Dark Eldar - The Good, The Bad, The Pointless

[AbusePuppy]

Disintegrators are a fine weapon, but they occupy an awkward spot. If you're taking them, you need to load up on AT elsewhere, which is sometimes difficult.

The aircraft definitely shouldn't take DCannons, though; mixing AP values is a no-no. Shatterfield is a great weapon for dumping a bunch of hits onto a horde unit, but keep the Lances for killing off any tanks/heavy infantry they have. (Monoscythe are good enough that you often don't need to pay to upgrade them; wounding on 2s against most everything is good enough.)

Flickerfield is always worth considering. Sure, it might do nothing, or you might get hit by so many shots it's irrelevant. On the other hand, it might shrug off every one of those six Oblit shots or you might ignore the one that would've made you useless when you already got hit with a Weapon Destroyed. The more vehicles you have, the more valuable it becomes. The advantage of the Field over other cover saves is that you can guarantee it- no need to give up your shooting (and the unit inside, and any possibility of disembarking) and no need to try and squeeze behind terrain (sometimes difficult with a flying stand, and there isn't always enough for six or nine hulls.)

Night Shields are more situational, but are still quite good- better than the Field in some cases. They're best when you want to go for a long-range game followed by a short-range sweep. However, keep in mind that many of the tank-killing guns are 48" range (Autocannons, Missile Launchers, and Lascannons, just to name a few), so you are still going to get hammered by armies with good shooting. Think carefully about your game plan.

Retrofire Thrusters are useful because you don't always want to sink 150pts into an HQ with specific uses. Paying 25-50pts across your entire army is a much better deal if you're looking for deployment options, but it's definitely not something I'd always take. And again, you may want to give it to just a few select units.

Shock Prow is really good and really cheap. Tank Shocking is awesome for taking/contesting objectives, and DE vehicles can Ram at some pretty ridiculous speeds. Trading your gunless Raider for their Leeman Russ or Predator is a perfectly acceptable deal. Consider them as a way to dump those last few points, not a first pick option.

Splinter Racks are amazing when combined with Carbine Trueborn (and maybe add in The Duck for laughs.)

Grisly Trophies are more useful for insuring that disembarked units stay where you need them than keeping guys in combat. Most DE are high enough Init that getting swept isn't as much of a problem for them, and you shouldn't be losing combat by a lot unless something has gone terribly wrong.

[DrBored]

Disintegrators are a fine weapon, but they occupy an awkward spot. If you're taking them, you need to load up on AT elsewhere, which is sometimes difficult.

The aircraft definitely shouldn't take DCannons, though; mixing AP values is a no-no. Shatterfield is a great weapon for dumping a bunch of hits onto a horde unit, but keep the Lances for killing off any tanks/heavy infantry they have. (Monoscythe are good enough that you often don't need to pay to upgrade them; wounding on 2s against most everything is good enough.)

-On the contrary, D-Cannon Razorwings with Splinter Cannons and any of the missiles will throw out more anti-infantry than most other options in the Codex. Give the Dark Lances to Ravagers or to Trueborn. One Razorwing will decimate a squad, but he needs those DCannons to shred things apart properly and with enough volume of fire.

Splinter Racks are amazing when combined with Carbine Trueborn (and maybe add in The Duck for laughs.)

-Actually, Splinter Racks only work for Splinter Rifles and Splinter Pistols, no other weapon. Using the Duke in this combo would be a waste because the Shard Carbines wouldn't be able to benefit from the re-roll to hit.

Grisly Trophies are more useful for insuring that disembarked units stay where you need them than keeping guys in combat. Most DE are high enough Init that getting swept isn't as much of a problem for them, and you shouldn't be losing combat by a lot unless something has gone terribly wrong.

-This is true, so using your Raider to help Warriors on an objective would indeed help, but if you need the points elsewhere, put those points into something else instead of this.

Still don't like Flickerfields. Playtesting will tell. I have a feeling that they will be one of those things that some people will swear by because they have good dice, and other people will hate because they have bad dice.

