Druchii.net

After much mental debating, I have forgone my plans of making an IG army and succumbed to the dark side. I just recently won a fantasy tournament and my prize was store credit for 2 Dark Eldar Battalions! So this morning I ordered three battalion boxes, 2 Venoms, Incubi and bought 2 Ravagers.

Now I've come up with a "trainer" DE list but before I put it up, I want to know what you guys (those who have been playing DEldar even before their new codex) think about their units and their difficulties. I kinda know their strengths already but now I want to know what armies and builds that Deldar struggles against.

Ordinance is generally bad. Also getting charged. You need to stay fleet and fast.
~B~

I've been playing DE for many years, agaist SM mostly (no wonder!) and IG.
With the new codex, I initially wanted to play MSU. No joy. Trouble is that one vehicle plus a 5 guys unit = 2 easy VP. Three homonculi = 3 easy VPs.
In 40k like in WHFB, large units have an advantage.
If you play scenarios, then 2 army lists + 1 scenario = one side has a great advantage, the other one struggles.

After a few games, I came to the conclusion that the best unit was wyches. 9 of them plus a homonculi for the resistance to pain. In a raider. With grenades in order to threaten all vehicles and even dreadnoughts.

Elite are good but not as rewarding as they seem.
Fast attack are real quick but don't last in combat or to shooting.
Among support, Talos are the best.
Most named characters are fun to play, not off-balanced. In many cases, the appropriate character is the only realistic way to play their favourite unit.

Globally, DEldar are great for the fluff, for the mentality.
The larger the battlefield, the easier for DE. The smaller the battlefield, the more desperate.
You'll enjoy them a lot, as they allow a very mobile game, and their fragility and unit small size require careful use.

A friend of mine runs his lists with these units and generally wins against a lot of really nasty armies. Basically he uses small units of the elite choice warriors with splinter cannons in vipers (has three of these) and uses them to hide behinds terrain and just shoot rediculous amounts of poisoned shots and is able to really deal out ranged damage. The other trick is that he takes wyches (no humonculai since for this he needs fleet). When he gets first turn he deploys his raiders side wase along the deployment line, then he pivots them forward for an extra 3-4 inches and then he flies his raiders up 12 inches. Disembarks the wyches with the extra 3 inches (2 from exit and the one inch base) then fleets, then charges first turn with three units and one of them has asdrubel vect ! The dark eldar book has lots of comboes when you use the units the right way and can be super competitive.
Cheers,
-Ave

I have to disagree with the idea of a MSU-army not working. The transport of chocie in the tournament scene suggests venoms and lots of them is the way forward. I prefer the mix though. Units of 7-9 wyches with haywire grenedes and agoniser on the hekatrix.

This is more of less my template for a DE army ;
1 archon or duke(he's so damn awesome when you use wyches and trueborn)
1 haemie.
2 wych units of 7-9 on raider
1 wracks in venom with x-splinter cannon.
2 units of TB in venoms(4 with the one duke joins).
1-2 of 5-7 scourges with HWLs
2 ravagers with NS and FF
1 Talos
Then add and subtract units depending on points. This is by no means the only way but it what I like to bring.

Elites; Trueborn with either splinter cannons or blasters in Venom with extra splinter cannon. I would even fit nightshields on these as it is an amazing upgrade. Then there are the incubi. Used with an archon with a PGL they're ruthlessness personified. 3+ save and FNP will come to you shorty and when the 2nd token is gained, they are insane.
Then there are wracks which should be turned into a Troop choice by fielding a haemonculus.

Fast attack. I love my Scourges with 2 haywire launchers and the beastmaster unit pack some serious punch.

Support: Ravager is sick with NS and FF. With lance-weapons you're going to frustrate a lot of opponents by being just out of range and that invul save from the FF takes away a lot from the "sure kill" of landing a hit on a ravager. The fliers should not be ignored either and, indeed, the talos is very useful too. My preferred setup is 2 Ravagers with NS and FF and single talos with a twin-linked haywire launcher.
This, combined with the raider lances and blasters + the unit of Scourges with HWL creates a good combo of pure anti-tank and stunlock weaponry(which have the potential to kill). Add in the wych HWGs and you got a force with a very strong anti-tank and are able to deal with models with a wounds value.

You should not neglect the Wracks either. Exceptionally tough for DE and are versitile because they'll wound anything a 4+(other than models without a toughness value though of course!). They count as troops with a haemie and thus is a tough scoring unit.

The basic tactic to emply is stay out of sight, pick a part your opponent. Never ever engage in straight up fire-fights because you'll lose and lose big. Speed is armour and we can deliver an crushing shooting phase. Just don't forget your opponents shooting phase. That said it is always nice to present some units, teasing your opponent into thinking you made a mistake. This is also why I am such a big advocate for nightshields. "I am going to rapid fire at your venom..." and you go "Don't bother, out of range, you miss!" and that is really your thing as a DE. Pounce and hit hard as a sledgehammer and redeploy for the next lethal attack. Keep this in mind when you make your list and during the battles and I am pretty confident you'll win games.