unit!
However, you cannot charge anything until turn 3 at best if you do this! but 22 str 4 pinning shots are pretty great! Unless you have a plan around him, though he is better, he is still not worth the points or effort.
Duke Sliscus
Web- Slightly buffed, not bad
reality- Agreed. He has a blast pistol, and the only named character that has combat drugs! Though short on wounds, his 2++ is great, and rerolling the drug chart is the real reason to take this guy... He should be taken in wych cults only, because any other way is a waste of some sort. His deep striking MAY, and I say MAY come in handy depending on your opponent, his army, and field saturation.
Drazahar
Web- OMG!! the best ever! holy crap!
reality- meh. He did get better, and can take out termies easily. With his eternal warrior rule, he will ALWAYS be able to take his FNP roll, if he has a pain token. No doubt, he has a lot of great abilities and can dance around the combat, and is scary bad in challenges, but man, is he expensive! Overall, better but not THAT much better!
Urien Rakath
Web: His ichor gauntlet is great!
Reality: um, no it isn’t. His biggest buff is the fact that his clone field makes him a beast in challenges, but he won’t ever get through 2+ saves. His best benefits were the distribution of pain tokens to wracks and grots, but since webways died a horrible horrible death, shelve him.
Arcons-
Web: Nerfed beyond use!
Reality: well, I hate to agree with the masses, but there are better HQ's for less, and the Arcons just don’t cut it any more.
Court of the Arcon-
Web: haven’t heard much from the web on them
reality: Besides the majority toughness boost, they are useless.
Succubus-
Web: Too Weak
reality: A decent HQ choice. You can equip her with haywire grenades.. in fact let me say this now, NEVER take any wych without a haywire, EVER! Anyway, toss her a blaster and venom blade or agoniser, and you have a cheap, decent close combat character.
Haemonculus-
Web: Good for pain token shenanigans only.
reality: Not really. yes, the token shuffle is great, but the sniper rifle they can take is awesome. A roll of 6 to hit means YOU pick the target (bye bye melta gun!) and it causes instant death. How awesome is that?
Incubi-
Web: nerfed to death with their weapons being ap3
reality: yeah, that hurt bad, and they are a bit overpriced now, but the Klaivex is a mandatory investment, as is the demiklave. Don’t be fooled into thinking this unit is garbage, it is not AS good as of old, but it is a far cry from sucking!
Grots and wracks:
Web: Dead and useless
reality: Again, the toughness game in HTH and shooting means any succubus with them is toughness 5! Not too shabby! But it is a huge point cost death star unit that will be shot off the field before it is able to do anything. Damn webway nerf!
Mandrakes:
Web: useless
reality: overpriced and useless unless you use the scenario listed above under Kheradruakh
Harlequins-
web: Better all around! rending rocks and they are very hard to kill by shooting with the new rules.
reality: agreed, but frail, fragile and overpriced.
Trueborn/ warriors:
web: better due to the rapid fire rules.
Reality: agreed.
Bloodbrides/ Wyches
Web: useless and dead due to overwatch.
reality: Now the strongest unit in the Dark Eldar army, if used right!
People whining about overwatch need to use their heads! Say units of 9 wyches lead by homunculi are about to assault out of a raider on a unit of 10 marines.
first, the harem disembarks alone and moves 6" right at the enemy leaving the token with the wyches. Then, the wyches disembark and advance at the marines, staying more than 2" from the harem. Come charge time, you charge the harem FIRST. now the marines need to overwatch HIM, or he will get into BTB denying them the ability to overwatch the wyches! Even if they kill the harem, they can’t overwatch twice in the same turn! So, you’re FNP wyches charge in, and eat the marines for breakfast, or the dreadnaught, or whatever it is you throw them at.
Hellions:
web: better due to hammer of wrath. Also, you can drag an IC out of combat now!
reality: agreed, and hit and run is still huge. Avoid the stunclaw trap, as an agoniser is still vastly superior over dragging an IC out of combat!
Scourges:
Web: awesome with haywire blasters now!
reality: Still way overpriced for what you get. Who cares about impact hits when you never want them in combat! a unit with 4 haywire blasters costs 260 points! for 4 measly shots to hurt vehicles! for 260 you can get:
10 wyches with 2 hydra gauntlets, a raider with ether sails, a hekatrix with an agonizer, 10 haywire grenades and have 25 points left over! the wyches are more mobile, deadlier, better in hth, the raider has a dark lance, they are better in every way! don’t waste the points!
Beasts:
web: better due to ignoring terrain and cover!
reality: better due to ignoring terrain and cover, worse due to the new wound allocation rules, Mandatory to mix the units now though.. you need khymerae and razorwings!
Reavers:
web: sooo much better, lightning fast!
reality:
this is the unit that improved the most! they are sooo much faster, tougher, and with the jink save combined with skilled rider, whenever you bladevane anyone, you have a 3+ cover. when you shoot someone, you have a 4+. You can always move in the assault phase.. they are the fastest thing in the game! They have the hammer of wrath rule, and can upgrade with a champ and power weapon or power spear (my choice). I would take in units of 7-10, and keep them in reserves. there is no reason not to unless you KNOW you are going first, because these guys can reach out and touch anyone on the board!
raiders/Venoms
web: worse due to hull point’s
reality: better due to hull points. I don’t know about you, but my raiders died to glancing hits ALL OF THE TIME! no more! Vehicles die easier this edition, but ours ALWAYS died this easy! In a way, we got buffed!
Talos/Cronos
web: useless without portals, and portals are garbage now.
reality: sadly, they are right.
Ravager
Web: Forget them and take flyers!
reality: take at LEAST 2, and arm them with triple disintegrators! What was that about not being able to take out terminators?
Razorwing/Voidraven
web: the only anti air we have, gotta take em
reality: I haven’t used them enough to make an informed decision, but I am running 2 triple dissie ravagers and 1 void raven for now.
So, as you can see, a lot of changes. Some good, some bad, but it is not the doom and gloom some people are crying about. I will post a 6th edition list in a bit to give you guys a sample.
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