[omega engaged]

I was thinking about the tormenter grenades and shock prow myself... and a most devious scheme didst occur to me. Here's how it goes- take a squad of 10 reavers and put them either directly in front of or behind a raider or ravager with a shock prow and tormenter grenades (raider is probably a better choice). In the movement phase turbo-boost your reavers over an enemy infantry unit and the bladevanes should cause some wounds. At the end of the movement have your reavers form a horse-shoe shape around the enemy squad. Once this is done, go ahead and tank shock with that raider. If you caused enough wounds with the bladevanes, your victims should have to take two morale tests at reduced leadership- one for the tank shock and one for 25% casualties. If they fail and your models are positioned correctly the enemy unit will be forced to fall back into your units and will, thusly, be destroyed outright (in the movement phase!). Add a grav-talon and they'll have to take a pinning test, too.

Just a thought.

[AbusePuppy]

Sure, Razorwings with D-Cannons and missiles shoot harder than anything else. They also do so without D-Cannons because those only add 2-3 wounds to the 5-20 you're already doing. Lances give you the option of shooting at vehicles to get their troops in the open before launching missiles or gun down tanks after you've gotten rid of threatening infantry. Duality is a boon.

Dangit, didn't notice that on Splinter Racks. Ah well, they're still useful on Raiders sometimes, I suppose. (The Duck benefits any poisoned weapons in his squad so you would presumably use him with Warriors instead of Trueborn if you wanted to try this.)

None of the upgrades are automatic "take every time" stuff; different builds will need each of them in turn and find others useless, although Aether Sails and Envenomed Blades are going to be fairly rare.

I have a feeling that they will be one of those things that some people will swear by because they have good dice, and other people will hate because they have bad dice.

I'm just gonna say I find this mentality very silly. No one has "good dice" or "bad dice," because that's not how probability works. It may be that some dice are slightly better than others in terms of how they're shaped/weighted, but noticing such discrepancies is well beyond the tracking capability of most people. The actual explanation for good/bad dice is biases of human perception and expectation.

[Frankio9]

I always thought you could use Aethersails in addition to your Turbo-Boosting move? Because otherwise why would there be such an upgrade?

[LoverzCry]

It's an Invulnerable Save... On a Vehicle, for only 10 points. What's not to like here? So what if it's only a 5+, that could be the save that makes it. Honestly haven't read through all the other upgrades and such, but to me if I could take that on my regular Eldar Falcons and such, I'd definitely drop the points. :L

[DrBored]

Sure, Razorwings with D-Cannons and missiles shoot harder than anything else. They also do so without D-Cannons because those only add 2-3 wounds to the 5-20 you're already doing. Lances give you the option of shooting at vehicles to get their troops in the open before launching missiles or gun down tanks after you've gotten rid of threatening infantry. Duality is a boon.

It's one of those things where you have to look at the rest of your list. If you have plenty of anti-tank and a Heavy Support slot open, why not take a Razorwing with D-Cannons to up your anti-infantry? I'd gladly add 2-3 extra wounds to the table, considering how many 3+ and 2+ armor saves there are these days, and positioned well, those str 5 weapons can still pen armor 10, and on a vehicle as fast as the Razorwing, it wouldn't be hard to get into a position to do so if you really need to.

Dangit, didn't notice that on Splinter Racks. Ah well, they're still useful on Raiders sometimes, I suppose. (The Duck benefits any poisoned weapons in his squad so you would presumably use him with Warriors instead of Trueborn if you wanted to try this.)

Well one big reason to take the Duke is if you have a high-volume-of-fire poison-weapon team, like Trueborn with x2 Splinter Cannons and as many Shard Carbines as you can get your hands on. Fitting him with a bunch of Warriors... it can work, and you can be more killy, but frankly it makes your troop choice way too vulnerable to an enemy's ire. I wouldn't recommend it unless you're playing really small games.

None of the upgrades are automatic "take every time" stuff; different builds will need each of them in turn and find others useless, although Aether Sails and Envenomed Blades are going to be fairly rare.

Well said.


I'm just gonna say I find this mentality very silly. No one has "good dice" or "bad dice," because that's not how probability works. It may be that some dice are slightly better than others in terms of how they're shaped/weighted, but noticing such discrepancies is well beyond the tracking capability of most people. The actual explanation for good/bad dice is biases of human perception and expectation.

It was a simple way of saying that some people have good luck or bad luck. There are going to be people out there that have great epic games where suddenly that 5+ invuln saves their butts, and then there are going to be people that have terrible games where the 5+ is nothing but wasted against a bunch of Bolter glances, and you know how the internet is. People will hold fast to one opinion or the other, and frankly it's up in the air. If your metagame features flat tables with no terrain, then 5+ is awesome, but if you're at a tournament where there's an appropriate amount of cover, then 5+ isn't that awesome in the face of better 4+ saves. Look at what you have, what you're doing with your Raiders, and where you want your Raiders to be, and that should help you decide if a 5+ is really, truly worth it.

I always thought you could use Aethersails in addition to your Turbo-Boosting move? Because otherwise why would there be such an upgrade?

This is true, but you can already turboboost 24". Yeah it'd be nice to get a 26-36" turbo boost, but most of the time you want to be shooting with your Raiders. I could see these being useful together with a Shock Prow to get that extra armor pen against tanks, but if you have enough Dark Lances in your list, there shouldn't be a reason to do that.

It's an Invulnerable Save... On a Vehicle, for only 10 points. What's not to like here? So what if it's only a 5+, that could be the save that makes it. Honestly haven't read through all the other upgrades and such, but to me if I could take that on my regular Eldar Falcons and such, I'd definitely drop the points. :L

It could indeed make the save that saves the day, but it could also fail miserably. If you feel like a lucky guy, take it on everything, but let's take a small step backwards here...

Dark Eldar are a Glass Cannon. They aren't meant to take enemy fire at all if possible, and when they do they die. It's a fact of life. Those same 10 points could be thrown into adding another Warrior to a squad, or another upgrade to your Archon or Haemonculus, or to an extra weapon in a Trueborn or Wych squad. All of these options make the army more killy, and the more killy they are, the more survivable they will be because the more they kill on those first turns, the less will be able to shoot back at them.

In the spirit of the Dark Eldar, I can't recommend Flickerfields to anybody, novice or expert, with a sound conscience. I would rather upgrade a Warrior to a Sybarite for the extra Leadership (and therefore the extra staying power) than give a cardboard box a save.

I was thinking about the tormenter grenades and shock prow myself... and a most devious scheme didst occur to me. Here's how it goes- take a squad of 10 reavers and put them either directly in front of or behind a raider or ravager with a shock prow and tormenter grenades (raider is probably a better choice). In the movement phase turbo-boost your reavers over an enemy infantry unit and the bladevanes should cause some wounds. At the end of the movement have your reavers form a horse-shoe shape around the enemy squad. Once this is done, go ahead and tank shock with that raider. If you caused enough wounds with the bladevanes, your victims should have to take two morale tests at reduced leadership- one for the tank shock and one for 25% casualties. If they fail and your models are positioned correctly the enemy unit will be forced to fall back into your units and will, thusly, be destroyed outright (in the movement phase!). Add a grav-talon and they'll have to take a pinning test, too.

Just a thought.

That is a nasty scheme, you should playtest it and tell us how it works! It's very in the spirit of the Dark Eldar, literally you'd be wrapping your enemies in a net to let the Reavers pick them up and load them back up onto the Raider, disposed of and harmless, ready to be turned into slaves!

[Cereal n' Milk]

I disagree about the flickerfields...I've been using them constantly on all my vehicles, and they haven't been game-breaking, but they sure do help a lot. When I wanted to fire my trueborn/venom, i could feel a little safer knowing they had a 5+ save. And also, I played a game against an IG army that had the hyrda autocannon, which denies the 4+ flat out save. That 5+ save helped a lot on making my vehicles a little more effective.

I wouldn't take it on everything, but I'd take it on a few key units.

[DarkLink]

It could indeed make the save that saves the day, but it could also fail miserably. If you feel like a lucky guy, take it on everything, but let's take a small step backwards here...

Yeah, well, the only thing you can rely on is the odds. You can't plan for luck. It's pointless to even try. So look at the odds and see if it's worth it.

And as to whether or not they're worth it, to paraphrase Buffo: "If the internet doesn't like flickerfields, then the internet is re-tawded".

[DrBored]

Yeah, well, the only thing you can rely on is the odds. You can't plan for luck. It's pointless to even try. So look at the odds and see if it's worth it.

And as to whether or not they're worth it, to paraphrase Buffo: "If the internet doesn't like flickerfields, then the internet is re-tawded".

BuFFo may just be having good luck with them. I'd rather have a 4+ cover save by playing smart and strategically turbo-boosting across the field rather than pretend my Dark Eldar are Space Marines.